You've reached the internet home of Chris Sells, who has a long history as a contributing member of the Windows developer community. He enjoys long walks on the beach and various computer technologies.
Thursday, Jan 27, 2005, 10:51 AM in Fun
SolFX: Much Improved Performance
I'm updated SolFX to use DrawingBrushes instead of Canvases and to use a much simpler card back, so performance is much improved. In fact, it's so much improved that I'm starting to think about other things that it needs...
Thursday, Jan 27, 2005, 9:02 AM in Fun
Schools Ban Camera Phones Amid 'Happy Slapping' Craze
I can't really improve on this: "Head teachers have banned children from using video phones to stop them slapping other pupils in the face and recording the attacks on their mobiles."
Sunday, Jan 23, 2005, 7:58 AM in Fun
Jason Olson's Microsoft Interview Advice
Jason Olson recently interviewed for an SDE/T position (Software Development Engineer in Test) at Microsoft and although he didn't get it, he provides some words of advice for folks about to interview for the first time.
Thursday, Jan 6, 2005, 9:57 PM in Fun
Welcome to SolFx
If you've got .NET 2.0 and the Nov. '04 Avalon CTP, click here to play my scaling, vector-based, WinFX version of Solitaire. Features include lovely scaling of the cards as the window resizes, real-time drag 'n' drop of the cards, sol-like card stacking, ClickOnce deployment and the source. The performance in this version is much improved because I'm re-using DrawingBrushes and a simplified card back. Enjoy!
Sunday, Dec 19, 2004, 10:29 AM in Fun
A Limerick in Rory's Honor
In honor of Rory Blyth's birthday, Jim Blizzard has posted a Haiku. I'm not so cultured as Jim, as I could only manage a limerick:
There once was a lad named Rory,
who told many a bawdy story.
He came right out,
like an orgasmic shout,
spreading mirth in drum-beating glory.
Happy birthday, pal. : )
Friday, Dec 3, 2004, 9:13 AM in Fun
Pleasantly Undetectable Advertising
I don't know what Amazon is doing -- except possibly trying to stimulate blog entries -- because I could detect no advertising in there most recent home page movie short, "Tooth Fairy," but I did enjoy it.
Tuesday, Nov 2, 2004, 6:43 PM in Fun
There Are No Words...
Here.
This is what Don Box's 12-year old son thought a good last minute costume would be when trick-or-treating the Indigo halls of Microsoft suddenly seemed an imperative. I guess this is the consequence of having a life-sized cardboard cutout readily available...
Tuesday, Nov 2, 2004, 6:12 PM in Fun
There Are No Words...
This is what Don Box's 12-year old son thought a good last minute costume would be when trick-or-treating the Indigo halls of Microsoft suddenly seemed an imperative. I guess this is the consequence of having a life-sized cardboard cutout readily available...
Don Box
Personal Email
Tue 11/2/2004 6:12 PM
Monday, Oct 25, 2004, 9:28 PM in Fun
The Downside of Smart Children
It started off innocently enough. I corrected Tom when he tried to put down words like "pils," "Rome" and "trool," even giving him a letter or two to help him make his words (he's only 9, after all, and this was his first game of Scrabble). Then, I ran out of ideas and we needed long words to get into the empty spaces, so I put down with "faxer" (someone who faxes). After that, it was all down hill into "roddy" (someone with a lot of rods), "naped" (the flip of hair across your forehead), "soapic" (very soapy) and, my personal favorite, "oifbath" (good for sores on your skin), all the time fighting to keep a straight face.
However, when I busted Tom for putting down "zin" ("double" in "Tom language"), he started pointing the finger at "trux" (Latin for multiple vehicles), looked it up in our unabridged Webster’s (I've got to get rid of that thing...), called his mother to double-check and the whole thing came falling down around my ears. My visions of Tom in his 30s calling me from a party complaining that "glev" wasn't actually a kind of rock have been dashed.
Still, while I am proud of my son for catching onto to my "creativity," luckily there are all kinds of other, more subtle lies that I've told him that are set to trigger in my retirement years, sure to motivate him to call, even if only to curse my name. : )
Saturday, Oct 9, 2004, 12:50 AM in Fun
Vermin King With Mutant Arm
(I couldn't possibly explain. Click the picture...)
Rory Blyth
Saturday, October 09, 2004 12:50 AM
www.Neopolean.com
Monday, Oct 4, 2004, 9:10 AM in Fun
Brian Kernighan on Debugging
I saw this in an email from John Mason in PSS today:
"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan
Thursday, Sep 30, 2004, 3:54 PM in Fun
The GLAT: I couldn't resist
I'm not going to move, but I couldn't help printing out the test...
Saturday, Sep 25, 2004, 9:55 PM in Fun
Clean Sweep @ Casa de Sells
| Selling the books and comics you'll never read again: | $1479 |
| Conducting *2* garage sales and selling the play structure the boys don't frequent anymore: | $2552 |
| Finding your wife's 6-month old pay check in a pile of papers: | $1640 |
| Regaining the use of more than the front 2" of every drawer and cabinet in the house: | priceless |
Today at Casa de Sells we completed a 9-month long whole-house Clean Sweep, literally touching everything we own and deciding whether to keep it, sell it or trash it. We didn't actually remodel anything while our stuff was on the lawn, but the whole place seems much bigger since emptying the things we no longer used out of the house and completely filling a 2-car garage before hauling the stuff off to Powell's book store (they buy as well as sell) and conducting not one but two giant garage sales in two separate neighborhoods. The $5671 we earned along the way was just found money (especially Melissa's paycheck... : ).
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004, 8:15 PM in Fun
Your distinct personality: The Black Knight
According to this survey, my personality type is The Black Knight: "Your distinct personality, The Black Knight, might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. Your overriding goal is to win. You approach each task or situation as a contest to be won strategically and efficiently. Because you can control your feelings, it is not unusual for you to charm, as well as successfully delegate tasks and responsibilities to the more emotional types. You are often concerned with what's in it for you. You seldom involve yourself in activities where you can not foresee a reward for your investment or effort. On the positive side, you can be analytically empathic and logically persuasive. On the negative side, you may be unemotionally manipulative as well as impulsive. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms."
The title is certainly cooler than "Scullery Maid," but the text makes me sound like kind of an asshole... (not that I'm arguing, mind you, I'm just surprised that a computer program can pick it up so readily : )
Saturday, Sep 18, 2004, 1:30 AM in Fun
Go See Shaun Of The Dead
I don't care who or what you are, male or female, rich or poor, heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual or Rory, you should go and see Shaun of the Dead. I went to a sneak preview tonight and it's the best movie I've see all year. Absolutely hil-laugh-your-ass-off-larious.