theSpoke.net

Happy New Year
Sunday, December 31, 2006 2:06 PM

It's already 2007 where some of my readers live. I hope your year is off to a good start. I still don't know what I am doing tonight. There is some talk that my son and a friend may come over for at least a while but I suspect a party in his future. I

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Who are we?
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 10:43 AM

I read the following quote of the day on www.live.com yesterday and have been thinking about it since. "We are what we believe we are." - C. S. Lewis I wonder about this though. Does it mean that we create who we are by what we believe

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Rocket Commander for XNA
Tuesday, December 26, 2006 12:01 PM

I found this larger XNA game called Rocket Commander today. Full source code is available. BTW one of my cool Christmas presents was a binary clock. I love it. I think its driving my son crazy though. I don't think I will be getting him one any time

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Merry Christmas
Sunday, December 24, 2006 10:27 AM

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva i s Novim Godom Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année! Froehliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Roomba Review and Scooba Too
Friday, December 22, 2006 10:49 AM

I posted a longish review of the iRobot Roomba and Scooba cleaning robots on my high school computer science teacher blog because I have been talking a bit about robots there and people asked.

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Update on T-shirts
Thursday, December 21, 2006 11:55 AM

You remember I talked about t-shirts the other day? I got some SWAG in the mail today. Some good books to give away, a bag, and three t-shirts. Two of the shirts are Extra Large and one is Large. Not a women's cut shirt in the box.

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Sudoku in Visual Basic .NET
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 3:51 AM

I found an interesting little program that creates Sudoku puzzles in Visual Basic .NET. I have to say that I really love it. But not for the reasons one might expect. I don't love it for the amount of cool features it has. Frankly it doesn't have all

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posted by AlfredTwo with

A Robot in Every Home
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 5:21 PM

Now I admit that I love robots. I love the idea of robots. As a science fiction fan since childhood (a long time) I have been looking forward to the day when robots take over household chores for many years. I one two robots already. A Roomba for vacuuming

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posted by AlfredTwo with

International Food
Monday, December 18, 2006 5:35 PM

I do love to eat. And I like all kinds of food. One of the great things about living in America is that all sorts of people from all over the world come here and open restaurants. I know of local places that prepare Chinese, Italian, Malaysian, Mexican,

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posted by AlfredTwo with

The Problem with T-Shirts
Saturday, December 16, 2006 7:47 PM

Most places (conferences, special events etc) that give out t-shirts tend to give out XL Men's t-shirts. Maybe there will be large or medium shirts as well but they will still almost always be men's shirts. Women, as some of you may have noticed, are

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posted by AlfredTwo with

When Mother Nature Strikes
Friday, December 15, 2006 2:22 PM

Wild storms hit all around the world every year but I don't think we can ever completely get used to what they do when they hit. Much of the (US) Pacific Northwest is without power today as the result of heavy wind storms and rain. Redmond WA where Microsoft

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posted by AlfredTwo with

One Computer, Two Mice
Thursday, December 14, 2006 2:09 PM

What would you do if you could write a program that supported two mice and two cursors on the same PC? The new MultiPoint technology announced from Microsoft lets you do just that. This software was developed by Microsoft Research India to allow more

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posted by AlfredTwo with

XNA Game Building Contest
Thursday, December 14, 2006 12:18 PM

If you haven't downloaded the v1 release of XNA Game Studio Express yet then this contest may be an incentive. There is just a teaser there now because the contest doesn't open until January. But you may want to get the software now and start playing

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posted by AlfredTwo with

The Christmas Tree is Ready
Monday, December 11, 2006 11:22 PM

last year I posted a picture of our Christmas tree before it was decorated. I fuly intended a before and after (decoration) but never got around to taking the after picture. Well this year I have an after picture. It looks pretty good I think. The

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Eight More Work Days This Year
Monday, December 11, 2006 6:17 PM

I have to take a number of vacation days or else I will lose them completely. As it turns out the week between Christmas and New Years is a good time to do so. My wife will be off on school holiday (she is a school librarian) so I will get some time to

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posted by AlfredTwo with

A Cat With a Winter Bed
Saturday, December 09, 2006 9:13 AM

I'm not much of a pet person really but we've had cats for years and years. Our current cat was rescued by our son several years ago. He found her abandoned and tiny at the edge of a field and a woods. He took her home and took care of her all summer.

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Some days I want to be a Luddite
Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:39 PM

There are these days when technology seems overwhelming. There is too much new stuff to learn. There is too much email coming in. There is just too much information on the Internet. There is just plain too much technology. It makes me tired just to think

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Does Anyone In North America Read This Blog?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006 10:29 AM

I see the the first qualifing round of the North American Imagine Cup Software Design competition closes on Sunday. The North American SDI is running a little differently - well actually a good bit differently - this year. It will be interesting to see

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Imagine Cup Short Film based on Da Vinci Code
Monday, December 04, 2006 10:50 PM

Some US Microsoft Student Partners put together a short film about the Imagine Cup based loosely ( very loosely) on The Da Vinci Code. Check it out here. Diane told me about it earlier in the day but I just had time to watch it. Someone please do a better

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posted by AlfredTwo with

Talking about the old days
Sunday, December 03, 2006 3:28 PM

I read a resume recently where the job applicant told of his 7 years of professional experience. It read as if he thought that was a long time. I have over four times that much experience and yet I still feel like a newby at times. Things are just changing

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posted by AlfredTwo with

If you are busy, add work
Sunday, December 03, 2006 1:49 PM

Don't tell my wife I'm blogging. I am supposed to be painting. She's out food shopping which is good because I'm going to be hungry later. So here is the story. It's getting close to Christmas and there is a lot to do. Christmas shopping is actually

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posted by AlfredTwo with

December 2006 - Posts

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