Off to MindCamp!
A bit later than I’d planned, but I couldn’t get to sleep until late last night, and I wanted to be fully rested for this 24-hour event.
You can track the event at www.seattlemind.com – or better yet, check out the Wiki.
Facebook opens up to corporate users
Look out MySpace, Facebook isn’t just for college students anymore.
Apparently Facebook realized their strategy of only allowing college-students to use their service had a major problem: college-students have this nasty habit of graduating.
Today they opened up the service to 10 major corporations, including Microsoft. I’d say this looks like the first step toward branching out into being a general-purpose social networking project (like a somewhat more sophisticated MySpace).
9 days to MindCamp 2.0
The second Seattle MindCamp event is coming up fast.
The first event was a really great experience and this one promises to be even better. I already see a lot of familiar names on the attendee list, and this event is going to be even bigger than the last one. So if you missed out last time, don’t let the opportunity pass you by again!
Somebody in Visual Studio is listening!
A while back I suggested that charging for the Visual Studio Express editions was stupid. When they were finally released, it was announced that they’d be free to anyone to download for one year. Not a trial copy, but a full copy that would last forever. But after a year, they would start charging for anyone that wanted it but didn’t get in on the free offer.
Once again I spoke up and said this was a stupid plan. Well today that plan changed, and the Visual Studio Express products are going to remain free forever.
The blogosphere is getting fitter.
I first saw Liz talking about it. Followed by a whole string of posts by Chris who has been keeping us up-to-date on his progress pretty regularly. Some of my co-workers even have a blog devoted to their workouts. And guess who is jumping on the bandwagon!
I’d actually made a lame attempt at starting a workout routine back in January. But it didn’t stick. Then when I saw Chris’ post about measuring “Body Mass Index” (BMI), I ended up measuring my own. At the time I was a solid 190lbs, which put me very clearly in the “overweight” BMI category.
Now according to the BMI people I should weigh ~160. But the thing is, BMI isn’t really a good metric because it doesn’t take into account the weight of fat versus muscle. And personally I want to keep some of the latter around.
So I set my first goal at 170. I might go a little farther depending on how I look/feel when I get there. My plan of attack has been this:
1) Work out at least four mornings a week. Minimum 30 minutes of cardio, then weights (alternating upper and lower body). I’m doing this in the mornings, which has had a great effect on my energy throughout the day and my sleeping habits!
2) Eat better. I’ve always been a very healthy eater, so mostly this meant cutting down portions and avoiding snacks (damn you Wheat Thins and your salty addictiveness!)
So far I’m down to 183 and feeling better than I have in years. My 33 waist jeans are already becoming too loose. I figure once I’ve reached my goal I’ll be able to buy 30s again like back in my high school days!
The final version of WDS 2.6.5 is now available! If you are running the 2.6.5 Beta or WDS 2.6.0, this update will be provided via Windows Update later this month.
If you are running the 2.6.5 Beta release from last month, upgrading to the final version will NOT require your index to be rebuilt.
However, if you are upgrading from an older version, your old index will need to be recreated automatically after the upgrade.
Unofficial list of changes since the beta:
-Image previews were broken if the containing folder also had a certain number of other images in it. Fixed.
-Fixed an issue where WDS would not function properly if the wordbreaker for the current language was not properly registered. It would switch to a fallback method, but due to a bug the fallback would fail.
-Fixed a situation where Outlook indexing could become broken (and cause WindowsSearchFilter.exe crashes) which usually occured if the user had previously used WDS 2.5 and didn’t reboot when asked to after uninstall/upgrade.
-Fixed an issue that could cause the message “Run-time error. This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way” that would usually only manifest itself when the WDS UI was hosted in another application (like Outlook).
-Lots of internationalization work.
For completeness, the original unofficial list of updates from 2.6.0 follows:
-All the features of the 2.6 Enterprise version (Search Pane on XP/2003, Outlook Integrated Results when used with the MSN/WinLive Toolbar).
-WDS can now be installed over the MSN Toolbar Suite 2.5. This will remove your MSN Toolbar, but preserve your settings. You can then install the standalone toolbar or the 3.0 Beta and it will remember your settings from the 2.5 installation. Alternatively, you can upgrade to the Toolbar 3.0 Beta (which includes WDS 2.6.5 as an optional component).
-The WDS Indexer has undergone some major changes to reduce disk I/O while indexing.
-Shutdown times have been improved significantly (we think we’ve nailed the “End Now” dialog problem).
-New group policies.
-Bug fixes and other general improvements (such as a cleaner Deskbar loading mechanism).
I bought a Mac!
There are those who said this day would never come… what are they to say now? =D
Yes, it’s true. I bought a Mac. The end of days must be near. I guess I’m going to have to stop cutting my hair and learn to play hacky sack or something. Oh, and lots of exotic coffees.
My choice of forbidden fruit? A dual-core Intel-based Mac Mini.
It just got it hooked up to my Samsung DLP TV, and after finding the power button, it is up and running, installing various service packs and updates as I write this.
Why the mini? Two reasons:
1) I’ve never had a Mac, and I’d like to see what all the fuss is about.
2) It’s small, quiet, and as of this week it can run Windows! Perfect for my living room.
I’ve run into a couple of problems with that idea, though. So I’ll post more on that later.
Daylight Savings Time: 1 Brandon: 0
You’d think with all the power and speed of the internet and the pervasiveness of media in our lives that missing something as simple as the DST adjustment would be difficult.
Once again, I manage to beat the odds.
As I read the message, “You can’t print boarding passes within 1 hour of a departing flight” I thought, “Stupid system, I’ve got more than an hour!” Then as I reached for my phone to pull it from its cradle, what do I see on its display?
“Your clock has been updated to account for Daylight Savings Time, loser.”
I froze for a moment in horror, and the darted my eyes around the room looking for defense against this blasphemy. But the Comcast cable box offered me no such consolation. Neither did my PC. It was like all of my electronics were conspiring against me in some treacherous plot. I fear for what they might have planned next.
Well played, Daylight Savings Time. Well played.
Updated Live.com Search
Looks like those crazy Live Search people snuck out another update! The goofy scrollbar is gone (it now works like the Image Search one), and you can now create and edit Search Macros!
I’ve already made a couple:
Brandon.MSDN – searches just MSDN and MSDN2
Brandon.WinDev – searches MSDN, CodeProject, GotDotNet, OdeToCode, and some others.
By clicking on one of those and installing the macro, you’ll get them added to your search bar on Live.com – then you can refine you search to just those sites with the click of a button!
Listen up, Seattle
It’s been about 9 months since I transplanted my entire life from Albany, NY to Redmond, WA.
Try and guess which characteristic of the Seattle area has made the strongest impression. Is it the scenery? The weather? The housing costs?
Oh no, none of those. It’s the fact that no one in Washington knows how to drive.
Now whining about this isn’t really going to make things better. So instead, I’m going to post some guidelines that I think every Seattle area driver should really take to heart.
- Somewhere on your steering wheel, usually on the left-hand side, you’ll find a lever. Moving this lever up or down will enable something called a “turn signal” or an “indicator.” But those are really just fancy words for “flashy light on the side of your car.” If you push up, the light on the right hand side will blink. If you push down, the left one will.
- Using the “signal” mentioned above, you can actually tell other drivers what you’re thinking. Like, “Hey, that’s my exit coming up. I really need to get to that lane over there.”
- If you’re thinking, “Brandon, I know what turn signal is. But why would I use it if I don’t see anybody in that lane?” The answer here is quite simple: Your use of the turn signal will provide extremely valuable information to the person you didn’t see.
- You turn signal doesn’t do any good if you only use it after you’re already halfway into your destination lane.
- If you see another car with a blinking light on the side of it, that does not mean you should:
A) Dash from behind him, into the lane he’s trying to get into.
B) Close the gap that you left while you were accidentally not tailgating the person in front of you, because the worst thing you could possibly do would be to permit someone else to get where they’re going, you asshole.
Study hard, because next week there will be quiz!