Flickr: luminea's photos tagged with strobelab

High-speed camera + (Rose + Liquid Nitrogen) == Awesome.

Adam Nathan's Win32 to WinFX Blog : Windows Vista: It's the little things...

Adam Nathan's Win32 to WinFX Blog : Windows Vista: It's the little things...

Wow. I really like the second-to-the-bottom screen shot.

I don't know about you all, but I usually have so much crap in my Start menu that, even though I spend time organizing it, I have a heck of a time actually finding anything that I don't use on a daily basis. (And things that I use on a daily basis are copied into a taskbar toolbar, anyway...)

ANYWAY...

WinAmp 5.1 'Surround Edition'

I just grabbed the latest-n-greatest version of WinAmp because I heard a rumor that it has Podcast support somehow built into the Media Library.

I download it.

I install it.

I fire it up.

It has the usual 'WinAmp WINAMP winamp...it really WHIPS the llamas ass' sample MP3 queued up, as well as a second MP3 that came with the download.

I hit play. It plays, it whips the llama, and prompty crashes.

I fire WinAmp up a second time. Try it again. Yup. That MP3 kills winamp. How neat! I fire it up AGAIN and try playing the other MP3 -- as the song ends, it crashes WinAmp! Any song ending crashes WinAmp. How nice! :D

UPDATE:
I did a bit of searching, and discovered that I wasn't the only one with this problem!

Someone suggested disabling the new Predixis MusicMix (or whatever it's called) plugin. I disabled it, and tada! No crashing!

Bad Predixis plugin...BAD!

Turn Your Head

I have a distant interest in wood working. (ie: I really would like to get into it, but time spent on other hobbies, the money for tools and wood, life in general, etc -- it all prevents me from really getting into it.)

But anyway, the point of this post:
If I ever get a lathe, I really want to make something like this:
Turn Your Head. Really really cool.

August 18th's PvPOnline

Anybody else ever have a conversation like this?

I've had a couple... You guess which side of the conversation I'm on. ;)

Amazon.com: Books: Earthcore

I've recently finished listening to a free podcast audio book called Earthcore. It was long, but I loved it. The good news it that the author, Scott Sigler, got published! Actually, this book was going to get published once, but then got cut shortly after 9/11.

If you want to pre-order the book, grab it here:
Amazon.com: Books: Earthcore
I highly recommend this book.

Optimus keyboard

Optimus keyboard

Now this is a pretty cool keyboard! Every key is a tiny LCD screen, and you can display whatever you want on each key.

That's definitely geeky. But I've got a couple problems. I loves me my Microsoft Natural keyboard (the _ORIGINAL_, none of these new ones w/ screwed up arrow and insert/delete/pgup/pgdown key layouts, or with 30 extra shortcut buttons.) Why don't any of these cool keyboards that I'd actually want ever come in ergo-configurations? My only other problem with this keyboard would be that I know I wouldn't use the LCD keys for legit purposes. I'd end up with naughty pictures all over my keyboard or some other useless configuration. :)

Oh, I guess I implied that there are other 'cool' keyboards out there, eh? Here's a few, just from ThinkGeek:
Das Keyboard.
Maltron Super Ergo KB.
EluminX KB.
Rool-Up KB

and my favorite that I would LOVE to try for at least a month:
The TouchStream LP Zero-Force no-physical-keys, gesture-enabled/compatible keyboard. *drrooooool*

I bent my Whidbey!

Ok, this is weird. For friends / family who come here not knowing what "Whidbey" is, please, just move along.

So, I've been using Whidbey for a while now and I've never experienced anything as weird as I experienced today. I'm posting this to re-hash my experience, and hopefully find someone else who's experienced this problem, and maybe, just maybe have someone tell me why it happened.

First, some background on the project I'm working on. This project requires the implementation of two seperate but very similar and intertwined, applications. Because of the shared elements, I felt it best to create a Solution consisting of three projects -- two main Windows Forms projects and a common Class Library project. The mains reference the common project and use the helper methods, 'middle-tier' business objects, common tool form windows, project-property dialogs, etc, that the common project serves-up.

At some point I guess I did something wrong this morning because I opened a code view, and I could type characters and numbers, but I couldn't press enter, backspace, delete, or the arrow keys. It's almost as if any key that wasn't an [a-zA-Z0-9] key was just discarded by the IDE. I could highlight code and copy/cut/paste from the right-click context menu, but I couldn't use the ctrl-[cxp] shortcut keys to do the same thing. I also noticed that when I was typing, Intellisense wasn't poping up.

Ok. . . Weird.

I tried many things.

• Closed all open files -- nope.


• Checked everything into Source Safe, then back out -- nope.


• Closed the solution, and closed VS2005, and opened it back up -- nope.


• Rebooted my PC -- nope.


• Deleted the bin and obj directories from my 3 project directories and re-opened the solution -- nope.


• Reset all VS keyboard shortcut customizations -- nope.


• Rebuilt a 'clean' copy of the solution from Source Safe -- nope.


• Opened VS2005, created a dummy project -- NO PROBLEMS!.
  ("Ok, so it seems like it's something with my solution." I thought.)


• Opened a different, pre-existing, previously known-to-be-working project -- NO PROBLEMS!.
  ("Yup...it's definately something with my solution.")

I'd almost run out of options (I really didn't want to try the uninstall/reinstall 'option',) when it became crystal-clear that it was something in my solution that was causing the problem...but what? There were no build errors, the application ran, and I can seemingly view all designers and code windows, I just couldn't edit code!

So, how did I 'fix' it? I'm not sure if I fixed it, or if it fixed itself, but here's what I did:

• Fired up my 'broken' solution


• Confirmed that, yes, it was still broken.


• File->New->Project. Created another junk project/solution. (ie: I never closed Visual Studio.)


• Confirmed that, yes, in this junk project/solution, there were no problems with the code editor -- Intellisense was working, and so was enter/delete/backspace.


• File->Recent Projects->MyBroken.sln to re-open my 'broken' Solution.


• The Code Editor Worked.

- W - T - F -???

What was I doing before it 'broke'? Well, to tell you that, you need a little more background info.

Remember that the main form in the main projects use tool windows provided by the common project. As such, I wanted a way to handle any exceptions that might happen in the tool windows in my main projects. (ie: The main projects have 'centralized' exception displaying/logging, and I want exceptions that happen in the tool windows (provided by common,) to basically pass the exception to it's parent form for user-notification and logging.) To facilitate this, in the common project, I made a simple derived class that looked something like this:

public abstract class MySpecialForm : System.Windows.Forms.Form {
 protected virtual void ExceptionHandlerCORE(Exception ex, string logfile) {
    ...
 }

 public virtual void ExceptionHandler(Exception ex) {
    ...
 }
}

Then, in the main project, it's main form is derived from MySpecialForm. It overloads the ExceptionHandler method, calling base.ExceptionHandlerCORE(...), passing in a user-specific logfile.

This solves my requirement of having the common tool windows 'report' exceptions back to their owner form. All these tool windows need to do is something like this:

try {
   // something that throws an error
} catch (System.Exception ex) {
 MySpecialForm owner = (MySpecialForm)this.Owner;
 owner.ExceptionHandler(ex);
}

At this point I hear some of you guys hollaring: "You're MySpecialForm, it can't be declared abstract if you ever expect to use it in the Visual Studio Designer!" You're exactly right! It was with the discovery of this little fact that the IDE started acting weird, and the Code Editor decided to start acting up on me.

I tried opening the main project's main form, and instead of getting my form, I get a page telling me that MySpecialForm is declared abstract, and I can't work in the Designer because of that. Oookay. I closed the designer, went and modifed MySpecialForm so it wasn't abstract, rebuilt the Common project, tried re-opening the main project's form in the designer, but nope. The same error. *sigh* Stupid thing isn't seeing my recompiled common. I rebuilt the entire solution, which in the past has fixed problems where the main projects couldn't 'see' the recompiled changes in their referenced common assembly. I even tried removing and re-adding the reference to the compiled common assembly -- the error persisted. It was some where around that time that the Code Editor started acting wonky -- I think I closed/restarted Visual Studio in an effort to try and get main to refresh it's references, and then the weirdness in the code editor began.

And with that...I'm out. I've got to thank my friend Mr .NET for helping me try to figure this out. I've also got to chastize him for not knowing the answer! heh.

With that, I leave the floor open. Someone tell me they've seen this before!

Snap-Crackle-Pop (NOT) Rice Crispies!

Well, I finally broke down and went and saw a chiropractor.

For over a week now, just sitting here working all day has caused the musles in the back of my neck to knot up tight/stiff, along with the occasional burning sensation. It was driving me nuts. It was giving me the worst headaches. With the family sinus problems, I'm no stranger to sinus headaches, and these aren't sinus headaches. Almost migraine like. Quite literally a pain in the neck/head.

Usually, when I have a bad headache of any sort, and the meds just aren't helping much, I always get relief from a good nights sleep.

Not anymore.

In fact, seemingly by the luck of the draw, I could wake up with a sore neck, and a fresh headache starting to soak itself in. Heather suggested I either go to the doctor, or "Doctor Dave" (the local chiropractor that everyone swears by.) Well, Doctor Dave wouldn't take a new patient, so I went to this Doc. Peterson, Chiro-back-crack-ologist and Nutritionalist.

Well, he snap-crackle-popped me, and TADA! I feel a bit better! There's inflamation in the joints (that was there BEFORE the rice-crispy-action,) that will take some time, and ice, to settle down, but for now, I'm feeling a ton better! WOOO!

Guiness Book of World Records

So, according to this article in the campus news paper, MTU has set a record for for the world's biggest pendulum...104 years after making the actual pendulum.

Huh. Weird.

From the sounds of it, it's purpose was basically a depth-o-meter, if there is such a thing.

Is It Monday Already?

*yaaaaaawwwn*

Wow, it's Monday already, and I'm sitting here at work, sipping a cup of coffee, trying to get caught up on email, news, and get some coding done. BUT, before that, a quit entry. This weekend seemed like it went non-stop!

Saturday, I woke up all geared-up and ready to brew a batch of beer. I had the idea of waking up 'early' (8/9am,) and getting the brewing done quickly, but as Heather will attest, I say that I'd like to wake up on many brew days. That bed is just far too comfortable to wake up early. :)

We finally all did wake up around 10-ish. Breakfast was had. Coffee was brewed, and drank. I got garbed-up, and went wading through the snow banks in order to drag wood from the pile to the basement. Fires flamed, the house was warmed. Noon rolled by, and I decided I needed to get moving if this beer was ever going to get brewed! I fired up the computer and started doing the final calculations for the recipe.

See, I was originally going to brew a 5+/- gallon batch of brown ale. Err, 'nut brown ale' you call it because I guess calling something a 'brown ale' just sounds like you're brewing a poop-brew. ) My recipe, as I brewed it, isn't available online (yet.) You can find the original recipe I based my recipe upon here. (Basically, I just converted it to all-grain, and swapped a little of the Special-B Malt for Dark (135-165L) Crystal Malt.)

ANYWAY, I _WAS_ going to brew a 5-ish gallon batch. Well, I had a really good yeast culture going of White Labs WLP023 - Burton Ale Yeast that I got from a friend (thanks, Randy!) It's a surprisingly good yeast that I'd brewed with once before that has a really great 'English' character, and as that White Labs page will attest, is well-suited for an English-style brown ale. The thing is, I also had 'rescued' a yeast culture that I put away over a year ago of White Labs WLP001 - California Ale Yeast. Just about any brewer who's worth his salt has used this yeast at least once. It's _the_ 'American' yeast. Clean, crisp, and unlike an English yeast, it's really quite 'clean' for an ale yeast -- very little fruity esters. It accentuates (big word for the day...had to look up how to spell it,) the hops and grains instead of masks them under the yeast characteristics. CRAP Can I actually get to the point? I'll try. So, this yeast that I was sure was dead, came back to life! The starter culture smelled and tasted clean, surprisingly no infection that I could detect, so I just had to use it. So, my point that I was trying to get at? I decided to brew an 8+ gallon batch, and split the batch among the two yeasts, so I needed to scale the recipe up before actually getting started.

While I was deftly tacking away at the keyboard, Heather was getting a grocery list made up. A pretty big one too! It was somewhere in the middle of this that I realized I didn't have Fuggles hops! I was sure I had them. I dug through the freezer upstairs, and the freezer downstairs. No Fuggles hops. CRAP.

"Ok, this isn't a problem, Heather's going into town, I'll go with, pick up the hops I need, no problem!" Except in the back of my head I knew I was already resigning the brew to another day.

With a grocery list like the one Heather had in hand, this wasn't going to be a quick into-town-and-back-home joy ride. Really, the list didn't have that many things on it, but it included at least four separate stops at different stores. That's a pretty good days worth of shopping, and anyone who has/has-had a baby knows it's going to be an even-longer day. And you know how it is when you get into the store: you're going to browse and if you're in a hurry, every obstacle will be in your way. Friends you haven't seen in a while? "Hello!" Long lines? Yup. By the time we got out of Wally-World I was sure I wasn't brewing on Saturday.

I don't think we actually hit the road until about 1:30. I think we got home some time around 6:30, 7:00. Yeesh. But hey! I got a new pair of jeans out of it, and if you know how often I buy new clothes, that's a pretty big deal! Instead of piddling away the rest of the evening, after dinner I got my grain mill, and scale, and went to work on measuring out my grains and crushing them so I wouldn't have to spend the extra time in the morning.

You know what's awesome? Hooking your 14v cordless drill to your grain mill! Holy crap! I can grind grain in no time flat! It's amazing!


Well, anyway, Sunday rolls around. Noah and I wake up, and make breakfast for all three of us. While breakfast is getting prepared, I put my mash water (about 5 gallons) on the stove to heat up. By the time breakfast was done, the mash water is ready, and I mash-in. I decided to try mashing in my 10 gallon GOTT cooler that I picked up at a garage sale this year. This cooler is AWESOME! After an hour-long mash, I was surprised to see that the mash hadn't dropped a single degree! Very cool.

Anyway, to wrap things up....the rest of the brew day was typical, the sparge went fine, the boil went fine, and I ended up with two carboys with about 4.5 gallons of wort in each. I checked this morning on my way to work and both carboys are burpling away like a happy wort-becoming-beer should.

Anyway...I need to get going. I guess I could talk about putting together the treadmill, or the fun I had with Heather and Noah, but yeesh, this post is long enough! I'll talk about that in another post. :)

Do you have a dirty monitor?

Be sure to get your screen cleaned for free! www.clean-your-screen-for-free-now.com

A Couple Weeks To Late

This is a couple weeks too late, but who cares? It's a homebrewers Christmas Carole, supposidly by Dr. Clayton Cone:


'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Every creature was thirsty, including the mouse...
The steins were empty, and the bottles were too.
The beer had been drunk with no time to brew.

My family was nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of Christmas Ale foamed in their heads.
Mama in her kerchief lamented the drought,
She craved a pilsner and I, a stout.

When out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the kitchen, I flew like a flash,
Opening the door with a loud bang and crash!

I threw on the switch and the lights, all aglow,
Gave a luster of mid-day to the brew-pot below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But Gambrinus himself, the patron of beer.

With a look in his eye, so lively and quick,
He said, "You want beer? Well, here, take your pick."
More rapid than eagles, his recipes came
As he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

"Now, Pilsener! Now, Porter! Now, Stout and Now Maerzen!
On, Bitter! On, Lager! On, Bock and On Weizen!"
"To the top of the bottles, the short and the tall,
Now brew away, brew away, and fill them all!"

As dried hops before a wild hurricane fly,
And then, without warning, settle down with a sigh,
So towards the brew-pot, the ingredients flew,
Malt extract, roasted barley and crystal malt, too.

And then in a twinkling, I heard it quite plain,
The cracking open of each barley grain.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
Into the kitchen, he came with a bound.

He was dressed like a knight, from his head to his toes,
With an old family crest adorning his clothes.
A bundle of hops, he had flung on his back,
And the brewing began when he opened his pack.

His hops were so fragrant! His barley, how sweet!
The adjuncts included Munich malt and some wheat.
The malted barley was mashed in the tun,
Then boiled with hops in the brew-pot 'till done.

Excitement had me gnashing my teeth,
As the sweet smell encircled my head like a wreath.
Beer yeast was pitched, both lager and ale,
The wort quickly fermented, not once did it fail.

It was then krausened, or with sugar primed,
And just being bottled when midnight had chimed.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know, I'd be shortly in bed.

He spoke not a word but kept on with his work,
And capped all the bottles, then turned with a jerk.
And laying a finger alongside his nose,
He belched (quite a burp!) before he arose.

Clean-up was easy, with only a whistle,
And away the mess flew, like the down on a thistle.
And I heard him exclaim, 'ere he left me the beer,
"Merry Christmas to all! and a HOPPY New Year!"

Merry Christmas everyone!!
And Happy New Year!!

Yooper Lock De-Icer

I saw the strangest thing Tuesday morning on my way to work.

As I was getting to the top of Quincy Hill, almost to Peterson's Fish Market, I noticed the tell-tale light that is cast by dancing flames on the snow banks, and tree branches around the fish market.

At first, I thought the worst: "On no, Peterson's Fish Market is on fire!" Well, as I drove by, it all became clear, and I so wish I had a picture of what I saw.

Picture this: A man standing in front of Peterson's Fish Market...with a big tank of propane sitting next to him. In his hands? Why, a long-handled torch that resembled one of those torches you would use to burn the weeds in the cracks in your pavement, or burn a field or ditch in early spring. What's he doing with it?

He's flaming the doorknob to the building.

It was the most 'yooper' thing I've seen up here in a long time. I asked some of my coworkers who have been up here much longer than I have if they've ever seen or heard of anyone de-icing a lock in such a manner. Not a one ever had.

I wish I had gotten a picture.