Running - Days 3 and 4

So, the running is still happening. No giving up. I'm told that once you get past the first couple of weeks, it starts to get easier. I really want to do it, so maybe that helps.

Day 3 - 1.5 Miles
Day 4 - 3.5 Miles (on the treadmill, ugh)

Running - Days 1 and 2

So, I have started running. There were several motivating factors here that led me to this decision. First, I am tired of feeling, well, tired all the time. I believe firmly that not getting any real regular exercise is making me tired. Second, I am trying to cultivate interests that Terri and I can share (she runs). In fact, she has signed up for the Chicago marathon and the idea came up that I should do it also. A daunting thought for someone who has never really been a runner, but I think I am going to give it a shot!

Anyway, the stats (I am going to post my distances, mostly for my own reference).

Day 1 - 1.5 Miles
Day 2 - 3 Miles (approximately, might be a little less)

I'll start posting my times, once I start tracking them. For now, I am more concerned with actually getting through the distances.

Browse with Firefox, Debug with Internet Explorer

NOTE: I originally published this entry on my company blog here.

As a .NET developer, it is a necessity to debug my work in Internet Explorer. However, for my day-to-day web borwsing, I prefer to use "something else".  Lately, my something else has been Google Chrome, but I'm also a big fan of Firefox.  The problem is that, by default, if I change my default to be Chrome, then when you hit F5 to debug in Visual Studio, then Chrome is what gets launched for the debugging sessions.  For basic stuff, this is fine, but it's not ideal for me, particularly when I want to be able to debug client-side script from within Visual Studio.

I have dealing with this for a long time basically by not dealing with it at all...  That is, I have left Internet Explorer as my defaut browser and just launched Chrome for my routine browsing.  This is OK, but then whenever there is a link in an email, or a blog post (I use Outlook for RSS feeds), then Internet Explorer gets launched to handle it.  Not what I want.

Well, I finally got irritated enough by it this morning to hit Google and see what I could find.  It turns out the answer is pretty simple, but differs a little bit depending on whether the project is a Web Site project or a Web Application project.

Web Application Project

In Visual Studio, if you go right click on the project in the Solution Explorer, and go to Project Properties, the on the Web tab you can configure a custom Start Action, rather than just launching using the default browser.  Under Start Action, you would select "Start External Program", and use "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" to launch Internet Explorer.  Then, for "Command Line Arguments", you have to supply the URL of the start page.  In my example, this is "http://localhost:60669/Default.aspx".  The port number is required because I have also elected to use the Visual Studio Development Server, which can be seen in the next section, "Server".  The only thing that has to be changed there is that instead of allowing Visual Studio to randomly assign a port number, you must pick one.

Here is a screenshot of some example settings that work for a project of mine.

Web Site Project

If the project in question was created as a Web Site Project, then the configuration is slightly different.  First, click on the project in the Solution Explorer, and the in the Properties pane, change the Use Dynamic Ports property to False.  This will enable editing of the Port number property.  Set the port number to some fairly high numberl I used 60668 in my example.  Make note of what is in the Virtual path property, because you will need it for the next step.  (You can also change this virtual path if you wish).

Next, right-click on the project in the Solution Explorer and select Property Pages.  Under "Start Options", choose "Start External Program:"  The executable (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe) and command-line arguments (http://localhost:60668/Website1/Default.aspx) arethe same as for Web Application projects.   The command-line arguments need to use the port number and Virtual path from the previous step.

Here are a couple of screenshots that work for my sample project.

I Need a New Business Idea - Minipreneurship

I certainly am not one to complain about my income. I love my job and I feel like I am compensated fairly for it. But, there's always room for more, am I right?

Actually, simply wanting more money is not my motivation for pursuing potential business ventures. Sure, more money would be great, but my real goal is financial independence. That is, not being dependent on that paycheck to provide for myself and my family. The goal is to create multiple streams of income, such that the paycheck becomes the source of funding for investments and other ventures, rather than the sole source of income. My problem at this point is not one of desire to achieve my goals, it is a lack of creativity in terms of coming up with ideas for new income streams.

I read an article this morning (I can't remember what the point was or what website I saw it on), but I do remember it talking about the growing number of "minipreneurs" in the United States. These are people who are, in increasing numbers, starting up small side ventures as a way to augment their incomes or ease the transition into a new line of work. The obvious benefit of this "micro-startup" strategy is one of decreased risk. A person can continue to maintain their day job while also generating income at night.

Anyway, back to my lack of ideas. I need to come up with 2 or 3 really good ideas for sideline ventures I can work towards in some of the limited time I have at night and on the weekends. As soon as I come up with something, I'll be sure to write about my success (or lack thereof). Wish me luck.

Lame Blogger

I realized just now that I haven't written anything new on here in a while... Lame blogger, that's me. I guess I have just been busy with work and family commitments. Or maybe that's just an excuse. Mostly I think it's just that putting my thoughts down into words is not a task that comes naturally to me. I have to really work at it. Which makes blogging seem like a chore most of the time. So, I just wait until I feel inspired to write something, which seems to happen infrequently, at best.

Well, I am going (once again) to challenge myself to get on here and post something new every day for an entire week, in an attempt to spark some new creative energy. I have taken on this challenge before, each time ending in a handful of posts at best. Maybe this time will be different.

'finger food'

these were one of treats at our cub scouts halloween party last night.

Weekend Camping

This past weekend I was camping with our Cub Scouts pack. It was a great time, and we had the largest group I have ever taken. I think our previous record was like 45 or so, but this time we smashed that with 66 people in attendance! Believe me when I say that is a big group to deal with when it comes time to go on a hike, or cook meals, or pretty much anything ;) It was a great time, though. Here are a couple of shots I snapped with my phone on Sunday morning:

I didn't take an actual camera, so I don't have any other photos right now. However, a couple of other people did, so once I get some of their photos, I'll try to get some more posted.  

Anniversary Weekend Adventure

So, this past Sunday (Sept. 14), was my 11-year wedding anniversary.  Wow, it blows my mind sometimes to realize that I have been married for that long.  We've had our ups and downs for sure, but all in all, I am happier and even more in love than I was 11 years ago when we said our vows at the Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens.

To celebrate, we decided to do nothing.  No, really.  We made arrangements for the kids to be gone for the weekend, and we set off with no specific plans.  OK, now I should clarify this...  What we decided to do was get in the car and start driving and keep driving until we felt like turning around and coming back.  The weather in Fort Wayne was somewhat ugly on Saturday, so our only specific goal was to keep going until we found sunshine.  This trip was not about the destination (since we didn't really have one).  It was about spending time together and sharing a common experience.  We drove, we talked, we listened to music.  We wandered off the main highways just to see where we would end up (knowing that the GPS would bring us back to the beaten path if need be).

For the curious among you, we left a little after noon and headed south, after a quick look at the radar showed the most promise of sunshine in that direction.  We got out from under the clouds and into full sunshine about an hour past Indianapolis, but we had it in the back of our minds that we really wanted to get all the way to the mountains.  We didn't make it that far, but that leaves another adventure for another day.  We stopped at a rest stop a half-hour or so away from Louisville, and decided that we at least had to go that far.  We crossed the bridge into Kentucky, took some pictures of the downtown skyline, and drove around the University of Louisville campus for a little bit.  Then, we got back on the highway and headed north.  On the way back, though, we chose to get off of the interstate near Brown County and just explore our way around the back roads.  We stopped in at Brown County State Park, but decided not to pay to go in, as it was already almost 6:00.  We wandered around the back roads for a while, meeting back up with the interstate near the southwest corner of Indianapolis.  A few hours later, we were back home at the end of a truly enjoyable day filled with nothing specific.

I'm sure to most people, especially with gasoline prices just over $4.00 a gallon, this would seem like a somewhat insane thing to do. On the surface, I would agree.  But, honestly, how many people spend thousands of dollars on 'vacations' that do nothing but stress them out and cause conflict?  Does my $150 for gasoline and food really sound outrageous?  I don't think so, especially since I would say that it ranks up there as one of the best road trips ever.

Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip

This past weekend, I took my son and a couple of his friends on a camping trip, partially as an early birthday present (his birthday is today, Sept. 2).  I had decided to go the Family Camp Weekend at the Anthony Wayne Scout Reservation so that we could take advantage of some of the activities that the boys enjoy there, but don't get to do much of when we go for Cub Scout Resident Camp.  For example, they open up the BB gun and archery ranges, which are both popular activities with the boys.  During Resident Camp, however, they usually only get to do each of those one time, which is kind of a let-down after the waiting around they have to do.  This weekend, though, we were able to pretty much do as much shooting as we wanted, within the three-hour window when the ranges were open!

We went up Friday night, got registered, and had camp set up by 7:30 or so.  We spent the rest of Friday night just hanging out at the campsite, enjoying a nice fire, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  The boys also enjoyed throwing a football around for a while.

Saturday, we ended up being pretty busy.  The waterfront opened up at 9:00 A.M., so after breakfast we got our swim trunks on and headed down.  We swam for a half-hour or so, and then got dry and grabbed a canoe, loaded our gear in, and set off across the lake.  By the time we got back, it was pretty much time to head back to our campsite to have some lunch.  After lunch we grabbed some bait from the trading post and hiked to the far end of the lake for some fishing.  We didn't catch anything big, but we had fun anyway.  We hiked back to camp around 1:45, changed back into dry clothes, and hiked over the shooting ranges so that we could be there when they opened at 2:00.  By 4:45, we were getting pretty hungry, so we went back to camp and started a fire for dinner.  After a dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs grilled over the fire, we enjoyed a relaxing evening of hanging out at the campsite, throwing the football around some more, and of course, s'mores and hot dogs.

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast, broke down camp, and headed home around 10:00.  All in all an awesome campout!  As much as I enjoy camping with our Scouting unit, it was nice to just have a small group, no outside schedule, and much less responsibility and structure.  We were able to just do our thing and have a blast.  It's pretty likely that I'll go back for the Family Camp Weekend over Memorial Day.

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone (next time I'll take a better camera).  My son (Will) is the one in the yellow shirt:

Long Day

Yesterday was training and go-live for a project that I have been working on, and it made for a really long day. Got up at 5:00 A.M., worked on-site from 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., and then went back at 9:00 P.M. and worked until 1:00 A.M. 15 hours onsite, in total. I'm tired today...