"Blog about Jott" ...A message I left myself.

I've been meaning to write about this topic and am just now getting to it. A few months ago, I had identified a problem in my life. I have a crappy memory. That's neither a new or startling revelation. I attempt to mitigate my crappy memory with to-do lists on scraps of paper files with limited success. The particular issue with that resolution is that I don't always have a pen, paper, or the ability to write something down (i.e. when driving).

So I had been thinking for a while that I needed some sort of device or service similar to a mini-cassette recorder. I, of course, did not want an actual mini-cassette recorder - yet another device to carry around. It would be ideal if it worked with my mobile phone since I'd have that just about everywhere.

I had been brewing about this problem for a few weeks. One evening I was began telling Anne about my idea that my cell phone would double as a simple voice recorder. She listened sleepily (she was just going to bed) to my idea and I went back Google Reader to do some reading. The very next post was Robert Scoble talking about Jott. I've dropped Scoble from the feed since then, but I've gotta give him cred (the "street" variety) for this one.

Here's how it works. I call Jott and it automatically records a message. It then transcribes my message to text and delivers it to email or mobile phones as a text message! I really like to send myself Jotts to keep track of reminders or mental notes. It even allows me to set up text message reminders and alerts.

Jott is currently free and in beta. I'm hoping those two are not linked because I'm getting hooked. So sign up and send me a Jott.

So what's the morale of this story? First, get Jott because it rocks. Second, next time Dave has a problem, don't wait to read about the solution! Make the solution yourself and perhaps change the world (or at least profit).

xkcd compiling shirt

I showed Anne this comic and she was quite unimpressed. I can't blame her really. It's not like I'd understand some comic about teaching. However I told her I wanted the shirt (second down) inspired by the comic and she knocked me! I do agree that geek shirts with random obscure and technical jargon isn't usually my style, but comon'... they're sword fighting!

Perhaps Santa or the birthday fairy will remember this since I don't think Anne was taking notes.

Test, test. Hello W...

Test, test. Hello World.
Click here to listen

Powered by Jott

ScoutNet .. err... I mean ScoutOffice

One of the current side projects I'm working on is developing a website for my Boy Scout Troop. Scouting is defiantly and dismally in the stone age. It's pretty depressing. So I started working on this website. I think it should cover both the public-facing aspects as well as be a record keeping tool.

I've actually started and stopped work on the project several times over the past few years. That's the thing about my side projects... they rarely make it to completion. It's a nice fad for a period of time, but the novelty eventually wears off and some new obsession takes its place. Hopefully I can be a little more committed to this one.

I would like to continue reporting my progress in my blog. Sort of a development diary. I love those YouTube videos that show someone's progress building a huge Lego structure over time. The closest approximation to that I can make (without opening the project source and having it make much less appeal to a reader) is here I suppose. Perhaps someday the project will merit its own site.

So one of the first things to conquer is the tool set. I've been fighting with them for a day or two. I have a few major requirements:

• stay legit (don't pirate),
• WYSIWYG (or at least the Cassini developers' web server) web form editing,
  
• and have the ability to unit test the most code possible.

I started with Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express. It covers the first two requirements. However it does not (or I have not found a way to) compile the site into dlls. What's the problem? You can't unit test a project that can't create dlls. At least that's how NUnit works. Perhaps there's another free .NET unit testing platform that can somehow negotiate web projects.

I fired up Microsoft Visual C# Developer Express. This would give me the first and third requirements. I was even able to publish the class library dlls into the web project! However it was really a sloppy mess and it didn't feel right.

While doing some reading I stumbled across sharpDevelop, a free and open developers' IDE. It said it offered WYSIWYG form development and the ability to compile web projects. I could sense my dreams coming true. Boy I was off! I run it for the first time and instantly feel like I'm using a horrible knock-off. It has integrated NUnit testing and some other nice features. However upon closer examination, I see it does not do web form development - it does windows form development. I merely dabble in ASP.NET. I need some WYSIWYG or Cassini action!

So back to the Web Dev/C# Dev I went. I fought with the solution and project files for a good while. I managed to get them into locations I can cope with. I have the web form editing and the unit testing. All is well with the world.

Two other issues presented themselves while working last night however. I needed to name the solution! Naming a solution often correlates to the name of the "product" itself. I really wanted to name it ScoutNet (a la Terminator movies) however BSA actually has a (really crappy) platform called that (don't worry - we're in no danger). With that name taken, the next best thing I could think of was ScoutOffice. It's only a matter of time before Microsoft comes knocking on my door (/eyes).

The other issue I found was a bit more technical. I started working on membership functionality first. I wanted to create new users. And I was trying to be slick and override the System.Web.Security.MembershipProvider since that's supposed to be an easy route to insta-membership functionality. It is pretty slick, but it requires I use the System.Web.Security.MembershipUser. Ok, so I make my user a child of that. But by doing so, I set up the dependency that all of my lower tier projects need System.Web. That's just not acceptable. So I guess I'll be writing the membership functionality by hand.

Since this is sort of the inaugural post regarding ScoutOffice, if there are any readers out there let me know what you think. If you have any features that you think would be cool to add pass them along.

referral incentive program

Nothing motivates coming out of "blogging retirement" like the notion of earning money by shamelessly promoting something. I guess we'll find out if anyone still has me on their feed readers!

My company is seeking some people to do some programming, and they're paying the current employees for anyone they hire as a referral. So if you happen to be reading this and you're looking for a job and one of these jobs are in your field of interest, let me know!

C# Developer or UI Designer

Renaissance Faire - picture

At the Renaissance Faire, Nate wound up getting taunted into paying to hit something with a large hammer. The carnie made some remark questioning his manhood and Nate wouldn't let that stand. He forked over his 2 bucks and gleefully smacked the 'thingie.' He didn't ring the bell, but he did manage to get into the "Knightly" category!

Of course the carnie started badgering me, but I was content to be called names and hold my $2 rather than be shown up by Nate.

RIT barbershop quartet

Some of the guys up at RIT are making local news for singing - and that's always of interest to me. Keep up the good work! I'll let RIT News & Events take it from here.

Renaissance Faire

The Renaissance Faire is an annual event that takes place in Tuxedo. It's a faire or park full of events, vendors, food, and games that come from the Renaissance era. I don't think Anne and I went last year, but she used to work there playing trumpet and I've been several times in previous years. This year we organized with Kevin, Tricia, Nate, Molly, Jen Bradshaw, Shannon, Dave, and Anne's sister Jen to go together. I want to show some pictures since there were several good ones, so I'll switch into Picasa and just caption the pictures.

Edit: Yarg! I can't do easy uploading with Picasa right now because my Blogger account is in the transitional beta stuff which - you guessed it - Picasa does not support right now! I'm not in the mood to monkey with uploading images via the web interface so for now you'll have to suffer knowing that there are pictures to be seen... but that you can't ... yet.

Scoble on a rampage

So Robert Scoble spent the good portion of yesterday going nuts with second-hand information regarding Microsoft's claim to "have the most blogs in service." Who cares?! He goes on to make about advertising dollars and corporate credibility in marketing for those advertising dollars. Ugh. Scoble even spends most of the afternoon cataloguing "real" blogs on Windows Live Spaces and how they don't meet the definition of a blog.

And of course when it was noted that he's clearly angry and not thinking clearly by readers more eloquent and quicker than I, Scoble gave it a good spin and kept on going.

I like Scoble a lot! He's on my reader list. I usually agree with him. And I'm not saying I need to in order to read or enjoy some one's stuff. But seriously? What's the point? This morning I wake up and he's plugging a Windows Live Space full of XP goodness. It just feels like a stunt or a sensational effort for an afternoon much like reporting I'd expect from television reporting and it just rubs me wrong -- until tomorrow when I link to Scoble with some fantastic thing he said.

jen's step-dad's 50th birthday

Jen and her family threw her step father a surprise 50th birthday party last night. Anne and I were invited for moral support with Dave and Shannon and her boyfriend (?) Jason. I had never met Jason before and he seemed like a nice enough character.

The party was on a boat and there was open bar, so of course a good time was had. I enjoyed a few drinks and hot dogs and hamburgers. Anne enjoyed a few of Shannon's drinks - she never finished hers - and the music (a bit too much I may add). The boat cruised up and down the Hudson River. We got to see West Point from the river side and the sunset was very nice as well!

Please note that in the picture I am neither Anne or Shannon and Jen is not Dave S as our name tags indicate. Please also note that the picture was taken after much wind-blowing had occurred and I accept no responsibility for my hair!

boy scout by-laws

Not sure if I ever posted about it in the past, but I'm on a "task force" for the troop to document and publish the troop's by-laws. It's been a really interesting experience thus far. I've gotten to look at the adult history of the troop in ways I never have before. We've been examining the minutes of committee meetings back to 1999!

We're definitely making progress and I hope that our work will reunite and bind the troop as we move forward.

Of course part of the minutes uncovered a failed attempt to get a troop website going. I'm sure I'll be heading that one once we get back on our feet again. It may sound like I'm not looking forward to it, but I am - the website development aspect at least. I'm not looking forward to trying to satisfy a room full of parents all with different opinions about the internet. Some don't use it. Some think it's the devil. Others are a tad more liberal. Finding the common medium will be fun.

backlinks == on

So in the last few days, Google released a new version of Blogger (which ironically is back in beta). I've upgraded to it and they now support backlinks. If you've been linking to my blog (and I know you have), you can now do it so my blog knows about it. Use the backlink stuff!

Along with the backlinks, the new version of blogger adds some new design features so be on the lookout for a new style in the blog. I'll be playing around with that tonight probably.

the Molly party

First off, this post is being written by Microsoft's new WYSISYG blog writer, Windows Live Writer. It's pretty slick. I spent 5 minutes setting it up and will apparently post to my Blogger account! It's in beta right now so let me know if you notice anything odd about this post.

Anyway, on with the story.

Molly finished her summer contract with the YMCA camp she was working at so Anne and i picked her up. She'll be staying with us for a week - which rocks - until her parents swing by and pick her up.

When I told Foster that Molly would be coming in, he decided to change his weekend plans and conveniently end up in Chester for her arrival. Even better yet, Kev picked up Nate along the way. Molly was pretty elated when she saw them at the door. She screamed and cried :-)

Knowing that Molly, Kevin, and Nate would be all together I decided we needed to step it up to a full-fledged party. [Pictures] I called Kevin Twitty and Shaena and Steve. Anne got hold of Jen Bradshaw and attempted to get some others. However the 9 of us had an amazing night. We were all pretty wrecked - except Shaena who kept good track of some of the worse off. That, however, did not keep us from making several calls and messages to friends.

The party pretty much crashed in my living room and we woke up to pancakes this morning... made by moi! The whole lot of us went to the Castle to play mini-golf. The guys beat the girls and I think Foster had the best score of all. (I was second third)

We got some lunch at Chili's and Kevin and Nate were on their way. It was a great weekend. Earlier this evening Anne and I were talking. We both said we hadn't had this much fun in a while.

slapped in the face

I believe that an ambitious person should have a vision of how he or she wants to live their ideal life. Something to strive for on a daily basis. Something to grade your current point in life against "complete success." And I believe that the vision is different for each of us.

For example, I take my vision from the Scouting roots I learned. I try to "be prepared" and "do a good turn daily." I try and live my life according to the Scout Oath and Law. And I feel that works well for me. It inspires me to be a better person.

However, and I imagine this happens to all of us ambitious folk, sometimes I stray. I lose sight of the vision. I forget or it gets shelved during stressful times. And it's often during those times that I need the vision the most.

When that happens, as it has in the past, I find that my journey back to my vision isn't a wandering or stroll. It's not an accidental re-discovery. Going on without the vision isn't a terrible thing. I don't think it makes one evil - just lost or misdirected. People go about every day without a vision on life.

The hard part is getting it back. In fact I think that re-finding your vision usually takes the form of a slap-in-the-face epiphany. In this last instance, I was so far from my vision that I was completely speechless - something that doesn't come over me often. It doesn't really matter what happened, but just knowing that it did serves as a notice to me to rededicate back to the vision I have.

the drive home

I had the oddest feeling happen to me while driving home from work today. I was following a tow truck. One of those large ones used to haul away Mack trucks and box vans. Well it was towing a large box van... from the rear axle. The box van was staring at me while I drove behind it. I wasn't worried about the tow truck dropping it or anything - that would be like being worried about a bridge collapsing while you're on it. But it's just a common reaction to have a certain amount of dread when seeing an oncoming car in your lane. So I had the same awful feeling for 20 minutes straight as we drove back to Chester.

Not a bad take

I have to thank my old residents in Building 30 up at RIT. They taught me everything I know about Texas Hold-Em' poker. Tonight I put my education to good use and pulled down $21 on a $5 buy in game over at Twitty's. I don't get to play very often with them, but I also don't think I've been disappointed when the game ends yet! At first I thought I ended up with $36 and I was super-happy but alas - I miscounted. Still a good night as a whole. Kevin and Shaena held a great barbecue and I got to catch up with some high school buds I haven't seen in a while.

Camp Ranachqua (ran-ah-kwa)

Last week my Boy Scout troop spent a week at summer camp. I took a day off from work and got a chance to partake in the fun on Thursday night and Friday. Thursday night Steve and I went out for a few drinks on his night out. We talked Scout stuff and camp stuff and we got hit on by the waitress (him more than me). There was a singer there who was quite mediocre and I was even more upset when I realized it wasn't kareoke night - she was the hired entertainment. Whew!

Anyway Friday was a lot of fun! I got to spend some time with the Scouts I haven't seen in a while. I helped clean up our campsite, earning us a perfect score for the day's inspection. That afternoon I went on the fly fishing expedition with two of the Scouts; however there was not enough poles so I was forced to sit and watch quietly, just relaxing. It's tough being an adult leader sometimes.

A lot around the camp has changed. Places have moved around and policies added and edited. Camp food hasn't changed much. It's just as bad as I remember it. :-X

Before the evening flag ceremony, Steve, who is the rifle range master of all things, and I got to shoot for a while at the range. I was pretty bad at first, but with a few small adjustments and pointers from him I was able to get a pretty nice cluster. We took a few minutes with the shotgun as well and I got to shoot my first clay pigeons! That was a lot of fun. I was surprised to be able to pick it up so quickly. I don't shoot very often - almost never. But getting a chance to shoot up at camp was nice. It's a chance to just focus on one small thing and forget all the other things going on. You've got ear protection on so all you can really hear is your breath. It's a very "inner" thing - something I haven't experienced in a while.

The closing campfire was really nice. Our troop won Honor Unit; which is basically the "troop of the week" award. That was pretty cool. And at the closing campfire I got to participate in my first American flag retirement ceremony. That's when flags that are too old and worn to be used are burned in a respectful and simple ceremony. It's the only respectful way to retire an American flag.

I don't think there were many pictures taken, but if I come across any I'll have to post them up.

"Now you're thinking in portals"

The upcoming Half-Life 2 episode is probably going to be pretty amazing. I haven't finished HL yet and I haven't even played HL2, but the upcoming episode is supposed to have a really cool new single-player fps which will turn the gaming industry on its ear. It's called Portal and just looks awesome. It's built on the HL2 engine called Source (warning: loads of big words on that link) - all of which has been written by Valve. Check out the demo video which is mocked up to appear like a training video for a new employee. It's impressive to say the least.

fly guy

Nothing beats a random site to brighten your day. So ... let the brightening commence. This one is called Fly Guy and just put a little smile on my face. :-) That's a replica of the little smile on my face.

tom's new blog

I'm heading out to work shortly, but I was delighted this morning when I received an email from good buddy Tom who just moved out to Washington. He's joined the club of the self-absorbed and started his own blog right here at Blogger. So now that I've plugged his blog our total reader count is ... 6 -- unless you count he and I twice. I also added his blog to the Friends' Blogs list just in case you didn't subscribe to the rss feed and couldn't remember tomgu.blogspot.com and failed to bookmark it and somehow couldn't find this post again to link to it. In any event if you can't find it again maybe you should stop using the internet.

While I'm talking about Tom, he sent me a link to a very amusing Jon Stewart clip that I must have missed. I know I'd remember his discussion on Net Neutrality if I saw it.