Tom Squared

I just found AutoMapper , a tool I wish I'd had years ago. This can take any of you classes and translate them into another class. This would have been especially useful when I've had to get an object out of and EntityFramework, and add in additional properties before display, which happens quite often. The code for this is pretty simple, an well defined on their site. I came across AutoMapper from my wife last week, and found it to be a perfect fit for on of my current issues. We're getting data from a Web service that has an Object and a lit of properties with their values, like the following. I needed to easy map each property to my display object type. There is the option of using reflection ( Looping through Object's properties in C# is an excellent example), and looping over each of the properties in my destination object, and filling them from values in the source object. Honestly, I did head down this path a bit, but realized I needed a more flexible so...

What does Dry Ice evoke in you? For me I remember clearly selling popsicles at my middle school Fall festival and being reminded constantly not to touch the dry ice, sine I would burn myself. How could ice burn? At some point I did touch my arm, and man it hurt. At the same time, this was the greatest stuff ever, ice that didn't melt into water, and that could burn. Is there anything it couldn't do? Heck, I just read an article about the Orbit , a portable washing machine that is in development and uses dry ice to clean clothes. It also smokes and makes crazy awesome bubbles in milk and soda. About last Spring I started following the Penguin Dry Ice blog. This s a great place to get information about how you can actually use dry ice. For example, it's a great alternative to regular ice for any coolers, so long as you separate the ice from the food. I had food on top of the ice, and it froze. Turned into freeze dried fruit. I'd never considered it before since I a...

While we still struggle with accidents, we've tried a lot of different ideas, therapists, doctors, tests, anything. While we still haven't nipped this in the bud, we do seem to be making progress. A lot of this is thanks to reading It's No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions to Your Child's Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, and Other Potty Problems by Steven Hodges and Suzanne Schlosberg. It's no secret, they believe most (almost all) kids who have accidents at night or during the day are due to constipation. More specifically, our kids aren't getting enough fiber in their diets (all kids really) and so a lot end up with poop stuffed all in the their colon and the intestines, never really clearing out. So even though kids poop daily, it still doesn't ever clear out. We haven't gotten to doing an enema or Miralax yet, we really need an X-Ray anyway and to see the doctor again. But adding fiber has definitely made a different for both kids. If you are jut beg...

Growing up in DC, I had a LOT of time to wander the city, by foot, car and Metro. Here are some of the most memorable things I recommend everyone does. I still don't get tired of doing them. Smithsonian It wasn't until College when I spent a semester in London that I realized all museums were not free. This is because everything at the Smithsonian is free. It is, without a doubt, the most complete education you can get for free. History, Culture, Art, Nature, Space, Technology... everything is covered. And it isn't just pictured on the walls, they have activities for kids, family and adults all the time. While there are obvious options, like the Zoo or the Natural History Museum, I and my kids definitely recommend the following places to visit. The kids are still talking about some. Natural History Museum I know I mentioned it as obvious, but I can't overstate how incredible this place is. You should definitely check out the insect exhibit, with LIVE insect...

I find myself often in a situation where it's some morning, I have the kids for the afternoon, and I'm not sure what to do with them. We could go to a movie, or play Legos, but living near Washington, DC, I want the kids to love the museums as much as I do, or to see what else is going on. This Sunday, while my wife was travelling, I took the kids to the Chocolate Festival in Old Town Fairfax. I didn't even know there wad an Old Town Fairfax, much less a chocolate festival. It was okay overall, but the best was seeing any type of chocolate you could imagine, and letting the kids pick something for themselves and their teacher. For finding cheap or free stuff going on nearby with the kids, I have to say About.com has consistently been the best. I tried si.edu (the Smithsonian Website) which is also good, but a little hard to navigate, partly because they have so much going on. At About I did a search of what to do with my kids this weekend, and a bunch of items came ...

After you get into comic books, you quickly come to realize you need some way to store them. There are a lot of details on exactly how to store comic books to last years. Heck, there are even companies that you can mail your comic boo to, and will put it I a clamshell to last years. Honestly, I get comic books to read them, share them with others, and get my kids into them. Some might be worth money, but we're talking about maybe $20 for a few comics, and pennies for others. I would never make back the money I spent. At the same time, I do want then to look brand new for as long as possible. So, focusing on someone who doesn't want to spend much, and keep them safe but accessible, here's what the comic store has taught me. Bags (Sleeves) You need to get comic book bags. These are plastic (polypropylene) bags. You should get the Golden Age size. Comics today are more narrow than they used to be, so the Golden Age size doesn't give you a snug fit. But it does give ...

I have quite a few DVDs at this point, and a lot of devices (my Surface Pro and iPods) which can't play them (no DVD player built in). So I find I'm nervous about having the DVDs just laying around and would prefer to back them up. A few movies are coming out now with a digital download option, which I have found confusing to use (and you only have a year to download the movie), but it's better than nothing. So I find I really need some way to back up my movies on the computer so that if they were somehow lost, I could get them. On top of it, I would like the ability to bring my movies with me on the iPods or trips. To be clear, I wouldn't want to share the movies with people (beyond my kids), but I do find I need a way to back up DVDs. After doing a bit of research and working with other options, the best and easiest option I have found is a mix of SlySoft AnyDVD and SlySoft Clone DVD Mobile . I know there are a lot of other options out there, but I really find Sl...

One of the biggest questions I get from people is what they should do to secure their computer. The Conversations go something like this: Phone: ring... ring... (btw, it's the middle of the day while I'm working without Internet access) Me: Hey, how are you doing? Family member: Fine, but I had a quick question... I keep getting pop-ups that say my computer s infected, and my antivirus is out of date, so I should open the window and buy the clean-up service. Does this make sense? Me: Do you have any security software installed now? Family Member: The computer had something installed when it came, so I've just kept using that... This then leads to some emergency troubleshooting, and the computer somehow ends up at my house while I try to get it fixed that evening, so the person isn't without a computer for a day. Typically most of my family members also don't want to pay the annual fee for some service, so they try to find free alternatives, which seem to...

One of the things I’ve been blessed enough to get to do is read to my daughters class. In Second grade this was the highlight of my month. I got to pick any book I wanted, usually something a little off-normal, and watch the kids actual;y be interested in the story. In almost all cases I left the books behind so the kids could borrow them throughout the year. I remember clearly how I read Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman (picked up that morning in a rush from the Comic Book Store… They saved the day). After that I mentioned that there was another book, The Wolves in the Walls , but it was kind of scary, so I didn’t bring it. They unanimously decided they wanted The Wolves in the Walls, and asked me about it the next month. That book went over really well with them. I usually got 15 minutes, and a book would take maybe 5 – 10 minutes, so I always had a few minutes left over to fill. At those times it’s always worth having a set of Rory’s Story Cubes handy. They have a set of things (vowe...

I’ve been on a diet for the past few months where I can eat anything I want for 4 days of the week, but for three I have a very strict diet. In that lunch every day is tuna fish, with very little seasoning. It’s safe to say that over the past 4 months I’ve become somewhat of an aficionado of tuna fish, at least what I can get at the store. It was pretty funny actually, I recall clearly one Friday evening out with the family and in-laws, and saw a Gold Box deal (between November 1st and Christmas they have hourly deals of almost anything, but they only come up at certain times and sell out quickly for popular stuff) for, you guessed it, tuna fish. More specifically, 24 cans of Crown Prince Tuna . My wife thought I was crazy, but it was pretty good. Over the next three months I single handedly worked my way through the box, and decided to see what else was available, so I’ve gone through a few different store brands and commercial brands like Star Kist, Star Burst (okay, maybe tune f...

So, you decided to get a Windows 8 laptop with a touch screen. Or you upgraded your old compute to Windows 8. It’s worth noting your experience with just a mouse will be somewhat different from using a touch screen. I find the touch screen more intuitive overall, but the mouse does work. Getting Started While I rarely read the manual for things, I definitely recommend you first step be to read Microsoft’s Getting Started page. There are a lot of tips on how to use the windows, close programs, and how to use the mouse. The best option, if you have a Microsoft Store nearby, is t stop in and let a dales person help. All the people I talked to were excellent, and explained first thing some of the most useful things they have found. The most useful things I’ve found are: Search: On the tile screen, just start typing and your apps will search. You can also press Internet Explorer to search the Web. Switch to last program: Swipe from the left side of the screen. Select from al...

Assumptions Admittedly, this is as question asked all over the place, and the answer is always “it depends”. So, I’m going to make some assumptions: You’re a normal person, not a programmer like me. You understand what being online is, but you aren’t overly technical. You don’t want to spend a ton of money, but you want something that will last for the next 5 years if possible, 2 years at a minimum. You think Windows is confusing, and have heard the Mac is easy and more secure, but you could go either way, since cost is a factor. How much can I expect to pay? Tablets To be clear, it’s very possible you don’t need a laptop at all. A lot of people can get by with a tablet that has the a ability to offload pictures from your camera, copy music from your CDs or download music online, write Emails, surf the Web (and it is Web with a capital W, though more and more that is falling out of favor… dumb English as an evolving language), and play games, both online and on your compu...

About a year and a half ago I read an article about DC Comic’s New 52 , where DC would reset all of their comics, and restart at #1. I’d never bought comics before, and generally considered them to be for teenage boys, and not overly interesting. I mean, why look at a book with little text and lots of pictures, when you can read a novel with a deep story and visualize the story yourself? What I found surprised me, a lot. I’ve mainly been taken by the art, which is incredible. This is definitely not the comic book you saw in the 70’s – 90’s, with the very cartoony characters. I’m also finding I love the long stories where we get to meet and learn about characters and be a part of their lives. It feels a lot like watching a TV show, where you have some ongoing stories as well as short, quick stories to keep things interesting. So, if you are jut getting started with comics, there are things I wish I knew. But I’m last least glad the staff and owners of Laughing Ogre Comics , my loc...

Today is my birthday! Honestly, I’ve never been much into birthdays and parties. Even now, if you ask me how old I am, I have to do math… What year is it now? 2013… so… 2013 – 1975 = 38 Really I make it more difficult. I know the decade, I’m on my 30’s. So, then I take the year (13) – 5 (the year in the 70’s) and add that to 30. 30 + (13 – 5) = 38 I’m sure I could also use lunar cycles, or division. Let’s see: (the number of leap years between my 1975 and 2013) * 4 + (the number of years since the last leap year) = 38 (I hope) Every year since I was about 16 I get the song “ It’s my Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To ” by Leslie Gore in my head. No idea why, but it got me thinking about how we can best listen to music. But… it’s my birthday, and I’m keeping this short. Music Discovery (replacing the radio) Slacker to find music. I loved Pandora for a while, but Slacker, with humans making stations, and even DJs on some stations, along with the ability to skip songs and fa...

It’s been quite a while, and I must say that I’ve missed blogging. Really, more specifically, creating and building instead of consuming all of the time. Of course, I get to build and contribute a lot at work, and that has really become incredibly rewarding over the past year. I also stopped blogging because it felt like I really didn’t have anything more to say at the time. I was talking about my relationship with God, and how we can live our relationships with each-other. Incredibly important conversations, but nothing that other people aren’t already taking about. And it’s really just more useful to have those conversations in person whenever possible. Recently thought I’ve really felt God pushing me toward contributing again, but in a different way from what I had done before. I’m finding that a lot of things I assume others know from just listening to the news, or searching (I prefer Bing, so I won’t say “Googling” but I’ll NEVER say “Binging”), really no one knows. So, this...