[ Fiesta Asia! ]

Don't say I didn't warn you, you have 1/2 a day to plan on going yourself...

[ Exempt Those Exams! ]

See, I told you jank is a real word. Now someone tell squankous...

Publishing and testing a Windows Communication Foundation Service in IIS7 on Windows Vista is pretty straightforward, but there are a few pitfalls to look out for along the way. This post is designed to compliment the screencast ‘Creating and consuming your first WCF Service’ which I will publish here soon. I hope sharing this with you saves you some time when deploying your first service.

[ Hosting a WCF Service using IIS7 and Windows Vista Nick Kewney’s Blog ]

Since my last .Net web service was pre-WSE and this is at least 3 iterations later, I have a bit to catch up on. They've certainly complicated things via abstraction, which is probably a great help to many, but seems like overkill for my purposes, but this post helped a lot. Since I need authentication WCF "wants" me to use transport security, ie SSL, so people can't snoop on the credentials. Nice that the framework is enforcing such standards, bad that I have to do that in my development environment. Well, WCF doing a SOAP "basic" webservice via HTTPS is set up on my machine. Now I have to figure out how to implement the authentication headers...

The new Rick Sandoval place, it opened in May of 2008. I went during the first week and thought it was clearly the best Mexican place around. Sandoval places don’t stay great for long, so now is the time to go.

[ Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide: La Sandia ]

I don't know Rick Sandoval from a hole in the wall, but I know Mexican food that I like. I've lamented the decline in quality and service at Tia Queta for a while now, but I must say that La Sandia is better than I ever remember Tia Queta being. I got the Chicken Mole Enchiladas:

Yaty got the Shrimp Fajitas:

She wasn't so impressed, she liked it but prefers the Fajitas as Guapo's and the fresh grilled jalapeño that comes with them. Of course if this is contemporary south Mexican fare, I would expect the fajitas to be less than stellar. The guacamole and the tomatillo sauce that accompanied her fajitas were quite good though.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) is celebrated in May to commemorate the contributions of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the United States. Congress passed a joint Congressional Resolution in 1978 to commemorate Asian American Heritage Week during the first week of May. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (by many Chinese laborers) on May 10, 1869. Congress later voted to expand it from a week long to a month long celebration.

[ Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ]

Try to do something quintessentially Asian or Pacific Islander this month!

Update: Local celebration for those in the DC area!

Or at least what the fire did, and it fried a bit of my hand too... 

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters PlayStation2 Sony Computer Entertainment Everyone 10+ C

I gave it two tries. I had tried to play this earlier on the PSP but I found the controls seriously got in the way of the game play. The controls work a bit better on the PS2 version, but since they are just mapping the PSP controls, there isn't really any correction for the lack of some controls. I was playing this on my PS3 and it clearly shows that the quality suffers. It's not wide screen, it's not super hi def, it doesn't even have very good audio. Sure I should cut it some slack since it is a port of a portable game, but even after cutting it some slack I just found that I wasn't enjoying the game. I'd almost like them to make an animated movie about the game so I can just sit and watch the story, which is the best part anyway. And this isn't giving me a lot of confidence about the forthcoming "Secret Agent Clank" either...

Just got this in the mail yesterday:

THE MARYLAND HOUSE OF DELEGATES

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

April 8, 2008

Mr. David Kearns
Rockville, MD 20850

Dear Mr. Kearns:

Thank you for contacting me in support of the tech tax repeal. I am extremely pleased that we succeeded in removing what would have been an extremely harmful tax – for those in the industry, Montgomery County, and the state.

During the special session's final days, both Del. Sheila Hixson, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and I, as chairman of its Revenue Subcommittee, strongly objected to the adoption of the tech tax during conference committee deliberations. But we were outvoted because other members believed that this was a minor Montgomery County problem.

During session, IT professionals took the time to testify and meet with delegates and senators. They convinced legislators of the serious consequences that would result if the tax was allowed to stand. Once that was accomplished, members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees were faced with the task of crafting legislation that would allow us to replace the tax. We did this with a combination of cuts and a three-year tax surcharge on those earnings annually more than $1 million. It is not a perfect solution but is a good compromise.

Again, thank you for your support and interest. We could not have repealed this tax without your help. If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to call me or email me at kumar[at]kumarbarve[dot]com.

Sincerely,


Kumar P. Barve
Majority Leader

KPB/mfs

I removed my street address (and moved since that address so this was lovingly forwared by the post office), and the email formatting was mine (no need to spam Mr. Barve). I'm certainly pleased. I get paid as a consultant and this would have eaten into my earnings big time, enough that I would have had to think about moving out of the state, and having just moved back to Maryland would have made me sad. Now I can stay put for a while.

Or aren't on Kooshmoose's speed dial, or get all of your gaming news from my blog...

GPS Navigation Systems are the bomb diggity. Period. No doubt about it. I love them.

When I leased my current vehicle, a 2006 VW Jetta Diesel TDI, I chose the nav system as an option. It added quite a bit to the price, but I figured it was well worth it. XM Satellite and in-dash GPS nav system with large Points of Interest (POI) database. Overall I am pleased, however:

• In dash systems generally can't be synchronized or accessed on-line
• In dash systems generally use DVD-ROM to store their data and need new DVD-ROMs, which are published rarely, to update their maps
• In dash systems stay with the car that they are in
• In dash systems give you no ability to correct errors in them without waiting for a new DVD-ROM

I expected that at least for the life of my lease I'd be getting free updates to my map data, apparently not. I tried in vein, on-line and in person, to get an updated DVD. Finally I got an email from VW telling me that my map data was probably old and for $200 they'd send me a new DVD ROM. $200?!?!? So I went looking.

Garmin, Magellan, TomTom all make portable GPS devices, each has a different line up with many options. All are priced between $125 and $900 or so. Yes, they have full GPS devices with new maps and new software for less than the "refresh" DVD ROM. This means that purchasing that DVD ROM is close to downright stupid, since I'm not keeping the car long term anywho. So which one to get?

Recently I visited my kin out in the promised land we call California, my sister has a cute little GPS device called the TomTom One XL that they call Lewis (after Lewis & Clark), I borrowed it for a trip and liked it. Checked out some details on line and found out that:

• Seemingly free map updates forever. Although not promised anywhere the map updates from TomTom as well as from the TomTom community (since you can do some corrections right on your device) are free!
• OK, they didn't promise it so perhaps they'll change their mind and I'll have to buy new maps. US & Canada only $99!
• You can download and/or create your own POI collections!
• You can set up an itinerary consisting of multiple stops and plan out a whole trip (VW system only will do 2 stops)
• You can search for stops along your route!
• 3D or 2D view (VW system only 2D)
• Some offer text-to-speech so you don't have to take your eyes off the road and read the next turn!
• Easy alternate routing! (VW system was difficult to use)
• Custom voices include Mr. T!
• Yes, Mr. T!

So what model do I choose, there are just so many. TomTom's product adviser told me that I wanted one of a few, and their product comparison lead me to choose the TomTom One XL·S which runs $300-$400 or so around town, I picked up one from Dell on special $279 only $79 more than the DVD update would cost me and it can read street names!

So, after a couple of weeks, is it all I hoped?

Here's what I found out:

• The VW DVD-ROM has a LARGE database of stores and places in it, most everything I'd want to find is already in there. TomTom? Not so much.
• TomTom, however, supports the ability to upload my own Points of Interest (POI) collections. With a utility called GPS Babel I can convert collections for any GPS product or even Google Earth to a TomTom POI collection. With a bit of help from TomTom I can even include extra details. And with the work of a community site like POI Factory I can use other people's hard work and share mine. A bit more work, but I have so much more control.
• Mr. T can't read out street names via text-to-speech. There are, however, a male and female American and male and female Brit to choose from (once you figure out how to download new content using TomTom Home)
• TomTom is smart. I have used the "find an alternate route" to find 4-5 different routes to the same destination. It shows me the map and gives me an approximate time so that with my knowledge of traffic and traffic lights I can choose a route that looks longer to the TomTom but is actually a bit quicker.
• TomTom is portable and does walking directions. When you park, save a favorite of your location, TomTom will help you find your car!
• Google Maps does TomTom (kind of). Go to maps.google.com and search for "business near location", there will be a list of A-X businesses. Choose "Send" and "GPS" and then pick type "TomTom" and select the result you want from the drop-down. Press the button and TomTom Home should launch and let you navigate to the business or add it as a favorite. Where does this fall short? Only does businesses for now, not your friends house or what have you. Also doesn't handle ampersands correctly. Still neat.
• Custom boot-up and shut-down screens. Mine are from Mario Kart, 'cause I'm a geek.
• TomTom's Traffic data is supported 2 ways. One with an antennae that receives a free broadcast with traffic data. Doesn't seem to have much support in the US outside of major urban areas, most recommend the other way. The other is TomTom's traffic feed, fed via Bluetooth from your phone, provided your phone isn't a T-Mobile Dash. Not sure what phones they do support, but mine isn't one of them.
• Oh, this puppy does up to 12 satellites! So many more than my old system, it's usually tracking at least 7 of them, and it find your location quick. And it's rarely off. And route calculations are much quicker than my old system.
• SD Card. It has a slot, but I've read that you use either the internal memory OR the SD card so to switch to an SD card I have to copy the entire system over to an SD card and that can take quite a while. I haven't done it yet, but plan to at some point.
• Suction cup mount. Since it's not in-board there has to be a mount. I stuck mine on the windshield and it hasn't fallen off once (contrary to some reviews I read on-line).
• Power. You can recharge via USB on your PC or give it power in the car with a car adapter that comes with it. And you'll need it, the battery will last no more than an hour or so.

Basically, when it comes down to it, since the price is so low I'm recommending that everyone get some kind of TomTom if they don't have a GPS Nav device already. Garmin or Magellan would be fine as well, they appear to be very similar in design and features, though I can only vouch for TomTom. Oh, and they have POI collections with gas prices and traffic cameras, if those float your boat...

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo Wii Nintendo Teen A+

What is there to say about SSBB? If you owned a Nintendo 64, then I know you already have this game. If you owned a GameCube and enjoyed the previous Super Smash Bros. Melee, then you have at least checked this out and since purchased a copy. If the Wii is your first Nintendo console then do yourself a favor and at least rent this one (you'll end up buying it anyway).

Who won't like this? I guess if you have no friends or abhor violence then this isn't for you. Of course if you don't like violence then you don't play video games, and if you have no friends you either purchased a PS3 to keep it that way, or you bought a Wii hoping to get friends.

!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

Perhaps you have a copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee and figure it's the same game, just newer graphics? Essentially yes, except for:

• New playable characters:
• Diddy Kong
• Ike from Fire Emblem
• King Dedede from Kirby
• Lucario from Pokémon
• Lucas from Earth Bound
• Meta Knight from Kirby
• Olimar from Pikmin
• Pit from Kid Icarus
• Ash (though they call him "Pokémon Trainer") from Pokémon
• R.O.B. as himself (Old School NES reference)
• Snake from Metal Gear
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Toon Link from Wind Waker
• Wario
• Wolf from Star Fox
• Zero Suit Samus from Metroid
• New stages to fall in line with the above
• 4 play styles
• Wiimote
• Wiimote + Nunchuck
• Classic Controller
• GameCube Controller (including my beloved WaveBird)
• Final Smashes - with an item each character has a unique "super attack"
• New Adventure Mode: Subspace Emissary (so much better than Melee's Adventure Mode)
• WiFi play!
• Stickers (OK, this one is a bit lame)
• Demo versions of the games the characters come from (so you'll buy the originals on Virtual Console)
• Challenges greatly improved to help you find all unlockable challenges in the game (like achievements on the XBox 360, but only for one game and not viewable by others on your gamer tag which Nintendo doesn't even have...)
• Assist Trophies (like pokeballs but they have non-Pokémon characters inside them)

That is a ton of new stuff, and except for the Stickers all well received. So what are you still doing here? Head to GameFly and add this puppy to your queue, or straight to EB Games so you can get a copy in your hot little hands. Go!

Crash of the Titans Nintendo Wii Sierra Everyone 10+ B

Crash? That old PS1 game? Yes, that crash. I never had a PS1, so this is actually the first Crash game I've ever played. Apparently Naughty Dog isn't involved anymore, but the series continues anyway. Why'd I pick this game up, of all games? My nephew Oni was playing the heck out of this thing during our last trip to Indonesia, and since there was a Wii version I figured I'd give it a spin.

Well, there is really nothing new here. The "jack" system allows Crash to use his mask friend Aku Aku to control large monsters, you can then use them to better attack and thereby jack even more and sometimes larger beasties, otherwise it's a basic platformer. Does this mean that there is anything wrong with it? Nope, I'm a platformer guy, so this suits me. Still playing through the first time, not sure if there will be much desire to destroy this game, but so far it's been entertaining.