All posts by Randy

Empathy, For a Man Kicked in the Dick

eBay: For Sale: One Slightly Used Size 12 Wedding Gown. Only worn twice: Once at the wedding and once for these pictures — I found my ex-wife’s wedding dress in the attic when I moved. She took the $4000 engagement ring but left the dress. I was actually going to have a dress burning party when the divorce became final, but my sister talked me out of it. She said, “That’s such a gorgeous dress. Some lucky girl would be glad to have it. You should sell it on EBay. At least get something back for it.” So, this is what I’m doing.

Coffee Wench

Some days this particular category acts as a catch all for postings I usually just want to share with the world and the topic doesn’t really fit into any of the other categories. Then there are days when the only thing you want to accomplish is to get a cup of coffee and the snotty, fascist coffee wench that is pouring the brew is going to do everything in her limited power to piss you off. And she succeeds, only too well.
Continue reading Coffee Wench

SharpMT 2.5 – Official Release

SharpMT 2.5 adds support for Plug-In’s that support the ISharpMTExtension interface – the 2.5 release includes a Plug-In that will search Amazon for a book using an author’s name and a book’s title. Once a book is selected, the URL of the book at Amazon is inserted into your current draft. The ISharpMTExtension interface is described in a text file that’s in the Plug-In directory and any .NET developer can write a Plug-In for SharpMT, with or without their own Windows Forms…

Download SharpMT 2.5: EXE | MSI

Read: SharpMT FAQ

Screenshots: 1 | 2 | 3
Continue reading SharpMT 2.5 – Official Release

When a Good Idea Goes Bad

Simply put, I got an email from my publisher… it went into some stuff with suggestions about how to market my book and what too look for during the upcoming month. You know, all of those special “weeks” and “months” that have been claimed by people to make their own prospective groups feel special. Things that seem to be fabricated by attention-grabbing groups or card companies like “Great Aunt’s Day” or “Random Nationality Focus Month”. I don’t care what group it is; they’re all guilty of whining for attention. Think I’m wrong? Check out the list and you’ll see what I mean…
Continue reading When a Good Idea Goes Bad

Clean Air? In CT? Hah!

Props to my Pop for prophesizing this problem. [how’s that for alliteration? more like illiterate?] For the last… I dunno, twenty years? Lemme see. Been driving for… aw, fuck me, fifteen years. I’m old. Anyway, for the last eighteen years – or so – Connecticut has had a state run emissions testing system for cars. Then, a couple of years ago, they decided to change it because they wanted to make it better. And so now it’s completely hosed. And my father predicted it all.
Continue reading Clean Air? In CT? Hah!

Why Do We Flock to the Movie Still?

I’ve gone to a few movies over the last few months and I’ve really begun to wonder why. It might even be an east coast thing, but I’m really struggling with the benefits of going to a movie theatre these days – I can’t even tell if it’s just me or if it’s a general trend in retail-type experiences. Of course, that’s one of the reasons why I think it might just be a northeast phenomenon…
Continue reading Why Do We Flock to the Movie Still?

The Poor Guy

All Headline News: “Jim Cantalupo, who led a business revival as chairman and CEO of the fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp., died early Monday of a heart attack, according to company officials. He was 60.”

Poor guy… no lie in that, honest. Heart attacks make my feet itch, given my own family’s history with them. I should be holding a target over my own chest most days, if it’s really true that genetics provide the highest probability and risk. But it does make me wonder if he simply ate too much of his own product line over the years, especially after we also lost Dave Thomas recently…

Coding Notation Changes?!

Actually, this is a Rant. For years I’ve gotten used to seeing things like objThis and m_strThat and knowing exactly what variable or object I would dealing with… I’ve used an approximation of what is known as “Hungarian Notation” among Geeks, but the fact is that it was easy to see nWoot and know it was an Integer. But now I’ve been hearing that you shouldn’t use Hungarian Notation anymore… it’s frowned upon for .NET applications, it’s no longer a slick way to code, and everywhere I look people seem to agree.

I. Will. Not. Comply.
Continue reading Coding Notation Changes?!

Yankees Heading Towards a Sweep?

Red Sox versus Yankees all weekend. First games of a 19 game set throught the 2004 Season. Red Sox fans are already prophesizing a season long sweep of the Yankees… Yeah. Well. Talk to me in September – that is if Red Sox fan can talk at all, what with all the choking that typically seems to show up in Boston around that time of year.

Alls I know is that I have to keep cheering during that HBO special about the “Curse of the Bambino” however much it warms my heart to watch the 86 Series recap… heh!