For fun, Becky and I went to Maxwell Nissan to test drive a Murano.  I don't know why all the pictures are that nasty orange.  It looks much better in the silver or blue.  I've been itching to drive a car with variable transmission ever since I heard of a commercial implementation about 10 years ago.  I was very impressed with the transmission, which was well under 2000rpm at 65mph.  It leverages that technology to get fantastic mileage on an SUV.  The whole thing was pretty sweet.  Our salesperson, we'll call him "Ben" (because that was his name), said, "If you can feel it shift, I'll buy the car for you".  I found that to be only slightly amusing since it's impossible for the car to shift at all.

While we cannot afford the vehicle, they did set forth some interesting numbers on a lease.  With our Explorer not worth much on a trade-in, leasing seems like an interesting option.  I've heard it put, "just like buying a used car, you're paying for half of the car, but you get the new half."  Any opinions?

Just curious what experiences people have had with leasing.  I've heard some horror stories, that I mentioned to the sales-person.  They had pretty convincing rebuttals (rebuttals?  is that right?).  Tell me what you think.

Anyone going to PDC (wink wink) should check this out.

Also, Peter, looks like someone else is using your moniker.

[Technical]

After answering Peter's comment to my last entry on the threshold of complexity required before moving to an HttpHandler-based web application, I've done some more thinking.

I originally mentioned that threshold is reached when you start thinking about the application in terms of a flow or state machine, but that test would indicate everything but the most basic "list-of-standard-reports" web application would merit this approach.  While it is true that all of them would benefit from the approach, I think it's important to think about Microsoft's vision for ASP.net, which was to speed development, and provide a more power YET FAMILIAR framework for building web applications.

It's the familiar part that's most important.  People have been creating Handler-based solutions all along using ISAPI filters, and .NET reduces the complexity of this approach IMMENSLY using IHttpHandler, even thought it is significantly more complex than the classic ASP page model.  .NET reduced that effort as well.

I think .NET brings simplification to both approaches.  Most people creating handler-based approaches already have a significant amount of conceptual design in their current systems. and probably wouldn't use any canned solution for such an approach.  However, classic ASP developers were overdue for improvement.

I believe most applications would benefit from a handler-based solution, but without a standard coding model for this, most developers will feel more comfortable with the page-based model.  What's worse, Microsoft's suggested implementation still relies on the Page class, without explaining fully how to handle complex user interaction in this hybrid environment.

I'm afraid I haven't answered many questions.

[UPDATED 9:15 same day after reviewing dasBlog source code]

When should you stray?  As soon as you're ready.

[WARNING: LONG AND TECHNICAL]

I recently got a book on design patterns in software.  It basically takes a well-known theory on patterns in home and building architecture and applies it to programming.  The result is creating software that is incredibly flexible, portable, extensible, and easy to manage.  In reading it, I've been identifying ways I can improve the code I've written at Motorola.

One of these improvements lies with IHttpHandler, an interface that defines how an http request from a client is handled and the resulting content delivered.  Visual Studio and the standard ASP.NET programming model steer you away from using IHttpHandler directly in favor of the "simpler" technique of subclassing the Page class to create...pages.  I put quotation marks around simpler because this technique is only simpler in small, non-complex applications.

When the application reaches a certain complexity, this PageController pattern becomes very cumbersome.  This is when you need to create an entity that can make alot of decisions outside the context of a page, delegate data retreival and manipulation to other entities, and let the Page be a very passive participant. This concept is realized in the FrontController pattern, which is easily implemented via the IHttpHandler interface.

It is encouraging to see the concept of Patterns being embraced and documented so well at Microsoft.  I'll be implementing some ideas this week, and I'll update you on the progress.

My church upbringing was pretty thorough.  As a baptist, I was involved in things like Bible Drill, Vacation Bible School, church choir etc.  As a result, I knew, and still know, the attributes of the Bible very well.  Things like the books of the Bible, who wrote what and when, "important" verses, general themes, etc. were second nature to me.

I say this not to brag, but to compare.  The kids in my Sunday School class, even the ones that have gone to church all their lives, haven't been exposed to the same kinds of things.  Whether that's a sign of the times, or due to geographical or church differences is irrelevant.  My point is that when we turn to a specific passage, almost everyone looks at the table of contents, or those handy little page markers, or asks someone where it is.  Maybe this was the case when I was younger too.  i just don't remember.

In any case, I've offered "prizes" for students who will learn the books of the Bible in my class this year, and I need some ideas that won't break the bank.  My plan for the first few students is to give them copies of DCB's new cd, but buying CD's for the whole class is probably not an option.  Anyone got some ideas that would both motivate AND be not expensive?

Well, I got to hang out with Peter and Jamie yesterday and today.  We had dinner at P.F. Chang's, which is probably my favorite restaurant, although I don't go there very often as it is a tad pricey.  We tag-teamed with B-Dub since we had overlapping commitments that evening.  The tag went off without a hitch, and we had alot of fun.  Ben was there as well to provide some stability to the evening.

We met at Magnolia Cafe this morning at 7:45 (which was insane since I'm on vacation today.) for breakfast, where Peter had a root beer float...for breakfast.  We made B-Dub late for work, so he's probably fired.

My only regret is that we didn't get to hang out with Jan, and since we only get together when the Coulter's are in town, we won't see her again for a while.  Just kidding, that's not true.  Seriously though, let's have dinner sometime.

I've just upgraded my blog from "BlogX" to "dasBlog", which is BlogX on steriods.  For those who are interested, BlogX was created by Chris Anderson of Microsoft.  It became wildly popular due to its simple but elegant design.  It wasn't without it's problems though, so it seems the code was refactored a bit and became dasBlog (which I can only assume is a reference to the film Das Boot).  Anyway, the new version has TONS of great enhancements, most notably the entry creation form is fan-freaking-tastic. Now you too can upload images, create links and change the appearance of your blog.  (That is, if Peter will set it up for you (and if Peter set yours up in the first place. (I really like nested parenthetical phrases))).

Anyway, this is just one of several changes I'm making in an attempt to revitalize my blogging habits. Another is my mindset.  When I started, my purpose was to keep everyone up-to-date on everything that happens.  This led to a mountain of updates that just discouraged me from trying.  I also worried about my target audience.  Alot of the stuff that really excites me probably seems nerdy and boring --mostly nerdy-- to most of the people that usually read this, which discouraged me from sharing some things.  But after reading Jenkies's entries, I've found that I really get to know alot more about a person by what they write, even if it's not the kind of stuff I normally read about.  It's interesting because I'm really learning about a friend, so I don't have to have an emotional attachment to the content.

So, from now on, this blog will be about me whether anyone likes it or not.  I'll try to give people a warning when I'm going to delve into things technical.  I'm thinking about employing some kind of color scheme to categorize content visually (nerd alert).

Speaking of color, I'm also going to tweak with my "theme".  This blue is a bit ordinary.

Also, I'm going to try not to blabber on and on about...oops.

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since my last addition. There are so many things to talk about, but not enough time. Recently on Webdell's site, the discussion of cellphones and what is good etc was brought up. Several people I'm sure are waiting to get my take on it since I work for one of the larger cell phone manufacturers. To make myself clear to those who don't know, I don't make cell phones. Even though I don't work for the division that makes them (I'm in semiconductors), I do have some opinions that I think people can benefit from.

In my opinion, customer service and network coverage is a much more important factor than the actual phone. If you've managed to find a provider you're satisfied with, great. I use Nextel service. Nextel was originally conceived to be a service for businesses, providing very reliable service at a slightly higher price along with a slew of nifty features such as 2-two radio that works across the country. They now provide some very reasonably priced phones (as well as some ridiculously priced phones), and their rate plans are considerably cheaper than before since they are catering more to the consumer market now.

Regarding flip-phones, I don't think I'd worry about them breaking, but I am aware of feeling like you can't hold it up to your ear very hard. That usually means the volume is too low. Most of the new flip phones can be used without openning them up. You just get more features and options if you do.

As far as built-in digital cameras, I would seriously question the real need for this. Most of the ones on the market take extremely low quality images. You could buy a comparable digital camera in the impulse buy section of H.E.B. for about $15. If you have alot of situations where you see something that no one will believe, then maybe you've got a use for it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't really think of a good use.

If you really want a phone with a cool feature will last a while in the usefulness department, get one with built-in Bluetooth. Both Motorola and Nokia make these. It allows you to connect wirelessly to things like:

• Your PC -- to synchronize calendar, address book, download games, etc.
• A headset -- Jabra makes a really cool one that wraps behind your ear. Freak out everyone in the grocery store by making it look like you're talking to yourself!
• A keyboard -- to type emails, etc.
• A printer -- to print...stuff

Integrated GPS is another cool feature I've seen. Well, it's late and I don't think I've resolved anything. Unfortunately, with all the transport techologies (iDen, CDMA, TDMA, GSM) and all the different providers, we've created very restrictive environment for the cell phone market. Many new phones are supporting more technologies, but providers are still the gatekeepers to creating a truly flexible environment. I guess we've got the same problems in most of the markets today. Computer hardware is becoming more cross-functional with standards like USB and Firewire, but the CPU market is still relatively closed. We got OS wars and Cola wars. Car manufacturers are pretty proprietary. It's a wonder that tires can fit multiple vehicles.

I think I've raised more questions that answers. Feel free to comment.

I picked up Becky from DFW last night at about 11:30. She's got 332 pictures of Germany for us to sift through. I'll try to get some of those up her so you can see them. Right now...I'm tired. I'll get everyone caught up with my anniversary suprise antics (which were very well received) as well.

As Jenkies's internship comes to a close, I also am reaching the end of a similar episode. Becky returns from Germany on Monday night. I share some of Jason's feelings with regard to the end of the duration. It's been a tough, lonely time during which it felt like I was in a new place where I didn't quite fit in. For me it feels like a part of me has been missing. In many ways, it's been an enlightening experience after which I feel like I know myself better. Of course, I didn't meet anyone with bullet holes, and I don't have to preach on Sunday. It's not even my turn to teach Sunday School this week.

It really makes me appreciate Becky that much more to see what my life would be like without her. For one thing, I can just barely make it out of bed on my own. The many years of training that Peter and I went through to sleep late and through anything have honed my sleeping skills to the point that it just about takes a freight train to wake me up enough to actually get up. I've been late several times in the last few weeks because of it. It's a million little different things that you don't notice until they're gone. I'm glad she's coming back soon.

She's taken lots of pictures, so maybe I'll post a few of the better ones. We got a 256MB memory stick for the camera before she left. Combined with the 64MB stick we already had, she's got enough room for well over 300 pictures of Germany. And if you come visit, we'll make you watch every single one...Just kidding.

That reminds me...You guys have an open invitation to visit us in Austin. Well, not just anyone off the street. You know who you are. (not you, B-Dub. You can stay in your own dang house)

Say, that reminds me, B-Dub. It's you and Jan's turn to come up North for dinner when Becky gets back.