Viking Me
Today, I was asked about the story behind my viking avatar: The avatar is years and years old. Peter Stern, a graphic designer friend of mine, put...
Solitaire Redux
I’ve done a bunch of stuff related to Solitaire on my blog for some reason. I guess I’m a fan, although mostly these days I focusing my listening in...
The Downside Of Working At Home
I’ve been working at home off and (mostly) on for 16 years… From theoatmeal.com. Recommended...
Working Hard: WhirlyBall
What my team does on an average Wednesday afternoon: It was surprisingly fun...
Helping to set up fireworks for the 4th of July?
...
Flinging My 60-year-old Mother High Into The Air
My mom came to visit to celebrate my 40th birthday and her 60th birthday. She and the Sells Brothers and I spent yesterday afternoon wandering along...
I love Microsoft’s terrible automated voice attendant
Long-time readers may recall when I got an angry caller from a Vista user that had trouble configuring it the way they wanted it. They got to me...
There once was a man from Duluth
nearly 40 years old; past his youth!But tonight with a smile,he swam non-stop for a mile.First time in his life - that’s the truth! I swam a mile...
The Poker Brat
You may or may not know it, but I’m a big poker fan. For a while, I thought about quitting my job and being a Texas Holdem poker player. I’ve...
DVDFab + My Own DVDs = Couch Convenience
I don’t know if it’s legal or not, but if you use DVDFab with the Mobile option set to XVID video + MP3 audio (both supported by the XBOX 360 if you...
I woke up today and decided to win the lottery
And so I did the only thing I could to do increase my odds — I actually played the lottery. (I blame my inability to apply this strategy for my...
Poetry Proclivities
I’m not a big poetry fan in general, but notable exceptions are Poe’s The Raven (especially the Simpson’s version), Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein....
Fingerling Potato Baby Jesus
This is what happens...
Here Comes Another Bubble sttto some Billy Joel song…
This is hilarious...
Win a Trip to NYC + WPF Dream Machine with Your WPF Application Stylings!
The nice folks at Lab 49 are throwing a contest for WPF programmers. The goal: take the financial data they provide and build a kick-ass WPF app...
StayAtHomeServer.com!
From Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?: “When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give the mommy a special...
Amazon Kindle Real-Life Review
I’ve posted about ebooks before (e.g. I Hate Books). It sounds like the Amazon Kindle has some real potential. All we need is a product with enough...
Free copies of “Programming WPF” for YOU!
I just got a box full of free copies of Programming WPF from ORA. If you want one, post a comment on this post with a) a reason why you deserve one...
Yahtzee Croshaw — You’re My Hero!
First it was the Halo 3 review (which I can’t agree or disagree with yet because I’m still stuck on level one) which a Wii zealot forwarded to me...
I’m an “Uber Cool High Nerd”
...
What’s your programmer personality type?
programmer personality typeDHSBYou’re a Doer.You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task...
A really bad optimization
I always knew that the scientists would optimize away sending the matter when all they need is to send the state: “A team of physicists has...
Microsoft Surface
the Microsoft Surface web site“““...
Shooting the Sh*t with Scott (part 1 of 2)
Scott came over to my house and we made up a topic (“Software: The Last Fifteen Years and the Next Fifteen Years” in two parts), but it’s really...
Name Sara Williams’s Baby Girl
Today, Sara Williams, ex-Developer Relations Group (the folks at MS that were allowed to speak to developers before we had blogs), ex-MSDN head and...
Slide your vote in for ScottH’s Podcast
I only listen to one podcast, so casting my vote for Hanselminutes on podcast alley’s list of top podcasts was a no-brainer. Plus, when I voted,...
Stange But Real Facts
I don’t know how many of these are actually real (my left-handed son was very disappointed to hear that he’d be dying 9 years before his...
On good days, I’m Iron Man…
superheroYou are Iron Man Iron Man 80% Spider-Man 70% Catwoman 55% Hulk 50% Green Lantern 50% The Flash 45% Robin...
Special Holiday Episode IV: DBox and ChrisAn
″?Keeping up with their tradition, Don and Chris sing an inspired song for the holidays.” Merry & Happy...
Somebody Diggs Me…
I don’t know why the MS interview page is suddenly digg-worthy after all these years, but it’s nice to be dugg: I’d like to thank the academy… P.S....
Rory, Distilled
Lord knows, I love Rory, but easily my favorite thing are his comics. However, he doesn’t do enough of them, so if you’re looking for a...
Pies & Marketing Guys
It all started with a bet that my new marketing guy could meet his promised numbers by a certain date. Figure 1 shows me reading his results report...
Project Life Cycle
This one’s been around a while and just feels so true… Sat, 10/28/2006 10:24am...
Imitation, Flattery, Nudity
From JJ5′s web site.Wed, 10/18/2006 11:08am (what a thing to see so early in the morning…)...
The Positronic Man
From left to right, Ted Neward, Rocky Lhotka, Chris Sells’s cardboard cutout and his electronic image projected to building 33 in Redmond, WA from...
I don’t know what this has to do with Vista…
I like it...
Teaching Kids To Do Cool Computer Stuff?
My youngest son’s teacher found out I work at MS, so now he expects me to come into his class to teach them cool stuff. I’m happy to do that, but...
Null Pointers Don’t Have To Be Dull Pointers
Posted without permission after reading it in today’s paper Sun 10/01/2006 3:01pm...
USB MP3 Player + SD Card = Gadget-o-licious
USB SD/MMC MP3 Player + Card Reader + S/H: $18 Kingston 1GB miniSD Card + S/H: $19 (at the time) Being able to listen to Teenage Dirtbag on the same...
Develop Games For Your Xbox 360
The Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express (Beta) is available for download: ″XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily...
Wikipedia has an open enrollment day…
Don BoxJeffrey RichterRobert ScobleCharles PetzoldKeith Brownthe Chris Sells Wikipedia pagethis onethis onethis oneblogarticlestoolsthe interview...
Fun Presentation
a great presentation on stuff that’s brokenhis sitePresentation ZenThe 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPointthe Startup Success 2006the Churchill Club web site...
I listen to one podcast: HanselMinutes
Scott created his podcast with the idea of not wasting his listeners’ time and he’s done it. HanselMinutes is the only podcast I listen to. In fact,...
Vista Song Parody from Ted + Carl!
you’ll want to hear them singing “Why Did Shipping Vista Turn Out to be so Hard”“...
I’m on MySpace now
I’m on MySpace...
Superman Returns: Boring
Superman Returns...
Oh La La — Qtek 8500!
I got my Qtek 8500 today. The bad news was that I got the French version of the manual, but that wasn’t so bad, since I wasn’t going to read the...
Free Portland Code Camp, 7/22-23
I’ve just registered for the Portland Code Camp 2.0, July 22-23. It’s a free conference that includes 26 developer sessions (so far), food, a party...
My Qtek 8500 should be in my hands tomorrow!
The reviews have been largely positive (but not completely), and I’m very much looking forward to my new QTEK 8500 (aka the Star Trek [STRTrk?])....
I wish I had time for this
fun...
Code Monkey: The Song
Check out the Code Monkey mp3...
There’s a Windows “Brat Pack?!?”
Not only does Amazon.com have a traffic ranking for sellsbrothers.com (80,616 — this number sounds too high to be good : ), but there’s a web site...
Ninja’s Need Love
a ninja answering letters about love...
Zombie MMORPG
HereI love this idea! ″Exanimus is an online massively multiplayer game created in a world where the dead live and roam the earth eating the flesh...
I’m *loving* the new live.com images search
Live.com has a new image search which does progressive showing of images, scaling of the group and individual photos in very cool ways, but the...
Fabulous Half-Life 2 Comic
Here’s a tip — if you’ve got a deadline, don’t wander over to the Half-Life 2 comic “Concerned.” I’m a *huge* Half-Life and Half-Life 2 fan, so when...
IT Crowd: Yesterday’s Jam
Yesterday’s Jam...
Looking for an Xbox 360
I got my first hands on Xbox 360 demo today and I want one! Unfortunately, MS employees aren’t treated specially, i.e. there isn’t a big warehouse...
My Son’s First Computer Program
Wonderful things happen when I tell me kids to stop playing video games and to stop watching TV (I try to limit them to an hour of each/day). I...
The “Famous” Book Fight
So, I read Rory’s latest comic and laughed. A lot. However, I haven’t posted it because I figured anyone who’d be amused would’ve already seen it....
A Quote With Which To Kick Off The Year
“Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.“–Redd Foxx Happy New Year...
George Carlin’s Incomplete List of Impolite Words
DISCLAIMER: Obviously, this completely violates George Carlin’s copyright, but I purchased the $80 CD box set and it wasn’t on there, so I feel like...
Wasting the Prince of Darkness
80% of the email I get about my Microsoft interview question site (which, 2.5 years into my MS career, nobody has yet forced me to take down) isn’t...
Dilbert on Trial Redundancy
combining the criminal and civil trials into one“...
Best Exam Answer Ever
This is how you tell the marketing guys from the engineers… : )...
Best Exam Answer Ever
Private email forwarded by Adam Denning...
Wahoo2!
Because Michael Weinhardt has ported it to Windows Forms 2.0 and ClickOnce, now Wahoo2! is available on your Start menu whether you’re connected to...
I’m all ready for 9th grade
You Passed 8th Grade Math Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct! Could You Pass 8th Grade Math...
Samwise Gamgee was the ultimate Program Manager
...
@ MS, We Share Your Pain
new feature in Vista that allows MS developers to feel your pain...
I’m the “with” @ the Redmond P&P Summit
Sure, sure, Alan Cooper and Anders Hejlsberg are keynoting, but I’m the “with” at this year’s Redmond, WA Patterns & Practices Summit 12/13 - 12/15....
Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists
I decided to go a little meta for this year’s XML DevCon: 10. Top 10 List of Top 10 List of Top 10 List Ideas (a little too meta) 9. Top 10 Reasons...
Retaking the holy land
http://grouphug.usthis is my favorite...
Quote of the day
“More and more people I know know more and more people I know.” –Melissa Sells...
His Outsourced Life
HereAn Esquire magazine author hires not one but two Indian assistants and outsources practically everything but watching TV to them. By the end of...
It’s a Windows Life
A story about how the world would be if MS never existed. I come from a world where I had a Mac at home and a Unix box at work, giving me the best...
Shepherd Book Wasn’t Always A Shepherd
the 12th precinct in Los AngelesHarris turns a low-budget pornography investigation into a major motion picture...
Looking forward to “Serenity”
IMDB: “8.4/10” Oregonian: “A-” Wired News: “And it’s those human elements — the undeniable chemistry between the crew, the tense standoffs between...
Light Sabers You Can Actually Battle With?
These light sabers look very cool...
Double Wow
The new Nintendo control...
MS Interns Out of Sync (Video)
You have to love a bunch of geeks willing to publish a video of themselves doing a parody of an N’Sync song, including the dance moves. Nice! [via...
Avalon + Indigo = Magic @ the PDC
Doug and I will be giving the following talk at the PDC this year: “Are you tired of lackluster user interfaces and bit-dropping communication...
PND For You And Me
Between the new job, the new house and the book, I haven’t had nearly enough contact with my local nerd friends. I’m starting to experience nerd...
Fight Club Rules 9-16
Fight Clubthe rest of the Fight Club rules...
I Love Arguing with Ian
HereIan and I submitted the final manuscript for Programming Avalon, Beta Edition, on July 13th (right on time, I’ll point out). Since then, the...
Have Sex With Prostitutes at the PDC
the 2nd episode of the Channel 9 guy’s trip across country to the PDC“...
I don’t know who has time for this stuff @ work…
but it’s fun anyway… [Scoble]...
Old Man’s War
the author’s web site...
Taking a break from writing on Saturday to see FF
Rich is tired of me blowing off the local nerd events, so he set up something he knows I can’t stay away from: an afternoon showing of Fantastic...
The scientists never survive this kind of thing…
I can’t believe nobody* blogged about this today! Isn’t this the beginning of most sci-fi horror movies?!? By the end of the movie, all of the...
On the road to the PDC via Twin Peaks
The channel 9 guy starts on the road to the PDC. Random fun (1 of 3)...
The logicial conclusion of spam
This one made me laugh out loud...
Me and the Star Wars Gang
The boys and I went to ROTS on the 2nd night and our local theater had some auspicious guests that I made stand around while my son took the picture...
Q: What is “funding the clubbing of baby seals?”
A: The reason I gave for wanting to cancel an extra credit card. I bet they don’t have that reason in their script! : )...
IanG Interview on ServerSide.NET
See IanG, my Avalon book co-author in crime, talk with Ted Neward about WinForms, Avalon and .NET. Nicely done...
Darth Vader vs. Yoda?
I just realized: Lucas took us through the entire 6 film series and we never got to see Yoda fight with Darth Vader! What’s with that?!? P.S. I like...
Studs from Microsoft
I have no idea where the “Studs from Microsoft” video came from or how old it is and I had to download it first before playing it, but it was...
I am a Gauntlet Adventurer
I strive to improve my living conditions by hoarding gold, food, and sometimes keys and potions. I love adventure...
XBox 360 Game Videos
MTVwhat it’ll really be about...
Cat Swimmer
I was searching with the boys this morning and found this: I just thought I’d share. : )...
Episode III: ROTS doesn’t suck and other opinions
My sons and I (and my 11-year old boy’s “date!!!“) all enjoyed Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I know it didn’t have much in the way of...
Only Annual Time Traveler’s Convention
Here I can’t attend this year myself, but I’m definitely planning to go to this one and only convention some time in the future (I love that...
Anyone Want To Join Us For Hitchhiker on Friday?
The brothers Sells and I will be attending the 7:35pm showing of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Friday at the Evergreen theater at highway...
Rory + Scott’s TechEd Video #4
the ending is totally worth it...
Worth giving up the Omega Speedmaster for…
HereOK, the Omega Speedster is cool (very cool), but it doesn’t compare to this masterpiece: Of course, I’d want the platinum model, but at...
Hitchhiker’s Guide Is Likely to Suck
It may be that this review, saying how terrible the Hitchhiker’s Guide move is, is actually funnier than the movie itself. He starts here: “The...
Making XML More Aerodynamic
a means of increasing XML performanceXML...
Visual Studio 2005 Linux Edition
“I first heard about it at a Seattle area Starbucks. I mean, I was just like sitting there drinking my Venti no-whip triple shot soy latte and I...
Viva la IDL!
I’m sure you’ve heard the uproar about “saving VB6” by now. Since I’m not a member of the VB programmer community, I don’t feel qualified to judge...
Another Laugh Out Loud TechEd Video
Scott and Rory do it again...
Betsy’s Got Them GotDotNet Blues
Betsy Aoki, the matriarch of GotDotNet, sings a song of GDN Blues. And not only did she write and sing the song (with a surprisingly good voice for...
Who knew the Brits were so randy?
”dogging”toothing...
Laugh Out Loud Funny: TechEd Video #2
OKA love story“Revenge of the Sith“...
Lego Star Wars Video Game: Hilarious Fun
HereThe PC demo is available and I’ll pre-order the XBOX version as soon as that feature is enabled on the site. This game is hilarious, has great...
Super Friends + Office Space == Hilarity
What could possibly be better than a snippet of the old Super Friends cartoon with dialog from the movie Office Space? Life is good. : ) [via Shawn...
Tom’s a Big Thinktecture Fan
Here I don’t know how Tom ended up with this shirt…...
Tom’s a Big Thinktecture Fan
My #2 son, Tom, is apparently on the road to independent consulting… Mama’s, don’t let your babies grow up to be computer boys… P.S. I do not...
Project Manager Leavers Suicide PPT Presentation
HereScott Hanselman IM’d me this Onion piece and I just had to share it. I don’t want to spoil it with quotes; just read it and tell me if you don’t...
Trying To Be As Cool As Star Trek
Here...
Trying To Be As Cool As Star Trek
On the left, you see Lt. Uhura with her wireless Bluetooth headset (although I’m not sure of the made and model). On the right, you see me with...
Chris Sells Is Merely an Alter-Ego
Here...
Chris Sells Is Merely an Alter-Ego
To avoid intimidating people, I generally don’t wear the tight shirts in public, but Dax Pandhi captures my hidden muscles perfectly! : ) Dax...
SolFX: Much Improved Performance
updated SolFX...
Schools Ban Camera Phones Amid ‘Happy Slapping’ Craze
”Head teachers have banned children from using video phones to stop them slapping other pupils in the face and recording the attacks on their...
Jason Olson’s Microsoft Interview Advice
some words of advice for folks about to interview for the first time...
Welcome to SolFx
If you’ve got .NET 2.0 and the Nov. ’04 Avalon CTP, click here to play my scaling, vector-based, WinFX version of Solitaire. Features include...
A Limerick in Rory’s Honor
In honor of Rory Blyth’s birthday, Jim Blizzard has posted a Haiku. I’m not so cultured as Jim, as I could only manage a limerick: There once was a...
Pleasantly Undetectable Advertising
home page movie short, “Tooth Fairy,”...
There Are No Words…
HereThis is what Don Box’s 12-year old son thought a good last minute costume would be when trick-or-treating the Indigo halls of Microsoft suddenly...
There Are No Words…
This is what Don Box’s 12-year old son thought a good last minute costume would be when trick-or-treating the Indigo halls of Microsoft suddenly...
The Downside of Smart Children
It started off innocently enough. I corrected Tom when he tried to put down words like “pils,” “Rome” and “trool,” even giving him a letter or two...
Vermin King With Mutant Arm
(I couldn’t possibly explain. Click the picture…) Rory Blyth Saturday, October 09, 2004 12:50 AM www.Neopolean.com...
Brian Kernighan on Debugging
I saw this in an email from John Mason in PSS today: “Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write...
The GLAT: I couldn’t resist
the test...
Clean Sweep @ Casa de Sells
Selling the books and comics you’ll never read again: $1479 Conducting *2* garage sales and selling the play structure the boys don’t frequent...
Your distinct personality: The Black Knight
According to this survey, my personality type is The Black Knight: “Your distinct personality, The Black Knight, might be found in most of the...
Go See Shaun Of The Dead
Shaun of the Dead...
Chris and Melissa Go To Burning Man
Here Click here for the full story...
Chris and Melissa Go To Burning Man
[ed: all pictures clickable. b/w pictures used without permission.] “Welcome Home,” was the first thing my wife and I heard when we pulled into the...
The One With The Man That Burns
Burning Man...
Enjoyed Listening to Charles Petzold on .NET Rocks
I really enjoyed listening to Charles Petzold on the most recent episode of .NET Rocks. It was wonderful to hear about an entire part of Windows...
Here’s A Side Of The Olympic I Hadn’t Heard Before
“At the Albertville winter Olympics, condom machines in the athletes’ village had to be refilled every two hours. And in Sydney the organisers’...
“You will have gold pieces by the bushel.”
“...
Some of the MS Interview Process Filmed
filmed some of the interview processHRMSa wealth of wonderful MS interviewing tips...
Wife Objects To Midget Above The Fridge
HereThis is what happens when night shifts happen to good nurses...
Wife Objects To Midget Above The Fridge
I’ve spent the last 8 months driving me wife to get rid of a ton of her stuff so that we could use more than the front 2 inches of every drawer,...
Hog Pile on Rory
Rory has posted his MSDN speaking schedule. I’m already signed up for the Portland, OR talk on August 26. I can’t wait to hear Rory regale us with...
I’m With David: Doom 3 Ain’t All That
soDavid’s right...
It’s Best To Ignore Rory on IM
If you ignore Rory on IM, you get fun stuff like this: Rory [Shut up] says: Hey - are you really away, or are you faking it so that people like...
OSCON Geeks @ the Portand Nerd Dinner Tonight
the O’Reilly’s Open Source Conventionthe Portland Nerd Dinner tonight...
Crappy Carl’s Crappy Contest
HereCrappy Carl is giving away a crappy top-of-the-line Tablet PC to anyone that crappy fills in his crappy survey (and they don’t even have to...
Bringing “the letter” to Wednesday’s PND
“Wednesday’s PND...
What Kinds of Cars Do Microsofties Drive?
Brad Smith writes: “I just found your site. I love it!!! It is now a regular read for me. “I read ‘The Human Side of Microsoft’ post on your site...
Microsoft runs out of things to buy
Microsoft stunned investors yesterday with the announcement that they were distributing 75 billion in cash because they had run out of things to...
DM Karma
Ah, the bittersweet memories: “Maybe you have heard some of the stories about the [DevelopMentor] Brains? Brian Randell delivered a VSLive...
Microsoft Interview Questions for Testers
a whole set of questions he was asked for an SDE/T (Software Design Engineer in Test) position at MicrosoftMAKE...
Channel9 Tours MSR H/W and Social S/W Labs
the Channel9 tour of the Microsoft Research hardware and social software labsMS...
Matt Pietrek, My Hero, Starts A Blog
When I was but a wee Windows lad, my heroes were Charles Petzold and Matt Pietrek. I learned Windows 3.1 programming from Petzold (along with...
“If I Could Thunk Once A Day, I’d Be Happy”
32-bit to 16-bit thunking is discussed...
Feature Leaked From VS05 Beta 1
the big feature...
A Man, A Plan, A Canal, A Librarian!
HereThe one where I write two computer programs, neither of which do as well as the two librarians they’re up against (damn librarians…)...
The Right Level Of Community Involvement
Earlier this week, BradA asked the community for feedback on the guys that work for him (it’s review season again at Microsoft). Adam had this to...
Swag for the June 29 Portland Nerd Dinner
I was doing my periodic t-shirt down-sizing and have gathered a couple dozen t-shirts that I thought I’d donate to my local geeks instead of to my...
Whoa. I’m A Banner Ad.
Microsoft-Watchthis one...
“he isn’t null terminated!” Bwa ha ha ha!
this one...
Geek Milkshake
Herethe video possibilities...
Geek Milkshake
sttto Milkshake by Kelis My web log brings all the nerds to the yard, and I’m like: “mine’s better than yours”. Damn right, it’s better than yours!...
I Knew I Had “Circus Freak” In My Blood!
Sellsville… The old Sells Mansion… The Sells Brothers’s love of elephants… All this and more in an article from The Short North Gazette in Columbus,...
This Is The Problem With Fame In The IT Industry
ITit’s a dude...
Finally, A Use For Orkut!
Here...
Apparently .NET Is About Developer Love
COMCOM.NET which, apparently, is about developer loveCOBOL...
Can The Movie Be As Good As This Trailer?
the link to the trailer for Commedianbit...
6x The MSDN Fun at Tonight’s Portland Nerd Dinner
MSDNPortland Nerd Dinner’...
Google’s #1 Sells
my friend Steveaccording to Google“...
Lies, Hypocrisy and the ‘Friends’ Theme Song
As much as I love the Friends show for it’s portrayal of unconditional love (as a geek, people loving me no matter what I do is appealing), I have...
Sells Brothers T-Shirts confer special powers
I got this email from Brian Jepson, one of my favorite DevCon speakers (he ran his PowerPoint slides by clicking on his cell phone!), and I just had...
“Just think Chris Sells on my TV set!”
a good thing...
Rory Sells His Ex’s Wedding Dress
Hereit sure reads like Rory...
I Shall Wear My Grammar Godhood With Humility
You are a GRAMMAR GOD! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be.Congratulations and thank you!brought to...
Chris’s Friends on the Web
If you’re looking for my wife, Melissa, her email address is msells@sellsbrothers.com. Her email is pretty reliable now, so send...
Today I Met A Lady Named “Friend”
Tracey Friend is an MS recruiter and she called to talk to me about some stuff I’m working on that could attract some fresh meat (and she also told...
I Agree: This *Is* Brilliant
man’s (and woman’s) ability to solve problems...
Introducing Chris “Flash” Sells
Don “XML” worked a little PhotoShop magic on a poster for a movie that I loved growing up (it was one of two record albums I had and I listened to...
A Redundant Chris Sells
When I’m having fun with the Sells brothers, I like to tell them that I don’t have two boys, but rather one boy and one redundant backup in case one...
50% Evil is Still 50% Good
According to the The Gematriculator, sellsbrothers.com is 50% evil. Nothing about “genius” is mentioned… [via Ryan Farley]...
Oh Lord, I’ve Been ASSified…
Here...
The Cow Puncher Punchline
Here“...
Black Cube for “Chris Sells (Likeness)”
Here’...
Guerrilla Usability Group Strikes!
Here...
A clickable button
HereNET...
The Original ”.NET Redneck”
Eric Sink claims to be the ”.NET Redneck,” complete with cardboard cutout: Shawn Morrissey [shawnmor @ microsoft.com] Taken at Gnomedex July 15th,...
Fly Daddy Al
Alan Cooper’s 14-year old son rapping about his Dad. Marty Cooper [marty @ cooper.name] Stolen on 7/13/2003 from Alan’s USB hard drive when he...
Top 10 XML Specifications Rejected by the W3C
10. WS-IrishSpring: for scented, more pleasing SOAP packets 9. WS-UPS: for sending SOAP packets in real envelopes 8. WS-USPS: for sending SOAP...
“Software Legend” Silliness
Brad Abrams make Jeffrey Richter and me stand in front our of “software legend” stand-up cut outs yesterday so that he could take a picture. I’ve...
The SellsBrothers Little League Team
Here’s the SellsBrothers Beaverton Area Little League team looking very serious. Notice the SellsBrothers logo on the hats. Having your own company...
Grandpa’s Scalloped Corn
This is a recipe that I sent in for the O’Reilly title “Gastronomy for Geeks”. It was handed down to me by my grandfather at our cabin on the lake....
What is Meant by “Marketing”?
People often ask what is meant by Marketing. Perhaps the following analogies will help clear it up: You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to...
What OS is Chris?
MEWhich OS are You...
Shtoo
Stu Halloway, conference speaker, respected author of Component Development for the Java Platform as well as many 5-day short courses and CTO of...
Doonesbury on Blogs
Starts on October 21st and runs for several days. Hits home...
Top 10 Reasons You Know Youve Been Hacking Too Many Web Services…
You start using URIs to address real envelopes while paying the billsYou use XPath to refer to family membersYou can’t understand why nobody thinks...
“Spend A Day With .NET” Winning Entries
Sorry it took so long to judge the entries, but I was overwhelmed. That’ll teach me to host an international, pan-galactic, cross-universe coding...
“Spend A Day With .NET” Winning Entries
Sorry it took so long to judge the entries, but I was overwhelmed. That’ll teach me to host an international, pan-galactic, cross-universe coding...
“Spend A Day With .NET” Coding Contest (with prizes and everything!)
Brad Abrams, Lead Program Manager on the Microsoft .NET Framework team, said something that inspired me the other day. He was being broadcast along...
My Chris Sells Is A Centerfold!
sttto Centerfold by J. Geils Band (http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/jgeilsband.htm) Yes, he walks, yes, he talks!He’ll be your Code...
The Last Advertising Frontier
My friend and fellow DevelopMentor instructor, Craig Andera, is not only enormously dedicated, but is very interested in pushing the envelope on...
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Computer Boy
sttto “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” by Willie Nelson Chorus:Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be computer boysDon’t let...
Waka Waka Poem
First, the poem itself (there are many versions, this is just one): <> ! * ′ ′ #^ ” ` $ $ -! * = @ $ _% * <> ~ # 4& [ ] . . /| { , , system halted...
C# vs. Java
Chandu ThotaFri 5/10/2002 10:31 AM...
I Like Clocks
Here’s an industrious clock. Here’s a flocking clock. Here’s one using a browser-independent DOM to achieve Flash-like effects. Ron Neely sends...
A Little Slice of Time
Chris SellsFeb 2, 2002 8:02pm...
Welcome to Wahoo!
This page is dedicated to the game of Wahoo! – a .NET application meant to be invoked from a .NET client across the internet. If you’d like the...
The Game of Wahoo!
If you like Tetris and you’ve got .NET installed, check out Wahoo...
My Family Heritage
Grandma says that all US Sells are related from the original Sells that came across on the boat after the May Flower. My father pointed out that my...
Elvish in the New Age
od oy dp,ryjomh ;olr yjodz[d. dpttu. gomhrtd pm yjr etpmh lrud//yo, Is that Elfish? I think it *is* elvish… let me put my laptop in the fire. Ah...
1970s “wocka-wocka” porno guitar
Sung to “Shaft” by Isaac Hayes <http://www.shaft-themovie.com/soundtrack/track01.mp3> Who’s the man with tongue-in-cheekthat’s a code machine to all...
I am not making this up…
A friend of mine stumbled over this in the Microsoft source code: That’s not quite my definition of robust, but oh well… Tue 11/27/2001 3:52 PM...
.NET edition of Truckin’ (Grateful Dead)
“Steal this song right off my page.” You can find it at http://www.ferncrk.com/jittin.html. Use only in well ventilated area. Do not expose to open...
The F-Key Diet
Made you look! (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check here)...
Bill’s Money
In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Bill Gates was asked how he felt about Ted Turner’s one billion dollar...
Centerfold
WARNING: Do not follow this link if you don’t want to see me naked...
Don Gives a SOAP Talk
TechEd Barcellona, Spain 8/15/2001...
Conference.NET Song Lyrics
Sung to “King of the Road” Platform for sale or rent who cares where all the others went no more pointer, pushes, pops or peaks I ain’t got no...
This Picture Needs a Caption
Chris riding The Incredible Hulk roller coaster in FLA in 2000. Notice the “COM is Love” t-shirt. I really wanted to say something funny or...
Mr. June, 2000
Nothing comes between me and my technology… All pictures courtesy of...
Some MORE signs that you may be taking COM too seriously…
Your weekly beach volley ball matches are between teams named ‘Proxies’ and ‘Stubs’. You read ‘ATL Internals’ while waiting in line for the next...
Can I still be evil?
...
Limerick
A programmer who coded in C decided he hated GC. “It’s bogus” he said, “I keep track in my head - and always remember to free!” Jason...
The .NET
A parody of Eddy Poe’s “The Raven” Once upon a platform tired, while my code was stranded, mired in a pool of leaky pointers running up the...
Why I Will Never Offer Don Box A Ride Again…
Read all about it… Rohit Khare Posted There: Fri, Aug 2, 1996 20:27:42 -0400...
College Fun
I spoke at a college last week for a friend of mine who’s an adjunct professor (Cal Caldwell). During the talk, one of the male attendees bolted...
College Fun
In Japan, it is said, the impersonal and sometimes unhelpful Microsoft error messages have been replaced with Japanese haiku poetry. Maybe in...
a poem
Dear MFC::CString You were such a beautiful thing I miss you so much CComBSTR is painful to touch WTL may restore my churning (out string...
These Days its only COM COM COM (Am I Crying)
There is no vacation when I am doing COM. Some go through very well, but stuck are some. I don’t go to parties, so I feel I am IUnknown. People...
DM in the Wall Street Journal
Portland, OR, August 8, 2000 According to an article appearing in tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal, DevelopMentor has developed a new technology...
Signs that you may be taking COM too seriously…
The family pet dies. The best explanation you can give the children is “Fluffy’s reference count finally reached zero.” You’ve mailed more than...
ATL Borg
Jeff Smith Thu 2/10/2000 12:07 AM Private Mail...
In defense of the VB Programmer
> ––-Original Message––- > From: Russ Huffman [mailto:russ@DEVAUTHORITY.COM] > Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2000 8:39 AM > To:...
Abort, Retry, Ignore
Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary, System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor, Longing for the warmth of...
Still_Life_with_Aggregate
Built using online Lite-Brite. Jason Whittington Private DevelopMentor Mailing List...
Computer synthesized song to liven up your day…
I just like the idea of a computer singing… If you’ve seen 2001, you’ll recognize the tune...
Real Programmers…
Contributed by Liliya Yakupova: Tommy Riddle had this to say: “Actually, real programmers don’t need the enter key- they just type in 00001101.”...
Signs that you have hired the wrong COM developer…
Keeps referring to interfaces as “Thingies”. Insists that migrating to NT5.0 is a bad idea because the going rate for a rental-threaded apartment is...
The Official Guide to COM Culture
If the things on this page haven’t been enough for you, check out Mr. Bunny’s Guide to ActiveX...