Snow In Cullman

View from the Old Apartment (Birmingham)

Thanks, Rich!

Moved to Word Press

Moving techy stuff here.

Wine Bottling Party in Cali

Wondering why the roasted pig is dressed as a pirate? Eating a whole pig would just be gross any other way!

Paris Hotel

Check out the view!!!

Sac Railroad (for Dave)

Back from Asia!!

Thailand

On my way to Thailand, so my blogging may be more infrequent. :)

.Net Rounding

Trying to round money in C#? Watch out for Decimal.Round and Math.Round. Both rounding functions implement Banker's Rounding aka Rounding by Evens (IEEE Standard 754, section 4.)

What does this mean when you calculate tax? You might owe tax you did not collect.
1.005 rounds to 1.00
1.015 rounds to 1.02

So unless you have a Superman III plan of stealing fractions of pennies, watch your rounding!!

Sac House

Check out the new SacHouse. This is a beautiful Victorian in downtown Sacramento. Come by and check it out!!

Be nice

Be nice to me; I gave blood today!

Cade Du Monde

It's reassuring to read that Cafe Du Monde is reopening. The cafe is one of the many icons found in the French Quarter. I could certainly use some hot beignets covered in powered sugar along side a chocolate milk right now instead of this banana. Be sure to eat an order for me!

Hybrid Owners - Hug yourself

Toyota has recalled half of their hybrid Prius car line. Appearantly, due to a "software glitch", the car will "lock up" under normal driving conditions (such as going 70 on the highway). Lucky drivers can use what's left in their batteries to make it off to the side of the road. This seems to make all those jokes about rebooting your car come true.

Trip to the Market

Went to the Sacramento Farmer's Market last weekend. I was shocked to see a variety of goods from sunflower sprouts, sundried figs, flowers, watermelon, fresh salmon, to smoked pork loin. There were even LIVE CRAWFISH!! (Is $2.50/lb a good price?)

I also strolled down to the asian market. I was by far the tallest person in there. They actually had live catfish ready to buy. I had never seen catfish living in clear water before instead of Mississippi brown mud water. Their bbq pork over rice with drink for $4 was quite good. If I ever want to buy a whole cooked duck, I know where to go!

Nothing

Roberto thinks I wrote this article.

Rain

After nearly three months, it's rained here!! Unfortunately, my freshly washed car was parked underneath an oak tree...

Pizza?

Last night at Safeway, the cashier and customer in front of me were discussing adding white chocolate to greek pizza. Has anyone else ever heard of this??

Bye Bye Citrus Heights

Bye Citrus Heights! I have left your suburban sprawl for Midtown Sacramento.

Two good restaurants (of a handful non-chains), Sam's Kosher Restaurant and Erica's Cafe (both on Greenback Lane), will be missed. Sam's simply has the best prime rib sandwich, and Erica has an excellent mix of asian american dishes.

Moving Update

Well, I have moved into the new place. Expect pics soon. It was ironic though that my UHaul trailer had a Morgan County license plate. (Morgan is adjacent to my home of Cullman County which is home to Johnny's BBQ) What are the odds?!

Upon returning the trailer, I did break off a piece of their yellow painted curb that I decided to keep as a souvenir. After an hour of practice, I'm pretty sure I could back that trailer into a compact spot.

Dear SBC

Dear SBC,

This is not the best page to display when a customer is trying to order service:

Page Not Found (404) We've been upgrading this site and the page you requested has moved, been replaced, or is currently unavailable to view. Please continue exploring our site.

Sincerely,
An Annoyed Customer

Desktop Search (use copernic!)

I read Greg's blog about Yahoo Desktop Search today and wanted to add my two cents. Likewise, I've started working on large systems that have been around for a while, and Desktop Search is invaluable. The lightening fast email search also enables me to find urls, file paths, and passwords that are hidden in my emails. I originally tried Google, but found that it's indexing of code files was inconsistent. Copernic, however, is awesome!! I have all my Word Docs, PowerPoints, Emails, C#, Asp.Net, etc. all available for a quick search.

Almost Famous

Soon to be famous Doug Porter has been quoted on Computer World!!

Go Open Office!! Open Office 2.0 is currently in beta 2 and should be released soon. I just confirmed that it has the Auto Correct Spelling feature which is probably the most helpful feature that I can imagine.

Avast!!

Aye Maties, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!!

Lame Bug

Here's a lame bug that's been known to be in IIS for over a year. How hard can this be to resolve!!

SYMPTOMS:
The OK button is unavailable after you type or browse to the path of the .exe file or the .dll file and type the file name extension.

CAUSE:
This problem occurs because the Application Mappings dialog box sets the text box to a compacted path that includes ellipses for readability. Until the focus changes back to the text box, the compacted path is used and the path is not valid.

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=317948

Novel Concept

"Sustainability is a core value at Bon Appétit. The company is passionate about serving fresh food to its guests, purchasing directly from local farmers and artisan producers, and about protecting the environment. Bon Appétit is committed to using sustainable, local food supplies in all cafés throughout the country. Chefs develop original menus and meals that feature these ingredients, and café staff training ensures that the benefits of sustainable food are communicated to thousands of guests every day."

Once they take over our cafeterias, I'll let you know how much better than Sodexho they are. Fresh potatoes used for mashed potatoes, locally grown produce, wild caught salmon... I can't wait!

Katrina Telethon

If any of you generous people out there called during the Katrina Telethon, which broadcasted on six major networks, you might have talked to me. Friday after work, I received donations at my desk from donors in a variety of east coast states for the American Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Invasion

Scott Adams has invaded my department at work!!! Details here.

Brandy's Dip Recipe

Let me know how you like it:

1 (15-ounce) can white corn, drained
1 (15-ounce) can yellow corn, drained
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, diced and softened
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder chopped fresh cilantro to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a medium baking dish, mix white corn, yellow corn, diced tomatoes with green chiles, cream cheese, chili powder, garlic powder, and cilantro.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Yield: 48 servings.

Katrina 2005

Pictures from Katrina in Mobile and Biloxi.

Bob Denver

In case you missed it, Gilligan has passed away at the ripe age of 70. Here's a link to the Fan Club site, possibly one of the ugliest sites on the net.

Furniture

For a peak, here's the tv stand and leather chair that I purchased from Three Women and an Armoire.

Also, here's my new place!!!

Star Trek Punk?

I would have never believed that such a thing exisited: a Star Trek Punk Rock band!! Their name is Warp 11 and located right in the heart of Sacramento. Anything is possible in California...

SFO

Some San Fran pics.

Apartment

Ok, here's some pictures of my (hopefully temporary) CA apartment.

Religion

Thanks, Rich, for this humerous link.

Beat the Heat

My co-worker's children.

Birmingham

Just wanted to post about a couple of good restaurants in The Magic City of Birmingham, home of my friend, Vulcan.

My favorite is the Silvertron. An excellent mix of of my favorite dishes in a comfortable "at home" environment.

I just found Giuseppe's Cafe before I left, but it is the best Italian in the city in a quaint little restaurant full of tables and chairs just like what your grandmother might have.

But for the best BBQ in the world, you'll have to visit Cullman, Alabama for some Johnny's. Be sure to eat a BBQ Potato for me! If you do stop, be sure to pick up a bottle of their fine sauce and send it my way.

Pics from the trip

2300 miles is certainly a long way, and there's a lot of nothing across I-40.

Check out the pics at http://www2.rrxing.net/al2ca2005

More info on Cadillac Ranch here.

Quakes

Regardless of the recent seismic activity in California, Sacramento is rated in the top ten of healthiest cities in America.

Hello World!