Well, I made the switch to use RSS Bandit, and I have to say that Dare has done an awesome job. My main reason for switching? It supports Atom. It wasn't that I wasn't happy with IntraVnews, it was just that RSS Bandit supports Atom.


Why was that important to me? Mainly because of Google Groups beta (and a to lesser extent, blogspot), and Dare's comments about how he wants to support NNTP. I don't follow newsgroups very closely, but that's mainly because I don't want to have to open a separate program for news groups. Don't ask me why. I've tried to follow them, but after a few days, it just slips my mind.


Of course, until I switched to IntraVnews, I forgot to open RSS Bandit (which was my very first aggregator) after about a week. But I open my email every day. Having IntraVnews run automatically, I got in the habit of reading blogs, and now I can't imagine not reading them. I get more tech info from blogs than any other source. I'm not at Scoble's level, but I'm subscribed to quite a few feeds (126 right now - but how many blogs is that? I subscribe to the main asp.net feed, which is over 1000 individual blogs, as well as a few other site's main feeds). It's something around 300-400 entries a day. Maybe that's why I never get around to blogging on my own blog!


Anyway, I'm back from my tangent. Now that I'm hooked on aggregation, remembering to open RSS Bandit is easy. Does it bother me that my all of my feeds aren't stored in one place? Not really. It was nice to be able to search both emails and feeds that I've saved, but I can live without that.


I don't comment on posts a lot, but that may change with RSS Bandit - it's so easy. I haven't commented yet, but does it track what posts I've commented on? If not, that would be very cool!


There are a few things that could make it more useful to me. First, the ability to post to my blog. I know, that's not a simple thing, and there are a lot of tools that do this for you, but I want one tool that I can read posts and create posts in. That's how email works right? This isn't a gripe about RSS Bandit - not a lot of them do this.


The second feature I would love to see is posting to newsgroups. And I know Dare has mentioned he is thinking about how to do that. That would be cool. I would be much more likely to post to newsgroups if I could do it in a tool I already use.


Notice how I refer to Dare as "Dare"? Odd isn't it? I don't know Mr. Obasanjo (I'm assuming that's his last name) - never met in real life, never commented on his blog, never sent him an email, no contact whatsoever - other than reading his blog and using his software. But I feel like I know him. Amazing how blogs can do that.


One more tangent while I'm already off on one. Did you catch why I was switching to RSS Bandit? Google supports Atom. So one major player has put their name on a standard. What if Microsoft puts their stake into RSS? Does that mean there will always be two standards?

Well, for the week, I'm back in California - but not for TechEd. I'm here for a client, again. We've finished up the database, and now we are working on the data access layer, as well as the data entities.


I'll get to that eventually, and blog about our whole design. Right now though, I just need to get some stuff done. I'm sitting in a hotel, working on generating the necessary code using CodeSmith. I had a chance to see the Studio (which I never was able to see - the 30 day use expired before I ever opened it), and I really do like it. I'm considering pushing my company to purchase it. It's absolutely awesome how powerful the tool is!


Anyway, I'll get to the design here, as well as my "ah hah" moment I had last week about software architecture! It was a major break through for me. But not now. Later.

Having just finished a database redesign effort for a client, this would have been a handy link to have ahead of time.

Man. It's been a long time since I last blogged anything useful. Of course, it's debatable if I've ever blogged anything useful, but for the sake of argument, let's say I have.


I have.


There, I said it. Anyway, I'm not even sure how long it's been. I know since I did, that I've been to Miamisburg, OH for a night (just outside of Dayton), and then to Santa Rosa, CA (about an hour from San Francisco) for a week.


So while it's been a long time, it doesn't seem that long to me. The Miamisburg trip was nothing special - except that we rented a Toyota Prius, a hybrid car. I have a few comments on this, so bear with me. I understand the need to be environmentally friendly, but there are limits. First, why, just because it's a different type of engine, do you have to change the body? Do I have to stick out like a sore thumb just because I want a hybrid car? Do I need a crowd to watch me park so that trees can breath easily? I'm thinking no. Also, do you have to change the way everything else works in the car just because it's hybrid? Push button starting is fine - I get that one. Gear shift on the dash though, with a separate button for park? Why? Heating controls on the steering wheel are cool, but no one else does it (that I know of) so why this one? Did an engineer think, "I'm going to try every new thing I can possibly think of on this car!"? Of course, maybe it's because it was 5:00 AM and we were trying to figure out how to use this thing! Which brings me to my other point - if you are a car rental place, do you really want to rent cars out that you have to show your customers how to use? It just seems like more overhead than it's worth.


One last little jab at the Prius. Driving to Dayton, we only got about 37 or 38 MPG. Is it worth it? Not to me - maybe the real advantage is city driving, when the gas motor wouldn't be needed as much. Who knows.


Anyway, there wasn't anything special about Miamisburg. I did have a nice prime rib dinner - can't beat those! Other than that, I got up early Thursday morning (4:00 AM) and got home late Friday evening (8:00 PM), and rode in a car for more than 10 hours in that time period. Then I got to sit in a classroom and learn about a few simple web services. Well, it wasn't about web services, it was about THEIR web services, but they are pretty simple. Sorry I can't go into more details, but the services were fairly straight forward. It wasn't the T in IT that makes it valuable, it's the I.


Anyway, after getting back from a long couple of days, I had a short weekend before heading to California. This was my first trip out there, so I was pretty excited. Not looking forward to being away from my family, but excited none the less. At least I was traveling to someplace nice!


I didn't do much over the weekend but relax with the family, and get ready. But come Sunday night, I was waiting at the mighty Gerald R. Ford International Airport for my trip to California.


<tangent>Every time I think about going to California, the same lyric pops into my mind: "I'm going, going back, back to Cali, Cali," which is odd, since I've never been there in the first place. Oh well, back to your regularly scheduled blog.</tangent>


I got to fly through Midway, which if you've never been to Midway (the other airport in Chicago), well, you're not missing much. It's much better than it was 5 years ago when I first went through there, but it's still nothing to write home about. Bigger than Grand Rapids, but right in the middle of a neighborhood. And I do mean in the middle of it. I remember flying in there the first time I ever flew for work - flying right over a Burger King, seeing the guy in the drive thru window, and then landing. And taking off, that's a treat. I think the pilots actually try to squeal the tires!


Anyway, after a quick dinner in Chicago, it was off to San Fran. I flew ATA (cheap), and they don't provide dinner. Well, they do, but for $5.00. I was kind of surprised by that. But having just eaten, and having plenty to do, I just had my Sierra Mist and cheddar crackers and typed away.


My partner and I planned out our next product for Tourney Logic. It's a new market for us, something we haven't ventured into yet. It still involves tournaments and our bracket control, but not in the same way as in the past. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, we'll have something in place. I'll get more details out as we solidify things.


Once we got to San Francisco, we got our car, and headed out. It was dark, so I didn't get to see much, other than what the city lights showed us. Still, I was impressed by the area. I could tell it was very hilly - something unheard of in lower Michigan. The Golden Gate was impressive. Maybe it's my "homerism" coming out, but I think the Mackinac Bridge is more impressive. Don't get me wrong. The Golden Gate is very cool. We stopped, got out, took some pictures in the dark, and the bridge is massive. But it's not five miles across. I guess the water is deeper there though. We also could see the spotlight from Alcatraz, which was cool. It's not that far out. I think I could swim it!


Yeah, right! I can barely swim across the bathtub.


So we got to our hotel about an hour later. The highways are very similar to Michigan's, and the one thing I noticed (later in the trip) is that everyone seems to drive near the speed limit. I saw very few people going over 70, let alone over 65. The hotel was nice - it's actually a spa resort and business center - an odd pairing if you ask me, but I guess if I ever had a business function there, I could bring the wife. The room was an odd color - not sure what it was (if it isn't in the 8 pack of Crayola Crayons, I don't know it). It was a reddish color, maybe a little lighter. Kind of like a grapefruit.


Anyway, the work I did there was fun. I'll get into that in another post. The guys were great. Hilarious. I'd go into some of it, but when I told my wife, it lost some of it?s luster. There was one part that got us going, and you have to be a geek to get it. One of the managers there was a little older, and started programming back in the days of punch cards. He started the story (which he'd told everyone else there had heard multiple times) and the two coders jumped right in. It's not a direct quote, but here it is - picture a country bumpkin voice. "So there I was, with all my punch cards, ready to go, when I dropped my dart, and caused a virus!" I'm sure it loses something in writing, but being there, it was hilarious! We were tearing up. There was another story involving a backwards thong and a door to door salesman, but I'll keep that one to myself.


We went to Oakland, to see the A's play the Yankees. So I got to see the Coliseum, which reminded me a lot of Spartan Stadium, for two reasons. First, the concrete supports look very similar - 70's like, is what I was told. Second, the men's rooms have troughs in them. The only other place I've seen that is at Spartan Stadium. And a men's room at a bar in Redmond, but that didn't have the cement supports.


Anyway, the game was a good one. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but the Yanks have an all star lineup and it showed. The A's were up 8-3 in the 7th, and gave up 6 runs, eventually losing 10-8. All because of a homer by A-Rod.


After the game was my first chance to drive. First, I had to trade in the rental - it started, but very slowly, and every time, we thought we were going to get stuck - including leaving the game.


I didn't do much on Wednesday (touristy, that is). Mostly work. Including prototyping an application for them most of the night, so no time for much.


Thursday came, and it was my last day. For lunch, we went to The Tides, a place out by the Pacific where parts of The Birds was filmed. Then we went out to the ocean, to a small beach so I could say I walked by the ocean while I was there. It reminded me of the scene from Vacation, where they go to the Grand Canyon, get out, look, and get right back in the car. We didn't have much time, and what do four guys dressed for work do on a beach anyway? We looked, watched the waves roll in (I thought they were pretty big for a nice day - much bigger than we get on Lake Michigan), watched some surfers, and left.


After the work day was done, I headed back to airport for my red eye back to Michigan. I had about 6 hours to finish up the one hour journey, so I stopped along the other side of the Golden Gate, and got a much better view. The other side has an outlook that is above the bridge, and you can see out into the ocean one way, and the bay the other way. I could see Alcatraz this time, and not just the spot light from it. I could see downtown San Fran, and all of the high rises there. I could see the bridge, which was much more spectacular from above.


After doing that, my directions lead me through San Fran, from one part of 101 to the other. The story I was told is that the highway was going to be connected by a double decker bridge, much like the Cyprus bridge. Remember that one? The one that collapsed on top of itself in the '89 quake? Well, they were in the process of building the same thing for 101, and it collapsed too, so the project was never finished. The long and short of it? You have to drive through the city to get to the other part. Most people take 19th street to bypass that. We took that a couple of times - the houses along there reminded me of the opening shots to Full House.


I didn't take 19th this time. I took Lombard Street. And when most people turn off, I stayed going straight. Straight up that is! The incline seemed like it was more than 45 degrees. I had the rental floored, and my top speed was 20 MPH! Three blocks of practically straight up. What was at the top? From what I was told, the curviest, steepest street in San Francisco! I drove down it, and it was pretty cool. Very steep. I was surprised to see garages off of it.


Once I got to the airport, it was smooth sailing to get back to Michigan, and except for only getting one hour of sleep on the plane, it wasn't too bad. I got back Friday, slept for most of the afternoon, and was back to normal by Saturday.


So there you have it. That's why I haven't blogged in a while. I'll get some of the details about the business aspect of the trip up soon, as well as some of the other stuff I've been working on.

On Friday, I rolled off of my current project. It was bitter sweet. On the one hand, I had a lot of fun working on it, and I learned quite a bit about architecting and building large systems. On the other hand, I've been there for almost a full year. Yes, I know that's not that long. The guys who are still there have all been there for a few years, and will be responsible for our solution for a few years more.


But this comes to a much bigger point: why I went into consulting rather than industry. I wanted to do different things. And I have. In my (short) career, I've had the chance to work on CRM for a couple of big banks, a POS system for a large pizza chain, CMS for a college and a sports site, and quite a few custom applications for a large range of industries. I don't mention this to brag, but to make my point. I didn't want to start working on one project or product, and be stuck with it forever. I wanted variety. And I got it.


My next project is still up in the air. I may be doing CMS at the same client - it will be odd to still be there, but working on something else.


I've actually started this project, but at the same time, I am going to training for a company's web services for potential integration projects in Dayton on Thursday and Friday - I have to get up at 4:00 AM to be down there by 11:00 AM.


I also have another project that just popped up today. A rearchitecture of a large application that doesn't have proper layer separation. I'll be part of a team to pull out the shared pieces and split them into a business layer, business entities, and a dedicated data layer. Right now, they are all rolled into one. As part of this, we'll also do a database review and redesign. These are the kinds of projects I like!


As an added bonus (kind of), they're located in California. It was 82 there today. As a comparison, there was snow flurries in Grand Rapids today. Plus, it sounds like I'll get to go see an A's game while I'm there. This will be my third baseball game that I've been to while traveling. I've been to Fenway in Boston and Wrigley in Chicago - two of the best parks in baseball! Now, I get to add the Oakland Coliseum to my list. Question though. Are the Oakland A's fans as rabid as the Oakland Raiders fans? I hope not!


P.S. If it seems I'm being vague about the types of projects or who the clients are, that's because I am. I can't reveal too much about them for obvious reasons.

Name one thing the Flames didn't want to let happen? Name one thing they definitely didn?t want to be responsible for doing? Got it yet? Two initials. PP. Power Play.


Imagine a bear hibernating. Now imagine you have to walk by the bear. Do you tip toe, or do you stomp your feet? Don't ask the same thing to the Flames. They stomp on by. How else can you explain giving a Detroit power play, who had already scored one goal in the game, not one, but two (IN A ROW) five on three power plays? I don't think Dave Lewis could have scripted it better. Detroit (for a month or so now) has been trying everything to get the power play going. So much so that Steve Yzerman asked Dave Lewis to stop changing the lines. On a side note, when The Captain speaks, you listen. Unless your name is Scotty Bowman. Then you do whatever you want, wearing your nine Cup rings. But Dave Lewis != Scotty Bowman. So he listens.


Anyway, back on track. Detroit has been doing everything to get the power play on track, and nothing seems to be doing the trick. Yes, they got a goal, but that made them 3 for 30 something for the playoffs. Not even close to the 20% pace of the regular season. But thanks to Calgary's dumb penalties, the Flames gave Detroit everything they needed - a confident power play, and the knowledge that Kiprusoff is beatable. Thanks Calgary.


Now, a few notes about the game. It was good to see The Captain take things into his own hands, and play a very solid game, both defensively and offensively. Two goals from Yzerman? When was the last playoff game that happened? The more and more he plays, the better he looks. He looked tired in the middle of the season, but he is flying right now.


Once the game was out of hand, things started getting ugly. Not Bertuzzi-ugly, but ugly. Let's go into a little rant about Iginla for a second. First, he does nothing all game to motivate his team on the ice. No shots, no real set ups, nothing. Then, he vents with his stick on the back of Hatcher's leg (of course he knew about the torn ACL injury). And when Hatcher answers the bell, what does Jarome do? He fights with his visor on. His helmet even started to fall off, but he immediately put it back on. And Hatcher cut his hand on it. I know it was late and it didn't affect anything, but I thought fighting with a visor on was an automatic 2 minute penalty, but looking at the scoresheet, I see nothing. Why? Anyway, almost immediately after ABC said Hatcher was in trouble because of the visor, he ripped it off, and beat on Iginla for a few punches. Then they go down. And Iginla tries to continue the fight! Fighting in hockey has rules. There are certain things you don't do. You don't attack from behind. You don't fight with a visor on. You don't hit after the fight is over.


As a comparison, Mike Commodore came over to step in for Iginla (protecting his captain), and McCarty took him off to fight him. What does McCarty do? He takes his helmet off to do it - and he doesn't even wear a visor! Mr. Iginla, you are a very good hockey player, but you are also a poor sport when it comes to fighting. If you are going to bite off more than you can chew, you better be ready to deal with the consequences.


In other news, the Avs are down 2-0. I'm unsure how I feel about this? I WANT to see Wings/Avs '04. But I watched the game Thursday night, and when San Jose scored, I was happy. When Forsberg was frustrated, and taking stupid penalties, I was happy. When Aebischer got beat (every time), I was happy. How can I want them to win the series, but still be happy when they lose? I'm not sure, but that's how it is.


In the east, the Lightning killed Montreal last night. I watched some of it, and they flew past the Habs. I think they'll escape easily now. I haven't watched any of the Leafs/Flyers series, so I won't comment there.


Now, Tuesday night, the Wings just need to prove they are ready to play, and the power play is fixed. If they do that, they'll come back to the Joe one more time, then wait for the Conference finals!

Today is the NFL draft, and it's quite interesting this year. Here's some headlines:


Eli Manning says he won't play for the Chargers. What does he expect? If you are the best player available, then most likely, you'll end up on a bad team (the Pistons last year with the #2 pick in the NBA draft was an exception). That's how it works. The bad teams get good picks. Eli Manning is a good pick. But it's more than that. The Chargers are the one who leaked this story. Why? Because if they trade him away (they did), and it doesn't work out, they can point to this and say, "We were forced to do it!" But does that help them? Did the Giants lower their offer knowing the Chargers had to trade him? Who knows what they might have gotten if this remains silent. Maybe they're did it to expose Manning? He did look a little childish having his dad speak for him, even if his dad was in the NFL. I think the Chargers should have kept him, and if he wants to sit, so be it. You take the good with the bad (yeah, because making 6 mill, with a 15 mill signing bonus is bad!).


Clarrett and Williams were not eligible to be drafted. I think this will get turned over and there will be a supplemental draft for these two. I don?t think the NFL will be able to justify being able to limit someone's ability to be employed based on age, as long as they are over 18. It's discrimination. And the NFL's worry about diluting the talent pool? Well, this year, two people opted to try it. One is ready (Williams) and one doesn't have any other choice. Yeah, the talent of the NFL would be way too diluted for me to watch if these two play next year! If they don't get in, I feel bad for Williams. He didn't declare eligible and sign an agent until a judge said it was okay for him to enter. Now, the courts say no, and he can't go back to college (an appeal may work because of the circumstances). If there's no supplemental draft, he gets the shaft. As for Clarrett, he burned his own bridges.


Pat Tillman was killed yesterday fighting for his country. For those who are unaware, Tillman gave up his contract with the Cardinals to join the Army Rangers and fight for the freedom of this country. First, let me say this: Pat Tillman is a hero. Absolutely, he is. He gave up his life for a greater purpose. And because he is well known, he is getting a lot of press. But every man and woman that is fighting for our country, or lost his or her life defending it is just as much a hero as Pat is. Every one of them is giving up a lot for us. And, while Pat is getting a lot of press right now, every one of them is a hero in my eyes. So when you here about Pat, think of him as a representative for every one of the men and women who have given up everything so that you and I can enjoy the freedoms that we currently have.


On a lighter note, Detroit picked up another wide receiver this year - Roy Williams - and got a needed running back in Kevin Jones. Their defense was pretty good last year. Now if Harrington can get his act together, and the offense can stay healthy, they could be pretty good. I have my doubts, but who knows. The Tigers are 11-7 right now, so anything is possible!

Finally! A link between hockey and technology. And it's not a glowing puck!


A link from Robert Scoble produced this article about how the San Jose Sharks use the Tablet PC to review game tapes.


This is awesome! The Sharks have the ability to adjust on the fly to whatever is thrown at them. From the bench, they can determine what exactly just happened. No more guess work. "Did they just pair those two guys together?" "I think so, but I'm not sure." No more of that. Now, they just rewind the game a little bit (read the article - they stream the video to the Tablet) and they can see. Defender doing something wrong? Don't just tell him. Show him. Coaching on the fly!


Too bad it won't help them get to the Cup. They can be as prepared as they want. The Wings will still overwhelm them! ;-)

With the Maple Leafs trouncing the Senators tonight, round one is officially over, and the second round matchups are set.


First, my round one predictions (here). Ingoring the number of games, I predicted the following teams would win: Detroit, Colorado, Tampa Bay, and Philadelphia. That means I missed half of the series. I thought San Jose would lose, but they pounded St. Louis. I thought Vancouver would get past Calgary, but that didn't happen. I thought Boston would beat Montreal, but the Habs pulled it out in the end. And I expected Ottawa to get past Toronto, but that obviously didn't happen.


So here's the second round matchups, with comments:


Detroit (1) vs. Calgary (6): Calgary is a faster, more physical team than Nashville, but plays the same style. The Wings owe Vokoun a big "Thank You" for waking the Big Red Machine with his comments about arrogance. Games 5 and 6 were completely controlled by the Wings, and Nashville was sent packing. If they continue to roll, the Wings can easily handle the Flames. Iginla's line is the main concern, but they shouldn't be too much to handle for Lidstrom and Schneider. I think Detroit will take this one in 6 games.


San Jose (2) vs. Colorado (4): A great match up! Both teams are playing great, and are getting a full head of steam. This series will be two trains hitting head on. The last time these two teams met, it was the second round in 2002. It went seven games, with Colorado pulling it out. I think we'll see a repeat performance this year too.


This makes the conference finals: Guess? Detroit vs. Colorado. The dream match up for the NHL and ABC/ESPN. Hockey ratings haven't hit the numbers they were in 2002 during the Detroit / Colorado series. If these two teams match up again, with the labor dispute lurking in the distance, this could be the match up that draws the fans, and convinces the owners and players to save the game.


Tampa Bay (1) vs. Montreal (7): Tampa Bay is on a roll. Montreal is coming off a seven game series, and will be tired. Tamp Bay is fast and rested. This should be a cake walk for the Lightning. Look for them to take it in 5 games.


Philadelphia (3) vs. Toronto (4): Philly is a tough team. They are big and they are strong. Toronto is also coming off of a seven game series. I'll also say that Philadelphia will take this one in 6.


That leaves Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia. That should be a good series.


One last thing: Let the games begin (again)!

Well, round one of the NHL playoffs are winding down. As I type this, there are 2 games left in round one, and I'll be watching one of them tonight. Burning the midnight oil, or something like that. You see, I'm in the midwest, and the game is out west. It should end around 1:00 AM (assuming no overtime), and I'll be back up by 7:00 AM tomorrow morning.


Anyway, back to hockey. Calgary visits Vancouver, for a deciding game seven. Can Calgary recover from their disappointment Saturday night (of which I saw the first OT, but didn't make it for the second and third)? Remember, they came back from a 4 goal deficit before losing in overtime. That's a hard thing to overcome.


From the Wings perspective, Calgary winning would be the best outcome. First, they would be tired from a hard fought first round series. Second, they would be emotionally drained, which almost guarantees a win in Game One for the Wings - especially if they play on Wednesday, which is a possibility.


The other side of this is if Vancouver wins. Then Detroit plays Colorado. While this is the marquee match up that the NHL wants, it's too early. Despite the higher seeds, I think most feel that Colorado is a better team than Vancouver and San Jose, and Detroit and Colorado are odds on favorites to win the Cup. Having them meet in the Conference Finals makes the Cup Finals a let down (see Playoffs '02). Having them meet earlier only amplifies that.


On the other hand, if they don't meet now, will they ever meet? The Flames are a better version of Nashville - they are young and fast, like Nashville, but much more physical, and they have better players - Iginla and Conroy are top notch players. Colorado would play San Jose, and I won't underestimate them. They dispatched the Blues easily, and are on a roll. It could easily be a San Jose vs. Calgary Conference Final.


The saying goes, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." So for hockey, does that mean Colorado vs. Detroit now is better than the possibility of that same match up later? Probably. As a fan of either team, I think we'd rather push it off a little while.


Well, now that I am done, the first period is over, and it's scoreless. If this goes into OT, I won't stay up, and I'll just find out who the Wings play tomorrow.