Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?

You know, I mentioned my unfortunate mishap with Herb, our XBOX 360, however what I neglected to say is that I did do some of research on the quick fixes to resurrect it back to life. Long story short… don’t do ‘em. I didn’t try ‘em… but anything involving baking your XBOX in its own heat or cracking it open with your own soldering gun, just didn’t sound appealing to me. Plus, who has the time or the patience. I certainly don’t. Actually, I lie. I did have some free time on Friday, and I ended up visiting a GameStop store. Why GameStop? No reason, I was actually headed to get a quick beer at the Buffalo Wild Wings next door. But, I started to think that I could pick up Herb’s replacement and deal with dead Herb at a later date. (My definition of “deal with” loosely translates into “quickly being forgotten on a shelf in the basement left to collect dust”.) It’s a good thing I stopped in. A Mr. John of GameStop kindly informed me that Microsoft has extended the XBOX 360’s warranty up to three years, specifically for the Ring of Death. Hoorah for Herb… he does get a second chance. Why didn’t I find this news release last week? I don’t know, I just play the games and watch the movies… the damn thing should take care of itself. I mean it is part of the hive. errr, I meant to say XBOX Live. So, I called 1-800-4-MY-XBOX and a nice Filipina named Mary assisted me through a pretty painless call. We talked a little bit, the weather in the Philippines was nice when she went in to work, but it was close to 4am PST (Philippine Standard Time or Pamantayang Oras ng Pilipinas) so it could have been bad for all she new. What happens next? Monday I should get a box that I put Herb into and he comes back 1 to 2 weeks later good as new. Now that’s easy. Wow Microsoft! I do admit I feel guilty being so hard on Bill and all. But he’s a trillionaire, he can take a little criticism every once in awhile. Anyway, I've over it. More importantly, I think for a treat… I’ll be getting this for Good as New Herb to munch on…

Portal, due out now, from the maker's of Half-Life.

Details about Valve's new one player game, Portal can be found here. And, remember kids, "If at first you don’t succeed, you fail."

A rerun post... my public service annoucement.

This is my little opportunity to provide a public service to some of my readers... the link below is a great handy-dandy little resource that can keep you in the know when it comes to setting up your next get together of after hour meetings.

And, as a shout out to Mr Austin, The Library is not listed within, but it should be noted that it's a great place to hang out during OSU Home Games... for $7/pitcher o' beer (ALL THE TIME), you can't go wrong.

Columbus Happy Hour Listing

Also, kids... remember to drink responsibly.

 

Sad... then Happy... but still Sad...

Today is a good Friday for the Jude-man. I've been working my ass off all this week, this has allowed for a little breathing room and relaxing today. Which I like... busting ass and cleaning up the plate earlier in the week really does makes for a laid back Friday, especially when there aren't any fires to put out before the weekend. (knock on wood) The unfortunate thing is that I'm still in the office, in case a phone call does come in requiring some sort of assistance from me. So, while writing queries, maintaining databases and insuring that end of week processes are humming away, I get to surf the net, visit my favorite blogs and just soak up information... just, generally, screw around. I'm sharing two videos I came across, today. The first one addresses the Dolphin Drive Hunting happening in Taiji Wakayama, Japan. And, yes... I'll admit it. How I got here was not so much because I care about the dolphins, don't get me wrong, I do... it was more because Hayden Panettiere was one of the activists out in the water trying to drive the dolphins away from the kill zone. Here's a link, if the flash widget get all wonky on you. I felt, I should share this... b/c the needless slaughter of any animal, big or small should be a world concern. It made me SAD. As for second video, I didn't want to leave my Friday's blog on a somber note. So here's William Sledd, doing a very funny parody of Miss Teen South Carolina's 15 minutes of fame. He's so funny. This made me Happy, but, I'm still sad... Enjoy.

I'm not a database snob...

... but, when it comes down to it, you can't shine poop.  And using Microsoft Access as a data source for a website is exactly that, albeit a weak attempt but still. I should say that Access has it uses and its place.  I've suggested it to many customers for simple desktop applications or network tool with a small number of clients.  And, it is possible to use Access for a website's data source...  but it should be for a personal website, specifically one that's not all too popular, either.  ;) Why don't I like Access?  I know many of you care... Without going into much detail here are my issues: Low number of Concurrent Users possible No Scalability No Database Management Tools No Good Backup Solution to preserve Database Integity No Stored Procedures or Triggers or Transactions So moral of this short story...  download SQL Server Express 2005 and run from there. The reason I write this is b/c we have a new client who's previous developer utilized an Access database for his enterprise solution... what's that mean to me...  more work. Bottom line...  I blame Bill..  that's strike three.  First Herb...  then MSIE Rendering Engine... and now this...  sigh...  Maybe I should just go with Leopard or Linux (DSL)... 

A Special Halloween MeToday

Technically, since it's early in the morning and I haven't slept yet, this is a MeToday for both Oct31 and Nov1. And, if you consider the fact that there's less of me, it's a special limited edition MeToday. Lucky You! Why am I still up you ask? I would say the real reason is because I'm hopped up on caffeine and sugar. But that's all just side effects. The true cause is that I had a couple things I needed to finish up. And, if you boil it down to the nitty gritty, I have to thank Microsoft (yeah, I mean you Bill) and Mozilla for not agreeing on a standard way to interpret and render XHTML and CSS. I mean, can't we just all get along?!?!? I was about to start a little tirade about Microsoft's proprietray blah blah blah... but I am tired. All I have to say is this... and it's directed towards Bill... STRIKE 2 BUDDY! The first strke being Herb of course. Who hasn't been touch since I blogged about it, earlier this week. So, enough of the delay... for your viewing enjoyment, look at what you get when you mix an overworked geek with caffeine, sugar and brain-numbing work. Enjoy!