projectId != projectid

Any ActionScript, JavaScript, Java, etc. programmer knows about case-sensitivity. The languages are very picky, thus projectId is not the same as projectid. However, ColdFusion and T-SQL aren't picky. SELECT is the same as select -- is the same as . After moving a demo from my local development environment to a staging server I discovered the hard way that Flex treats returned column names as case sensitive variables. When I created the view on the staging server, I made the mistake of not properly camel casing projectId. Hopefully, this is a mistake that I will not make often.

Big Gotta in Flex/AIR

So you have a datagrid in Flex (or AIR) and you got a nice little query that is delivered to the application via a ColdFusion CFC and in your Flex app, you've got a text field that triggers a filter function on the arraycollection. Nothing special, one of the first things that many CF developers learn how to do in Flex.

While I was working on a demo application the other day I built this out, just to discover that my filter functions weren't working. Stranger yet, the filter functions worked perfectly when datasource was a xml file with the same data. After hours or cursing, blog reading, etc., I figured out what the issue was. For whatever reason, when you have a query that uses GROUP BY Flex filter functions do not work. In the end I made a view out of the query and the filter functions work perfectly now.

Fun stuff.

Holy Crap!

The whole story is pretty wild. I love the way the military used to address problems head-on, with very little concern about how crazy it might seem.

2 and 4

At 2 and 4, the Bears don't look to be able to go very far this year. And, maybe that is OK. After all, while the Bears were one hell of a team in many ways last year, the poor performance of the offense really made for an embarrassing Super Bowl loss.

Perhaps, the Bears will finally get a real quarterback next year. While I realize that would go against the entire history of the Bears, why not? If we had a better offense (read: quarterback) we wouldn't have to relie on the D. So, when we have players out with injures, it wouldn't be the end of our ability as a team to win.

The rest of the season looks ulgy -- but maybe with some luck we will see the Bears do what needs to be done. A focus on O for a change...

Quinn Mailey

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Originally uploaded by dah007.

Yesterday, my wife gave birth to our second child, and our first son, Quinn Mailey! Both mother and son are doing very well! It is such an incredible experience, that I can't even begin to explain it. So new we have both a boy and a girl, a complete set! Woohoo! Welcome to the world Mr. Quinn, you are already loved. :-)

Deep Fried Turkey

Normally on Thanksgiving, there is plenty of turkey left over. This year, we didn't have that experience. The 14.5 lb. deep fried turkey I made was almost completely consumed by the eight adults who attended! That is a lot of freakin turkey per person! Now, of course, I do understand this, as the turkey was by far the best that I have ever eaten, but still, wow.

The experience turned out very well. After watching a couple of Food Network shows, and reading some articles -- my only concern was safety. It seems a disturbing number of people hurt themselves when they deep fry turkey with propane. I took all the required per-cautions, and it went off without a hitch. In fact, it went so well that I've decided that all major holiday meals this year will be centered around deep fried turkey. Yum!

Wii at Home

Well, that was fast... Target had 42, and while my wife was there, 5 sold.

Looks like I have a Wii at home to play with... can't wait to get home...

Waiting for Wii

I've been trying to get a Wii since launch. I didn't really think about getting one, until the day before. On launch day, we tried several places, with no luck. Then, on Black Friday, I went to two Targets and even a Wal-Mart at 5:30 in the freakin morning. Again, no luck. In fact, there were no units even being sold on Friday -- which seems weird. On Sunday and Monday, I felt extremely sick, so I didn't even try to get one, or think about it.

About 30 minutes ago, I read that Target had plenty in stock. So I called my wife, and asked her to check it out (since I'm at work). She called me back in like 15 minutes saying "I'm on my way".

So now, I'm stuck at work, waiting to find out if, in fact I have a Wii. I feel like a little kid. I can't wait for the phone call... I hope I get one, and if I do, I don't know how I'm going to stay waiting until I get home...

Doing my Part...

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
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Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King

If you don't understand why I'm doing this, read here.

9 and 1

So far, so good. We beat the Jets and the Giants. Now, if we can beat the Patriots, we are set.

I think I heard someone last night on the news say that the Bears can win the division this week, if they win, and the Vikings and Packers lose. It could happen, maybe. The Pack are at Seattle, and after that embarrassing lose to SF, I think the Seahawks are going to be pretty tough. It seems less likely that the Cardinals will find a way to be the Vikings in the Dome. But - I suppose it could happen.

Even if the Bears don't win the division this week - they will win it soon. Green Bay and Minnesota are both 6 games behind at this point - there will be no recovery!