This week at our study group we had a discussion about passing values around by val and by ref.  How so?  Please read on for further details.

Today I realized the current way I was using Log4net was, well....suboptimal.  Read on for what the problem was and how I fixed it!

Have you ever noticed QuickWatch is dumb?  Please read on for my rant on why QuickWatch needs just one little, itty, bitty tweak to make PERFECT!

Are you a recently laid off hi-tech programmer/IT worker in the Ottawa, ON area?  If yes, please read on for a FANTASTIC free training opportunity with CTE Solutions!

Are you still doing your logging using Windows Event Viewer?  How 2000-ish!  What are you doing?  Get into the next decade and start using Log4net!

Have you tried out Windows 7 and love it except for that darn bird on the Logon background screen?  Read on for how to change it, it's not that hard!

If you're new to source control, you might find the concept of "ignoring certain files" a bit disconcerting, but that's ok.  It's one of many source control's "best practises."  The only "trick" is picking which files to ignore.  Read on for some insight's on picking some and a sample SVN ignore list.

Last weekend I bit the bullet and installed Windows 7 on two, yup, you read that right, TWO computers!  Read on for my experiences.

No, I don't mean to gloat, quite the opposite, I actually helped CodePlex become juuuuuuuust a little bit better today!

When you try to rename a directory or do an F5/refresh and find your Windows Explorer goes off on a ride for ten minutes unexplicably?  Are you using SVN/TortoiseSVN?  If you said yes to both, I have a solution, please read on!

IMHO the OCC 2009 event was a great success for the Microsoft tech heads in the Ottawa/Gatineau area!  Read on for some highlights!

Have you ever emailed/phoned a software manufacturer?  How long did it take?  Read on for a very cool story about CodePlex!  Find out why I'm pleasantly suprised!

If you are a .NET/C#/VB.NET code head living in the Ottawa, ON area, then you might be interested in the Ottawa Code Camp going on this weekend!  Read on for further details!

Have you ever wanted to write a piece of code JUUUUUUUST for debugging purposes?  Ever been burnt with leaving it in for a Release build?  Read on for a really quick'n' easy way to avoid this in the future!

Have you ever been given a document or asked to do something for which you do not have access to the right tool?  If that's happened to you before, read on for a possible solution.

Ever try to use the RegEx option in Visual Studio's Search and Replace dialog box?  RegEx is hard enough as it is without having to throw in Visual Studio's own little nuances, well read on for a bit of help.

As you're developing code/sql, do you tend to "fart around" with your t-sql in Managment Studio?  If you do, I'm sure you've ruined some classic/prestine data, right?  Read on for a quick trick to stop that from happening again!

Do you create multi-lingual applications?  Here's a blog from MS which could help make your translation juuuuust a bit cheaper AND give you a leg up on the actual translations themselves!

Ever heard the term SWAG or Chachkas before but never knew what they meant?  Read on to find out!

Are you part of the ODNC?  Are you interested in the first step to getting a .NET certification?  Read on for a great study group given by the ODNC!

Are you planning on going to a technical conference this year?  Chances are your company's on a tight budget, so how are you going to decide on what's the "right' conference for you?  Read on for some of my thoughts!

Last Friday I got a new tool and so far I'm loving it!  Read on for further details!

Need a quick'n'dirty way to do something to ALL the tables in your db?  Read on for a SQL Server undocumented proc you might be able to use.

Last week I was invited to presentation on how to give a good technical presentation.  Read on for some cool'n'useful tidbits!

Microsoft Certification is rumoured to be removing the Framework exam (MCTS 70-536) from the exam stack.  WTF?  Read on why I'm cheesed off at this announement.

Want to make your WinForms application look just a bit more professional?  Read on for one quick'n'easy thing you can do to bran your newly created (or in maintenance) WinForm with your company logo!

When you give presentations, do you sometimes lose track of time?  Do you sometimes get caught up on a question that takes you away from your well practised presentation?  Do you sometimes lose track of time (and repeat yourself cause you're not aware of your own presentation? DOH!)?  Read on for a GREAT feature in Microsoft PowerPoint to help you give keep track of your presentations.

How do you record your meetings?  Do you use Microsoft Office Live Meeting?  If you do, how do you share your meetings with others?  Read on for a great tool to help you out!

Microsoft TechDays have been finalized for 2009.  Read on for more details.

AAAAHHHH Beating a config file into submission!  There's a few things in life more pleasureful, but not many!  If you're using DNN + SyntaxHighlighter2 + code highlighting plugin for FCKEditor, you'll want to read on for vital configuration information/gotchas/fixes.

Have you ever wanted to take down your website quickly but weren't quite sure how?  Ever been hit with a bad virus/hacker and want to immediately shut things down?  Have you ever wanted to do an upgrade to your website but would like to spare your users bad error messages or confusing them by seeing wonky screens of half upgrades pages?  Read on about a cool file IIS uses if it's present to take a site offline.

Have you ever wanted to use t-sql to find out the specific version of SQL Server you were running on?  If you're writing version specific t-sql, this information will be invaluable, continue reading for a quick way to figure it out.

Stored procs are great, especially the ones from SQL Server, but the problem is using them in another query.  How do you do it?  Continue reading for insight! :>

I can never remember the t-sql syntax for cursors, so here's my blog to help remind me (and hopefully serve as  future reference for you too! :>).

In writing up another blog about Exception handling I was getting some VERY strange results from a path throuhg my code which should be well behaved.  Turns out I was getting IOExcpetions where I wasn't expecting them!  And why was Path.GetTempFileName() returning an empty string for a temp filename?  Read on for a very freaky reason why!

Exceptions are by their very nature, very exceptional (haha pun intentional)! :>  There are quite a few different ways of throwing and catching them.  I hope you enjoy this short series on exception handling (this is part 3 of 3).

Exceptions are by their very nature, very exceptional (haha pun intentional)! :>  There are quite a few different ways of throwing and catching them.  I hope you enjoy this short series on exception handling (this is part 2 of 3).

Exceptions are by their very nature, very exceptional (haha pun intentional)! :>  There are quite a few different ways of throwing and catching them.  I hope you enjoy this short series on exception handling (this is part 1 of 3).

20 years ago, it was common to have a DOS vs OS/2 debate over beers'n'wings!  Today it's pretty much a forgone conclusion who the winner is.  For the past 10 or so years, IBM and Microsoft have been relatively quiet on the war front.  That could change soon.  Please read for a brief look back at past "debates."

Updated 2009-04-06

You've all heard you can embed a browser into your application, but have you tried it out?  Have you seen it in action?  Have you whipped up some code to try it out?  Well now's your chance, continue reading to see this awesome control in action!

Late breaking news, Microsoft buys Sun Microsystems!  Continue reading for more exciting news about this earth shattering event!

In August I wrote a blog about MS Word shortcuts.  Turns out there are a few other one's I've been using quite a bit.  Read on for a table you can print out and tape beside your monitor to help you out.

I've recently written one of the MCTS exam, please read for a small suggestion that might help you write your next certification exam.

If you are creating a project on CodePlex, good for you!  But make sure you get the URL right the first time cause you get ONE shot to set it up!  Read on for more information.

I bit the bullet today and installed MS SQL Server 2008 today, read on for some interesting things I found out.

What would happen to your sanity if you lost, yes I said LOST your digital photo album tomorrow?  Read on for some archival strategies to keep your precious memories your's forever.

Confused by the title?  Read on about a commercial I saw tonight from Swiffer.

Have you ever wanted to extract a path or directory name from a field in SQL Server?  I found myself looking at that today and I found a cool and nifty trick.  Read on for more information.

The preliminary agenda for Ottawa Code Camp 2009 has been posted!  Read further for more information.

This week at work, I noticed a piece of code setting the Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture to a specific culture.  No big deal right?  Except shouldn't that be CurrentUICulture?  hhhhhmmmm  Good question!  What's the difference between them?  Please read on for a bit of a descriptive and some code.

Progress update as promised (late, but still as promised).

Do you code to the "lowest common denominator" on your team or do you code to another standard?  Read on for something to make you go hhhhmmmmm....

Interfaces are like vegetables, you know you're supposed to eat/use them more, but yaaaaaaaaaa know, life just gets in the way sometimes right?  Read on for a cool idea to help your consumers use your interfaces better.

Are you using proper CSS in your web pages?  If you are, good for you!  If not, then here's a couple invaluable links, please read on.

This is a VERY cool read about the different types of cables out there.  Read on!

Of course YOU'VE never done this before, where you write two constructors, but instead of having one calling the other, it calls itself.......hhhhmm what would happen?  Read on for more details.

Ever been tasked with a code review?  Enjoyed it?  Unless you're a sadist, I doubt it!  Read on for the best (easiest and quickly) code review criteria you'll EVER find!

I like my hockey teams, but I think this guy's got everyone beat!  Read on and check out the picture.

To what standard to you hold yourself accountable to?  Do you use Hungarian notation?  What about the C++ "m_" convention?  Camel vs Pascal casing?  Or do you have no clue what I'm talking about?  Read on for more information.

SB had a great coding question today which he thought enough of me to see if I could help out.  As an aside, ever notice how you can ask some people questions but not others?  Why is that?  Fodder for another blog.  Anyways, read on to see if you can solve this coding challenge.

I got some constructive feedback today from an influential reader (two actually :> SG and SB) and I thought I would quickly explain in a bit more detail the changes I made to help make Rene's life a bit easier for the ///todo management tool in a previous post.  So if you're interested, please read on! :>

With special thanks to a reader, I made a small change to the Show All Tasks project I blogged about in September.  Read on for further details.  Thanks Rene, great idea!

Are you trying to share your code with the outside world?  Are you using SVN (or a variant like VisualSVN Server)?  If you answered yes to both of these, then read on for some assistance.

Today I read an article called Saving and Restoring Form Location in a Multi-Monitor Environment. The article talks about saving and restoring the previous window's size and location even on systems with multiple monitors.  I have a different solution to this problem from the author, please read click through for more imformation and the code sample.

When someone tells you to put in a brace in your code, do you know if they're talking about ( or { or [ or even <?  Read on for some concrete definitions.

This afternoon I was writting some code which removed a ToolStripStatusLabel from my ToolStrip and it took me a few moments to figure it out.  Can you spot the error?

Are you tired of seeing flashes out of the corner of your eye when you have Microsoft Messenger up?  Read on for a sneaky, cool and geeky way to get rid of that.

Are you seeing an error message when opening an .csproj file and you're thinking "HUH?  VS knows what a .csproj is! WTF?!"  I have a possible reason, read on for details.

 I goofed once (ok, I've goofed more than once, but this time someone caught me on it).  Read on for more details.

The Ottawa Code Camp dates have been confirmed and the rooms booked at Algonquin College!  Mark it on your calendar's, May 2nd, 2009 is the BIG DAY!

Does your company use the very same product it creates?  If not, uh...... WHY THE HECK NOT?!  Read on for food for thought!

Unless you're Sara Ford or Scott Cate, I'm pretty confident you haven't heard of these two features, Anchor Swapping and Deleting Words, but they are pretty cool.  Read on for more details.

Did you know there are two types of matches you can do with RegEx?  I know you can create LOADS of regex patterns, but did you know there are two different types of "matches" you can get from your LOADS of patterns?  Read on for a brief description (yes, I'll keep it short I promise :>).

Have you heard of CodePlex?  Have you tried it out?  Joined a project, downloaded some code?  Checked in some code?  I've been avoiding it, for no other reason than I haven't had any need to.  Until tonight, read on for some details!

If you've had Visual Studio crash on you today simple cause you tried to add new toolbox items, you're probably confused and frustrated, just like I was today, TWO hours before a prototyping meeting!  Read on for some tips to try and help the situation.

Someone at my work today asked me a whiz-bang question (thanks SB! :>) about how to selectively put a checkbox on a TreeView's node?  HHHHMMMM  Please read on if you were as interested as I was!

Do you have a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard with a Zoom slider that has a complex?  Does it think it should be a Scroll Up/Down function instead of the zooming job it currently does?  Please read on for instructions on how to change your slider to a scroller.

Pop Quiz, how many types of tables are there in Microsoft SQL Server?  BBBZZZZZZZZ!!!!!  Times up, did you say one?  Two?  Ten?  Read on for the answer.

I've recently moved jobs and as such, find myself reconfiguring Visual Studio (again) to my liking.  I've had to rejig my VS install a few too many times and would like to create myself a bit of a reminder of the things I do in the future.  So read on to see what kinds of changes I like to make.  What do you like to change/modify for your VS installs?

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) issued a scam warning last summer which seems to be making it's rounds again (thanks NK for the info).  With tax time upon us soon, I guess this is why this is coming around again. Read on for more details.

Ever visit some webpages and see a funky look'n webpage icon in your browser's address bar?  If you save that page to your favourites/bookmark the page, you'll probably see it there too.  Ever wonder how they do that?  WHAT is that thing called anyways!  It's called a "favicon" and continue reading if you want to know how to set one up for your website.

I read this article on the Developer Connection this afternoon and it's pretty cool!  Please read on for a direct correlation between your potential success at work and what you do in your spare time.

Are you annoyed that when you create a new class with Visual Studio it doesn't make the class public?  Are you like me and always forget to make it public but smack your forehead when your code won't compile and go "OH MAN! I forgot that AGAIN?!" :<  Well, no more, I can help you fix that small annoyance and a few others too! :>  Read on.

In trying to learn things about a new company, new processes, new tools, it's quite overwhelming, so I wrote up two little cheatsheets/cribsheets to help me rememeber key shortcuts for VisualSVN and CodeRush Xpress.  Read on to check them out.

Earlier this month I wrote one of those "what I'm going to do to become a better geek...uh....codehead.....uh coder!" :>  Read on to check on my progress so far.

PS Don't expect miracles here, it's only been three weeks, this is more for me than anything else you could say.

Are you all of a sudden getting Microsoft Word macro/virus warnings?  Not sure where they're coming from?  Don't remember installing anything recently?  Read on for further details about a possible solution!

What are you using for your source control?  Are you using the antiquated, buggy and very unstable Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS)?  If you are, then it's time you did yourself a favour and check out VisualSVN!  I pretty much guarantee you it won't cost you more than an hour of investigation and MAYBE another hour to install AND configure the server and client!  Yup, it's THAT fast and easy!  Read on for some further details about my recent and brief VisualSVN experiences.

This was up on a coworkers (SG) cubicle wall and I laughed so hard when I saw it!  If you don't laugh as hard as I did, at least I think you'll say "it's about freak'n time!" :>>>>

The Ottawa Code Camp organizing group have released the date for this years event, Saturday, April 25, 2009 (Date being modified and updated, potential date is May 2 or 9)!  Please read on for more information.

A friend of mine (thanks NK :>) sent this to me and it's too good to keep to myself, I have to share this!  Too cute!  Enjoy!

I was on an interview a few weeks back and someone asked me about a question which is obviously framed to gain insight into the person's thinking process.  How would you answer the following question (read on).

Maybe you seen these types of blog posts before, so what, you ask, right?  They're kind of bogus New Year's resolutions which inevitably get broken/ignored/disregarded. :< Well, not only do I plan on consciously working on my list continually throughout the year, but I hope to report on my progress every once in a while to keep accountable (yup, trying to learn something from Agile :>).

I’m also hoping this posting gives you (veteran readers, all two of you :> or noobs to my site) a bit of a heads up on what type of blog posts I’ll be putting up!  And yes, I'll obviously put up code as well! :> 

Continue reading to see what things I'm planning on working on to become a better codehead, uh, coder.  If you like what you see, please come back for new and exciting posts!

Are you thinking of starting up a study group to help get a technical certification?  Study groups are great for achieving certifications for what they provide, positive learning environment, non judgemental, enthusiastic and willing participants.  But is that all you need?  Unfortunately a bit more is required.  Read on for some of my personal experiences with running three study groups.

Warning: Due to the type of material this is, this is a long post.

If you could describe your ideal work place, how would you?  Not in a novel, as terse as possible.  For me it's 1 + 1 = 3.  Simple isn't it?  If you think it's math, you'd be, well, right and wrong.....WTF you might say?  Let me explain.

If you're going Agile, are you looking into "Agile" utilities/tools to help you manage your Sprint/Product backlog?  What about scrum meetings?  Retrospectives?  If you're thinking they'll cost you an arm and a leg, you could be in for a pleasant surprise!

In learning more (and more and more :>) about Agile, I would like to summaryize the guiding principles behind Agile according to the 17 original creators.  To often I've read, seen even experienced people saying if you're doing X, Y AND Z then you're NOT doing Agile.  hhhhmmmmm  Agile is a set of principles right?  Not rules, correct?  So as long as you're trying to follow the guidelines, I think you'll be safe (by me that is) that you're Agile. :>