Tom Squared

Every now and then I come across those weird, annoying issues with ASP.NET which very few people seem to have had, and no one seems to have an answer.  It's especially frustrating because I can spend hours (I've spent 4 hours today tracking this one down) trying to figure out what's going on.  Maybe one of the gifts of being a programmer comes the ability to spend 4 hours researching, testing, and focusing on one problem. In any case, we use FormViews pretty regularly in our ASP.NET applications.  For those who don't know, a FormView is very similar to the DataGrid and GridView controls.  You can place your form fields in either an ItemTemplate, EditItemTemplate or IntertItemTemplate.  This lets you bind the FormView to a DataSource and simple use Bind() to populate the values and update them back into the database.  We've been able to create pages with no, or very, very little code in the code behind using this method, and after a bit of a learning curv...

I'm working on a new project doing something I've rarely done before and feeling a bit out of my element.  When I'm in meetings I find myself trying to sound more intelligent about the material than I am.  I recognize that I'm trying to impress the manager and even the person I'm leading to convince them that I really can get the job done, when really I wonder if I'm trying to convince myself.  More than anything though I find myself incredibly focused on trying to get their approval and impress them with the work I've done. Looking at this a bit more objectively I'm finding that the importance of someone's opinion of me seems to be inversely proportional to the closeness of the relationship I have with the person. For example, when the project manager calls to ask me to do something I tend to take a break from what I was doing and complete the task right away.  When I get home at night and Erin asks me to do something it my very well go in ...

Last night Rachel, our 3 1/2 year old, did something I couldn't be more proud of.  She decided to give up her long flowing hair and donate it to those in need. Rachel had begun thinking about donating her hair back in November, but after talking it through with family decided she wasn't ready to cut all of her hair off.  We still talked about donating it on and off, but had decided to let it go until Rachel brought it up again. Last week we talked about how mommy and daddy were going to get their hair cut the next day, and Rachel asked if she could go see Jodie and get her hair cut short and donate the hair.  She was actually in tears when we told her Jodie didn't have any space left for that day, and we had to call that minute to see when we could schedule an appointment. Over the weekend we continued to make sure Rachel really wanted to cut her hair and donate it.  It's one of those things that you can't do part way.  Rachel gets a pony tail in her hai...

Why is it that the Cylons have gravity on their base stars?  Especially on the old series where they are all complete robots.  Wouldn't it be cheaper to let them just float where they need to go, or use magnets in their feet? No need to build ladders or anything. In that same vein, why is there oxygen?  Though maybe they just pump that in whenever they have humans on board. Something to think about all day, huh? Peace, +Tom

I just came across this video and it's pretty freaking hilarious.  I can't help but laugh out loud.  You should definitely check it out.  The creativity of some people is just amazing. Oh yeah, and I miss my TV!  Thank goodness there's Netflix, TiVo and my Wii games to catch up on. Some of the other stuff from thegeniuses is pretty awesome too.  I love the iPhone Shuffle video, my friend Mason needs one of them. Peace, +Tom

This evening we're kicking off a month of identifying and putting our strengths to work for bible study.  Since I'm asking all the teens to take a strengths test, I figured it was only fair to do one for myself.  If you haven't checked out StrengthsFinder , it's pretty good. While I prefer to book written by Marcus Buckingham, they have updated the test and unfortunately you need to buy a different book for the updated test.  In the end it means you almost need both books, since Marcus' book does a much better job explaining what strengths are and why it's important to focus more on them and less on our weaknesses. That being said, I'd really recommend you get the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and Marcus Buckingham's recent book Go, Put Your Strengths to Work , since it describes why strengths are important in there.  If anyone else is up for taking the test just let me know, I'll buy the book for you. In any case, here are my top 5 strengths, in ...

I got a message early this morning and just finished an article from the Washington Post that Joe Gibbs Resigns as Redskins Head Coach .  I'm really going to miss having Gibbs around, watching the plays seemed fun and there's been a lot of stuff this season I hadn't seen before. That being said, I'm glad he's making the decision to leave on his own.  It's so much worse when the coach is forced to resign or tries to keep the job going after they've lost the heart. I met Raleigh McKenzie during the Redskins player of the year dinner back in December.  He was sitting beside me at our dinner table and we ended up talking for quite a while. While others at the table talked to him about football and the good ol' days, he and I talked more about his kids and his career right now. He's working as a 4th grade teacher and loves his class.  He also coaches the Herndon high school football team, his son's football team and his daughter's basketba...

I love coming up with new ideas.  How cool would it be to see companies with these names? Sorry, we're out For any company that delivers or does on-site work like Nails on the Run . Let it go For any company that helps to organize life or even a psychologist tag line. Peace, +Tom

I've been listening to a bunch of different, and excellent, podiobooks I've found on podiobooks.com .  I definitely recommend checking the site out and seeing what's there.  One of the authors I came across is Lisa Wright and her Wrightales .  In Between the Darkness and the Dawn the following quote comes in: Armonk: I'll wait until tomorrow. But tomorrow's at best a maybe.  More often a maybe not. I'm beginning to recognize how much I plan to do while letting the doing of things slip by.  It's time to recognize that tomorrow is at best a maybe. Peace, +Tom