New Laptop, New Skin

The other day a couple people I know got brand new laptops from Dell. Made me think, it's about time for me to upgrade as well. My work laptop always seemed to have some kind of issue, and after a year and a half, it seems like a good idea to start fresh. With so many new laptops, how would I be able to easily tell mine from the rest? (Since I thought I had the same model they did, though it turned out I didn't) All I need to do is skin it! Back in the day, my main laptop had a nice skin:

Though clearly I had too much hair, and not enough beard... Those two items rectified, and new skin ordered from the same website, but now with a much more Islamish look:

The artwork is courtesy of Peter Gould, a contemporary Muslim artist from Australia who works in multiple media. Seriously, as good as it looks on a wall, or your PC desktop, or even your Facebook buddy icon, it looks très sharp skinned on the back of my laptop. Sidi Peter mentioned something about vinyl stickers that he's working on, and will be available in a few months, though I know I'd like to see him hook up with Skinit somehow, to make his art available for all kinds of devices, and make sure he gets a piece of the action for his hard work and talent, though I have no idea how he would even start. And if you're thinking about just snagging the art from the website and using it without permission or licensing, know that it wont' be as good quality, and you won't be doing yourself any favors.

Woo hoo! Dialog and error are gone!

This was a crazy one to fix. For years, sometimes when building a "setup" project in my VisualStudio 2005 solutions, I would get a bizarre SQL Tools error via a Dr. Watson dialog. Somehow on my old machine I made the dialog disappear, but the building always reported "1 failed" even though it actually built the project. This month I got a new laptop, and the dialog is back. So I tracked down a fix. There were 2 suggestions regarding a user group SQLServer2005NotificationServicesUser$COMPUTERNAME, and either giving it extra permissions or adding the logged in user to the group. Neither of those worked. But here is what worked (and saved here for future reference):

The installer runs for SQL Server 2005 Tools (64-bit) and comes up with0:Watson 1:1304 2:StreamSupportFiles 3:streamBinaryToDisk 4:55:e:\sql9_sp2_t\sql\setup\darwin\sqlcastub\streamca.cpp 6:238 7:sqlcastub.dll 8:sqlrun.msiWhen clicking ok, I get 'Error writing to file: . Verify that you have access to that directory. [ http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/327997 ]

The recommendation is to:

Please refer to workarounds mentioned in this thread - http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=113155

Which details the issue again with a recommendation from Microsoft to:

This appears to be an issue with the SQL install. Specifically, there seems to be a problem with the install mergemod.dll. Installing a later version of mergemod.dll seems to fix the issue. You can install a later mergemod.dll by installing Orca: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/orca_exe.asp

So it's off to install Orca, however the page to install Orca points out it is only available via  Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers, so let's go install that, except of course the link doesn't go to the download page, it's over at Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). Excellent, easy enough, however first, apparently, I need to upgrade to Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1.

Now if you are anything at all like me (which apparently is not likely) then you're likely thinking, this is crazy, how on earth could this cookie crumb trail of suggestions lead to anything that would solve my problem, but lo and behold! Problem fixed. No dialog. No error.

And now saved here, so next time I can just look at my blog for the fix.

Sending the LINQ To SQL log to the debugger output window - Kris Vandermotten

This is what the Interwebs are all about:

Sending the LINQ To SQL log to the debugger output window - Kris Vandermotten:

"The DataContext.Log property is a great help to learn writing LINQ To SQL queries. All you need to do is assign a TextWriter to it, and you get to see al the SQL statements generated by the data context. But where do you send them to? Console.Out is an option, but you probably don't want that in a release build. Furthermore, it doesn't quite work for Windows services or ASP.NET applications. That's why I wrote DebuggerWriter, an implementation of TextWriter that writes to the debugger log.

All you need to do to use it is:

MyDataContext db = new MyDataContext();

db.Log = new DebuggerWriter();"

Back in the day (pre-Internet) this sort of fix would have taken me days. I'd have to scour through books, understand the interface, code the whole thing myself, and when done I wouldn't even be able to share it. Now with the Intertubes I can just google, copy, paste, compile, and voila!

Thank you Information Scenic Byway, bawk bawk! Oh, and thanks Kris Vandermotten too...

Netflix native app for Wii available now

Netflix native app for Wii available now: "

A Netflix app that will allow movie streaming on Nintendo's Wii, without the need for a pesky disc, is available now on the Wii Shop Channel. The Netflix channel is free and streaming comes at no extra charge as part of most Netflix rental plans. Today also marks the launch of the PS3's Netflix app...

Sweet! Now when am I getting my Android player? DSi player? TI-83? Rexx?

Tanka Bar

My folks just moved from Cali to MD and drove all the way across the upper part of the lower 48. On the way they picked up a snack food for me:

Tanka Bar :: Real Food :: Real People: "The 70-calorie Tanka Bar delivers a slow, powerful protein punch by mixing two primary ingredients: low-fat, high-energy American buffalo meat and tasty cranberries. This combination is no accident, and now our Tanka Bar Traditional has been joined by our new Tanka Bar SPICY PEPPER BLEND. Gluten-free, hormone-free and low-fat, the Tanka Bars are deliciously perfect for every diet lifestyle. Tanka Bars are guaranteed shelf-stable for up to 12 months."

Very interesting. I thought it would be more like pemmican, but it's actually much softer, and not as salty. It's a really nice and yummy, high protein snack, but I think if I ever have another chance, I'll pick up their spicy pepper version...

Beyond Good & Evil HD coming to PSN, XBLA in 2011 | Joystiq

Perhaps my favorite game of all time...

Beyond Good & Evil HD coming to PSN, XBLA in 2011 | Joystiq: "Here's more proof that Ubisoft hasn't forgotten the Beyond Good & Evil franchise: The company is in the process of remastering the Michel Ancel-directed adventure classic for release in 2011 on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. According to IGN, Beyond Good & Evil HD will run at 1080p resolution and feature updated character models, higher-resolution textures and a remastered soundtrack, along with Trophies and Achievements."

Yeah, I'll drop another $10 or $15 on this...

Anonymous(tm)

I love this font.

Anonymous(tm): "Anonymous (2001) is a TrueType version of Anonymous 9, a freeware Macintosh bitmap font developed in the mid-’90s by Susan Lesch and David Lamkins. It was designed as a more legible alternative to Monaco, the mono-spaced Macintosh system font."