My attempt to upgrade my blog engine from Subtext 1.9.5 to Subtext 2.0.1 failed tonight so there may have been a bit of triage as I attempted to roll back. Things I learned but forgot about doing deployments. copy all files to server in a different directory first copy current app directory on SERVER doesn’t hurt to have a local copy too verify you have done...

I was asked by a student at Dakota State University about hosting and getting his content on the internet.  Since I remember having to do just this and picked some bad services, I’ll fill him in on what I recommend now a days. Get your domain Getting your domain name is both a painful and painless experience.  I personally use DirectNic.  My brother uses Network Solutions.  A lot of people use GoDaddy! too.  You’ll need to know your Domain Name Server but that can be done at a later time.  So we’ll move on to...

A friend of mine for work needed a way to parse out a domain name from a user’s email address in Excel.  Normally I would have used Regular Expressions to do this but I couldn’t easily find them so I did the old school string find / substring route.  Expensive but effective. So if I have lets say my Microsoft email address of crutkas@microsoft.com in the excel spreadsheet at row A1, I can do some neat stuff like the SEARCH and MID commands. Lets define exactly what this nifty commands do. MID(text, start_index, num_characters):...

I got my replacement laptop coming in June and my other new laptop.  So in my constant "What I load on my computers" here is the current installment.  Running Vista of course! Windows Live Writer (worlds best blogging tool, seriously) Flickr4Writer Insert Code for Windows Live Writer UltraMon (Multiple monitors, does cool stuff) Visual Studio 2008 (Development) ...

So I'm in the process of switching to a new hosting service and I had a friend hook me up porting my data via an SSIS package to my new server.  Now I'm when most would call a retard when it comes to SQL.  I can design databases but I dread doing SQL.  That is why Joe ruled for doing this for me. I did a few quick laps around the internet and can up with nothing.  SQL Server's tools are designed to back up the database locally only.  So if you don't have physical access, you're out of luck....

I have some application code bases that are 10ish years old now and are in PHP.  Being the lazy good developer I am, if it isn't broke, why update it? Well, it looks like the hosting provider that runs my brother's business site decided it may be a good idea to upgrade its version of PHP. I know already know the fix for my problem, it is just a logistical issue.  It is old code I did when I was a wee laddie.  I wasn't even able to drink beer!  I'm pretty sure back then had I drank beer, I...

What is XAML (pronounced zammal)?  It is a new way to do form layout and is pretty neat.  It is primarily used for WPF (windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight also. The problem I'm running into is with a 3rd party plugin to Visual Studio that I've gotten addicted to called Resharper.  Resharper is just trying to do its job yet it becomes the most annoying thing ever due to the fact I want it to ignore XAML files.  I'm not 100% sure how to do this yet. This happens on every node in the XAML.  So annoying.  When...

I have about 15 gigs worth of photos with another 5 gigs unsorted.  I also have an full flickr account.  With PhotoSync and my WHS, the world will never be without whatever random crap I'm doing that day, like figuring out a plot to go curling this Thursday when I'm in Fargo.  That's right, I'm going curling and you're not.   HAHHAHA, I will finally be able to say I've done it!  Man, I wonder how long this will take to upload. http://www.flickr.com/photos/betterthaneveryone <-- seriously, I love my domain name SO much.  And yes, if I could, I'd marry it ......