Archives for January 2003

ASP.NET Calendar Control

Posted on 1/31/2003 to Developer Stuff

I've been working on implementing the ASP.NET Calendar Control into the weblog app lately.

Writing the code so that entries showed up where they are supposed to was easy, but I am having a heck of a time getting consistent formating of the calendar itself. For example, using CSSClass for styling the control is hit or miss -- mostly miss, and on my server, the font-size and forecolor properties of TitleStyle don't want to work, at least not if I also want to use NextPrevStyle. However, if I create the exact same calendar in a page running on XP Pro, they work.

Has anyone else experienced similar inconsistencies with this control? It is really starting to annoy me.


Icon War

Posted on 1/27/2003 to Cool Stuff

Not sure how long this has been circulating, but I just saw it for the first time. Very funny.

Can We Get On With Alias Already?

Posted on 1/26/2003 to Sports

I don't suppose that ABC would just go ahead and start showing Alias to the majority of the country that doesn't care about Tampa or Oakland. Now that the suspense is gone, I see no reason to show any more of it, at least not outside of Florida.

Game Over!

Posted on 1/26/2003 to Sports

Ok, not really, but it might as well be. That last Tampa Bay score should just about do it.

27 - 3

Well, now that should really do it - 34 - 3. Who woulda thought that the Raiders would be this bad?

I am mildly pleased that I won't have to look at "Super Bowl Champions" t-shirts all over the place during my trip to the bay area in two weeks.


VSLive

Posted on 1/24/2003 to Developer Stuff

Robert Scoble is planning a .NET Blogger's dinner in San Francisco (Saturday, February 8th) during the VSLive conference.  Anybody interested in joining in?  We are meeting at the San Francisco Marriott at 6pm.
[StronglyTyped - Richard Caetano's weblog on software development]
I didn't think I would really miss VSLive this year. Afterall, I'd only gone once before (last year, specifically for the VS.NET launch). Then I come across this, and start thinking about all the cool stuff I am going to be missing out on.

As it is, I will be in the bay area during the week that VSLive is going on (arrive early afternoon on the 9th, staying until the 15th), so maybe I can latch on in the evening one night for something that doesn't require an event pass.


Sigh...

Posted on 1/22/2003 to Technology

I'm bored. Redsign? Write some code for the weblog app? Start a new project? Take a nap?

What was that -- Get back to work?


More On Tracking Referrers

Posted on 1/21/2003 to Weblog Applications

What is the best way to implement referrer tracking in a home-grown weblog?
[Harry Pierson's DevHawk Weblog]
My referrer page currently treats each unique URL as just that -- unique. So this - http://objective.mine.nu/archive/2003/1/2.aspx - is different than this - http://objective.mine.nu/. I decided to do this mainly because I was interested in the specific location that was referring someone to my site, not just the referring site. However, if you look at my referrer's page, you'll see that only the domain is displayed, and not the path info (moving your mouse over the links reveals the true referring URL).

This was pretty quick and dirty, well not dirty, but quick. Anyway, I've been thinking of other ways to display the referrer information, and keep coming back to a hierarchical view, where I display the referring domains, and then drill down to view data on the specific referring URL's.

Of course, I am always looking for a better way...


Real Simple

Posted on 1/20/2003 to Eats and Drinks

I saw a magazine the other day while I was walking out of my local Barnes & Noble. I didn't flip through it or even pick it up (I don't even recall having ever seen this magazine before), but one of the stories listed on the cover caught my attention -- a month of dinners.

I've just browsed through the recipes listed, and already I've found several things that I would like to try. The rosemary-garlic chicken looks like a good place to start.

If anyone out there decides to try some of the recipes, please let me know how they turn out.


Another Day, Another Week

Posted on 1/17/2003 to Developer Stuff

I can't believe how time is just flying by these last couple of weeks. It has everything to do with how busy I've been at work.

We are embarking on a rather large data conversion project, where we will be converting around 76,000 pages of content from Interleaf files to XML. At the same time we are moving from BladeRunner to Documentum as our repository, and switching from Epic to XMetal as our XML editor. We also have to build the publishing process for taking the content from XML to whatever else (print, CD, online, etc). Oh, and this all has to be complete by the end of the year so that starting in 2004 our content is updated in XML.

I am confident that we will succeed.


Searching

Posted on 1/14/2003 to Weblog Applications

I need to make the content of my weblog, or any weblog powered by my weblog app searchable.

Sticking Now

Posted on 1/12/2003 to In General

Well, the snow has been falling steadily for the past 4 hours, and it is finally sticking. I took a couple of pictures, not that they are anything special compared to this, or this, but I will post them up here a little later for the curious.

Those Weather Folks Were Right

Posted on 1/12/2003 to In General

Hey, it's snowing here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I know this isn't highly unusual, it does snow (more likely is an ice storm) once in a while. Heck, growing up, I probably had as many snow days as the kids in Denver (simply because Dallas doesn't have the equipment to deal with wintry weather, whereas Denver has more than enough). Anyway, having been back in Texas for almost a year and a half now, the thing I've missed most of all is the snow. We weren't in Colorado long enough for the novelty to wear off, though it was close (but only after I had to start shoveling my own sidewalks and driveway).

By the way, it isn't sticking or anything, but it is still nice to look at. Now, if only the temperature would drop another couple of degrees.


And I Thought Monday Was Rough...

Posted on 1/9/2003 to In General

This day just sucked. This week has just sucked, but this day in particular.

My home pc is not yet repaired and I nearly lost the database for the weblog app.

On top of all this, work is so busy that if I had twice the time, I'd still be busting my tail to get things done.


Geez!

Posted on 1/6/2003 to In General

What a day. Is it over yet?

Hard Drive Woes

Posted on 1/6/2003 to Technology

I will use the events of the past 36 hours as a wake up call. I will backup my data regularly, I promise.

I will thank my lucky stars each day that I had been using my laptop for development purposes lately, and that the latest code was there, and not on my now dead desktop HD.


Mind Your Manners

Posted on 1/6/2003 to In General

"You're too nice for a Monday morning", he said, as I held the elevator door open for the two people that were a few steps behind us.

Hmm...

Does the day really matter? Would this guy hold a door for anyone on Tuesday? Wednesday? How about Friday?

Too many times, I've seen doors shut in people's faces (including my own), be it elevator doors or just regular old doors into an office building or store. Whatever happened to manners? When did we all become so rude? Are we so wrapped up in ourselves that we no longer stop to consider those around us?

I held the door because they were close enough for doing so to make sense (I wouldn't have held the door if they were at the other end of the parking garage), and I've had enough doors shut in my face to know that I wouldn't want to do that to someone else.

It's a small thing, really. It takes just a moment or two of time, sometimes less. They feel good, you feel good. If more people would do the little things to help out others, the world would be a much nicer place.


PC Nastiness

Posted on 1/5/2003 to Technology

Plans for dev work on the 'ol weblog app were derailed earlier today. I spent my afternoon and evening (and now, actually) rebuilding my primary machine at home. I think I will go ahead and give Ghost a try once I get everything installed again.

Sigh...


RSS Aggregator

Posted on 1/5/2003 to Weblog Applications

Thanks to Brad Wilson, I just RSS subscribed to a new blog. Bryan Daneman appears to be working on a .NET-powered weblog app and with my Radio license due to expire in a month or two, perhaps it's time to start looking. My favorite feature in Radio is the integrated news aggregator and as soon as Bryan gets this implemented, I may have to start begging him for a copy. [Grumpicus Maximus]

I had forgotten about adding this feature. I will work on it in the morning.


Referrers, Trackback...

Posted on 1/3/2003 to Weblog Applications

Chris wants to know about my trackback implementation so that our sites can talk in a more automagic way.

I am on the cusp of redoing the trackback functionality for the weblog app. Until then, you can click the Trackback link below each post to get the URL that a trackback can be sent to. I have verified that sending a trackback from Movable Type to my trackback page works. If you have no way of sending a trackback through your weblog app, then you can put everything in the querystring, or you can use the test form that the web service page provides. Go here for more information doing this.

More to come...eventually...


Referrer Log

Posted on 1/3/2003 to Weblog Applications

I've finally gotten around to implementing a referrer log for my little weblog app. Like most other things in the weblog app, it is usable for me, but probably still lacking if others were to use it.

I decided to create an HTTPModule to intercept incoming requests and log the referrer information. Currently, it ignores requests made from the site it is implemented in. This will probably change and become an configurable option, I just didn't care to see referrers to my site, from my site -- but others might.

One other "to do" is to create a server control for easily displaying the list of referrers.


.NET Weblog App Update

Posted on 1/2/2003 to Weblog Applications

There is another user of my .NET based weblog application. Welcome to the neighborhood, Ken!

This brings the total number of weblogs powered by my app up to 6 including mine and metaApps.com.


Happy New Year!

Posted on 1/1/2003 to In General

I hope everyone is off to a very happy New Year!

We had a nice New Year's Eve, spent at home watching movies ( Like Mike & XXX).

Just enough time to catch the Cotton Bowl before heading off to my sister's birthday party.