Categories
Geeky/Programming Life

Cool Things I Have Been Doing On the Computer Lately

In the past couple of months, weeks, whatever (time flies) I have been doing some pretty cool things on the computer, in a wide range of areas. Just want to get them down on paper (you know what I mean)…

1. Yammer – working hard on growing Yammer community, external networks, just getting engagement and showing the benefits. It’s fun.

2. Kinect – did some Kinect hacking. On my own then with the group, got some cool stuff to show. It is crazy how easy it is to get something up and running with Kinect and the SDK. I see this stuff taking off in the coming months/years.

3. Azure – dorking around with Azure, looking at what it can and can’t do, what it could do well, how it would fit in with everything.

4. SQL 2012/Power View – been playing around with SQL 2012 since “Denali”, but now its got an official launch date (March 7th) and things are getting real. Power View demos online, trying to figure out how SQL 2012 is going to fit into our infrastructure and just learning as much as I can about it.

5. Ruby – been getting into Ruby and Ruby on Rails on my Mac, git, sqlite3, heroku, etc. Trying to learn more things that just the .NET ecosystem.

6. Ubuntu – same here, set up a VM, been trying to use it consistently, trying to get the other viewpoints from Windows and Mac and where things are at. Keep up with the joneses so to speak.

7. Android – I picked up a Samsung Galaxy (Verizon 4G) a few weeks ago and have been using it. I still love my iPhone, but getting more into Android. Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a pretty good OS, there are still quirks, but its better. Verizon sucks around where I live btw.

8. Google+/Picasa Web Albums – been getting this into my photo workflow, for sharing and backup. Liking it so far.

9. SharePoint 2010/FAST – been researching and reading FAST server like crazy trying to see how it will fit in with a potential project. I think it could be amazing. more to come.

10. SMS – been playing around with different frameworks, and seeing how they compare, trying things out. Using Voice and SMS is all the rage these days. (Hall and Oates thing anyone?)

Bonus: Nothing with computers, but I have been really getting into brewing beer/homebrewing. I think we have made 5 batches now, and the ones I have tasted so far are really good. It is a fun hobby and breaks up the constant technology I am involved in. More to come here too.

And much much more. Time is limited, time to post is limited. Getting out there and doing cool things is fun, and sharing them is fun too. Gotta find the right balance. I hope everyone is having a cool 2012 so far.

Categories
Life Random

"Leinie's" Going Nationwide. Import or Domestic?

Now that I live in Wisconsin, I guess I have to write about this. Going to school at Saint Cloud State, which is a fairly good party school, you do end up going to happy hour now and then. At the bars there, they always have pretty good deals. “1 dollar for Domestic Taps” etc, etc.

So you walk in, and see that, and ask for a “Leinie’s HoneyWeiss” which is usually on tap in most bars in MN, but then you get a crazy response..

“We consider Leinie’s to be an Import”

WTF? An import? All the way from WI huh, so you can charge 4 dollars a glass? Man..

Anyways, I subscribe to Slashfood in my RSS Feeds, it’s one of my “fun” subscriptions, like xkcd, or gullible info, etc. I read today about “Leinie’s takes small town Wisconsin nationwide” What I have to wonder though, is it going to be served up as a domestic or import? We will just have to see.

As a side note. I wish Madison WI’s cool blog site Dane101 would let you submit stories. This is a trackback to them to see if they see this and take note.

Categories
Uncategorized

Portland Differences #9 – Beer is Always Involved

No matter what you do around town in Portland, it always seems there is beer involved. I blogged about getting shoes before, where they had beer. Today I went to get a haircut at Bishops Barbershop, they had beer. Of course there is beer everywhere else, microbrews flowing, within 10-15 min walking distance from my house there are two breweries, probably more.

As Homer would say.. “Ah, beer. The cause of and the solution to all of life’s problems.

Technorati tags: , , , ,
Categories
Life

311 and Matisyahu – Portland (Edgefield) OR – McMenamins

Last night we went to McMenamins in Edgefield for 311 featuring special guest Matisyahu. First off, 311 is my FAVORITE band! And they rocked. Matisyahu was OK, more background noise than anything, but he sounded good.

The real cool thing was the venue itself. Unlike in MN at the Xcel or Target center, this was a McMenamins, which is like all over Oregon, Portland especially. But it was outside, and McMenamins has food, beer, wine and all that. Just a really nice venue, places to sit and eat, etc. And then after the show, you can just go to one of the many bars/restaurants they have on their “campus” and chill, very cool.

Have some pictures up here:

P1000945

http://flickr.com/photos/scaleovenstove/sets/72157601743630162/

Technorati tags: , , , , , ,
Categories
Geeky/Programming Random

Route: Saturday Night Programming after the bars..

OK, I have to admit, this is weak. But, if you want to learn how to create an infinite loop, with one word, this is it. Route.

I happened upon this maybe 5-6 years ago, when we ended up having to set static routes on computers because of some goofy office politics, but anyways..

Create a batch file. Name it route.bat. Edit it, type in the word route. save, exit, and run it. Infinite loop.

image

Fun stuff. Not bad for an after the bar exercise..

Technorati tags: , , , ,
Categories
Geeky/Programming

1729 – Saturday Night Programming before the bars: Natural Numbers…

Ok, so this afternoon I watched the movie “Proof” – really good movie. In the movie, they talk about the number 1729, about how it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. It also is a natural number – when its digits are added together, produces a sum which, when multiplied by its reversed self, yields the original number.

Just for the helluva it, I decided to write a little program in C# to do this. It would be nice if there was an easier way to reverse strings in .NET, maybe there is and I just don’t know. Anyways, I love how movies can get you into things you never thought you would get into.. now I only wonder what I will code up when I get back from the bars..

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace NaturalNumbers
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // when its digits are added together, produces a sum which,
            // when multiplied by its reversed self, yields the original number:

            for (System.UInt64 i = 1; i < 9223372036854775808; i++)
            {
                string nums = i.ToString();

                System.UInt64 sum = 0;
                System.UInt64 product = 0;

                // get the sum of each digit of the number
                for (int b = 0; b < nums.Length; b++)
                {
                    sum += System.Convert.ToUInt64(nums[b].ToString());
                }

                string nums2 = sum.ToString();

                // reverse the sum
                char[] temp = nums2.ToCharArray();
                Array.Reverse(temp);
                nums2 = new string(temp);

                // multiply the sum times the reversed sum
                product = sum * System.Convert.ToUInt64(nums2);

                // if they equal we hit the jackpot
                if (product == i)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(i.ToString() + " is a natural number");
                }

                if (i % 10000000 == 0)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(i.ToString());
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
 

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

Technorati tags: , , , ,
Categories
Life

Beer and Nintendo, at the bar.

Nuff Said.

200707112018_304

Technorati tags: , , , , ,
Categories
Uncategorized

Portland Differences #2 – Booze in Gas Stations

To continue on my last Portland Differences post about gas stations, there is another thing different about gas stations. Booze. Well, not booze, but wine and beer. And it ain’t 3.2%.

Every gas station, 7-Eleven, or whatever store, they have tons of beer and wine for sale, pretty much like a liquor store.

In Minnesota, you can buy booze in the gas station, but it is weak 3.2% beer, which if you don’t realize it, if you start drinking it, you don’t feel it. Like water.

So, no late night jaunts to the liquor store in Oregon, just run and get gas, let the guy fill it up for you while you go get a bottle of wine.

Technorati tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories
Random

BuyYourFriendADrink.com

Stumbled across this site: https://www.buyyourfriendadrink.com

Right now it only looks like some cities are avail in NY and NJ, but they are adding to the list. Also you can redeem the gifts through PayPal. Looks like my friends from MN can still buy me drinks when I am in Oregon 🙂

Technorati tags: ,
Categories
Life

G-Allens, 2 for 1's

Mike and Joel at Club G’s, just showing that I can take a pic and blog it 🙂

 

 

Technorati tags: