jerryjackson.net

Here’s a helpful tip for anyone new to the awesomeness of the VSS integration with VS:

This screen shot snippet from my Visual Studio Solution Explorer indicates which files have changed with the little red check mark…

The “View Pending Checkins” feature displays a nice handy listing of all those files having the red check marks indicating which files no longer match what is in the VSS repository - somewhat analogous to the ‘svn status‘ command for Subversion users - or the ‘git-status‘ command for Git users.

However, in my case, there’s a little problem: At least FOUR files I have changed are not indicated with red check marks. This makes it super-easy to lose many hours of work because you thought it all got checked back into VSS. I have witnessed this happening on a co-worker’s machine for the past several months and now I have it too. Lucky me!

With a little luck we won’t need to suffer with VSS around here for too much longer. TFS is rumored to be coming. Not sure if TFS will be a blessing or another curse - though it conjures up visions of an 800 pound gorilla tearing up the place - but what do I know? Or maybe I’ll just put up a renegade Subversion server and start using TortoiseSVN.

I could probably even sell the idea of using Git if there was a good Windows GUI and/or VS integration for it - but that hasn’t happened yet. I know it’s being worked on and I look forward to one day using Git with Visual Studio.

Here I am… getting my daily dose of .NET development work. For whatever reason, I wanted to close Visual Studio to rename and rearrange some directories on my hard drive. Then I’ll restart VS by opening a different solution file. Sounds simple enough, yes?

Actually, there WAS a reason I wanted to do this - I simply didn’t have enough sacrificial goats and chickens on hand to endure the Visual Source Safe branching process.

Here’s what my task list looks like AFTER I shut down Visual Studio:

Now here’s where it gets good!

• I have shut down VS, but devenv.exe is still there plowing away at 48 to 50 percent of my CPU.
• I also like how dexplore.exe (used for VS help) is still sitting in memory eating up 100 megs of RAM
• A directory full of files I want to rename is being locked by that devenv.exe process. At first I thought it was just IIS holding on to them as it usually does, but killing IIS didn’t help.
• The “End Process” button WILL NOT KILL devenv.exe!

I actually had to reboot the computer to kill it.

I have been experimenting lately with how to get the best quality video and audio uploaded to youtube.com. Turns out there’s a bit of voodoo involved in order to achieve the best results.

Here’s my latest attempt (a video of me goofing around with my Yamaha XS8 keyboard):

My other feeble attempts are here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jerry4260

Thus far I’ve found plenty of good info on how to do much better than what I’ve done thus far:

• Hi-Res YouTube Hacks
• YouTube HD
• How To Make YouTube Videos Look Great
• An interesting forum thread at videohelp.com

There’s also a bunch of good free or low-cost utilities out there such as the ones listed at videohelp.com

While I usually use Linux for nearly everything and I believe I could get by with only Linux-based software for this video stuff, I am still experimenting with the Windows-based software to find something that’s easy to use.

Looks like I’m gonna need to slow down. This new Michelin Pilot Road 2 is only rated for 167mph…

In preparation for the September mountain trip, this is replacing the earlier style Pilot Road which gave me over 10,000 miles of great handling and plenty of grip for sporty street riding.

I also have the Pilot Road 2 on the rear with over 5,000 miles on it and I’d estimate it is less than 50% worn at this point. Needless to say, but I am very satisfied with both the Michelin Pilot Road and newer Pilot Road 2 tires.

I am now one step closer to my ultimate sport-touring machine! With my custom fabricated “high bar” kit I already have all-day-comfort, but was only able to haul what could be crammed into a tank-bag.

I spent part of the day preparing for our upcoming September ride in the mountains of the GA, NC, and TN area. This time around, in addition to the front and rear video camera setup I am working on, I want to stop along the ride route and get some great photos of the scenery and the riders (even if the photos will be staged).

Therefore, I need a way to haul my nice camera equipment (along with all the other junk I usually have on board such as tools, air-compressor, tire plug kit, etc).

I happened to have an extra Pelican 1520 case I wasn’t using for anything else, so I figured it would make a nice trunk on the bike after I fabricated some brackets.

Right side view:

From the rear:

It doesn’t touch the plastic at all:

The brackets: The front bracket is actually the factory-original bracket from the painted cowl cover. I had to bend it very slightly and simply bolted it to the case. The aluminum flat bar slides into the factory-supplied slot which holds the rear of the cowl or seat down. I found the rubber pieces at Ace Hardware. They’re screwed onto the end of a 5/16 bolt (supported at the top by a flat-washer, and arranged them to sit where the factory rubber bumpers did for the seat or cowl.

Now I have plenty of room to haul the Nikon D50, a couple lenses, and spare batteries.

If the economy and banking system somehow manage to avoid total collapse, I NEED one of these:

KTM 950R Super Enduro:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6TYxgocZfo]

This can’t be good: IndyMac Bank seized by federal regulators. The writer’s very careful choice of words about this at the FDIC site is interesting too.

I wonder what’s coming next….

• How are Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae doing? Here’s one writer’s opinion. 24 hours later: Treasury Secretary wants to shore them up.
• How long until we have $10+ per gallon gasoline? $15? $20?
• Does anyone know what hyperinflation is?
• Will panicked investors start bailing out on everything tied to stocks? It happened very quickly to Bear Stearns!

Looks like a lot of things will be “on sale” at bargain basement prices soon - Buy low, sell high!

Most people have absolutely no clue what money really is and how the banking system really works. I am most certainly not the tin-foil-hat-conspiracy-theorist type, however, over the years I have enjoyed the looks I get when I tell people how it all works - they look at me like I have three heads.

Watch this video to find out:
[googlevideo:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279&q=money%20as%20debt&hl=en]

Common sense should tell anyone there is a mathematical certainty in the direction things are headed. Sadly, very few people watching that most excellent video explaining how it all works will believe it to be true.

Here’s another interesting video I found titled “Big Brother, the Big Picture”:
[googlevideo:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4799447112501062338]