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January 2008 - Posts

My Oven is On Fire

Posted Sunday, January 27, 2008 10:33 AM by johnmont
I don't mean this metaphorically, nor do I mean that the food in the oven is on fire. I mean, "The oven is on fire." As in, the wires in the controller switch overheated, the insulation melted, they arced, and the insulation caught fire. Had I not been Read More...
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Make Any Blog Show Your Most Recent Posts

Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:27 PM by johnmont
Adam Nathan created a pretty cool Popfly gadget the other day. You can see it on this very blog if you look to the right: the Recent Posts section. Basically, this is a Popfly mashup that reads the last few blog posts from my blog and generates a nice Read More...
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Taking Down Christmas Decorations

Posted Tuesday, January 15, 2008 7:13 AM by johnmont
When is the right time to take down Christmas decorations? Growing up, my parents typically did it just after New Years. My wife and I had our tree up until this past weekend (more as a result of laziness than any statement we were trying to make) and Read More...
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Popfly's Silverlight Display Blocks

Posted Monday, January 14, 2008 1:49 PM by johnmont
One of the scenarios a lot of Popfly customers have tried is to create a block . Display blocks have been particularly hard to create until recently (with the latest release of Popfly and Popfly Explorer ' it got much easier) and Tim Rice has blogged Read More...
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USB Stick in the Sky

Posted Monday, January 14, 2008 7:08 AM by johnmont
Passing VS projects around is a common-enough task. I don't mean those times when you're trying to do joint development, I mean those times when you have a sample or solution that you want to share with someone to show how it solves a particular problem. Read More...
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Flexible Priorities

Posted Sunday, January 13, 2008 10:03 AM by johnmont
I start every day with a list of things I need to do. Generally, this lists comprises a collection of email messages, Outlook Tasks, meetings and calendar items, TFS work items (oops, better check those), things that are just in my head that I haven't Read More...
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Screencasting the Hard Way

Posted Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:46 PM by johnmont
With today's update to Popfly , comes a new Popfly screencast. Or kind of a screencast. It turns out that when you leave a development team alone for a few days, they do strange and wonderful things. Like stage a live-action screencast that uses humans Read More...
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A Note on Knives

Posted Friday, January 04, 2008 7:35 AM by johnmont
Earlier this week someone asked me about which knife to buy. I launched into an exegesis that would have amazed, then bored, even Alton Brown . He said I should write it down, so I am. At a book reading, I once asked Anthony Bourdain what one kitchen Read More...
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2008 Predictions

Posted Thursday, January 03, 2008 8:36 AM by johnmont
I predict that 2008 will have between 300 and 400 days. Most if not all will end in the letter "y." Similarly, here in Seattle most if not all will involve some form of precipitation. I predict that the US will have an election this year. A democrat will Read More...
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Getting Square, Part 2

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2008 11:15 PM by johnmont
I just spent two quality hours with my table saw. I'd known for a while that the saw needed tuning, but I'd been putting it off. Yesterday's frustrating session, however, was the last straw. I'd been checking the saw for true for three years using the Read More...
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Right Angles

Posted Tuesday, January 01, 2008 8:14 PM by johnmont
One of the projects I've taken on for our home remodel was building the downstairs linen cabinet -- a built-in set of shelves, drawers, and doors that fit into the space next to the first-floor bathroom. To get this project going last summer, my wife Read More...
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Change of Plans

Posted Tuesday, January 01, 2008 10:24 AM by johnmont
After many ruminations and a second drive of the Mazda3, I changed my mind, but not for a reason I was expecting. You see, last Saturday my wife and I went to the Mazda dealership to buy a Mazda3. We had everything ready. We just needed one last test Read More...
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