Vixen 03 and Cyclops

Vixen 03 was not as good as some of the Cussler books, but Cyclops was redeeming. Both had intrigue. Good reads.

Raise The Titanic! a Review

Reading through some of Cussler's first books, I recognize that he was still trying to develop his style, the style you see more consistently through his later books. However, Raise the Titanic! is a good read, really going into the outlandish escape of a good adventure novel.

I have Vixen 03 and Cyclops here by my desk. Maybe I can hold off on reading them. We'll see.

Iceberg, an Interesting read

Not quite the same as the other Cussler books I've read. He certainly did get better with age and time. But a good read none-the-less.

What a nice group of guys...

on Channel9. I posted this question and got a bunch of conversation on it. Not always do I get such a response, but this discussion helped me look at things with fresh eyes.

My problem was that the designer view I was using to look at a SQL command (which talks to a SQL stored procedure) was not showing me, in a way that I recognized, what it thought I wanted for values. (Take a look at the channel9 post for the boring details.)

So here's a point for new programmers. (That was my goal, wasn't it? Helping new guys?) The designer is great, it speeds up development time, but sometimes it's good to check what's going on under the hood. It gives you more power, knowing what you can and can't do, and sometimes the designer does what you don't want it to do.

More items selling

I'm cleaning out my closet. Selling stuff I haven't used in ages. Take a look at the Buy my Ebay link over on the right hand side.

Subversion Source Control

Just ordered Practical Subversion to try and help me learn Subversion Source Control. We'll see how it goes. Anybody else out there use this?

Don't Leave Earth without It

This will provide much material for the Red Green Show. Don't Leave Earth without It shows us that silvery grey wonder tape can still do it all.

A new step

Since many of my friends are musically inclined, in fact, many programmers, I've decided to join them. I've gotten a guitar. An electric guitar to be exact. Actually, it was given to me by my brother-in-law who is moving and is taking his acoustic guitar with him. He also gave me a small amp and a distortion peddle.


I used to take piano/keyboard lessons when I was a kid, and have always wanted to get more involved in learning an instrument. A free instrument was very opportune. I've had many folks show me how to play a few strings here and there, but without a guitar of my own, it was all for not. Now I can strum along to my hearts content, and my wife's discontent.

Back to programming, I don't remember if I mentioned here or not, but we've implemented a home grown Project Management system. Basically, you can post projects, and update the status of them. I built it from the ground up, database included, using examples I've seen online. My boss loves it. Guess that's what matters most.