She's not hurt.
Becca was supposed to be visiting for a few hours tonight. She just called Courtney, and told her that she got in an accident. Apparently she hit a sign on the way here. Courtney is waiting for another call to let us know if we need to go get her.
Unfortunately, she is WAY closer to Tally than here. We'll see what's going on when she calls back.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Customizing w.bloggar
So far, I am pretty happy with w.bloggar. That is a stupid name, by the way. I just modified one of the custom tags to more easily create post titles, since it doesn't have a seperate text entry area for the title. So far, so good. No more messing with www.blogger.com to get my posts out there.
Oh yeah, I can save posts locally, too, which should let me write some longer ones, and break the writing up into smaller chunks; thereby making me feel less guilty about not coding.
Oh yeah, I can save posts locally, too, which should let me write some longer ones, and break the writing up into smaller chunks; thereby making me feel less guilty about not coding.
Listening to: Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) - Mötley Crüe - Music To Crash Your Car To Vol 2 - Disc 1 (04:13)
RSS Bandit 1.3.0.26 Released!
Haacked writes about "RSS Bandit 1.3.0.26 Released!" on you've been HAACKED.
Until now, I used RSS Bandit 1.2.* for my news aggregation. The new software is MUCH nicer. They obviously put some time into making the interface look nicer. The icons and look-and-feel is wonderful, and the app seems much faster, too. Startup used to take like 60 seconds, and now takes like 20.
I am very happy with the new version.
Until now, I used RSS Bandit 1.2.* for my news aggregation. The new software is MUCH nicer. They obviously put some time into making the interface look nicer. The icons and look-and-feel is wonderful, and the app seems much faster, too. Startup used to take like 60 seconds, and now takes like 20.
I am very happy with the new version.
Listening to: These Boots are made for walki - Karoke - Shrek 2 Party Cd (02:28)
Another Desktop Blogging tool
This post was created with w.bloggar, another desktop publishing tool. It's a lot better and easier to use than imho. That imho software was horrible.
Listening to: Life Of A Salesman - Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue (03:18)
Testing Desktop Blog Software
This post was placed by IMHO, a free desktop blog
publishing program. I am tired of www.blogger.com being down at work. Very
frustrating.
Windows Media Center
Should we ditch Tivo? We have to pay 12.95/month for Tivo, and Tivo doesn't record HD signals. If we build a WMCE pc, we get all of tivo's features, no monthly fee, and HD recording, not to mention easy Hard drive size upgrades. There is a limit on the Tivo of like 256GB, the limit on WMCE is like 3 TB or something like that.
Here's an article describing it: ExtremeTech Article
Here's a review of WMCE: PC Magazine Review
Oh yeah, one important point to remember is that I get WMCE with my action pack subscription, so the OS is free.
Here's an article describing it: ExtremeTech Article
Here's a review of WMCE: PC Magazine Review
Oh yeah, one important point to remember is that I get WMCE with my action pack subscription, so the OS is free.
Windows Server 2003 as a workstation
here is an article I found about how to convert a windows server 2003 box to a workstation:
http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/
http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Does my writing compare?
Is my blog interesting enough to attract outside readers? I don't use flowery language like this woman from Baltimore:
Bemused Musings from Baltimore.
I don't really write about things that are generally interesting, like this guy:
The Last Nail.
I find that most of the time, I am writing about my wonderful daughter and equally wonderful wife. While these two topics are my personal favorites, how many other people are interested? I feel like my writing has changed since I moved my blog from my personal journal site to this public space.
Am I less edgy and funny when I write now? Are you all still entertained? Comments are welcome on this one.
Bemused Musings from Baltimore.
I don't really write about things that are generally interesting, like this guy:
The Last Nail.
I find that most of the time, I am writing about my wonderful daughter and equally wonderful wife. While these two topics are my personal favorites, how many other people are interested? I feel like my writing has changed since I moved my blog from my personal journal site to this public space.
Am I less edgy and funny when I write now? Are you all still entertained? Comments are welcome on this one.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Heartwarming, and good for the richies to read
Here is a great story about some poor guys kicking the crap out of richies from MIT in an underwater robot competition.
Highlights:
Highlights:
| Poor Folk | Richies | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget: | $800 | $11000 |
| Team Size: | 4 | 8 |
| Wins: | 1 | 0 |
The COOLEST work environment EVER
I would kill to work in an environment like this. I particularly like the cottages, and the continuing, free education provided by the company, to all employees. This is a really good read.
http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=19658#1
http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=19658#1
Monday, March 28, 2005
Busy, Tiring weekend
I didn't get all that much sleep this weekend. Friday morning, Courtney woke up with extreme abdominal pain. We called her doctor, and they told us that we needed to go to the hospital(again). Courtney's pain subsided a little, and she went back to sleep.
We headed to the new Baptist South hospital around noon on Friday. They were full. Not the ER, but the whole hospital. No open beds. So, we ended up waiting like 3 hours before they were ready for Re. Since sitting up hurt her really badly, she and Tiffany went to Tiff's house, and Re took a nap on Tiff's bed. I sat at the hospital, and waited for them to call her name.
Once she got back to the ER, it was another hour before a doctor came to see her. They did some blood work, and got an ultrasound of Courtney's abdomen, and basically told her they didn't know what was wrong with her. She didn't have an infection, or kidney stones, or gall stones, or anything else that would show up in the ultrasound or blood work. They gave her a prescription for pain, and sent her on her way.
She was in pain all weekend. Since it was her stomach that was hurting, she couldn't help out with Mik too much. I took the point on caring for Mikayla again. What a dad, right? Except that little booger wore me out like you wouldn't believe.
We spent Sunday at Granny Coates' house, and all the family oohed and ahhed over MyKayla. Mik seemed to have a really good time hanging out with everyone, and was really tired when we got home.
We got in the tub after having our dinner at like 8:45 or so. Mik was calm during her bath, just enjoying and relaxing. When we got out of the tub, she seemed fussy, so I gave her another ounce of formula(5 ounces over 2 hours). That was a mistake. She fell right asleep on my chest, and I put her in her crib. She woke up like 20 minutes later. I went to get her out of her crib, and put her back to sleep, when she threw up all over us.
So, back in tub for us. Another bath, more chilling out, and we were back in the feeding mode. Poor kid puked up all her food; it seemed like she must have puked up food she ate a month ago, there was so much.
After she was cleaned and fed again, she fell right asleep. So I put her in her crib. She woke up 10 minutes later. So I went and put her back to sleep, and back in her crib. 10 minutes later, she is crying. The kid finally went to sleep after 12 pm.
She woke up around 4:40 because her blankets had been kicked off. I gave her her passy, and recovered her, and she went right back to sleep.
I felt so bad for her, and then I had to wake her up at 7. That is quite a bit less sleep than she is used to. She is probably pretty tired today, and granny and papi are planning to take her on a bunch of errands today. Poor little girl is going to be exhausted by tonight.
Man, it has been a rough year for Courtney's belly area. I feel so bad for her, especially since there isn't anything I can do for her.
Oh yeah, I'm a little tired today too.
We headed to the new Baptist South hospital around noon on Friday. They were full. Not the ER, but the whole hospital. No open beds. So, we ended up waiting like 3 hours before they were ready for Re. Since sitting up hurt her really badly, she and Tiffany went to Tiff's house, and Re took a nap on Tiff's bed. I sat at the hospital, and waited for them to call her name.
Once she got back to the ER, it was another hour before a doctor came to see her. They did some blood work, and got an ultrasound of Courtney's abdomen, and basically told her they didn't know what was wrong with her. She didn't have an infection, or kidney stones, or gall stones, or anything else that would show up in the ultrasound or blood work. They gave her a prescription for pain, and sent her on her way.
She was in pain all weekend. Since it was her stomach that was hurting, she couldn't help out with Mik too much. I took the point on caring for Mikayla again. What a dad, right? Except that little booger wore me out like you wouldn't believe.
We spent Sunday at Granny Coates' house, and all the family oohed and ahhed over MyKayla. Mik seemed to have a really good time hanging out with everyone, and was really tired when we got home.
We got in the tub after having our dinner at like 8:45 or so. Mik was calm during her bath, just enjoying and relaxing. When we got out of the tub, she seemed fussy, so I gave her another ounce of formula(5 ounces over 2 hours). That was a mistake. She fell right asleep on my chest, and I put her in her crib. She woke up like 20 minutes later. I went to get her out of her crib, and put her back to sleep, when she threw up all over us.
So, back in tub for us. Another bath, more chilling out, and we were back in the feeding mode. Poor kid puked up all her food; it seemed like she must have puked up food she ate a month ago, there was so much.
After she was cleaned and fed again, she fell right asleep. So I put her in her crib. She woke up 10 minutes later. So I went and put her back to sleep, and back in her crib. 10 minutes later, she is crying. The kid finally went to sleep after 12 pm.
She woke up around 4:40 because her blankets had been kicked off. I gave her her passy, and recovered her, and she went right back to sleep.
I felt so bad for her, and then I had to wake her up at 7. That is quite a bit less sleep than she is used to. She is probably pretty tired today, and granny and papi are planning to take her on a bunch of errands today. Poor little girl is going to be exhausted by tonight.
Man, it has been a rough year for Courtney's belly area. I feel so bad for her, especially since there isn't anything I can do for her.
Oh yeah, I'm a little tired today too.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Dynamic User Controls in ASP.Net pages
Creating Dynamic user controls and adding them to asp.net pages can be tricky. I searched for a while on google, and found tons of helpful articles about how to add dynamic controls to a page. All of the articles basically said the same thing:
Here's an example:
This will ensure that your control is visible on the page, and the control's viewstate will be saved across requests.
The simple method breaks down when adding User Controls, though.
If you want to add a user control, and be able to access it's child controls(why wouldn't you?), you have to follow the same steps, but instantiating the control is different.
Note that you have to call LoadControl( string Path ) to get your control loaded, else all of the child controls that are owned by your user control will be null.
Man that was hard to find. Here's the original article where I found the info:
http://aspalliance.com/565.
- Create the control in code
- Add the control to the page's Controls collection
- Set properties on the control
Here's an example:
private void Page_Load(object, System.EventArgs )
{
CheckBox cb = new CheckBox();
Page.Controls.Add( cb );
cb.Checked = true;
}
This will ensure that your control is visible on the page, and the control's viewstate will be saved across requests.
The simple method breaks down when adding User Controls, though.
If you want to add a user control, and be able to access it's child controls(why wouldn't you?), you have to follow the same steps, but instantiating the control is different.
private void Page_Load( object, System.EventArgs)
{
MyControl mc = LoadControl( "MyControl.ascx" );
Page.Controls.Add( mc );
mc.Controls[0].Text = "Hello";
}Note that you have to call LoadControl( string Path ) to get your control loaded, else all of the child controls that are owned by your user control will be null.
Man that was hard to find. Here's the original article where I found the info:
http://aspalliance.com/565.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Happy Birthday, Dad
My Father, Cullen Jackson "Jack" Waters, turns 62 today. He is an amazing man. He dedicated the largest portion of his life to the common good, actively serving with the Tampa Police Department on patrol.
During his time with TPD, he was promoted to Sergeant, and given command of a squad of patrolmen. While I was growing up, the cops who worked on my dad's squad told me that it was an honor to be on the squad, and that people competed to get to work for him.
Dad never sought a promotion above Sergeant, because Lieutenants and above sat a desk, and he wanted to be on the street, among the people he was helping.
Dad's desire to help the community resulted in him being given command of TPDs COP team. The COP team was charged with making communities safer by being active members of the community. Team members attended functions, rallies, and meetings with the people who lived in the areas they patrolled. The COP team made police in Tampa real people, and as a result, the civilians reported more crimes, and were more active in catching the perpertrators of those crimes.
Once family pressures caused Dad to retire(we had been bugging him for like 8 or 9 years), he took a non-sworn position with the TPD, as the head of the Reports and Information Unit. Since then, he has been promoted to be commander of the Crime Scene Unit. My dad is the head CSI!
Dad working on the boats for HHS Crew
Apart from his work, dad is really an amazing individual. He is the only man I know who can weld, build furniture, re-roof a house, work on cars, fix computers, steal cable, re-plumb a house(twice), re-wire a house, build train layouts, model tanks, and manages to read 5-10 books a week. Every day, I try to emulate him in some small way. I can do most of the same things he does, although I read slower, but he does them much better than I do.
I remember, once about 10 years ago, dad was working on something near the roof of his little covered patio(where his grill is), and he cut the back of his hand on a roofing nail protruding through the roof. He didn't even grunt. Just kept on working, till I kinda freaked out about his hand bleeding, and dripping on the floor. He told me not to worry, and that he was going to let it bleed, so it would be clean.
I think my dad may be one of the last remaining men in the world. He carries a gun, and knows how to use it. He doesn't back down from danger, and will do what is necessary if a bad guy tries to hurt someone he loves. He is pretty patient about the big things(not so much on little stuff, but hey, everyone needs a character trait), and will answer any question you ask to the best of his ability.
Building the new HHS Crew boathouse.
My dad is a generous man, and has passed that generosity along to his kids(even when we wanted to be selfish). He donates hundreds of hours a year to charitable organizations, primarily the Human Development Center, where adults with developmental disabilities are assisted in being members of society. He also donates a lot of time every year to the Hillsborough High Rowing Club(both of my sisters were team members). During crew season, he drives all over the state, dragging a huge trailer(like 15,000 pounds) full of boats behind him. Without his contributions, the club would not be able to race. His only reward for these actions is the good feelings he gets helping people.
More Boathouse work
Dad, we love you, more than you can possible know. Courtney and I are extremely proud to be your children. I cannot imagine a better Papa for my daughter, and I think you will fill out my Papa's name just fine.
I am proud of you, and I know that Papa is proud of you too.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
During his time with TPD, he was promoted to Sergeant, and given command of a squad of patrolmen. While I was growing up, the cops who worked on my dad's squad told me that it was an honor to be on the squad, and that people competed to get to work for him.
Dad never sought a promotion above Sergeant, because Lieutenants and above sat a desk, and he wanted to be on the street, among the people he was helping.
Dad's desire to help the community resulted in him being given command of TPDs COP team. The COP team was charged with making communities safer by being active members of the community. Team members attended functions, rallies, and meetings with the people who lived in the areas they patrolled. The COP team made police in Tampa real people, and as a result, the civilians reported more crimes, and were more active in catching the perpertrators of those crimes.
Once family pressures caused Dad to retire(we had been bugging him for like 8 or 9 years), he took a non-sworn position with the TPD, as the head of the Reports and Information Unit. Since then, he has been promoted to be commander of the Crime Scene Unit. My dad is the head CSI!
Dad working on the boats for HHS Crew
Apart from his work, dad is really an amazing individual. He is the only man I know who can weld, build furniture, re-roof a house, work on cars, fix computers, steal cable, re-plumb a house(twice), re-wire a house, build train layouts, model tanks, and manages to read 5-10 books a week. Every day, I try to emulate him in some small way. I can do most of the same things he does, although I read slower, but he does them much better than I do.
I remember, once about 10 years ago, dad was working on something near the roof of his little covered patio(where his grill is), and he cut the back of his hand on a roofing nail protruding through the roof. He didn't even grunt. Just kept on working, till I kinda freaked out about his hand bleeding, and dripping on the floor. He told me not to worry, and that he was going to let it bleed, so it would be clean.
I think my dad may be one of the last remaining men in the world. He carries a gun, and knows how to use it. He doesn't back down from danger, and will do what is necessary if a bad guy tries to hurt someone he loves. He is pretty patient about the big things(not so much on little stuff, but hey, everyone needs a character trait), and will answer any question you ask to the best of his ability.
Building the new HHS Crew boathouse.
My dad is a generous man, and has passed that generosity along to his kids(even when we wanted to be selfish). He donates hundreds of hours a year to charitable organizations, primarily the Human Development Center, where adults with developmental disabilities are assisted in being members of society. He also donates a lot of time every year to the Hillsborough High Rowing Club(both of my sisters were team members). During crew season, he drives all over the state, dragging a huge trailer(like 15,000 pounds) full of boats behind him. Without his contributions, the club would not be able to race. His only reward for these actions is the good feelings he gets helping people.
More Boathouse work
Dad, we love you, more than you can possible know. Courtney and I are extremely proud to be your children. I cannot imagine a better Papa for my daughter, and I think you will fill out my Papa's name just fine.
I am proud of you, and I know that Papa is proud of you too.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Friday got me
The friday bug got to me about 1 pm today. I haven't accomplished much work since lunch today. I don't know why I am having such a hard time getting to work, but it is kicking my butt today.
Worse than women
Naval officers are worse than women. Especially naval officers who got out after 10 years. What kind of officer gets out after 10 years, you ask? A BAD one. Good officers stay in and retire after 20, or get out after their initial contract is up(4-6 years). Someone who stayed in 10 and got out got themselves kicked out because they sucked.
I've got two naval officers in my room/office now. They spent the last 20 minutes complaining about how stupid the navy was. Basically, they couldn't hack it because they suck, and now they are going to spend the rest of their lives convincing people that they were good officers, and got out because they were tired of the beauracracy.
What a load of crap. Thank god for headphones.
I've got two naval officers in my room/office now. They spent the last 20 minutes complaining about how stupid the navy was. Basically, they couldn't hack it because they suck, and now they are going to spend the rest of their lives convincing people that they were good officers, and got out because they were tired of the beauracracy.
What a load of crap. Thank god for headphones.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
The waiting game
Damn if I am not still waiting to hear about a closing date. Ed(my mortgage guy) is really dropping the ball on this one. He told me 10 days ago that everything was complete, and we just needed to set up a closing date. I got an email a couple of days ago saying everything was complete, and we were just waiting for a closing date. Frustratin.
The yellow bike is still listed on CycleTrader.com, though, so hopefully he hasn't sold it yet. I really like that bike, even better than the black one.
Hurry up Ed! After closing, I have to wait four days before I can request any money, since the HELOC is on my primary residence. So I am looking at end of next week at best to buy the bike. This is so hard. It's harder to wait now, when I know the financing is on the way, than it was last year, when there was no end in site.
On a positive note, the weather has been crappy, so I wouldn't be riding even if I already had the bike. Of course, the weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow, for the weekend, and it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend.
Bastards are going to be out in force this weekend, watch.
The yellow bike is still listed on CycleTrader.com, though, so hopefully he hasn't sold it yet. I really like that bike, even better than the black one.
Hurry up Ed! After closing, I have to wait four days before I can request any money, since the HELOC is on my primary residence. So I am looking at end of next week at best to buy the bike. This is so hard. It's harder to wait now, when I know the financing is on the way, than it was last year, when there was no end in site.
On a positive note, the weather has been crappy, so I wouldn't be riding even if I already had the bike. Of course, the weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow, for the weekend, and it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend.
Bastards are going to be out in force this weekend, watch.
Monday, March 14, 2005
New Truck!
Ford Explorer Sport Trac 2004
We decided to get a new truck. Courtney and I went to the dealership yesterday to test drive a Toyota Tacoma. We ended up testing a Ford Explorer Sport Trac. Then we went to the Chevy dealership, where we saw a 2004, with 15,000 miles. The truck had just been traded in the night before. We got a really good deal, both on trade and on the price of the truck. I am so stoked.
Since the truck hadn't even been there 24 hours, they couldn't give it to me yet; they have some inspections and cleanup and stuff to do. I am going to get it in about 45 minutes or so, after this lunch meeting thing we have today at work.
Tough night for Courtney
She is such a trooper. Courtney didn't come to bed until 3 am. She stayed up with Mik for like 4 or 5 hours after I went to sleep, and didn't complain once(so far).
Mik did not sleep well last night. She woke up at 5 this morning. I don't know what her deal is. She sleeps great on days when she and mommy are staying home together. On the nights when she is going to Pita's the next morning, she gets up crazy early.
I was hoping that last night she would stay asleep until after I got up and had a chance to do my morning routine. That was not to be. She woke me up an hour early, and was awake until after 7. It sure does take longer to get ready when she is up. My morning ritual takes max 30 minutes usually. I wasn't ready to leave today until 7:30, and I got up at 5. That is an extra two hours.
Sure do love her, though.
Seriously, I think I am the luckiest man alive. I have the most wonderful wife and daughter a guy could possibly have. I'm not sure I'll feel the same way about my hothead daughter in 13 to 15 years, but maybe.
Mik did not sleep well last night. She woke up at 5 this morning. I don't know what her deal is. She sleeps great on days when she and mommy are staying home together. On the nights when she is going to Pita's the next morning, she gets up crazy early.
I was hoping that last night she would stay asleep until after I got up and had a chance to do my morning routine. That was not to be. She woke me up an hour early, and was awake until after 7. It sure does take longer to get ready when she is up. My morning ritual takes max 30 minutes usually. I wasn't ready to leave today until 7:30, and I got up at 5. That is an extra two hours.
Sure do love her, though.
Seriously, I think I am the luckiest man alive. I have the most wonderful wife and daughter a guy could possibly have. I'm not sure I'll feel the same way about my hothead daughter in 13 to 15 years, but maybe.
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