Bruce's Blog
Heading "South" – Any Ideas?
For various reasons we haven't taken a vacation (of more than a long weekend) in several years. When looking at the calendar late last summer, it looked like the best time, schedule-wise, wouldn't be until the end of January / beginning of February - so that's...
PC ProSchools of Grand Rapids
Before I forget this with all that is going on, I came across a new resource in town when I was talking my certification test last week (or was it the week before?). I was looking online for a place to take my test when the "PC ProSchools" link came up as a...
Programming WPF: Books: Chris Sells,Ian Griffiths
I posted a review of this book to Amazon, but also wanted to share it here. It really is the best single book on the topic now. I met both of the authors many years ago in Boston at a WinDev/DevelopMentor conference and they are both really talented...
15,000 digital pictures (& counting)
Well we've officially amassed >15,000 digital pictures since 2002 - that's ~8 a day so it isn't a crazy amount. I used to be able to back up to a DVD and get them all. Then a dual-layer DVD. Now I'll be using multiples of something to get a...
N.J. Orders HIV Testing For Pregnant Women – washingtonpost.com
I know this will get discussed a lot in the coming year (and is waaay off topic of my usual posts), but this new law in New Jersey bugs me - lets look just from a "cost of health care perspective" (read the many other objections from all sides of the political...
Return of the Heathkit HERO – now with Visual Studio
Waaay back in high school (circa 1985/86) I got a chance to spend 2 hours a day working with computers and robotics. One was just a robotic arm that integrated into the Apple ][+ serial port (and game port). The other was the Heathkit "HERO Jr. (RT-1)" (Heathkit...
Passed a Microsoft test – last minute 2007 goal achieved!
Well I waited until the last week of the year, but I did pass my 70-536 exam last week .... Congratulations on Your Exam Success! Congratulations on passing Microsoft® Certification Exam 536 - TS: Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation....
My Chumby
I'll post more about this soon, but I wanted to see if this "virtual chumby" worked on the blog. My "geek present" this year was a "Chumby" (www.chumby.com). In short it is a mini touch-screen device that you can subscribe to different "widgets" on...
BlogEngine.NET 1.3 released
Well, as of 7:45am I upgraded to v1.3 of BlogEngine.NET. Staying current is the main reason, though the enhanced Windows LiveWriter support (the blog software I usually post with) is nice, and more customization abilities will also be great (full list of enhancements...
Surprise Hit – Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker
Christmas was really great this year - I'll probably post more on that soon (not a quick post) - but I wanted to get this out there if anyone is doing any returns/exchanges or has after-Christmas purchases to make. We had a variety of "typical" presents this year...
Merry Christmas
I can't imagine posting again before Christmas, so I wanted to wish everyone a safe and blessed Christmas.
Bug or a Feature
I don't know why images are getting to me so much today, but I laughed out lout today (while trying to get some software projects "out the door" by the end of the year).
The Bible According To Google Earth
This is really creative - with all the people using Google Maps and Google Earth to view directions and satellite images from space, what would it have been like if this was available in Biblical times? A group called The Glue Society has tried to image it and...
Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed
Advice from Bill Gates is worth noting - full link / transcript below - here are the highlights. "Working knowledge of productivity software" - I'll buy that, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, e-mail, etc. (yes I know that's what he sells)...
Now we’re talking!! ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview
This will certainly take a few months to really understand and process, but today's public preview release of the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions is really a big deal. What do we get to look forward to? For all the details, see the download page - here are the highlights from...
Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day – Saturday 12/8
While clearly not nearly as fun as "Talk Like a Pirate Day", this still struck me and kind of interesting. Some creative ideas at the link below. My favorite was..... "Walk up to random people and say 'WHAT YEAR IS THIS?' and when they tell you, get quiet and...
Blizzard Warning!! FOR HAWAII!!
Now that's something you don't hear every day. 24 Hour News 8 Blogs » Blizzard Warning!! FOR HAWAII!!
Cool Tool: Tourist Remover
I've got to try this out soon - if it works it could really be brilliant. The idea is that you take a number of pictures (3+) of something touristy (i.e. something that people and cars are going past and getting "in the way"). Don't have to be perfectly...