I threw rocks down the garbage disposal
If you leave Dad alone, you have to expect a few mishaps. The kitchen is Mom’s domain. If I try to cook, I quickly become frustrated because I can’t find stuff. I usually stick with leftovers and frozen dinners when I’m left alone like I was this week during spring break. I also try to keep the kitchen tidy and cleanup as I go. There is also invariably at least one booby trap I have to negotiate when I’m left alone in the house and linger too long in places (like the kitchen). It’s like the old Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies when he comes home and Cato is hiding somewhere ready to pounce on Clouseau.
The other night as I was leaving the kitchen I saw a cup, actually, a sippy-cup with no lid, so I quickly picked it up and dumped the contents into the sink. Thanks Cassidy. Who thinks to check for rocks at the bottom of a cup filled with water in the kitchen? If you have kids, you should. I guess.
BTW, my disposal doesnt’ work. Big surprise huh? The rocks were all flat and small, like wood chips. I thought I was clever using a piece of bread, balled up to retrieve pieces I couldn’t get with my hand. But I can feel one stubborn rock stuck on the side preventing the disposal from spinning.
Venting about XBOX
Whew! Asking to speak to a supervisor can often be the beginning of a stressfull conversation. Fortunately tonight turned out well.
I got an email from XBOX Live today. It began:
Dear Customer,
Your subscription to Yearly subscription to Xbox Live is
scheduled to be automatically renewed on Friday, April 14, 2006…For this subscription you will be charged
$49.99 per year, plus applicable taxes. Unless you cancel your subscription
before it ends, you will automatically renew to the currently selected renewal
subscription type at the then current price…
I bought my XBOX, Christmas of 2004. I signed up for a free trial to XBOX Live but canceled it at the end of the trial. Don’t you hate it when a credit card is required to get something "Free"? They don’t charge you but they just put the onus on you to cancel and if you forget, you know what happens. You don’t want to give them your credit card number but if it’s something you really want to try, you don’t have a choice so you take a chance and give them your number. You know how excited you are when you first get your XBOX, of course you want to check out the online service.
Okay, so someone screwed up at XBOX Live. When I called this evening they had a record that my account was viewed the day before the 1-year subscription started, but no record of a cancellation. I never thought about it again until I received the email today. So I called. They don’t let you cancel through the web or email.
The person I spoke to was pleasant and said upfront she wouldn’t be able to refund my $50 when I asked but that she could go ahead and cancel the subscription (again) and put me through to a supervisor afterward. OK. After canceling, again she was very up front and told me I may have to wait but that she would be on hold with me and would check back in 5 minutes.
Well I only held for about 2 minutes and when she came back on she said "Good news. I’ve been authorized to refund you your money." Sweet.
I really didn’t want to be upset at Microsoft. I still have an XBOX 360 to buy and the new XBOX Live service to try. The main reason I’m not an XBOX subscribe is that David is only 7 and he doesn’t need more reason to play the XBOX more than he already does. I hear great things about the new service, the free downloads the game matching system and now there isn’t a bad experience with XBOX Live to give me pause about trying the service again one day.
Way to go Microsoft. I still think it’s cheesy that you require a credit card for a trial but the fact you send out an email prior to "automatically" renewing the service shows you’re not too evil and do care about your customers.
Integrating with Google Earth
Google Earth KLM Tutorial – The Google Earth KML Document details everything you need to know to create and share information with the Google Earth client
Remaining invisible in your writing
Found this nice post via Scoble about "remaining invisible in your writing"
You can have an ugly site and be successfull
Robert has a post titled "The role of anti-marketing Design" where he supports the idea that ugly websites do better than attractive ones. I don’t think the sites are popular BECAUSE they are ugly, rather despite their appearance. I think the popularity of "ugly" sites proves that it’s all about the content.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby keeps popping up described as the best thing since sliced bread.
Okay, I’ll check it out (one of these days)
Quick Tour of Ruby by Steve Yegge
Steve highly recommends this intro on Ruby
Ruby on Rails: Making Programmer’s Happy – An interview with Heinemeier Hansson, the creator.
Why Features Don’t matter anymore
Damien responds to the article "why features don’t matter anymore"
Maybe I can do web development
I feel myself moving over to the dark side. I don’t like web development. I say that, not having done much of it. What I’ve done and what I know, it seems like a huge step back from my comfortable world of client development where all things are known and within reach. But Windows Development no longer rules supreme. I thought Rich clients were the answer but I’m no longer so sure.
One web designer I know put it this way: "Regarding Web Development, creating web pages is for designers, the hard core programmers are much more comfortable doing server development where they don’t have to mess with HTML". I’ll buy that.
I asked the designer why browser based apps are becoming the de facto standard. I’ve always believed browser based apps came from a requirement that platforms beyond Windows be supported; or that people need access to a program and their data when they’re not at home. The browser is the common platform where a single code base could be developed and run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. With some prodding on my part, the designer finally arrived at what I believe to be the real reason. Programs are developed for the browser because the browser presents a metaphor that people are familiar with. Most people will be able to figure out and navigate a new website (i.e. browser-based service) with no training. And there is a browser on every computer sold with no software installation needed. All you need to know is a web address.
I just finished taking an intensive one week class titled C# Boot Camp. The instructor was Richard Shaw of The Richard Hale Shaw Group. I learned a lot. I learned a bunch of stuff I wish I’d known when I was thrown into C# development for the first time four months ago. It was great exposure to the breadth of functionality and constructs of the .NET Framework.
One thing that I find seductive about .NET is that if I choose to go in that direction for web development, I can skip the whole AJAX thing and for the most part, build websites in C# ! I realize, that was Microsoft’s intention with .NET, win over the non-html programmers. I find HTML and Java script very frustrating to work with.
I"m also thinking of porting my Client User Interface Library to .NET.
Today, simplicity rules and if you have to give up some functionality and speed (yeah, yeah, I know AJAX rocks and all, but that just brings web apps closer to par with client apps and there is still plenty of stuff best done on the client) when using a browser based app, so bit it. People are voting with their mouse and flocking to the web for functionality that was once the domain of the client app.
Is the Bible Error free?
Why Biblical Inerrancy Isn’t Important.
Unless, of course, your faith, or lack thereof, needs it to be.
"…Here’s a good reference
as to why many believe the Bible to be a fallible work of men. For an
in-depth argument that the Bible is inerrant, and a list of possible
explanations of commonly perceived errors, here’s a good link. For a good overview of inerrancy, try here, or here.
Whatever our beliefs, we are all served by knowledge and understanding.
If what we believe is valid, no insult or abuse can really tarnish it,
nor should we fear critical discussion of it. Blind bias is the only
thing we need to fear."