Cave Markings 

I use a RSS aggregator to read the web.  This is a great way to organize and prioritize information.  Last week, however, I was surprised to see the following headline in my reader:

Alan Stevens from Knoxville

This was from a post on Wally McClure's blog.  Wally and I are both speaking this weekend at the Atlanta Code Camp, and in October at DevLink.  I thought it was cool of Wally to publish this post, and link back to Cave Markings.  In fact, Wally is generally a cool guy, and you should check out his podcast if you haven't already.

What is totally surprising to me, is that Wally's post is the #4 result for Alan Stevens on Google this evening.  Furthermore, this humble blog is the #5 result!  Wow, thanks for the love, Wally.

++Alan

Two Saturdays ago, I embarked on a project that I had been contemplating all winter.  I restored  the remains of a fire pit I built in 1994.  It had seen lots of neglect.  The brick lining had been removed, and it had eroded to a large bowl shape.

I improved on my initial design by making it deeper, and lining the bottom with brick, as well as the sides.  The top ring is composed bricks with one rounded edge, which looks quite nice.

Here's a picture, but since a hole in the ground isn't terribly interesting, I chose one with a pretty lady in it.  <G>

++Alan

This is going to be lots of fun. 

Already they have Eric Sink and Kevin McNeish on the schedule.  I'll be busy trying to act cool.  You know, I hang out with these guys all the time.  They're not my heroes or anything.  No really, I'm cool.

++Alan

Back in '93 I was one of the Sunday school teachers in a class called "Church Across the Street."  This was a terrific curriculum for Sixth Graders.  We would study a religion or denomination for a week or two, then we would attend a service.  It was extremely educational for the students and the teachers.  I began attending the Episcopal Church as a direct result of my involvement in this class.

When we studied Islam, we visited the local Mosque.  It was Awesome.  I didn't like that the girls had to use a separate entrance, and cover their heads.  Females also prayed in a separate room.  Aside from the gender issues, my experience was totally positive.  The reverence for God was palpable.  Multiculturalism is not just a PC term in a US mosque.  There were men of every color worshiping fervently together.  I was floored by the experience. 

We had an adolescent boy show us the customs for ritual cleansing and explain their symbolic and practical purposes.  This young man had a very strong sense of identity and belonging.  His life had value and meaning.  I don't have anything against Islam. 

What continues to irritate me is ignorance.  Fundamentalism of all kinds is ignorance.  There is no inerrant scripture. Even if there were, we each would have the choice if we wanted you use it to direct our choices.  I follow the premise of a Presbyterian minister that was quoted to me:  "I take the Bible seriously, not literally."

Nobody wins when we give in to hate, fear and ignorance, and the result of the Mohammed cartoon brouhaha is that we collectively gave in.

You can find a good post-mortem here.

++Alan

According to this, PowerShell nee MSH nee Monad is on the verge of release.

This is exciting news for me because I spent this week learning the tool. I have had requests to make bulk updates to work items in Team Foundation Server. I decided to investigate MSH as a platform for creating custom scripts to fulfill this request.

Now that it is on the verge of release, I won't have to overcome resistance to deploying pre-release tools. Life is good.

++Alan

[UPDATE] Keith Hill suggests some new acronyms for the Windows PowerShell.  I vote for POSH.

"Oh the posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me..."

Looks like I may get the chance to present my session on Getting Software Done with Visual Studio Team System at the Atlanta Code Camp.  They say that a listing on the speakers page is no guarantee that I'll be on the final schedule, but at least I'm on the speakers page now.  Go here, select speakers, and scroll waaaaaaaayyyyy down to read the summary.

++Alan

I just got my confirmation that my presentation on integrating Visual Studio Team System and Visual FoxPro was accepted for the FoxForward conference in Atlanta.  I love sharing my enthusiasm about these tools.  This is going to be lots of fun!

Mark your calendars now:



++Alan

It is clear to me, that Russ Feingold and Jack Murtha are the true leaders of the Democratic Party.  All of the current so-called "leaders" should resign immediately.  I admire both these men for speaking their consciences in Washington where everyone else is busy reading poll results.

++Alan

[Update] I forgot Harry Reid.  He's got some backbone too.

I'm trying to sort this one out.  When the law of the land is inhumane, who's fault is it?  I believe the person that opened the valve on the poison gas at Auschwitz is a culpable as Adolph Hitler for the deaths of innocent people.  If a person igonres the humanity of another, it is that individuals fault, not their religion, or any other excuse they offer.  At least, that's what I think this morning.

++Alan