Brian H. Madsen - .Net Powered by Caffeine : Personal

Spam that social media….

Brian Madsen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:05:21 GMT

We all know, and expect, to see ads when we hit the movies for that latest blockbuster – the “pre-show” as it’s called, is of course advertisement and you know, and again expect, it to be around 15-20 minutes long – it’s a long running tradition and we’re generally ok with it. does it stop us from hitting the movies on a friday/saturday evening with your partner? no, most likely it wont.

We also know that web sites, blogs, forums et al contain adverts – in most cases they’re non-intrusive – in some they actually block you from entering the site proper before you either have to find a “skip this crap” link or watch it all to the end – does it stop us from visiting our favourite web sites/blogs? no, most likely it wont.

Then there’s of course the emails – we know, and still expect, to get hit with ads at some stage – either solicited or unsolicited. Some more than others. does it stop us from using email? no, most likely it wont.

Now, since this phenomenon took hold – well, say sometime last week – social media…that’s your MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al – ads are becoming more and more frequent – we still know, and still expect, there to be ads. does it stop us from using it? no, most likely it wont. However, the “owners” of these social media fads needs to spend an enormous amount of time/resources in battling spammers.

Yeps, we all have a ~~love~~/hate relationship with them – in some cases the spammers are becoming more and more ingenious and are using phishing techniques to try to get hold of your account details, contact lists, friends lists et al – undermining the general “trust” your nearest contacts has in you – and i say you because more and more often, you can identify yourself with both your RL identity and your online identity. Hell, i have gaming friends that, even though knowing my real name, still calls me by my gamer tag.

So, since the connection between your identities are closely connected in many cases, hijacking your Facebook account is pretty much close to identity fraud.

We know the dangers – it’s nothing new…don’t click on links from people you don’t ~~know~~/trust (insert caveat here)…don’t open that email attachment from that nice gentleman in Nigeria…those free pills and porn access links probably shouldn’t be investigated further while you wait for that download to finish.

Yet it’s still happening – very, very often at that…sometimes with malicious intent…sometimes to make a statement…but mostly, it’s done with a financial incentive in mind.

Of course, having the most secure password isn’t going to help us out much if we’re silly enough to hand it out to every person/site who asks.

Twitter is seeing a LOT of phishing and spamming going on these days – even direct messages from people you don’t follow (that’s supposedly a prerequisite). the most common one is the “mention” type spam.

Basically a list of followers are scraped using an account on Twitter – and then it just goes through that list and tweet to you and voila, since your Twitter client, in most cases, has the “mention” tweets, you’ll be seeing it.

So, we expect the ads, and in some cases the spam – are we going to stop using social media anytime soon, even knowing the dangers involved both from a “trust” and “identity” perspective?

no, most likely not….

Windows 7 and my new rig

Brian Madsen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:41:31 GMT

I finally managed to get hold of the RTM of Windows 7 (yes, terrible download speeds – go figure).

But it’s here and i’m still loving it.

I was a bit concerned about putting it on my new rig – the Alienware M17x – due to drivers etc etc.

It wasn’t worth the hassle to stress about it so i jumped into it – some 24 minutes later i was ready to log in.

Got myself the drivers (mostly for Vista) and got my hardware set up. Then got a modded inf for the graphics and i was ready to roll.

Here’s the system details screen, showing my T9600 and the amount of ram the laptop has (going to put another 4Gb in there soon i think)

Now, i haven’t overclocked anything yet, so the CPU, Ram and graphics are all stock standard right now.

CPU: T9600 @ 2.8Ghz
RAM: 4.0Gb
HD: 2 x 320Gb 7200rpm in RAID 0
Gfx: NVidia 9400M + 2 x Nvidia 260M GTX in SLI (hybrid)

Shame that the disk and ram lets it down – but 5.8 isn’t bad from a laptop!

Dramas over the weekend – Daughter gets hospitalised

Brian Madsen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:57:45 GMT

It was an ordinary weekend which turned into one of those that you simply just want to forget and put behind you.

Sunday afternoon, we had a big seafood BBQ (Christmas in July was the theme) at a friends place – so the wife, myself and the kids packed up and migrated there for the day.

Around 6pm my youngest daughter crawled up onto an office chair to do some drawing at a desk – she loves drawing and colouring in (she’s 3 btw). When she wanted to get down again she slid off the chair, but as she was about to put her feet down the chair must have pushed backwards and she lost her footing, dropping the few inches/cms to the ground. Unfortunately what also happened was that while loosing her footing she knocked her head on the table edge.

No major outcry – so it couldn’t have been that bad a knock. Or so we thought.

30mins after coming home she started mumbling and throwing up – 5 times she threw up within 10 minutes.

We checked her for bumps and bruises but couldn’t see any but the wife, ever vigilant, asked me to look up concussions for children and we found that she matched 2-3 of the symptoms.

so the wife called the after hours emergency services and after a brief discussion was told to bring Blair into the emergency room.

Since we have two kids, one of us had to go and the other stay with the oldest. The wife went. On the way to the emergency room, my youngest threw up once more.

Anyways, wife managed to get her bundled into the emergency room and sat down for a bit of a wait – there wasn’t that many there, but it soon filled up.

After two ops sessions my wife was told that they had to keep my daughter overnight and she needed to have a drip inserted – urggghh…Blair isn’t too keen on needless to put it mildly. She categorises doctors into two categories – good doctors, who doesn’t do needless/jabs and bad doctors, who does do needless/jabs.

The wife sits down to wait as there has to be a bed “free” first.

In the meantime she calls me to ask her to bring her an overnight bag so i drop my oldest off at a friends place while i drive down to the hospital with it. Get back home and pick up the oldest again. Now, it’s nearly 11pm.

at 1:30am they still hadn’t seen a doctor…2:30am passes by..finally, at 3:30am a doctor shows up after an examination it was judged that my daughter had gotten a mild concussion from the knock on the head.

I have to admit I admire my wife’s vigilance and her stamina – sitting upright for that amount of time, holding a child, is hardly a walk in the park.

At around 11am or so, a third examination is done and since Blair’s perked up to her regular, normal self, she’s sent home.

I know kids are resilient but the slight knock rocked her enough to concuss her head – needless to say, no more climbing chairs in the near future. The scare alone is enough to make a parent grow old overnight!

Luckily she’s back on her feet again, drawing and just being a happy child again – but it was a scare that we’d rather have missed out on…Nothing sets those parental emotions into swing as much as these types of incidents.

Hail in Perth – 5 mins of hail just before lunch

Brian Madsen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:05:34 GMT

Here’s a rare sight in Perth – Hail….and a LOT of it!!

Dropping my coffee intake to 0

Brian Madsen — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:15:56 GMT

Uhmmm – one of the decisions I’ve made recently has been to drop my, according to others, excessive coffee intake and replace it with something a bit more gentle.

Tea….

I’m now on day 7 of no coffee at all, started last Monday and obviously it had a very fast impact.

On last Thursday i had a comment from one of my colleagues – asking me if i was ok since I'd been VERY quiet Monday through to Wednesday?

I honestly didn’t think I'd been any different than my regular, “normal” self in the office, but obviously it must have registered somewhere.

I admit, i had a thunderous headache Tuesday afternoon – most likely from the caffeine withdrawal.

So, i replaced it with tea..my current recipe for a good cup is:

1 tea bag of either Chai tea (Ceylon), Herbal tea (Herbal Infusions, Twinings) or Green tea
1 slice of lemon
1 teaspoon natural honey

As far as missing the coffee – yes, but i think it’s more the habit of having the coffee with me around the office than the actual coffee itself right now.

It’s all a step into making my life a little bit healthier – next step includes finding a way to drop those extra kilos that’s weighing me down.

I’m literally going to take it slowly and just drop things off the list one at a time. Considering taking up Taekwondo though with my knee issues I might have to take that VERY slowly.

What did we do to deserve this?

Brian Madsen — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:21:17 GMT

Sometimes i wonder if my girls will ever forgive me when they get older?

10th Wedding Anniversary

Brian Madsen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:45:00 GMT

The saying goes "Time flies by when you're having fun" and even though it hasn't been a bed of roses 10 years has now gone by since my wife "formally" agreed to marry me.

Actually, for about 8 years i was a very, very bad husband - which makes it all the more astonishing that my wife stuck with me.

For the 8 years i'm sorry - for the last 2 years i'm grateful.

My wife's loyalty and love moved me beyond what i was and i actively sought to turn my life around - with her help and support i've gained not only what i'd lost, but far more than that.

I believe that i've found what marriage is about. You can go through marriage and never truly learn the depth of the commitment, the passion, the support and the love it actually takes.

When i look back on "old Brian" - the person who was selfish, egocentric and hot headed, i'm truly ashamed - more because of what i've put my wife through than what it did to me.

I now have what i want in life and my task for the future is to ensure that my wife and children gets what they want and deserve.

Looking for webcast creation software

Brian Madsen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:07:35 GMT

I’ve long been thinking of doing some webcasts (or screencasts i suppose) and since I haven’t been into that before (mostly because i have a somewhat weird accent) i’ve been looking for info on how to create one.

So question i pose here is:

Q: Which software is best to use to create one?

Q: Which software is best to use to edit it?

Anybody?

Team Building Day - Paintball fun

Brian Madsen — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:39:00 GMT

Yesterday morning saw 10 members of the team i'm on, venture out for some Team Building.

We hooked up at 8am for the mandatory "safety" introductions, for how to manage yourself when shooting your fellow team mates in a game of paintball.

Some of the rules were (as i interpreted it anyways):

- shoot opposition in the head because it doesn't count as a "kill"
- Stand at a distance of 3.1meters if you want to inflict maximum pain (3meter is the closest safety distance)
- Make them eat the paint (it tastes like crap)
- don't stop shooting just because you know you've hit them (they're not out till they raise their hand/arm)
- if you want to target somebody, put yourself out there as well (eg. wear a bright green west on top of your camos and pick your arch nemesis on the opposition to wear the same)
- get as many paintballs as you possibly can - higher chance of inflicting pain if you have lots of ammo
- don't wait to get under cover before you start shooting - just shoot as soon as the "green" light is given
- wear a beenie under the head gear, headshots don't count as kills, but getting hit does hurt

We had awesome fun with tons of bruises, laughs an antics - and i must admit that i was seriously hyped up!!

Orange team won the overall battle of the day (my team!!! yay, eat that blue!!).

anyways, i can highly recommend getting your team together for a bit of fun and pain :)

Congratulations Microsoft MVP 2009!

Brian Madsen — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Late last night I got the email from Microsoft, letting me know that i've been awarded the 2009 Microsoft MVP award.

Again, i am honoured to be counted with some of the brilliant minds in our industry and very pleased that my contributions this year has gotten me yet another recognition from Microsoft.

Needless to say, nobody's going to be resting on our laurels here :)

So thanks to everybody that's helped me out in the past year!

My wife’s still sick – nasty virus

Brian Madsen — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:59:16 GMT

My wife’s been the sickest she’s ever been in our marriage – high fevers, vomiting, diarrhoea and soreness all over. Pretty much the worst flu she’s ever had.

At first we suspected that it was food poisioning but today, finally, the doctor informed us that it was the flu – a rather nasty strain is currently circulating in town.

A friend of mine has had his young boy hospitalised for three days due to this strain of the virus so i seriously hope that it’s not going to come to that for my wife.

She’s been a trooper though..she hardly, if ever, complains and she doesn’t suffer from the male version, Man Flu either.

Naturally i’ve taken over the MomDad duties, which means also dropping the kids off to day care and school – obviously i’m not nearly as organised as my wife is on this point as i’ve forgotten several items already that they have to have with them.

The kids has been good though – even though Mom is feeling poorly i’ve been told that they still love her…nice to know :)

Unfortunately my wife wasn’t this lucky today – i took her to the doctors to have her checked over..i was getting seriously concerned when she was still bedridden after 2 1/2 days (practically unheard off – 10 years of marriage and she’s never been bedridden for more than a day, at the tops) and i knew this here wasn’t just the usual run of the mill head colds.

She got a maxalon injection today – an anti-nausea drug plus the usual assortment of medicines – but we can’t tell our youngest daugther who’s absolutely terrified of “The Jab”. Only bad doctors give “The Jab” and good doctors just give you medicine.

Problem at the moment is that she can hardly move – the fever’s crawling through her and making her so weak that she can hardly even keep a conversation going.

Anyways, the strain of missing Mom is definitely taking it’s toll on the kids – their routine is totally shot down and the time they normally spend with Mom is null and void – especially since this strain of the virus is so darn nasty and we really want to limit the possibility of the kids getting infected as well.

It’s been a long week already and i hope she’ll get better soon – tomorrow’s a new day but i doubt she’ll be fit for duty in the morning.

Love you sweetie – get better soon

Luvs

Brian “One helluva desperate Husband” Madsen aka The Hubby.

Thrive - Microsoft launches career coach

Brian Madsen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:03:00 GMT

Microsoft has just launched a new site for handling your career - besides the content i'd like to add as a sidenote that it's great to see Silverlight used in public web sites launched by MSFT.

Including fact sheets and certification information there's also technical introduction videos available - currently there aren't that many but i'm hoping to see a lot more in the coming months.

The site is geared towards YOUR career - certification, career changes etc and i actually like it. It's a much better "entry" into the certification program while also having great industry relevant content available.

In the career change section there's a lot of excellent content, how to job search in 2009, resume/cv guidelines, interview questions and even how to present yourself at an interview together with body language.

Need to find cheap Virtual Private Server host...

Brian Madsen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:53:00 GMT

I'm trying to locate a cheap VPS hosting provider for an extra-curricular project that a couple of colleagues and myself are working on.

It needs:

- Windows Server 2003 (min)
- Ability for us to install our own software (no limitations)
- Remote Desktop Connect for a min. of 5 users at any given time

We don't need a massive amount of disk space, enough for us to run Visual Studio, SQL Server and a few other applications.

It's essentially going to be a remote development machine for us to use for this project - or alternatively we'll run a TFS instance on it together with an AD. Not sure about the logistics of it at the moment.

Anybody know of a good, reliable and most importantly, cheap hosting provider that provides VPS plans?

Coping with the heat – why do women handle it better?

Brian Madsen — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:49:02 GMT

it’s been hot the last two-three days – but in particular yesterday and today. I’m still not coping with the heat – well, i can move around and observe..stuff.

But anything other than that and i’m struggling.

Now, Sunday is our family dinner day – we have roast and other goodies and the wife works hard in the kitchen for 2-3 hours (sometimes 4-5 hours, all depending on how much the kids wants to bake).

Anyways – i’m here, struggling while the wife is looking all calm and collected in the kitchen, where it’s at least 10 degrees hotter than anywhere else in the house.

I’m watching her and not one drop of sweat on her forehead, whilst with me i’m a torrential flood.

is there something in the female gene that prevents them from looking bad when it’s hot? or is it something in the male gene that makes the man look like a drowning puppy when it’s hot?

Whatever it is, i want whatever it is the women have!

Christmas weather in Perth

Brian Madsen — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:33:48 GMT

The weather is one aspect of West Australia that I simply cannot get used to. For those that doesn’t know Perth it’s very hot here – oh it’s even hotter some other places in Australia (but i don’t live there!).

Back in Denmark, Christmas used to mean snow and well below freezing temperatures, so it’s hard to “feel the Christmas” spirit when you have sweat running down your legs.

Since i’m still off on holidays I figured i’d be a bit more productive around the house – you know, catch up on some of the things that tends to be forgotten and that of course means spending time outside. Yes, in the sun…where it’s hot.

And it doesn’t look like it’s going to cool down for some time. Dec-Jan aren’t he hottest months here either – February is.

I have a few things i want to attend to – one major part is painting the outside of the house. Not the whole house, just the guttering and the piece that sits just below it (can never remember what it’s called) and for that i have to clear the way at he back – this means, cutting back the plant from hell – the bourgainvillia.

it’s pretty enough – ours has bright purple flowers on it. But…it also has thorns…3-6cm long thorns – nasty buggers! which makes it a very good, natural protection against somebody jumping our fence.

It’s now “chopped” down to around head height and i’m taking a break because it’s so bloody hot out there.

Christmas with the family

Brian Madsen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:41:33 GMT

I’ve never been a big fan of Christmas – have always found it to be an exceedingly commercial institution.

Each year I’ve been dreading the Christmas rush, the nastiness and the extreme rude behavior that most people seem to manage to magic up for this once-in-a-year celebration.

My wife has known about this all along and have worked hard to get my “Christmas Spirit” up and running.

This year is the first year that I can honestly say i’ve seriously enjoyed – thanks to my wife and kids.

We normally celebrate Christmas eve (the 24th of Dec) with a danish Christmas dinner at our friends’ house, then take Christmas day and head over to our friends again.

I cook up a danish meal, and this year i settled for something a little different. Lighter as opposed to the normal heavy meals we eat around Christmas.

On Christmas day we had the turkey and the ham – brilliant. We then decided not to make a big day out of Boxing day (normally my wife cooks up something fantastic) and settled for a sunday family dinner instead. Giving us a bit of a break of the meat bonanza and time to settle what we’ve eaten the other two days.

Last night my wife made the best turkey ever. She cooked tirelessly from early morning till it was time to feast in the evening. And what a treat it was!

We had turkey, cranberries, stuffing wrapped in bacon (if you haven’t tried this, you’re loosing out!!), wine/beer et al. Best turkey ever!

This is not forgetting the brilliant truffle my wife also made for dessert! Yum!

Anyways, back to my point – my wife, bless her, really works hard to keep Christmas a family occasion and she’s been running the show tirelessly for years on end, never loosing hope that i’ll actually enjoy the season. And this year i’ve really, really enjoyed it.

The time with the girls has been absolutely fantastic – i’ve enjoyed having my time off and spending some good times with both of my daugthers and my wife.

So, to my wife i want to thank her for keeping up hope and for making this Christmas the best i’ve ever experienced!

Hear a Smile - Walk of Vision. Fujitsu supports association of the blind WA

Brian Madsen — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:36:00 GMT

www.hearasmile.com - Hear a Smile, Walk of Vision day in support of the Guide Dogs of WA (Association of the Blind WA) is a day where us lucky people (that has our vision and never been in the position of being vision impaired) can put our support in.

"The walk of vision is an exciting new concept whereby fully sighted individuals are invited to walk blindfolded to experience what life without sight might be like."

And here's some info that surprised me - the cost of a Guide Dog.

"35,000 people in WA are blind or vision impaired and guide dogs change the lives of those who have them, but these dogs do not come cheap. Each dog costs approximately $35,000 to train over an 18 month period meaning funding and donations are incredibly important."

I'm always ready to put my hand up when it comes to doing a good deed for the community and i have a great deal of respect for those individuals and corporates that shares that belief as well.

So, when Alan Armstrong put the call out to Fujitsu to support a worthy cause, i was ready to assist with what was needed (even if it meant touching PHP again after all these years). Fujitsu had no problems with me assisting Alan with this and fully supported the initiative.

This isn't the first charity Fujitsu has been supporting and i'm constantly impressed with their ongoing community commitments - lets set a presedence...

So a big thanks goes to

: Mr. Alan Armstrong (Fujitsu) - for the initiative and heart
: Mr. Mark Webb (CEO Kings Park) - for officially starting the walk
: Kings Park board of directors - for providing the Kings Park location
: Digitalis - for hosting the website
: The Blind Association of WA - for the ongoing support

and of course to Fujitsu for dedicating the time and resources that allows us to do what we love doing!

There's plenty of opportunities for you to get involved as well - by participating in the walk, sponsoring the event or by donating to the Blind Association of WA.

Remember, every good deed counts and i think it's important that we show that we're a caring people! So don't sit on the couch, get involved yourself! Trust me, you'll feel a lot better for doing it! Head on over to the site - www.hearasmile.com.

Embarrassing as hell…

Brian Madsen — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:39:49 GMT

After lunch today, rice and chicken something, i decided to head down to the bank for the rest of my lunch break.

I’d nearly made it, with probably 50 meters to spare, when i started feeling a bit queasy – i stopped next to a bin on St Georges Terrace (there’s a ton of these round metal waste bins along the terrace) and thought “i’m going to throw up now”.

Nothing happened and it resided..phew..

I started moving away in the direction of the bank’s front doors when my mind went “NOOOOOO – DO NOT MOVE!!” so i quickly went back to the bin again…next thing i new i was throwing up, rice, peas, chicken et al – whole of my lunch just went down the bin.

A girl with a trolley suitcase full of files nearly screamed and jumped to the side as if i was a leper – So, standing in the middle of St Georges Terrace i was heaving my guts out.

First off, it’s not pleasant, secondly there must have been hundreds of people looking at me, wondering why the hell i had my head in a bin.

I finish off my business, grab a mint and chomp it down just to start throwing up again.

Man, when i stood up again i was severely embarrassed – everybody at the bus stop was looking at me..5-6 people were just standing there..people in cars had stopped (yeah, i’m one handsome devil!!).

So lesson learned – the outfit where i got my lunch from isn’t going to see a visit from me anytime soon…second lesson, always carry puke-bags with me.

Anyways, 20 minutes later i’m literally empty and i decide to go home. As i move away from the bin once again, everybody is just smiling and nodding to me, most likely thinking this poor bloke should get a job and stop drinking his social welfare up.

Nice…How’s that for a sunny wednesday afternoon.

Decided to head on home as i seriously just wanted to curl up and sleep.

DELL XPS M1710 gaming laptop overheating...

Brian Madsen — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:31:00 GMT

Last night i decided to play a few games of COD4 - which i do for an hour here and there, and suddenly i had a drop in FPS and a few seconds later the whole laptop just closed down.

At first my mind went OMG!!!!! a powerspike or something just as malicious has come through and fried my laptop.

then i settled a bit and had a closer look at the laptop - it was hot, even for the XPS, it was very hot yet it booted almost straight away (2-3 minutes later) and i saw an error message on the screen - it had overheated and closed down as a result.

first i felt a great deal of relief as this laptop isn't cheap - but then i became rather annoyed. This is meant to be a gaming laptop and should be equipped well enough to play games.

Now i'm going to chase down support from Dell - first to find out if i'm covered under warranty still and secondly to complain (yes, i do that from time to time, but i love this laptop and i'm rather furious that it should overheat).

Normally overheating is expected when you tamper with the system (or environmental issues, such as very hot areas or if you block the exhaust vents) - such as overclocking your hardware - but this is a stock DELL XPS M1710, with absolutely nada tampering. It should be equipped with enough heatsinks and fans to handle playing a game if the system specifications are up to par with what the game requires - and the XPS M1710 certainly does that.

And here i was, actually considering upgrading to a M1730 in the near future...fat chance at the moment!

So, i am grumpy as hell and am going to raise absolutely hell with DELL Support in the coming days!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Brian Madsen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:35:46 GMT

The saying goes "you are what you eat!"..Well, to me that's a superficial statement and i think it's far more important to remember "You are what you do!" instead.

I'm a father of two beautiful, intelligent and well-rounded girls and they're without a doubt the biggest blessings in my life. A day doesn't go by without me wondering what i could possibly have done to deserve this - but having my oldest daughter bring me a mug she made at school, filled with love hearts, simply brings things into perspective.

These girls bring constant reminders to me to better myself as what i do now in the early years, will help shape them as they mature.

I'm learning how to be a dad, what the definitions of a happy family is, as these are things you simply cannot be prepare for. Oh you can have role models and perfect fathers, but when it comes down to things, what really matters...is what you do, then and there!

I know i've said this before, but each time i think of how fantastic my kids are - the main reminder i get is how fantastic my wife is. She's helped tremendously in shaping our little happy family and if i could ever say i had a role model, it'd be her.

And who can't but love these little girls?

Crawling all over the couch with "Shrek" ears on.

So, to all of you, who's as blessed as i am - Happy Fathers Day!