Yesterday night around 9 (I didn't know delivery workers worked that late) I received my parent's new eMachine computer that I bought them for Christmas. I was a bit worried because the tracking information said that it was delayed due to a train derailment. Besides a scratch on the case the hardware was all ok, no noticable train derailment damage.

I waited for the computer to warm up and then fired I it up. It is incredibly fast....waaay faster than my machine.

Here are the steps I took to make it a bit more user friendly for my parents:

- I then decided to load it up with parent safe software (firewall, anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-phishing).

- I configured it to run under a user account instead of admin.

- I configured it to automatically download security updates.

- I added a tool so they can find out their IP address so I can remote desktop into their computer and fix things for them. Plus I added a remote desktop shortcut on the desktop so that they can find it easily.

- I added the Google toolbar since they often ask me "how do I find stuff on the internet".

- I added links on the IE toolbar to just about every site they would want to visit (including this one).

- I added Microsoft Office.

- I installed the .NET framework 2.0 just for kicks.

Hopefully they will use the computer now that they have one that is over 200mhz. I hope I didn't miss anything further. If anyone has any ideas of software that will make my parents foray into the computing world easier, I would be happy to hear it.

I woke up this morning and found out that the Liberal government here in Canada has fallen. If you haven't already made up your mind on voting for or against the Liberals (it seems like this is the mentality for most people during this election), why not vote for your local representation instead?

The website http://www.howdtheyvote.ca/ is a great resource for finding out if your local MP represented your beliefs or not. I tend to vote for my local candidate before voting for the federal leader of each party but for this election I may have to change my mind.

The best thing about elections has to be when the news invites on 2 PR people from seperate parties and lets them go at it. You don't really learn anything but you feel like you just witnessed a car crash. They have already started this morning!

I bought my parents a new computer for Christmas and since they don't ever come to my blog I think it's safe to post about it on here.

I decided to go with this eMachine from TigerDirect. It is 64 bit with 512mb of ram, 160gb hard drive and a DVD burner. It also has a Flash Media Reader which is great for them since they have a digital camera but they don't have a USB port on their old computer which can be quite the roadblock when trying to upload pictures to your computer.

This is probably overkill for what they will use it for (email and internet) but it will probably last them 10 years and maybe now they will learn how to use computers instead of being afraid of them.

Update: I decided to upload a screencast of Atlas I was saving for a presentation. There is no sound so hopefully you get a ok picture of the process it takes to complete the HelloWorld of Atlas using the Atlas Client Script Framework.

You can download the screencast here and the Atlas source code here. If you have any questions about either feel free to post in the comments or email me.

On the weekend I messed around with Atlas. Here is what I have learned so far.

1 - Debugging with Atlas is hard. I was trying out one of the hands-on labs from the PDC and there was a case error in the lab. The problem is that even though there is an error, the code still compiles and the page still appears as normal. You don't find out you have an error until you click a button and nothing happens. I checked out Nikhil Kothari's blog and his presentation from the PDC where he demos a work in progress WebDevHelper which is all i've found that can help debug Atlas.

From the WebDevHelper project page:

"ASP.NET Development Helper is a utility for ASP.NET page and control developers that plugs into Internet Explorer. It allows viewing information about the current page such as view state and trace, perform some operations on the server in the context of the running application to aid testing, and also allows monitoring requests and responses for diagnostic scenarios."

2 - There are 2 different ways to use Atlas. You can use the client side framework and the server side controls. The client script framework will work on all modern browsers and Microsoft has done great work making sure it is compatible on all the browsers.

3 - You better get used to typing WebMethod if you want to use Atlas.

4 - Atlas adds type system extensions to Javascript to enable the usage of namespaces, inheritance, and interfaces. Woohoo!

This post was 90% done and then I had an unfortunate incident with the back button!

1 - Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures

If you are going to judge them by one song check out Publish My Love or 10:1.

2 - Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

Listen to Omaha or Insistor

3 - My Morning Jacket - Z

Some would say they are a Radiohead knock-off but I like Radiohead knock-offs and these guys have something that other Radiohead knock-offs don't. Check out them live on All Songs Considered. My favorite song is Wordless Chrous.

4 - Birdmonster - Birdmonster EP

Unfortunate name, unfortunate they only have 3 songs so far but they are great band. Listen to Resurrection Song

5 - Wet Confetti - This is So Illegal (Do it Fast)

Another unfortunate name but thinking up names for bands is hard work! Listen to Body of Maritima  

If you like any of these bands and feel like an impulse purchase right before Christmas. Most of them can be found on iTunes.

Bonus Entry  - for people struggling to come up with a gift idea for their girlfriend/wives . If this isn't you, read no further you won't like this artist.

If you are looking to buy your girlfriend a CD for Christmas and she likes artists like Sarah Mclachlan buy her Cat Power. She will like it and you will be complimented on your knowledge of girly music. +1 brownie points!

My keyboard has 2 buttons beside the arrow keys that when pressed, is like pressing the back button in Internet Explorer. I have lost numerous blog posts because of them so today I decided to take action:

Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging.

Update: A number of people have informed me it wasn't entirely obvious from the post where I work, which is entirely true. I work at Telus Geomatics

I am not sure if I posted about it or not, plus I am too lazy to go back and check. I have a new job. I am here now:

This picture was taken by Ren Reyes. He has a ton of cool pictures of Edmonton and other things over at his blog. Please check it out.

I was watching the MTV Europe music awards the other day and I was blown away by the Gorillaz performance. Not really because of the song or anything but because they all appeared on stage in 3D. Check out the video.

Tonight I watched the Korean movie Oldboy. It is the 2nd in a revenge trilogy by Chanwook Park. I must say that this movie was very refreshing compared to some of the crap coming out of Hollywood lately.

The movie was recommended to me by my uncle and usually when someone hypes a movie as much as he did it disappoints me. But this movie had an original plot, great soundtrack and now I have finally figured out where Tarantino gets all his ideas.

My favorite scene had to be when Oh Dae-su is fighting a bunch of bad guys in a corridor, it has this really cool Double Dragon meets Fight Club kind of feel to it.

Anyway if you are looking for something to rent this weekend try out Oldboy. But watch it with subtitles instead of dubbing. The subtitles are more accurate and not as cheesy.

Here is a plot summary so you don't have to read the back of the box in the movie store and annoy people trying to look at the movies that you are standing in front of while you are reading the plot summary:

"Oh Dae-su isian ordinary Seoul businessman withia wife andilittle daughter who, afteria drunken night onitheitown, isiabducted andilocked up inia strange, private "prison." No one will tell him why he's there andiwho his jailer is. Over time his fury buildsitoia single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he isiunexpectedly freed, givenia new suit,ia cell-phone andi5 daysito discover theimysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance oniall those involved, he soon finds that his enemy's tortures are just beginning."

Here is a trailer.

Here is the official website. 

Note: I am probably 2 years behind everyone else on this movie.

I am a big fan of Risk so I think this Risk for Google Maps is pretty cool.

I was playing around with the .NET 2.0 framework a little bit this weekend and a cool new feature I stumbled upon is covariant delegates.

For a "limited time" Microsoft is giving away free E-Learning course trials for 90 days.  I always wanted to try them out but never wanted to spend the dough so this will be a good evaluation to see if the money is worth it.

I am sick again. I am starting to think I have a weak immune system. The last time I was sick was the beginning of September and it took me until mid to end September to get over it. I could feel this one coming on Friday night at a going away dinner we had for my sister. If the bird flu gets loose I will probably be the first one to get it, probably even before the birds get it.

I tried taking ColdFX to stop the cold from setting in and it didn't work. Usually I wouldn't waste money on quick remedies like that but last time I tried it the stuff worked. Instead of buying a package I decided to drop 25 dollars on the super mega bottle. Now I have a super mega bottle of useless pills. Maybe I will finish off the bottle while i'm sick and see if it makes me recover faster but for now the ColdFX experiment failed miserably.

U2 is my favorite band but I was unaware that they had covered the classic Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes. I guess it's a DVD of rock stars doing nursery rhymes. Check it out at: http://www.mothergooserocks.com/

Update: Frere Jacque is a great. They have Dave Matthews' style down pat. 

Tonight I handed out candy for halloween. I grossly underestimated the amount of kids to candy ratio. I gave the first kids giant handfuls and the last kids 1 piece of candy each so hopefully I don't get egged tonight.

First prize for best costume award goes to the kid in the Spiderman outfit with the Frankenstein mask, pure genius. 2nd place goes to the cat princess (is it a cat or is it a princess??? I like the hybrid costumes). 3rd place goes to "the skeleton with the long purple hair". An hounorable mention goes to "kid in a jacket" because I felt sorry for him.

Mike dressed up Daisy in her Dinosaur costume and took her to the neighbors to get some free sympathy candy. I have never heard of cotton candy that turns into gum but apparently thats what passes for sympathy candy these days.

It is too bad that next year we are going to be in our condo because I had fun handing out the candy. I found a nice quiet spot by the door and studied for my 70-320 MCP exam.