I've Got It

I have been fairly skeptical of Twitter. Who really cares if I am at the store or watching The Big Bang Theory. Apparently I was being narrow minded. Rox and Shane have taken grasp of this Twitter thing and use it regulary to provide information, links, and what-not to their customers and each other. I tell them I don't get it. They say: "You will." Yesterday was my enlightenment.

On Memorial Day I cut my arm and had to go to the ER. Yesterday my 14 days was up and I had to get my staples taken out. Apparently it costs $1200 for:

5 staples - add

+ 1 tetanous shot

+ 5 hours of my time

+ removal of staples

On my way to the ER ( to have staples removed ) I thought how great it would have been to have taken a picture of my arm after I cut it. Something to show the grandkids. A bit of gruesome novelty to share with my friends. Then it dawned on me. "I could have tweeted it so that everyone could see it too." Not everyone. The 3 strangers that were following me at the time. Regardless they would have had play by play action. I could have taken pictures and then tweeted the whole experience.

As I was leaving this guy walks into the ER with brutal road rash and his hand splintered. My mom, being overly protective, always claimed that if I played with fireworks that I would blow-up my hand and and burn myself. This guy looked exactly like my mom had threatened.

If only I had my phone. I could have shared this with the world and my three twitter friends.

Debt Consolidation

A few months ago I read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  In case you have not read it and/or do not plan to: the book provides common sense strategies to get out of debt and remain debt free.  I’m not in financial despair.  But you never know when you will wake up and find yourself sleeping in your car. 

Shortly after reading the book I read Jeff Atwood’s article on technical debt.   Finally I had a way to tell my boss why I cringe every time someone wants to add or tweak something.  Finally there was a way that everybody can relate to.  She understood completely.  Of course the first question was How?  A light burst in my head.  In great excitement I went over Dave’s plan.

Dave’s method is fairly simple in theory.  You list all your debt.  Things that are due now go on top.  Under these items you list your debt from the least to the most money you owe.  Once you have your list you start with #1.  The other items you pay your minimum.  #1 gets every extra cent you can pinch out.  Sale the lawnmower if you have to.  Once #1 is paid off you take that payment and add it to the minimum payment for #2.  You keep collapsing the list in this manner until you are debt free.  The most important thing is that you do not acquire additional debt through this process.  The reason you list your debt from least owed to most is the belief that you will accomplish one goal, get excited, and continue on accomplishing these goals.

This is perfect for the technical debt I have.  Using Covey’s quadrants I can prioritize my debt to find what has to be paid today.  Next in line will be the 10-minute fixes followed by the 16-hour fixes and so on.  Once my list is complete I can work to remain debt free.

Open Folder as VS Web Site

Thank you Brad
for this.

1. From VS go Tools --> Macros IDE
   
2. Right click My Macros
   
3. Add new module named WebSite
   
4. Add reference to VsWebSite.Interop.dll
   
5. Copy the following into the the WebSite module

Sub OpenWebsite(Optional ByVal path As String = "")
If (String.Compare(path, String.Empty)= 0) Then
    MsgBox("Must supply a folder path to the OpenWebsite macro",
            msgBoxStyle.OkOnly)
Else
    Dim webPkg As VsWebSite.VSWebPackage webPkg =
            DTE.GetObject("WebPackage")
    webPkg.OpenWebSite(path,
            VsWebSite.OpenWebsiteOptions.OpenWebsiteOption_None,
            False)
End If
End Sub

1. Create a new file named OpenWebSite.reg
   
   


2. Copy the following into this file:
   
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\OpenVSWeb]@=

      "Open as Visual Studio Website"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\OpenVSWeb\command]

@="devenv.exe /command \\\"Macros.MyMacros.Website.OpenWebsite %1\\\""



3. Double click on OpenWebSite.reg
   
   
   

WSS 3.0 Installation

I recently installed WSS 3.0 on my laptop that is running Server 2008. By default the installation installed the databases in Windows Internal Database which is not what I wanted. I want the tables running SQL Server 2008 instance and I want them named WSS_Config and WSS_AdminContent. Here's how to do it.

1. If you have not done so already, add C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin to the path System Variable. This is a must if you plan to work with SharePoint.
   
2. run psconfig.exe -cmd configdb -create -server SQLServerInstanceName -database WSS_Config -admincontentdatabase WSS_AdminContent
3. Administrative Tools ---> SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard

After this completes goto Administrative Tools ----> SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration to create a new site or upgrade an existing web app.

Intro...

A spot in case I have something to say.