Michael's Shower

Race to the front

I hate how both IE and Outlook race to be the first app on top. Why can't they be like Apple's iTunes software and quietly load in the background and not shove itself to the foreground partially loaded. I grow tired of yelling at the apps, "Don't show yourself unless you have something to show."

I also run in a non privileged account. It annoys me when I come across software that needs to run as an admin. Most of the time, I am fine with this arrangement.

My desktop has been cluttered for some time. It really bugged me. On occasion I would try to delete all these shortcuts only to find I didn't have the right permissions.

Yesterday I was determined to delete them. I was about to write an app and run it as an admin when I could not get Explorer to run as an admin. I then went to the Command prompt. Surely something there could help, I thought.

Maybe from Keith Brown's book or just a thought, I typed RUNAS and hit enter. Noticed the example Command prompt runas user, typed the example command, and ran DEL *.lnk in the new window.... success! Desktop is cleaner.

OK, that was really nerdy.

New web site

I finally broke down and got an ASP.Net hosted website. Here is the URL:

http://shadowtech-asp.net/

I plan to add a bunch to it over the next year... another toy. :)

Visual Studio

The more I use version 2003, the more I miss 2005, the more I'm curious about 2008, I need to download 2008; I have too little time or too many toys.

I wrote a BulletedListControl kind of like the one in 2005. I want to get another website that is hosted with ASP.Net so I can demo the code s well as showcase it.

Anyway, it is still C# I'm using in 2003. It could be worse. Like Borland C++ 6.0 or whatever they downgraded to at my old job.

VA Beach Republicans

I had a roommate from Virginia Beach. He said he was directionally impaired. So was the driver that took me there I thought. You can only take directions from a blind man with a grain of salt.

Oh well, it was a fun trip. I swear I had no idea it was for a campaigning thing for the Republican party. I helped a bit while enjoying all the free benefits.

I met a young lawyer this morning. I wish I would have got her name. Now it is next to impossible I'll find her again.

Wedding Announcement

Ii wish I could say it was mine, but a friend of mine told me he was getting married in December.

This came at a time where I was honestly (selfishly?) thinking I did not want to get married anymore. I even told another friend during our Bison burger dinner last night.

At any rate, congratulations to Travis and Erika.

Autopilot

Now I'm just waiting. I want to go to Institute.

Facebook account

I got a face book account. Ye ha!? I got it because I kept getting invites to it. I doubt I'll use it much, but whatever.

The NFL game yesterday was pretty fun. Maybe if it was a better team... Oh well. I'm glad I went so I can cross it off my list.

Still need to go to a DC united game. I wish I could play soccer more but the only place I know is quite a walk from a metro stop.

Redskins baby!

Just when I thought I could catch my breath this month, I went to a party last night. I have two parties to make an appearance at tonight. And to cap things off, I got tickets to a Redskins game tomorrow.

Jokingly I was asked to give a talk in Church when I announced I was going to the singles ward. "Sounds great," I said. "I'll give it on keeping the Sabbath Day holy while I wave my tickets around."

Should be fun. It'll be the first and probably the lat NFL game I go to. The best seat in the house is really in front of the TV. But it just doesn't replace the atmosphere.

On the go

We took a tour of the Island including a tiny zoo. It was "Go, go, go" like the vacations when I was little.

My Mom thought I was getting back at her for those childhood marches on the East Coast. Actually, I just wanted to see everything in the short space of time that I had.

Might go back, but I doubt it. I'm looking at Prince Edwards Island, Florida Keys, Iceland, the Canary Islands, or even England as my next ocean faring trip.

I should have bought more Cadbury products while in Bermuda. Oh well, it wasn't like I had enough to eat already.

Royal Promenade 2

Monkey in the room

We found this after being out and about. I did not even notice the banana until the next morning. I was wondering what happened to it.

After my first one was confiscated that morning as I tried to leave the ship with it, I grabbed another at lunch time but failed to take it out of the room before leaving.

I took one off the ship the previous day. I only got away with it because it was packed up. Oh well, we didn't go far the next morning so we could eat on the ship, seeing how it was already paid for.

Royal Promenade

The Platter

On the cruise, for both breakfast and lunch we got a large oval platter to fill to our hearts content. One comedian in the farewell show, said that the platter was probably the most looked at item for the duration of the trip.

I missed all the great breakfast food, so I had to go to this FHE group that was doing breakfast for dinner. I knew I could walk out there but got turned around a bit and barely found the place.... Yummy pancakes! I also had this PBJ french toast thing. It was also good.

Well, I got lost on the way out. I called for intel on which direction I was going. I needed to go south but I was going north. D'oh! I was so far off, I was told to wait until they came by to get me.

City that never sleeps?

One reason I wanted to leave out of New Jersey on my cruise was to see the NYC skyline. I saw it once when I was a kid but it was rather hazy out and I didn't remember much.

New Jersey was a hole, but that is a different story. It was neat to be the in harbor and see the Statue of Liberty and all.

Friday morning we were back in the harbor and the city looked dark. It was about 6;30am and it was light enough to see outside, but I saw very few lights from the city. I guess it does go to sleep... it just stays up really late.

MP3 catch up

I am finally catching up on my podcasts, email, etc., and General Conference. It is pretty slick to get the latest off the Internet.

I am always impressed how many languages these talks are in. Also, I noticed English is not listed at the top like it was a few years ago. I suppose it is only fair to put it in sorted order because it is not just a Utah church as too many people misconceive.

I'm going to need to update the poster on my wall to reflect the changes in the First Presidency and the twelve.

Big Mac transportation

The last two days I was on almost every type of transportation vehicle: boat (Royal Caribbean cruise ship from Bermuda), airplane to Regan National, bus to the house, car to Shenandoah area to ride a horse named Big Mac.

It has been a fun month so far. I have lots more plans for the rest of the month. Should be great. I'm not sure of the total I spent, but sometimes you just need to splurge.

I have also learned some information I have a hard time dealing with. Well, just not sure how I'll respond. I guess I'll just wait and watch.

Happy Fall

I'm back! I got my laptop back but now it is late and should get some sleep.

I had to post this that came from a relative's spam email list.

I need to post where I went, what I did, etc.

Gone fishin'

Sorry, I'll be out for a while. I've been out for a couple days already.

I clicked on the wrong button so to see the image of the day, you will need to click the link below.

View image

Ad: Firehouse Sub

I went here later last night. It was very good. I like how they offered an 8 inch sub. That is the perfect size.

Too bad there is not one of these near work or I would go there all the time.

I'm electric

There was a wire in the unfinished basement. I was smart enough not to touch it. Well, I believe I was also told not too. One day I think I accidentally bumped into it and I had the weirdest sensation. Fortunately it did not do any damage.

I guess I was just lucky that way.

I remember once taking apart an old telephone. I removed the bell and had the great idea to take two of the protruding wires and shove them into the power socket. I thought it was neat the the bell would ring.

Days later, when I went to try it again, the bell could not be found. I don't recall what happened to it. Probably a good thing I never did find it again.

Spell checker

Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make web development like regular application development. I think I have mentioned that before.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I was banging my head all morning about getting a pop up to use the third party spell checker we bought just because they don't know what the Google toolbar is.

Microsoft should have put one a spell checker in IE a long time ago. But why not just ship with Google's toolbar?

Dead or sleeping?

My CD player/alarm clock started working the other day. It hadn't been working for a long time. it was kind of shock to hear voices all of sudden.

Now, I think my cell phone alarm just decided to stop working. I'm not sure what is going on with that. I just thought it was amazing both events occurred so close to each other.

Well, as long as the sun keeps coming up, I think I can wake u at a reasonable hour on my own.