Livin' the life...

Tomorrow may never come, For you or me, Life is not promised

My Umi said shine your light on the world, Shine your light for the world to see

Mos Def - Umi Says   ... Tune.... simply, tune.

Well it's not the final version (which I'm not happy with) BUT it's a step in the right direction!

I haven't tried out this RC yet, but I'll get to it in a bit, just as soon as I get this Windows app I'm working on now off the To Do List. Also, if you are looking to get it, remember to Read the Documentation! Especially if you're like me and have Beta versions installed.

In no particular order MY top 10 movies are...

X-Men - The Last Stand
Over the Hedge
Ice Age - The Meltdown
Mission - Impossible III
Casino Royale
V for Vendetta
Underworld: Evolution
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Gridiron Gang
Night at the Museum (haven't watched it yet but I simply LUV the trailer)

Haven't watched: Cars (going to try to rent it today/tomorrow), Scary Movie 4, Saw 3 (I'm no 'horror' fan), Borat (too offensive for me), The Pink Panther (started this but it didn't look worth it... a real excess of stupidity does not equal 'comedy' for me), Nacho Libre (will rent), Final Destination 3 (will rent), The Departed (heard it was filled with what they now call, "pervasive language", so I saved my *cha *ching.), Babel, Happy Feet (Yea yea, I know it got good reviews but, doesn't really look like my thing, although I just may borrow it at the vid store if I need a 5th), The Queen (if you know me, you know that I WAS NoT watching this unless I was..'persuaded' by.. well, let's just say persuaded. ), Apocalypto (will rent) 

Didn't like: The DaVinci Code (they tried to cram toooo much in to this 2hrs + 20mins, as my good friend Cheri suggested, Read The Book.), Zoom (waste), Open Season (disappointing, but the Scottish squirrels were darn funny!)

Almost made it: Poseidon (good movie really but too simple ending), You, Me and Dupree (JUST OK), The Last King of Scotland (great acting, strong plot), Deja Vu (nice but not a top 10)

Also, note that for this year I've been UK for about 9 months and that stint really didn't allow much time to watch movies, so forgive me if I missed a few great flicks. You're free to suggest'em! (I know Antonio will!)

Well, simply put, I'd say that Youtube is the place for videos (aka vids), whether you're looking for comedy, music vids, science + tech or even sports clips of the latest Liverpool game! So with all that considered and also because I'd like an easy way to keep track of the vids I like besides weighing down the load time of my blog, I've signed up!

So far I've already started working on various playlist and a huuugee favourites collection. But, I hear you ask, could this mean I'm going to start uploading vids as well? ... Wellll.. for some reason, I doubt it, for now I'll leave that to my pal Ramal! By my count, he's got 5 up already and its only been a month!

Now... I'm sure some of you mischievous persons would like to know what's the URL for my account, you know .. to have a peek at what videos I'm checking out.. Well, you'll have to guess because I'm not telling!

On Christmas Day, I did a Merry Christmas post, wishing all my readers the best for the season. In reply to that post a friend of mine posted the following comment:

"Actally Grandad, Christmas is a pagan holiday... and, Jesus probably hates you for celebrating it." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuS9_Cy9l3A

Well, now I've finally got time to reply to this comment and I decided it was best to put it as a new post as opposed to just adding another comment where people may overlook it.

Now first thing, Christmas is not a pagan holiday, CHRISTmas as I've been trying to highlight is a season in which we (as Christians) celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The confusion here seems to come about in Huey and others because Christmas is celebrated around (or possibly on, depending on which history book you read) the day(s) on which persons celebrated pagan holidays.

Another way people (and Huey) look at it is because Jesus could not have been born in the winter time, thus the entire celebration of Christ's birth is 'wrong'. This first part of this thinking is very very true as Huey shows. HOWEVER, as a Sunday school teacher pointed out to a group of kids lately, if my birthday is on a Tuesday however because of whatever reason, I decide to have a birthday party Saturday, am I not celebrating my birthday on Saturday? IE the day that is NOT my birthday? Come Come people, let's be real and logical.

What I've found based on my research about the date chosen to celebrate Jesus' birth is that "In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25." [1] [2]. See? So we celebrate it at a different time. Ok? ... Now that that's done. I would like to paste an excerpt from a web site that I stumbled across..

Origin of Christmas - What Really Matters?
The true origin of Christmas is filled with controversy and compromise... Christmas should be nothing more than a simple, yet wonderful reminder of Christ's humble beginning as a human child in this world. His birth merely set the stage for the power, glory, and salvation that would be revealed in His life, death, and resurrection! Whether it's December 25th, sometime in late September, or any other day of the year, we should use each and every opportunity to reflect on Jesus Christ and His message of hope for all of us. [3]

Well I just got back from Midnight Mass and I'd just like to officially say...

MMeeerrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy CCChrrrriissttttmassssssssss to all!

Have a blessed Christmas Season!

Ah.... Merry Christmas Eve! Just one more day now!

I just checked the website and prices at the Olympus for those (adult) evening (after 6pm I think?) shows will be $15 as of December 27th 2006 (NB. $15 to watch 1 movie). Well... that looks like more drive-in for me with their unbeatable $10 for 2 movies.

Interestingly though the VIP prices for that cinema haven't gone up (as yet) ... they are still at $20, and from what I hear, the atmosphere seems pretty much worth it. On the down side though, all shows aren't shown in VIP as Antonio reminded me of late.

Well, I guess we'll see!

Well Liverpool just won 2-0 against Watford at Anfield so I'm pretty pleased by that. Other than that today looks like it'll be a pretty normal Saturday. Sad to say, the "football field" in my neighbourhood isn't quite 'up to scratch', so for the 100th Saturday, there will be no football in the LLP.

Speaking about that football field though, lately Do and I have been trying to get it into a better condition... to at least allow for some form of Christmas football. I want to take some pics and post, so I'll get on that asaP.

No movies this Saturday either for me, and interestingly, lately I've been hearing an increase in prices at the Olympus for the new year. I'll try to verify that and have more on my next posts. But for now... ta ta

For those of you who haven't accessed my blog via my home page (ie. www.jasonnurse.com ), feast your eyes on that page there to your left! What do you think? Good? Bad? Come come, don't be shy, give me that feedback! (go here to see the real thing)

Well in the event you're a bit lost, that's my new home page, specially "dressed up" for the Christmas season. Coming up with the idea and getting the graphics arrangement done up nicely, took me a couple hours off and on, but at last it's done and I'm pretty satisfied.

I hope you like it but as I said above, I welcome all feedback!

From ASP.NET 2 to AJAX to Data Driven Web apps now to Windows Programming.

Well, for the last couple days I've been doing some serious Windows Programming and as a result, I've been working on that limited VB 6 IRC client I mentioned in this post. Progress is actually coming pretty good with that and believe it or not, I got it converted to work on .NET Framework 2.0 (under VS 2005)! My task now (a HUGE task indeed) is to make it really useable, because right now it's lightyears away from mIRC quality in every aspect.

On the bright side though, it gives me something to work on in my spare time, instead of watching TV!, and increases my knowledge and experience with VS 2005 from a Windows Programming perspective.

Two of the best animated comedies I've ever watched are definitely Shrek 1 and 2. I mean Shrek is kix (kix = laughs), Donkey is kix, Puss-In-Boots is just class and from the time Princess put down that Matrix move in Shrek 1, she had my heart!

Well guess what folks, 3 years are (practically) gone since the last since the last Shrek which means its time for the final one! (Shrek 1 released in 2001, Shrek 2 in 2004) And now 'Shrek The Third' to be released in May 2007!

Ok, to the real point of this post, this morning I saw the trailer for Shrek the Third so I thought I'd post the link so you could check it out as well. So enjoy!

Ah, I'm early this time! ! Enjoy!

Pure Pure Jokes! lol!

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”^[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore

 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ref: Romans 12:9-21 .. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=12&version=50

Just a couple minutes ago, I was watching a Microsoft webcast and I noticed that the person doing the cast had their intellisense working in the web.config file! Now, mine doesn't work so this had me a bit lost! So after playing around for a couple secs, I did a search and found that this is a common problem. The good thing though is that it has a 'fix'!

If you're using VS 2005 and the intellisense isn't working in your web.config, here's a link to Scott Guthrie's blog post that gives the reason for it not working and also the fix.

In a nutshell though, all you have to do is go into the web.config file and in the "configuration" tag, remove the 'xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0"' property text. Now.. do a quick save, and you'll notice your intellisense is working once again! Cheers Scott!

Enjoy!

Well... the first knockout round draw is complete and guess what... Liverpool (04-05 CL winners) will play Barcelona (05-06 CL winners) (As one can see from the draw results on the right).

Needless to say... That will be some clash! And... Lix... Will... Share!

As I look through the list of clashes in this round though, Pool / Barca seems the most interesting. Next up would probably be the Real / Bayern and then the Inter / Valencia. Anyway... it's all beautiful football, so it'll be all a gem to watch!

For a full listing of the draw's results and even the video of the draw check UEFA's official site.

Well it looks like MS is taking the CSS move really seriously (as they 'should'). Just today I saw an article talking about a new kit called ASP.NET 2.0 CSS Friendly Control Adapters 1.0 which is designed to change the rendered content of ASP.NET controls to a more CSS friendly formatting.

To me, I have no rush to do this because once the content renders how I want it I couldn't be bothered how the xHTML is formatted. .. Of course this would be a different case if the xHTML was to be validated or pass on the desk of a CSS man - ouu.. that would be trouble!

Ways, if any of you ASP.NET 2.0 Developers are interested in this, check out the official site.

WHAT I AM MORE INTERESTED IN though... is the final version of ASP.NET AJAX !... Come on MS... you said in December! (*Jason checks the ASP.NET AJAX site and... can't find the text which promised the December release anymore! ... January then... maybe?)

Ah, Christmas and Ole Yrs are soo close now... I wonder what people will be doing, I for one have no clue yet but I know a church service is in there somewhere, . Other than that thus far I've been invited to Baje.. and told "I had to go out" by another friend of mine.. We'll see!

Oh and I've just posted the 'what will you be doing' question on tech-barbados, so I'll be looking out for some responses to see what these Bajan folks will be up to.

There's one final property setting that needs to be made in order for the ObjectDataSource to correctly pass the original values to the dataset methods (eg. Update, Delete) The ObjectDataSource has a ConflictDetection property that can be assigned to one of two values:

* OverwriteChanges - the default value; does not send the original values to the dataset methods' original input parameters
* CompareAllValues - does send the original values to the dataset's methods; choose this option when using optimistic concurrency

Take a moment to set the ConflictDetection property to CompareAllValues. (The above is a partial excerpt from The Official Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Site)

..- If you don't do this you will get this exception: "System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: Original_(whatever the field name)" when trying to get optimistic concurrency working.

A man was walking home alone late one foggy night,when behind him he hears:

BUMP... BUMP... BUMP...

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.

BUMP... BUMP... BUMP...

Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him

FASTER... FASTER... BUMP... BUMP... BUMP...

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him. However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping

clappity-BUMP... clappity-BUMP... clappity-BUMP...

on his heels, the terrified man runs.

Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps. With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door. Bumping and clapping toward him. The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup!

Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket... and, (hopefully you're really ready for this!!!)

<Using your mouse, highlight the text from HERE ON:> The coffin stops!

-Complements Jamel! Thanks luv! Lol!

Well, I've been looking around for my usual 'Monday Morning Funny' but thus far I've been able to get a vid/pic/story which fits the requirements.. I'll keep checking for a bit more though, so noooo need to worry!

This weekend (that just passed) I was head first into getting an old and very limited VB 6 IRC client I found working on the .NET (2.0/3.0) platform. So far progress has been pretty ok, but I definitely admit its going to take serious time to built a worthy client! First, one thing I'll have to do is understand the IRC protocol after that, I'll start to pick apart this code and see exactly how things are handled then... I'll move from there.. This is IRC client is going to be my... 'pet project' for a while. Look forward to more updates! I think it shall roCk!

Two weeks in a row? In the EPL... *sigh, I could cry.. *sniff*

Goals this time were from S Gerrard, J Carragher (Yes, that's right, Carragher net one), S Luis Garcia (The best buy in my opinion since Benitez came) and M Gonzalez in the 90'.

SWEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTT! And... next week is CHARLTON who got a calm 5-1 today by Tottenham.

So anyway, we're now in 4th place and with Arsenal facing Chelsea tomorrow (without Henri), I think they'll stay behind us for a bit longer.

Oh, on the right, the picture shows the shots taken and the position they were taken from. As you can see, Pool had ALOT of shots at that unfortunate Fulham keeper... actually, it looks somewhat like a war zone in there... poor chap. Lol!

And no sooner than I was back on IRC guess what...

*** autokilled for [AKILL ID:1165524776K-a] Due to abuse from this host, you are no longer welcome on DALnet. See http://kline.dal.net/exploits/akills.htm for more information. (2006/12/07)

And I don't remember doing anyyyythingg wrong.

Btw, Antonio, that reply was cheeky! :@ .. kicking a man when he's down.. how uncool! You should be ashamed of yourself!

So today I embarked on what will be a 'pause' to my usual AJAX-only work. My focus now switches more to dealing with data in ASP.NET 2. And no sooner than I started to work with those 'no-coding-necessary' data controls, I ran into Pure trouble. *Surprise surprise*

This trouble mainly is associated with how concurrency issues are handled by the data controls "as is". To me, they do an 'ok' job but the core problem is that they are not flexible at all. Before I start to bash these controls any more though, I think more research is necessary, so I'll stop here for now.

/me resumes googling like crazy.

Just incase you're interested but lost at what I mean by concurrency issues, you can do a bit of background reading.

From the beginning I've had some fascination with IRC so since there seems to be interest by others to revive the bajan channel #sponger, my goal was to get me a good IRC client to participate in the madness.

Now, as I consider myself a thoroughly 'legit' user, downloading mIRC (the most popular IRC client) wasn't really an option because after the 30 day evaluation period, the trial version 'expires' and you're _supposed_ to register and pay $20 USD. (A fee I don't intend on paying.)

What were my other options? Well, to find out I headed over to download.com. There I found lots of clients buttt, none that matched what I wanted. I was more looking for a lightweight client that just had the basics, you know.. allowed me to chat in multiple channels easily, do !ping, *slap someone with a large trout (*haha), etc.. So with that source as a bust, I headed this time to my 'pal', google. This source didn't prove too good either as I just found a bunch of suspicious looking proggies... (however... I did find a good open source VB 6 client, if only I could've gotten it converted successfully to VB.NET! )

Cutting to the chase... I happened to mention what I was looking for to a pal of mine - enter Antonio. As a Linux-variant user... his first suggestion was (the Windows version of) B*tchX - the most popular IRC client for Linux users. So me, the trustful guy I am, headed over to the ftp site and 'copped myself' a version. After some initial struggles with the command line interface, I got it to work and now I'm set! Its similar to mIRC but just pure command line.. If you're looking for a free IRC client without all the bells and whistles, I recommend you check it out! Here's the URL and here's the FTP site.

Well, as I haven't slept yet, I still technically consider today as Tuesday.

Ways... this post is just to mention that today I've looked at a wiiiddee range of programming/scripting/query (languages)! No "big deal" really, but this isn't normal for me at all.

I've looked at: VB.NET, JavaScript, AJAX, ASP.NET, C++, Java, SQL and Excel spreadsheet programming. (I admit there is some overlap in that listing.)

Wow. I'm so versi-wild... or is that versatile? *tehe (bajan joke if you listen to the radio.)

Today as I was following the CL games on the net, I had a flashback to some of the times I've had during my undergrad studies. What am I talking about? It was those days when to "watch" CL football, I had to scamper into the nearest Computer Lab somewhere on the U.W.I. campus and "see" football via the IRC client I had saved on my drive.

If I think about it hard... I think the channel I used to hit up was #soccer, the guys in there were really great with the second-by-second commentary and of course some crazy fans that actually added to the 'atmosphere'. Ah... the good old days!

Now... I hardly use IRC even though of late I've seen some move by a couple dudes I know to revive the #sponger movement. (#sponger and #sponger2 by the way were 'great' bajan IRC channels 'back in the day' like 1999-2000ish.)

Footie: By the way!! Even Liverpool lost, so did PSV Eindhoven (Bordeaux trashed'em 3-1), so, Pool still top the group! Even though... It seems that a lot of big guns are coming 2nd in their respective groups... Barca (oh yes, Barca dealt with Werder Bremen sternly today as well - 2 - 0 to last year's champs), Inter, possibly Real... So, we'll have to wait and see what (2nd place team) awaits Pool in the next round.

Well, last year's CL Champion Barcelona MUST beat Werder Bremen today to go through to the next stage. Is it possible? Yea sure! Is it not possible? Yea sure! Bremen are a pretty good team though, but in away games....  they're not so good. Personally I think they can't win, but, all Bremen need is a draw and I definitely believe that's possible.

Pool take on Galatasaray today also and all Pool need is a draw to top the group. Interestingly to say, I had a talk lately with one of my mates and he suggest that Pool (will win the group and) may just meet up on Real in the knockout stages.. I don't think I've ever seen that match up before and I agree it should be interesting!

Tomorrow, I'd say the game to watch is definitely the Man Utd v Benfica. Man U, as Do informed me felt like some 'Final Day Drama' so 'they lost' the previous match against Celtic that would've put them through to the next stage. So..., all the best for Man U, at least the game is being played at Old Trafford, so that should mean something good for'em!

LOl, nice stuff! real real nice.. the bloke in the car didn't have a clue what hit him!

Sorry, this score line was sooo pleasing to me, that I just had to get AND post a screenshot of it.

Luckily I got to watch most of the first half of the game, including Bellamy's two excellent goals from those two, excellent passes! I'm sure there will be some vids on youtube featuring these goals in a day or two.

To me, this is the way a club of Liverpool's prestige should command games... or at least... certain games.

I eagerly await the mid-week CL battle! GO POOL!

It's 8.03pm, I'm late... however, I show my support for World AIDS Day by 'wearing' the red ribbon on this site.

 Celebrate life people. And remember, as I saw on a graphic online...

Ignorace = Fear,

Silence = Death.

How did that Buju Banton song go? "Raggamuffin don't be silly, Put some..."

For more information on today, check the official web site.