Month: September 2008

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Undo global search and replace screwup

I made a mess. Does anyone remember how to back out of (undo) a global search and replace in CFStudio5? Should be the same process for Homesite+.

Update: Seems like I remember undoing a global search and replace in the past. Fortunately my replace string was absolutely unique and I was easily able to fix this with another global search and replace. The lesson is "don’t start a global search and replace and walk away from the computer for 15 minutes. If you did the find part wrong, you could be faced with many of changes!"

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I like my operating system slightly aged

I have a development server in the house that still runs Windows 2000 Server and has Internet Explorer 6.0.2800 on it. The machine is finally starting to show its age and could not hold up to testing my current project, a web application whose end users will primarily use Internet Explorer 6.0.2900. My server just wasn’t cutting it tonight so I bit the bullet and pulled a laptop which had Ubuntu installed. I pulled out my free copy of Windows XP I got from Microsoft for participating in the Windows XP beta program. After installing it, the network card wouldn’t work so updates were impossible. Fortunately, I used to be a Microsoft Partner and participated in the Microsoft Action Pack program so I had a disc that had XP Service Pack 2 on it. After installing that things were looking better but the NIC still wasn’t working. I dug out a USB drive and used another computer to get the network adapter driver from Dell’s website and suddenly the machine was working. After installing the updated video drivers the laptop with 256MB of ram is running almost better than my workstation I used for development! Best of all, it now has Internet Explorer 6.0.2900 and I can see the website exactly as my clients see it!

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Painful Phone Call

The guy on the phone is so slow and following his script so tightly that it makes me want to put hot pokers in my eyes. I haven’t even made my request yet but he’s kindly "checking on something for me real quick" Some of our dialog:

Him: I need your home number
Me: I only have a cell phone.
Him: Okay but I’m required to get your home and business numbers.
Me: I only have a cell phone.
Him: I have to tell you…
Me, interrupting: Yes that a cell phone is not secure. That’s okay.
Him: I have to let you know that communications on a wireless device are not secure. If you are okay with that…
Me: I’m okay with that.
Him: If you are okay with that I’ll need your authorization to continue.
Me: You have my authorization.
Him: Do you authorize me to continue?
Me: Yes.
Him: I need your authorization.
Me: You have my authorization.

The rest of the call was very similar. I called only about one thing and before I finished my request he interrupts me to say, "Let’s do one thing at a time." and at the end of the call he abruptly hangs up on me. So, why do I feel bad?

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Thanks for the contact juggling video Rich!

I’m not sure if my comment to Rich’s post got spam filtered or not so I’ll repost it here.


http://view.break.com/511205 – Watch more free videos

That guy is VERY smooth! Quite the inspiration too. The first time you, I or anyone saw contact juggling was in the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie. David Bowie had his hands behind his back and Michael Moschen, a juggler and choreographer, who created contact juggling, did the manipulations while wearing leather gloves. The only special effect used was when the balls floated away.

Michael Moschen taught an apprentice his techniques and that apprentice published the lessons in a famous book titled “Contact Juggling” that just has a black cover and plastic binding like it was made at Kinkos. As the story goes, Moschen was ticked!

The “crystal” balls (acrylic) are actually manufactured for the chemical industry and are used to float on top of vats of chemicals. They are fun to play with! I toy with contact juggling but have not put in the hours that this guy has obviously done in training.

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Pound pound pound pound

Enough already! I’ve basically had a headache since last weekend. I finally understand the agony my wife and son must go through when they experience their migraines. I’ve never in my life been prescribed any pain medicines. Not Vicodin, Percoset, or anything. Shoot. I don’t even know how to spell Percoset. But I am coming around to thinking pain medicines should be easier to get. I’m not talking over the counter. Right now I believe pain medicines should be dispensed out of vending machines! Or delivered with your pizza. Wait a minute. Don’t pizza guys already do that? Back to coding.

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I’m beat

This is one of those moments I’m thinking a beer on the front porch would be very nice only the mosquitoes are so thick the neighbor’s house looks blurry and I haven’t any beer in this house for months; I’d rather chant anyway.

I been hit and run down and run over and
walked on and knocked around and I’m just
settin’ here now trying to study up what else I
can do to show … that I still ain’t afraid
of hard work. [Source, Arlo Guthrie, Woody’s Rag/hard Work lyrics]