After playing with VS2010 Beta 1 for about 30 minutes tonight, I’m honestly a little blown away.  I knew that Microsoft was changing things up seriously in the UI department, and I’m impressed at first glance.  A few notes along those lines:

• If you’re using a dark theme, by default, the text editor uses a white background, meaning you will have to go into the Options to reset the background to the dark color.  The funny thing is, the settings are actually correct when you go in there, but it doesn’t apply them to the Text Editor until you look at them.  As a further note, it seems you have to do this for each different type of code you look at (C#, SQL, HTML, etc.)
• The dark blue frames are quite attractive IMO, and do a very good job of separating out the various panes within the IDE
• As is typical with beta IDEs, the performance isn’t quite there, and it had some issues recognizing a LINQ DataContext in a .NET 3.5 application.  Not sure if that’s going to be the case for all projects, but we’ll see.

Overall, bravo to Microsoft for a big step forward.  I’m looking forward to playing around with ASP.NET 4.0 Beta 1 and especially things like customizable ClientIDs for Server Controls and the improved JavaScript Intellisense.  Kudos again to MS for a job well done.

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I’ve had this weird bug happening with one of the first apps I wrote using LINQ to SQL, and today, I think I figured out why.  The error has been really random, but always involved in importing data into it.  In this case, they were trying to import Spot (TV Commercial) data into the database, and they kept getting my least favorite LINQ error of all time: “Row not found or changed.”  (Seriously, couldn’t we get something a LITTLE more expressive as an error?  But I digress…)

So today, I decided I would run a SQL Server Profile on it, and trace what was getting thrown at the database.  Glad I did, as I found out that at the end of it trying to insert 10 SPOT records into the database, it was trying to update a CALL (as in telephone call) record repeatedly.  WHY?

Then, I looked at the underlying code, and realized I was using a static DataContext from a Global class.  The problem appears to be that the update never completed, and so anytime I called the SubmitChanges() method on that static DataContext, it was still trying to update the database, and failing.

So, lesson learned?  Don’t use static DataContexts, as they’ll cause you lots of pain and consternation.

Strangely, I have found myself really emotional distraught following the passing of Dan Miller, long-time anchor at WSMV (Channel 4) in Nashville.  I didn’t grow up in Nashville, but he still felt like a friend from the time I arrived here.

I’ve spent the last few hours poring over his blog (http://danmiller.typepad.com/) and coming to an even greater appreciation and recognition not for his talent as a broadcaster, but for his understanding of life and priorities. He posted about many varied topics, I’m sure whatever was on his mind that day, and reading his thoughts has helped me realize what his legacy is.  He was just a darn good man.  One of the things that many of his work associates have said about him is that he was just a down-to-earth guy who had no sense of “stardom” about him.  That is more than borne out in his blog.

I have also come to realize (with the passing of legendary Phillies announcer Harry Kalas) that I take the deaths of broadcasters somewhat personally.  It probably has something to do with my years in radio, and that yearning in the back of my heart to return to broadcasting in some way.  So, today I say good-bye to a friend that I never met.  While I feel for your family, I think the fact you were able to pass on while taking a walk with your good friend in your hometown demonstrates God’s mercy.

We’ll miss you Dan.

Well, it seems like more of the same, only better, with the new Windows 7 Pre-RC1 build 7068.  Having installed it last night and looked around for as many changes as I could find, I have found the following:

• New wallpapers
• Updated icon for Games
• Fixed icons for Windows Mobile Device Center and Devices and Printers
• Performance improvements

That last one is a little hard to believe, but is quite accurate.  I did an update from build 7057 to 7068, and the upgrade took quite awhile (about an hour and a half, in the middle of a Severe Thunderstorm/Tornado scare including penny sized hail), but went well.  The overall feel of the system feels zippier, with dialogs appearing much quicker and the memory footprint being slightly decreased. 

It does make me wonder how close these builds are to the proper Release Candidate, as this one, even more than previous builds, is very polished and seems ready for primetime.

I’m still amazed that this operating system is so solid in these beta stages.  I have been using it exclusively as my daily operating system since the end of December 2008, and with the exception of a few weird issues with WPF and the old NVIDIA drivers in Build 7000, it has been solid as a rock.  I’ve had 2 blue screens, both of which were related to sketchy drivers that crashed Vista on a regular basis.  While I never had real issues with Vista, using 7 shows me just how much better it could have been… and with Windows 7, now is.

Great job, Microsoft!  I’m looking forward to the real RC, and the final RTM.  The buzz around the positives of Windows 7 are very interesting, as they are in STARK contrast to the continual negations of Windows Vista, and they are so similar, it’s just humorous at this point.

Time to set some goals for myself for the year.  Hopefully I won’t ignore these…

1. Lose 40 pounds

I think this one is pretty darn self explanatory.  I’ve been flirting with 300 pounds for about 9 years now, and it’s time to actually lose the weight I gained in my first year of marriage.  I need the health benefits, and hey, maybe I’ll be more attractive to my wife. Hubba, hubba… :)

2. Read 10 books

I used to love to read.  I still love to read for learning, but I need to read more than just books about programming languages.  I need to read more spiritual books, and more self-help books.  I’m not much for reading for entertainment, so I’m not even going to worry about that one.

3. Complete one college course

I have to get on the road to finishing my degree at some point.  I can’t think of a better way than actually doing a full college course.

4. Spend at least 4 hours of true valuable time with my kids each week

I’ve gotten much better about this in the past year, but I need to do even more.  I need to spend time with them doing what THEY want to do, not what I want them to do.  They’re getting to that age where they need me to be there for them, and I need to be.

5. Attend the temple at least 6 times

Yeah, had to get a spiritual one in here.  I’ve let my temple recommend go far too unused of late, and I need to be there.

For now, that’s it.  Hopefully I can come up with some others in the next few weeks to really push myself this year.  For some reason I have the feeling that this year will be particularly challenging, so I need to get myself ready for it.

Well, I’m really happy that the BlogEngine.NET guys were able to get their theme pack for 1.4.5 out (it’s available on CodePlex, just click here), so I decided to change themes for the new year.  If I can make the time, I’ll probably work on my own sometime this year.

Hopefully, I have time to sit down and make some real goals, but this could be a bit of a challenging year, I have a feeling.  Strange saying that going in, but something just tells me there are going to be challenges everywhere.  Lots of growth potential, huh?

OK, I have come to the conclusion that I just suck at trying to blog regularly.  I think I just need to make it a personal goal, and then it may work a little better.

We’ve come to the last year of the first decade of the 21st Century.  Time is flying by, as I’ve realized that when you have kids, the clock just starts rolling a little faster.  We went as a family to see Marley & Me, and I highly recommend it, especially if you’re in need of a good cry.  I felt a little misled, honestly, as I went into the theatre thinking I was going to watch a comedy.  While there were comedic elements to be sure (how can it not be with Owen Wilson as the star?), it wasn’t a comedy.  Nor was it, as Zoni and I thought, a kid’s movie. 

This movie absolutely blindsided me, as it was a essentially a microcosm of my life.  The family has 2 boys and 1 girl (in that order, just like our family); the father of the family struggles with not being sure if he’s doing the right job, and then finally accepting that he’s good at what he does; the mother has struggles with staying at home and there’s frustration of possible missed opportunities, etc.  Wonderful movie and I absolutely bawled my eyes out, contemplating the things that I had seen in my life and how grateful I was for my family, and the the life that I have, rather than thinking about the things I might not have.

We had a great year last year, in every way.  Luckily, the economy hasn’t really impacted us, as my job is quite solid and allows me to grow and develop.  I had the opportunity to return to developing, which I love doing anyway.  While we had some challenges, we have never been closer as a family, and I hope that as we enter our 10th year as a family (as of January 16th), it will help us grow even closer.

Happy, Prosperous and Lovely New Year!

Microsoft Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg (http://www.jeffblankenburg.com) challenged developers the other day to post their quick launch bar.

Well, Jeff, here’s mine in all it’s large icon glory… :)

It goes:

• Mozilla Firefox 3
• IE 8 Beta 2
• Google Chrome
• Digsby-IM
• Zune (yes, I freaking love my Zune)
• Snipping Tool (for screenshots)
• Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• SQL Management Studio 2008
• FileZilla (for FTP)
• Macromedia Adobe Fireworks CS4 (I still prefer it over Photoshop)
• Outlook 2007
• Counterpath Bria (my softphone)
• Windows Live Writer Beta (for blogging, like I’m doing right now)

I run the large icons as it forces me to reduce the number of icons I use at any one time.  It keeps me under control! :)

What a week and a half, and what a way for it to end.  Zoni has spent the last week and a half in Anchorage with her sister and left me with all 3 kids by myself for that time.  It’s been challenging, but so very rewarding.  I feel so much closer to them than I ever have and it’s just a wonderful feeling to be that close.

Unfortunately, while I should be sitting at the airport right now waiting to pick up Zoni, she’s still on the way to Chicago because she missed her first flight this morning out of Anchorage to Chicago.  She had to get a different flight to Seattle and then to Chicago, and then tomorrow morning, she finally will get home at 8:30ish.

This almost feels like a cruel trick or something because I wanted and needed her so desperately to be home tonight.  I guess 10 hours later isn’t a life or death thing, but still quite difficult.