Monday, July 12, 2010

Car Sales and Brutal Honesty

Originally written by a friend and reposted without his knowledge or permission. Enjoy!

POS 1994 Honda Civic LX for sale -- $600

That's right, you can own a piece of shi... history right now for only $600. You may wonder why I didn't post a picture and that's because with a car this crappy, a photo is not needed. Just imagine the worst possible car and then picture a camel taking a dump in the trunk and you'll have a close approximation. You don't need to worry about me lying... it really is a POS. There is no risk of you getting over here and finding out it's really a gorgeous gem worth thousands... that doesn't happen...ever. But if for some reason that's actually happened to you, then you are acquainted with a crazy cosmic karma that has never thought to even piss in my face.

I almost had a date on PlentyofFish and you know what happened? The fucking AC died. For two years while I was not dating, it worked fine. The day after I get digits, the AC craps out. The car also has a weird hesitation problem that was not fixed even when I replaced the fuel filter. What could cause all of these things? Satan in the drive train...that's right... it's rare, but it happens to guys like me. This car is actually demon-possessed so you can forget about any sort of easy fix. Jesus said you need faith to cast out demons like this and believe me there are only two people on the planet that have that sort of faith. One guy lives in a cave in India and the other guy is dead. And you can forget about the guy in the cave helping you because, if you can find him, he's just going to tell you how physical setbacks are really spiritual blessings...blah blah blah...yada yada yada. Exactly. Don't expect sympathy from any motherfucker that sits around in his underwear in a cave.

Other problems with this car include busted boots on the tie-rod ends, busted wheel hub boots, broken AC, leaking power steering system, ABS light always on, check-engine light comes on occasionally, driver window sometimes comes off the track, paint has permanent dirt in it (yes, it's fucking permanent...you can't scrub it out with anything less than sandpaper or some highly explosive chemical that causes cancer in 49 states and erectile dysfunction in the 50th.)

The car does drive, but that's about all it's good for. Good luck getting it to pass emissions. I've never tried as it's still registered in Clarke County. If you want to date, this car is probably not for you. On a positive note though, I can assure you no one has ever had sex in it. It would take a miracle to get a girl to even sit in this car, much less take her clothes off in it.

Other possible uses for this car included entertainment at frat parties. You could charge people $5 a swing with a baseball bat, although you still probably wouldn't recover your investment. You might be able to sell it to the Mythbusters and get the to test the myth, "Is it possible that a car could really be this shitty?" Adam Savage and Kari Byron will have a field day and close it off with "Myth fucking confirmed" and a side comment from Kari about how whatever douchebag use to own it must have never been laid.

There are some positives like a beautiful Lumar 32% tint job, keyless entry with remote trunk release, an Alpine CD Player, and Pioneer speakers in the door. So at worst, you can sit in your driveway and listen to music with a bottle of Jergens and a picture of Eliza Dushku. I really wouldn't recommend taking it on the road until you replace the tie-rod ends. You might crash into a bus full of nuns and then the Pope will reign motherfucking hail fire down on your betrodden ass with more fury than the inquisition because you actually decided to drive and be seen in such an amazing POS, killing 20 of his lovely Sisters.

One other thing you might use this car would be pushing it off a cliff. If you've ever wanted to see what it's like first hand for a car to fall hundreds of feet and smash against rock, then here's your chance. Although don't be surprised if this demon-possessed sleigh from hell manages to fuck up your good time even in that bold scenario. I don't know how it would, but it would probably figure out a way.

If there are any parents out there reading this, don't let your children fall into the situation I'm in. I would never have ended up with this car if I had pursued a real career. But instead I majored in math where the best job I can find now is up in Portland with a bunch of bran muffin eating hippies, jerking off Moose for 75 cents a smile for some wildlife conservation sperm bank. Let your kids do something with good with their future, like wait tables at Denny's.

Oh yeah... it's white, 4 doors, and automatic. Whooptie-fuckin-do!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Linq - Missing Extensibility Method Definitions

Helpful tip to save your hours pulling your hair out: If your linq entity class is missing its Extensibility Method Definitions, make sure you didn't forget to put specify a primary key in the related table. If you did (as I did), fix the DB, refresh your table/SPROCs in the Server Explorer and remove/re-add the entity. Onve you save the DBML file the methods should be created... at which point you can focus back on eating your chicken sandwich (as I also did).

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Dundas Chart for SharePoint - Setting Series Max as Axis Max in Gantt Charts

Since MOSS Gantt web parts don't support web part connections, I've spent the day building one via Dundas Chart.

Actually, I've spent most of the day trying to figure out how the hell to format the thing.

The Gantt chart I've created gets its data from a Tasks web part on the same page. Each task has a start and due date. For usability's sake, the Gantt chart needs to start a day before the earliest task starts and a day after the latest task stops.

After a few minutes searching/drinking coffee, I came across the following Dundas forums post on finding min/max values of a series:
http://support2.dundas.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=8284&mpage=1&key=max⁜

Alas, I couldn't quite get the FindMaxValue method to work - it kept returning the minimum values of the 2nd Y value instead the maximum. Turns out, calling the minimum value in this case actually brought the right value (date) back. Either this truly doesn't make any sense or something in my data is screwed. Either way, I went the logical route and looped through the series' points to find the max value.

     // set the Y axis minimum one interval less than the minimum series value
chartObj.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Minimum = chartObj.Series[0].Points.FindMinValue().YValues[0] - 1;

     // get the total number of points in the series and setup a variable to capture the max point
int totalPoints = chartObj.Series[0].Points.Count;
double maxPoint = 0;

     // loop through the points and grab the max value
for (int i = 0; i < totalPoints; i ++)
{

          double currentY1Point = chartObj.Series[0].Points[i].YValues[1];

          if (currentY1Point > maxPoint)
          {
               maxPoint = currentY1Point;
          }


}

     // set the X axis maximum one interval more than the maximum series values; move on to bigger, badder things
chartObj.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Maximum = maxPoint + 1;

Voila! One Gantt chart you can actually read... as long as the dates aren't too far apart... and the wind isn't blowing too hard from the north. Ok, so there's still a ton of shiz that needs to go into it (uhm... scrolling, perhaps?), but I just found out I'm going on a cruise so thinking about code is now boring and to be avoided.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Illustrator CS4 Removes Existing PDF Form Fields

Cliffnotes: No solution (yet!) for this problem. If you're looking for one, too, move on with your search - and if you find a solution, you'll be my best pal for sharing it.

99% of my forms are built the same way: PDF documents originally created in Illustrator. I use Illustrator to layout any text and graphic elements, then bring the PDF into Acrobat to add form fields, navigation, scripting and security. Most forms were built using CS, CS2 & 3 mainly used to edit existing documents into new versions. This has worked well for me, up until now.

Making changes to documents was pretty straight-forward up until the release of CS4, though it had its quirks. You would make a true copy of a PDF file (outside of Illustrator), open it in Illustrator if it needed any text/graphic changes, save it then repeat in Acrobat. You couldn't, however, open the original file in Illustrator and save it as a new file through the application itself. Doing so would remove the form fields that existed in the original document. Other than that you were okay as far as form fields were concerned.

Not so with Illustrator CS4. Early research (as in I've spent a few highly-caffeinated minutes on this) leads me to believe that something in Illustrator CS4 is creating a problem with the XFA (which I know jack about) portion of the PDF file and keeping Acrobat for displaying those fields back out. Why do I think the fields (some of them, anyway) are still there? Glad you asked!

Find (or make) a PDF document with a few form fields in it. Make sure at least one is a text field and another is a radio button, and that you remember the names of the fields. Create a copy of that file, open it in Illustrator and hit save. Close the file.

Now, open both PDF documents with Notepad and do a search for the text field's name in both files. Chances are you'll find the field in the original file, but not in the copy. Do the same thing for the radio button and voila! - the copy *does* have the field name in it. Why is this and what does it mean? No clue. But it does seem terribly inconsistent, and that makes me lean towards it being a bug.

So, what can you do to fix the problem? Nothing, that I know of. And that's why I'm writing this instead of resetting the tab order on a page with 50+ fields. FML.

Friday, July 31, 2009

The TV

I bought a TV.

You're probably thinking, "congratu-f'in-lations... gold star for you," but this is a big deal. Evidently men feel entitled to anything requiring electricity (outside of the kitchen), and I've therefore lost every high-end TV I've ever purchased in breakups. You have no idea how good it feels to know this will be *my* TV, with no one in the equation to con me out of it.

Even Chad.

And with that, you folks have a swell day.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Well That About Sums It Up

Robert Brice

When asked how we are friends, Robert replies:

"You're fascinated by my ability to embrace the fried chicken and mashed potatoes of life and I'm fascinated by your ability to continue speaking to me."

I hate it when he's right.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

281 South

Presenting, in all it's glittering glory, the playlist for my upcoming adventure down Highway 281 South. A friend and I are going camping down at Pedernales Falls, so I decided to take the scenic route.

Amos LeeLast Days At the LodgeTruth
AnoukWho's Your MommaGood God
Avenged SevenfoldCity Of Evil (Explicit)Seize The Day (Album Version)
Band Of HorsesCease to BeginOde to LRC
Ben HarperWhite Lies for Dark TimesLay There & Hate Me
The Bird And The BeeRay Guns Are Not Just The FutureDiamond Dave
Blue OctoberConsent to TreatmentBreakfast After Ten
Bright EyesCassadagaFour Winds
Burden BrothersMercyGood Night from Chicago
Coheed And CambriaNo World For Tomorrow (Explicit)The Hound (of Blood and Rank)
CSSCansei de Ser SexyMusic Is My Hot, Hot Sex
Dent MayThe Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent UkuleleOh Paris!
Dirty Pretty ThingsWaterloo to AnywhereBang Bang You're Dead
Elvis PresleyElvis: 30 #1 Hits (Bonus Tracks)(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame
EstelleShineAmerican Boy (feat. Kanye West)
Field MusicTones Of TownSit Tight
Franz FerdinandTonight: Franz FerdinandUlysses
Frightened RabbitThe Midnight Organ FightGood Arms vs. Bad Arms
George MichaelFaithKissing A Fool
GomezHow We OperateHow We Operate
Hot Hot HeatElevatorElevator
Iron & WineThe Shepherd's DogThe Devil Never Sleeps
Kings Of LeonOnly By The NightUse Somebody
Lacuna CoilKarmacodeWithin Me
Lady GaGaThe FamePoker Face
M. WardHold TimeNever Had Nobody Like You
moe.Sticks And StonesRaise A Glass
The MoondoggiesDon't Be A StrangerAin't No Lord
MuseBlack Holes And RevelationsAssassin
My Morning JacketDark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)El Caporal
My Morning JacketEvil UrgesRemnants
N.E.R.D.Seeing Sounds (Explicit)Happy
Nickel CreekThis SideI Should'Ve Known Better
Queens of the Stone AgeLance Armstrong: Run Longer3's & 7's
The RaconteursOld Enough [Bluegrass Version] [featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe] (Single)Old Enough [Bluegrass Version] [featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe]
The Red Jumpsuit ApparatusLonely RoadStep Right Up
Rise AgainstAppeal To ReasonRe-Education (Through Labor)
Rocco DeLuca & The BurdenI Trust You to Kill MeSoul
Ryan AdamsCold RosesMagnolia Mountain
Ryan AdamsCold RosesSweet Illusions
SlobberboneSlippageFind The Out
SpoonGa Ga Ga Ga GaThe Underdog
The Ting TingsWe Started NothingBe The One
TravisOde to J. SmithLong Way Down
Van Halen5150Why Can't This Be Love
The VinesWinning DaysRide
The Von BondiesLove, Hate and Then There's You (Deluxe Version)Accidents Will Happen
WhiskeytownStranger's AlmanacAvenues
WilcoSky Blue SkyYou Are My Face
4 Non BlondesBigger, Better, Faster, More!What's Up