Brian H. Madsen - .Net Powered by Caffeine

I received this today from a colleague - appropriate as it is :)

it had me seriously cracking up!!! especially the testimonial "I no longer shoot my co-workers"..

Here's a link to the web site - www.sarcasma.net - absolutely hilarious!!! i'm a convert!

Melbourne IT recently released an article on FaceBook - talking about the success story behind this phenomenon and highlighting some of the more frequently utilised features.

With thousands of new users signing up each day to the social networking powerhouse Facebook, its growing domination of the Internet audience presents a lucrative channel for businesses to market their products.

The challenge for any business is to find the best way to capture the attention of Facebook’s IT-savvy users. Below are a few approaches that can help position your business right in the midst of the social networking scene. read more...

FaceBook started out as just "another" social networking site, but quickly grew to be way more than just that. I myself are on FaceBook (well, who isn't?) and are using it frequently to keep in touch not just with friends and family, but also with technology. I'm a member of a number of groups and often spend time going through listings, blog posts, wall posts, news and follow through with looking at posted links to online articles and products/services.

That being said, it's quickly turning into a 5-click-to-get-where-you-want-to-go because there's tons of ads around. You add an application and are faced with "A secret admirer is in love with you" or "sign up here and you can win x, y and z". I guess that's the nature of an online web site with millions of subscribers/members, but i do wish the ads would be a little less in-your-face.

the phenomenon that is FaceBook is still rising and will only get bigger...

today is exactly 9 years ago that my wife accepted me as her husband. We got married in Ayr, Scotland as my wife is Scottish.

My wife is the stability in my life - consistently there to support me. It's been 9 years of learning about life, love and family. She's always been the one to teach me and for that I'm grateful. Most importantly is the fact that my wife loves me unconditionally as I love her.

When I look back to who, and what, i was 9 years ago and compare that with the man I am today, I can only thank my wife. She's taught me so many valuable lessons about family values. I know I have a long way to go but she puts up with me and teaches me the better road to take whenever i'm on shaky ground.

I've had many ups and downs, personally, and are learning how to be a husband as well as a father. Zoe, you've been right from the start and I've been blind through male pride. Some of the harder lessons in life is learned through experience and i'm certain i could have avoided many of the negative times if only i had listened to you.

When I first came to Australia, it was overwhelming and the one constant in my life was my wife. Support and love was never in short supply from her and for that I thank her and hope that one day, i may be able to repay her.

It's hard to accept you have flaws, especially as a man, and I realise that I still have many more things to learn.

Zoe, thank you for the past 9 years. They have been the happiest of my life and I want to prove to you that I'm worth another 9. Thank you for being there for me, for your love and for the two beautiful girls you have given me. Today i'm a happy man.

The Perth SQL Server User Group is being visited by none other than Greg Low (www.sqldownunder.com, www.solidQ.com/oz), Microsoft Regional Director, SQL Server MVP.

Greg Low has been presenting at the Perth SQL Server User Group before and each time has been a fantastic event. Greg is a seasoned presenter and trainer and has been synonymous with the SQL Server community in Australia for as long as I can remember.

Greg is an internationally recognised consultant, developer and trainer. He has been working in development since 1978, holds a PhD in Computer Science and a host of Microsoft certifications.

Greg is the country lead for Solid Quality, a SQL Server MVP and one of only three Microsoft MSDN Regional Directors for Australia. Greg also hosts the SQL Down Under podcast (www.sqldownunder.com), organises the SQL Down Under Code Camp and co-organises CodeCampOz. Greg is a PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server) board member.

Event Details:

Topic: Getting Started with Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) and Custom Reports in SQL Server 2005 - Greg Low
Venue: Level 8, 182 St Georges Terrace (Change Corporation head office)
Date: 7th of May, 2008
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Cost: FREE

Dynamic Management Views were introduced in SQL Server 2005 but as yet, they appear to be little understood. In this session, Greg will explain their role and show the most useful DMVs in action. He will also show how to use them with Custom Reports introduced in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2.

As usual drinks and nibblies are provided by our sponsor - Change Corporation (www.changecorporation.com.au) and we meet in the boardroom.

Please let reception know that you're there for the SQL Server user group meeting and you'll be directed by our friendly receptionist.

Click on the link below to register so we can ensure that we have drinks and nibblies available for everyone.

http://www.sqlserver.org.au/Events/RegisterMeeting.aspx?EventId=328

It's been an interesting weekend to say the least. First my wife gets a sinus infection and is pretty much down for the count, even though she was up and about, active as a mom (she got stamina, she does).

Then I start to feel a bit off on Saturday, just a little coughing, so i take some cough medicine and some flu tablets. Sunday morning was all hell as i hadn't slept very well. Was up and down like a yo-yo trying to blow my brains out through my nose. It just got worse from there seeing me feeling miserable when night came (and naturally feeling miserable meant i'm a whiner..yes, i'm male and i don't take it lightly being sick and dying!!).

Anyways, i'm staying home today - feeling miserable all by myself and trying to get some sleep, which doesn't seem possible when my lungs keep popping out of my mouth.

What can i say, i'm a whimp when i'm sick - a fact my wife can certainly attest to. She on the other hand can be sick and still manage the family.

I need to put forward an apology for misrepresentation to members of the Perth .Net User Group.

Over the last couple of months, i've been publishing event information both on this blog but also on the Perth Events blog, about interesting IT&T, Web or other "geek" related events.

One of the user groups in Perth which I've previously had good ties to, has asked me to stop "on-posting" event information as it was neither helpful nor representative and could deter people from attending the events.

I received an email from Perth .Net Community of Practice, asking me to stop "on-posting" event information.

As the CSharpZealot community primarily caters for C# it was felt that I was misrepresenting the Perth .Net Community of Practice - and for that I apologise and promise that I will no longer mention events. Since the misrepresentation obviously also goes for me..eg. I'm a ASP.Net MVP i'll also stop it from here since the Perth .Net Community of Practice isn't just an ASP.Net user group.

So for future event information, i suggest that you register at the user group web site (www.perthdotnet.org). Even though i'm an ASP.Net MVP i hope i'm still going to be allowed to attend the user group, but i'll be sure to limit it to ASP.Net centric topics.

Now that the niceties are out of the way, i personally think it's a load of bollocks to be honest but i'll comply with the event organisers request at the user group. Normally I'll post whatever information i pretty much choose to do - excluding NDA covered information of course - though here i'll make an exception and comply.

Tag, tag, tag...Here's how busy i've actually been of late. very few posts (but it's picking up again) and i've had a hard time catching up with an ever-growing list of RSS feeds (i need to cull this methinks).

Anyways, David Lemphers (the wild man of the australian DPE team at Microsoft - he has a tat!!!!) tagged me and i completely missed it - mostly because DAVID IS BLOGGING IN TWO PLACES NOW - arggff..tricked me!

Here's the rules for this round of "Tag n' Tell":

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged nee to write a post on their own blog and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names (and links)
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog (yes David..remember this rule )

So, i guess i should spill 8 things about myself that's not common knowledge;

1. I have absolutely ZERO skills when it comes to graphics design. I don't think i could even draw a perfect circle if i had a template. One of the big issues I have is that i simply just don't have that flair.
2. I also have a tattoo - albeit not nearly as large as the one that handsome gentleman, David Lemphers, has..
3. I also have a claim to fame - as i was an extra in a TV movie made in the 90's about the history of Tuborg and Calsberg (yes, the two breweries) and had to march down a cobblestone street in line with 5 other soldiers. This was done during my stint in the army when i was a private conscript.
4. I huge financial failure - i simply cannot handle finances. You give me $20 and i'll somehow manage to spend $30.Thanks to my wife we have a roof over our heads and get to eat daily (she's a wiz at finances...and handles everything at home..thanks sweetie).
5. When i say huge, then it's because i'm also slightly overweight (around 20kgs i think) and i need to get rid of this extra garbage.
6. I used to smoke - but i've quit. Went cold turkey and it was actually easier than I was led to believe.
7. I have a very,very limited amount of patience when people are being rude - everybody can have a bad day or fling out a witty comment and i don't mind smacktalk and friendly/humorous bantering but absolute cannot stand malicious or facetious comments.
8. I have a younger brother - about 2 years my junior, that i haven't spoken to in about 8 years now (and probably wont for the next 8 either). He still lives back in DK and apparently has a son.

Since this is the second set of "Tag n' Tell" i've been part of there may be a dublication in those "secrets".

I have to pick 8 people to tag...lemme see!

1. Andrew Bartucciotto (even italians eat chocolate) - www.csharpzealot.com/blogs/andrewb
2. David Lyong - http://david-sharepoint.blogspot.com
3. Andrew Coates (the guy in australia) - http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat
4. Sahil Malik (yes Sahil, you get to spill the beans!!!) - http://blah.winsmarts.com
5. Scott Hanselman (never tagged him before so why not) - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
6. Ryan Olshan (your turn buddy) - http://community.strongcoders.com/blogs/ryan/default.aspx
7. Meg Tsiamis (the only girl on my list) - http://www.blogpond.com.au
8. Long Zheng (keeping me up to speed) - www.istartedsomething.com

HP is joining the gaming PC market - and they're doing so with a bang. Ignoring the price tag on these babies is a must, but a dream for any hardcore gamer.

I've never really seen HP as an innovative company (uhmm..Compaq laptops with a HP sticker on it?) but these systems nearly blew my socks off!

Liquid Cooled gaming PCs in an awesome looking case + they have some absolutely fantastic meat on the inside. I dare say that these will undoubtfully beat Dell's gamer range in performance...now we just need to look at the price.

I did the specs on one of the LCi models if money wasn't an option - $6900 - and i felt all giddy just seeing the specs line up to match a dream machine...wish i could afford one!

Well done HP that's definitely something impressive - HP Blackbird 002 PC

"3 years ago this week, I had major surgery" - that's how Frank Arrigo's blog post on his 3rd anniversary starts.

I remember vividly his struggle (and trepidation) and subsequentl surgery and recovery from following his blog those years ago.

Frank is now reporting that he's doing good and i know we're all relieved to hear that he's healthy and definitely on the mend (if not already mended - it's hard to break a legend)!

I hope Frank continues with good health, and his humours and insightful blogging as well!

frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger : 3 year anniversary

Scott Barnes, legend and trouble stirrer of the interweb got interviewed by Michael Kordahi (DelicateGenius) in a very relaxed atmosphere.

As always, Michael stirs up Scott by asking the very sensitive question "Is Silverlight better than Flash?" and this pretty much puts the tone down for the interview. Guess what the answer was?

It's not news that Scott is leaving Australia for Redmond, US (aka. Microsoft HQ) to take up the position of Product Manager.

We all wish him the best of luck in Redmond and will hold him to his promise of staying active and blogging.

Watch the video: The MossyBlog Times. : I'm on DG.TV

Q: Now that you're going to Microsoft Corp, are you going to start wearing a tie?

Scott: lol if i do, i turned a wrong corner. That or i am about to go to court

I was looking at my Task Manager today to see if a thread had fallen "asleep" as i had a non-responsive program running and I got sidetracked.

In my performance tab i noticed a piece of info: Up time..

Well the figure i had there surprised me a bit. 661hrs up time..uhmm...roughly 27 days without a reboot.

I've basically had 0 problems with my system for nearly a month...not complaining here - Vista Business 64-bit is doing just great on this laptop! sweet!

Disaster struck two days ago - the "God" box, died..yes, that's right, the coffee machine died and was taken away to be replaced.

So I've now been reduced to drinking instant, freeze dried, pretend coffee - and Bob is not a happy uncle!

We will possibly get a new one installed today or tomorrow but that feels like it'll never happen..it's in the future and not now..damn it! i need my caffeine to function.

Does that make me a caffeine junkie?

Each morning when i get in, my routine is to switch the coffee machine on from stand-by mode, before I even remove my coat - it'll warm up, do it's test and make those cute little sounds that coffee machines do - just as a way of greeting me - "Hi Brian, I'm ready to give you pleasure!".

Does that make me a caffeine junkie?

I get up from my desk, approximately once every hour - as you really have to. Stretch, swirl your neck, and get another coffee.

It's quiet in the morning as i get in at 6am and I can enjoy a bit of silence, quickly check emails, sip my coffee, relax and wind up for the day ahead..take out the sips of coffee and it's like part of the engine just isn't working - i feel empty.

Does that make me a caffeine junkie?

Update:

The coffee machine pseudo-fix has been created by two very, very innovative infrastructure consultants - PR and JP - who in view of the "God" box lacking decided that a placebo was needed.

Further Update:

We now have a functional "God" box again...yes, it's true, the coffee machine is back..all shiny, sexy and totally beautiful. Oh how i have missed you!!!

Further, Further Update:

Hello, my name is Brian - and i'm a caffeine/coffee addict!!

and that's a good thing: www.hiddentruths.com.au/ YAY!!!!!!!!