July 2006 - Posts

• Not only are we on Amazon.....................

  ...........but we are featured on the front page. I was checking out Amazon for something this evening and I found our "Beginning Ajax with ASP.NET" book on the front page.  Wow, I think this could be be big. Open in new window. Please buy a copy of the book. Posted Jul 31 2006, 10:29 PM by wallym with no comments

• More working out

  After only doing 30 minutes on Sunday, I ended up riding the bicycle for 30 minutes yesterday evening. Today, i went to the gym and ended up doing 50 minutes on the cross-training machine.  My shirt and shorts were soaked with sweat.  I'm worn out right now. Posted Jul 31 2006, 08:24 PM by wallym with no comments

• ASP.NET Podcast Show #60 - UpdatePanel

  Launch in external player Grab a copy of the PPT File. Grab a copy of the Example Files. Show Notes: What is the Microsoft Atlas UpdatePanel? Simple UpdatePanel. Dynamically adding an UpdatePanel. Posted Jul 31 2006, 12:00 AM by wallym with no comments

• Jack and Peyton on Winning - you have got to be kidding me

  I just ran across this TV Show with Jack Nicholas and Peyton Manning.  What a stupid idea.  “How do you win?”  Answer: “Play better than the competition.”  That is simple.  How do you do that?  There are a couple of things to concentrate on: Preparation.  Prepare for whatever event you are doing. Practice and Repetition.  Practice over and over until its right. Eliminate distractions. Concentrate.  Don’t fear failure.  If you try, I can guarantee you will fail at some point.  If you don’t try, you will always fail.  I have something like 3,000 – 5,000 people that download and listen to the ASP.NET Podcast everytime we publish it.  Will I screw up, absolutely.  Does that stop me, nope. Finally, Do It.  You can’t win if you don’t play. Now, that just saved you all the time of watching that stupid show! Posted Jul 30 2006, 10:53 PM by wallym with no comments

• Working out today

  After 3 – 45 minute sessions in a row, and now 9 days in a row, I scaled back today to only 30 minutes on the cross trainer.  I didn’t think I did that much today, but my tshirt was soaked in sweat today when I got done.  Hopefully, one day, I’ll look half as good as Glav, but I refuse to shave my head. Update: After all the pain yesterday, I went and rode the bicycle for 30 minutes tonight.  WTF was I thinking................. Posted Jul 30 2006, 10:52 PM by wallym with no comments

• TVA, Denso, Knoxville News Sentinel, and FOIA

  I am a big believer in open and honest government.  I believe in disclosure.  Back in December, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) gave some incentives to Denso Manufacturing to expand their operations in Maryville, TN.  I don’t have a problem with that.  Providing incentives is part of the cost of doing business in the world of economic development.  For TVA to do this, that’s not a big deal.  TVA has refused to disclose this information to the Knoxville News Sentinel.  The article that I have read doesn’t seem to explain why they won’t disclose this information beyond we don't want to release the info for competitive reasons.  TVA is part government and part private company.  My guess is that TVA is using some excuse about being a private company and attempting to not disclose that information.  They seem to do this type of stuff all the time.  They are a government agency when it suits them and a private company when it suits them.  Personally, I don’t like it, but it’s the way the game is played.  Now, the Knoxville News Sentinel continually pushing for this information is another interesting tidbit.  The KINS has a tendency to twist things, so I can’t blame TVA for not wanting to give them the info.  Personally, I think this whole issue is a non-issue.  It just doesn’t matter. Posted Jul 30 2006, 10:50 PM by wallym with no comments

• Bicycling

  Wow, does my back hurt today.  I rode the bicycle with my kids yesterday and the 30 minutes I spent on the bicycle killed my back.  I could hardly move around yesterday evening.  I woke up today and my back still hurts.  Wow was I in pain.  I did feel ok enough to sit down and write some example code with the Atlas UpdatePanel.  I’ll be including that code in a release of the podcast that I should have out tonight. Posted Jul 30 2006, 10:48 PM by wallym with no comments

• Camtasia and SnagIt

  I just got my copies of Camtasia and SnagIt installed on my system.  I am really excited about checking them out. Posted Jul 29 2006, 06:24 PM by wallym with 1 comment(s)

• Exercise, Exercise, Exercise - my workout regime picks up

  I'm back on the big time workout kick at the gym.  I get on them when I write and writing started this week. The last three days have been particularly intense.  On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I had a full 45 minutes on the cross training machines.  Today, was even more intense.  After the workout, I spent 45 minutes in the pool with my children and we rode the bicycle this afternoon.  By the time we were done, my shirt was soaked in sweat again.  Now, I need to get a batch (after a shower at the gym). Posted Jul 29 2006, 06:04 PM by wallym with no comments

• Get more Wally, Scott, Paul, and Craig on your bookshelf

  Our final cover for our book is on Amazon.  You can pre-order it now.  Please buy 3 or 4 for the ones your love. Posted Jul 28 2006, 11:36 AM by wallym with no comments

• ASP.NET Podcast Show #59 - Julie Lerman

  Subscribe – Everybody is doing it Download – The wimpy way. Show Notes: Star Trek/2.0 on G4.  Has the world gone "2.0 Mad"? Book industry Java is down and .NET is up. AJAX has gone from nowhere to somewhere. Jason Gaylord interviews Julie Lerman Databinding. Datalist.  Some interesting things that I found. Editable Gridview.  Does this look right or should I be doing something different.  Please send me your feedback. Posted Jul 28 2006, 10:29 AM by wallym with 2 comment(s)

• Intel Core Duo 2 - Now this is good stuff

  Unlike a couple of weeks ago when I complained about Montecito, I am pretty pumped about Intel shipping the Core Duo 2.  According to preliminary reports, the new chip is a dramatic improvement in performance and decrease in power consumption all rolled up into one.  I am glad that Intel figured out that just increasing the length of the pipeline and ratcheting up the clock speed of the processor while simultanieously decreasing the number of instructions it can process per clock cycle was not a good  thing to do. Their shipment of the new Core Duo 2 reignites the perforance war that Intel has been losing to AMD.  I am sure that AMD will come back with some new design that will improve its performance.  I think that this is good for consumers.  We haven't had this situation recently where Intel and AMD had processors that were both really of comparable performance. Posted Jul 27 2006, 10:05 PM by wallym with 2 comment(s)

• New Wireless Network At Home

  I had to buy some new wireless equipment at home.  I bought a Linksys Draft N router(Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router WRT300N), a Draft-N PC Card adapter for my laptop (Wireless-N Notebook Adapter), and a PCI card.  I have my router and laptop currently working.  I downloaded all of the new drivers.  This included firmware for the router and a new driver for PC Card.  Here is what I bought. Check this picture out of the speed of my local wireless network.  Too bad my cable modem can only handle about 3 Mbps. So far, it seems to run pretty well, but my laptop is only about 30 feet from my router. Posted Jul 27 2006, 08:22 PM by wallym with 1 comment(s)

• Work outs ramp back up

  When I start writing, I stop playing golf and I ramp up my exercise. Well, I am starting on some writing and I am ramping up the exercise.  Today, I spent 45 full minutes on the cross-trainer machine.  I was soaked in sweat when I was finished.  My current plan is to go several weeks before a break.  During the week, I will mostly be doing 30 minute sessions and 45 minutes on the weekend.  Posted Jul 27 2006, 08:07 PM by wallym with 1 comment(s)

• Charlotte - Atlas UG talk

  Pictures: http://morewally.com/cs/photos/charlotte2006atlas/default.aspx Charlotte was great yesterday.  It was my first official talk as a member of the Ineta Speaker's Bureau.  Bill Jones, Jr, the UG leader there, told me to expect about 75, he produced 104 by my count, and I am not sure that I got everyone either.  I talked for way too long, as usual, but I think everyone really enjoyed it.  There were a lot of really good questions.  I got back a hair after two last night. Wally Posted Jul 26 2006, 03:13 PM by wallym with no comments