whodurun4.com Community

Testing Community Server 2.1

whodurun4 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:03:00 GMT

This is just a post to test the new posting abilities in Community Server 2.1. I have to say it looks pretty nice so far. I just hope they've fixed a couple minor bugs that have been giving me headaches on the New Wilmington Mission Conference's site.

New Mission Website

whodurun4 — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:25:00 GMT

I've finally gotten a new website for the New Wilmington Missionary Conference(NWMC) up and running. It's still a work in progress, but is another custom build of community server.

As for the real content, it's primarily going to host missionary blogs discussion forums to match resources and opportunities with people who want and need them. It will also offer podcasts of speakers at the conference, encouraging discussion and also so photo galleries.

The goal of NWMC is to get youth and young adults excited about and interested in mission. I hope to see it grow into the place to be for Christian mission in the years to come and hope the website will share those experiences with the world.

Google Rules Business Search

whodurun4 — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:46:00 GMT

I've actually been a little disappointed in Google recently. Local business searches haven't lived up to the normal standard for Google. I've had more success with Windows Live Local.

For that reason, I decided to try MSN Search and Yahoo at work the other day. They were horrible. It wasn't their results, I'm not sure if I even got to them, it was the home page. The flickering backgrounds and rotating images were nicely done in AJAX, but kept pulling my eyes away from the search box. I wanted to know why ASP.NET wouldn't render a caption tag inside a table with a runat="server" attribute, not the top 5 romantic getaways this summer. Google gave me what I wanted and I won't return to the competitors until they've changed their ways.

Eventually, quality search results will become a commodity (or at least close to it). Google's clean search interface is best for people who want to get things done because it doesn't introduce more distractions. There are enough at the office, at home or wherever you're working as it is without search engine AJAX implementations adding to them.

Using PayPal's Instant Payment Notification (IPN) with ASP.NET

whodurun4 — Sat, 06 May 2006 15:56:00 GMT

I posted a link on my technical notes blog to Rick Strahl's in-depth article on using PayPal with ASP.NET. It's a great in-depth reference, but I just found a great overview of PayPal's IPN feature by Active Data Online. It's at a much higher level, but that reveals the simplicity of the process.

Pirate Bloopers (with an assist from mlb.com)

whodurun4 — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:19:00 GMT

I went online tonight to buy Dad's birthday present - tickets to Saturday's Pirate game. We love our Bucs, but they're pushing all my wrong buttons. Each of the four tickets (Mom and Jill like to humor us) carried a joyful $3.50 "convenience." charge. Google was kind enough to remind me of the definition of convenience, "the state of being suitable or opportune."

The convenient charge was nicely asterisked to denote there may be online ordering fees. After forcing me to create yet another worthless account (no, I don't want you to add me to your email list), Mlb.com didn't disappoint by charging $3.50. I decided to go will call and forgoe the $1.75 opportunity to print the tickets at home.

Each page I visited in this joyful journey of giving reminded me others were waiting for the precious Pirate tickets I had reserved by giving me 2-3 minutes to complete the page or forfeit my tickets. Nothing like sales pressure when buying tickets for a 5-15 team.

Grand total in fees: $17.50.
Supposed price of 1 ticket: $16.

No wonder the 5-15 Pirates have such remarkable walk-up numbers. Who in their right mind would be willing to pay for an extra ticket for the convenience of ordering online?

I guess I should mention they've managed to give Albert Pujojls another first inning home run while I'm writing this post. We will . . . test your patience.

More Job Info

whodurun4 — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:23:00 GMT

For those looking to learn more about the new job I'm starting on Monday with Celtic Healthcare, they have a brief article who they are and where they're looking to go by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Podcasting with Community Server and Audacity

whodurun4 — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:44:00 GMT

The time is now 11:45.

I am merely posting this to see how easy it is to record and podcast an audio clip with Community Server and Audacity. Just click on the mp3 file below to listen to my recording.

The time is now 11:49.

I have a new job

whodurun4 — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:30:00 GMT

After way too much preparation for a job search, I took the first one. I'm looking forward to joining Celtic Healthcare at the end of April. Celtic provides therapy and nursing services and focuses on high quality service. Technology provides their greatest competitive advantage next to people, who I can confirm they value greatly. I'll be working to create top of the line solutions with cutting edge technology on the web. Give me a call or email me if you want to hear more.

Big East Championship

whodurun4 — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 03:39:00 GMT

I was really disappointed to see how Pitt finished the Big East Championship. The long and short of it is that they didn't. Although Krauser lost his cool and probably should have been ejected for a cheap shot, he got his head together and did a great job hitting a big three and drawing a foul on another three point attempt. But that’s where it all fell apart.

The officials didn’t make the call and Pitt’s players stood around admiring their misfortune while Syracuse ran down the court for a lay-up. Those two points would have changed how the game ended. Pitt may not have won, but would have had a much better chance.

After my last post, I was concerned I made it sound like the officials cost WVU the game. They didn’t help, but players have to rise above the officiating if they want to be champions. It’s not like Pitt didn’t finish on plenty of easy opportunities earlier in the game anyways. The players need to keep competing and let the coach deal with the officials.

Congratulations, Syracuse. My team lost, but you guys stepped up every game this week. You earned that Big East championship. I’m curious to see how Syracuse ends up getting seeded tomorrow. I could see them being a 5 or 6, but probably an 8 seed. No matter the seed, I sure wouldn’t want to have to play them.

Big East Hoops

whodurun4 — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 23:56:00 GMT

You have to love Big East hoops. The games are always exciting, new teams have made it the most competitive league and the officials let the teams play . . . sometimes a little too much. Look at the Pitt and WVU game. Officials often called the 2nd or 3rd foul which usually wasn't the worst. J.D. Collins blatantly grabbed Carl Krauser holding him away from a loose ball, but Aaron Gray pushed him even worse when he had a free layup with about a minute left. That missed call cost WVU 2 points and killed some building momentum and I'm a Pitt fan. I feel like I'm watching some of the high schoolers who referee in the rec league I coach and hope it doesn't take a brawl for Big East refs to take back control.

I have to give some props to Gerry McNamara. He hit two big shots to win games his team wasn't supposed to, but really won the games with the 22 assists he had between them.

If you want guys who aren't afraid to take the big shot, look no further than McNamara and Carl Krauser. I just wish Krauser would look to set up his teammates a little more. In his defense, he has been better the last couple games. Pitt needs to him to continue improving. They tend to miss too many open men and hold the ball too long against pressure defenses.

In another direction, I'm waiting for ESPN.com to stop playing the stupid videos when I go there. I don't want the video and I certainly don't want to be bothered by the first half of the commercial the video starts with.

Why Must I Discuss Cheerleaders?

whodurun4 — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 05:20:00 GMT

Seeing the cheerleader from Southern Illinois get injured the other night was sad. I enjoy seeing people get fired up about competition and, say what you will about cheerleaders, she was fired up.

It was also encouraging to see her moving around after getting hurt. You want to see movement from anyone with that type of injury, BUT . . . am I the only one who thinks she wasn't thinking when she started throwing her limbs around like that? ESPN applauded her enthusiasm. I couldn't get past the neck brace and backboard. Wave. That's enough to tell everyone you're OK. Don't move like that when the medics are trying to immobilize you.

School spirit is great. Being on ESPN is cool. Neither is worth being paralized for life.

I remember breaking my wrist and being unable to use my right hand for 8 months. That was nothing compared to what this young woman faced, but it transformed my perspective on thse things. Take care of yourself! You only get one body. Medicine can do incredible things, but your body is never the same and I'm sure there are many who can speak about that better than I can.

Bad Marketing Ideas

whodurun4 — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 17:50:00 GMT

I was in middle school the last time the Pirates had a winning season and am way too fired up about them right now. I'm not the only person who thinks their current prospects look more like Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla than Kevin Young and Kris Benson, but half of my life tells me I'm settings myself up for a disappointment. The town's still hung over from the Super Bowl, but I think it's quietly hoping to carry the excitement on to the Pirates.

In light of this, the Pirates announced their new marketing theme of "WE WILL" (I didn't add the caps). Am I the only person who thinks this is a dumb name? We will what? Have our 14th straight losing season? Have the monkey off our back if we're .500? The Post-Gazette also reported Pirate officials see it in a similar light to Nike's "Just Do It." Well . . . just do it. Really.

When you're good you don't have to tell anyone, just ask the New England Patriots. It might take some time, but everyone will know. You don't have to tell them. The marketing department should be focusing on the excitement generated by the potential of these young players.

I can't wait to see the young guys this year. Chris Duffy excite me the most by far. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone that fast down the line to first. It must be because I'm a slow, overweight former distance runner hoping to bat leadoff for my softball team at least one more year. He isn't even one of the guys with the greatest potential. The Pirates WILL not get where they ultimately want to this year. They may not even be .500, but this year can be a giant step on the way there.

Blog Direction

whodurun4 — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:54:00 GMT

I will no longer be posting to this blog. Around Christmas, I finally jumped on the Delicious bandwagon for my links. I don't comment on the links as much, but it's more efficient and better organized. You can find the links at http://del.icio.us/whodurun4 if you're looking for it.

Any future blog posts I have will be on my whodurun4 Blog. I will keep this blog online so it can serve as a resource for myself and other sin the future.

Search Engine Optimization's Most Effective Practices

whodurun4 — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 02:51:00 GMT

Yaro Starak has two articles on SEO. Part 1 discusses internal SEO for your site. Part 2 focuses on exterior SEO for your site.

Business Startup Articles

whodurun4 — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 02:24:00 GMT

Here are articles on starting a business by the guys at ParticleTree and lessons learned in the first year of business.