Orcas 2008 beta 2 release is here!

Actually the release of Orcas 2008 beta release was last Thursday (July 26, 2007) but I missed it. You would think that I would be on top with all the .NET tools update but not on this one. I actually came across it by accidentally searching for the keyword “Orcas 2008″ in Google where I found a link to a cool and much different Visual Studio site. The download can be found here for the beta 2 version. I’m currently in the process of installing it and very excited on testing this beta software to get my hands on the upcoming version of Visual Studio 2008 (code name: Orcas). I’m always enthusiastic about new releases especially this one since I use this application on a daily basis, probably even so 7 days a week since I also work on my website at home with it. The release comes with the .NET framework 3.5 but I read somewhere that it shouldn’t interfere with my current installation of 2.0. It actually gives you an option to choose what framework to use just in case your host doesn’t support it yet (like for instance my hosting GoDaddy).

I will post a post-testing analysis after I have reviewed the software and have used it myself . I would also like to mention that I’m starting to feel bad after using Visual Studio 2005 since I came from using VB6 myself. The newer tools gives you much more power with less coding and coding now is less intimidating than it used to be about 5 years or so ago when I first started creating my first program. If you need to get up to speed with the latest .NET application, a good place to start would be here. Also, you can read about the new release in Scott Gu’s blog. Happy programming!

Coding: Page-break trick

I’ve been messing with forms for a while and have somehow ‘tricked’ it to perform a page-break at the end of the table. With additional <br /> tags in between the tables, I was able to force the next table to be pushed down. It has worked several times for me in the past but it doesn’t always work–which is why I was forced to do further research on this simple subject. I want to master how it is successfully done and came across this page from Microsoft itself (which I often find information given to be more complicated and troublesome than I usually need). Fortunately, I was able to skim through the fine details and found a trick that helped me trick a form to perform a page-break. The article can be found here.

The trick is simple but somewhat powerful.
Insert between <header> tag and add this line:
<STYLE>
H3 { page-break-after: always }
</STYLE>

I then was able to manipulate that ‘H3′ by adding it wherever I wish. In my case, I added it between two separate tables, where I wanted it. So anywhere where you want to have a page-break, you’ll just have to insert that <H3> tag. In my case–I was able to add the line by adding a space within the tag to provide a content, otherwise it wouldn’t work:
<h3>&nbsp;</h3> — cool huh?

New house paint and new king size bed

I finally bought all the paint that I need so I can paint my living room next weekend and it was a tough decision between a maroon and a dark blue. It was a tough decision since both colors has their own distinct nature/appeal when you first walk in the house. I like the contemporary/dramatic look and those two fits perfectly, but ultimately I went with the dark blue. While I was trying to minimize my spending, for some reason–things just comes in at once. My friend on the other hand was also trying to get rid of his California king size bed (actually it was his parents) and it’s brand new for $200, which is something that I couldn’t pass on. If you are wondering about the size, the bed size is a little bigger than an actual king size bed and it is ’squarish’. The good thing is, my room is big enough to hold such size–the bad news is, more money out of my pocket lol. I feel like being greedy for having such size but I’m big, so why not. I just have to purchase bigger sheets and bigger pillows to match it then I’ll be good for a while.

I woke up pretty late today at 11 a.m. (my average during the weekends) and I immediately started finishing my laundry that I started late last night before I went to bed. All I had to do was to fold them and put them away. My friend then called me telling me that he’ll be over so we can start working on my living room walls. After weeks and weeks of dry-walling and making sure that the wall is perfect, we will actually start painting the room next weekend (Sunday). I feel a lot better now, and since my living room is pretty messy at the moment because of all things going on with working on the wall, it will be cleaned up pretty soon. I might add a little spot light on that room to create that dramatic feel lol, but that is something that I’m still considering at the moment.

The great one

I went to have a dinner last night at Chevy’s with my friends. Initially it was my friend’s Mike who told me that we are going to have a dinner at a Chevy’s (location A), but it was funny because my other friend also called me and asked me to go to the other Chevy’s (location B). I guess he has two girls with him and desperately wants me to be there since I’m cool and all lol, jk. My second friend really wants me to go and hang out with him but I already compromised to my other friend Mike a week in advanced and since it was his birthday, there’s no way I would just bail out on him the last minute. Well since the genius that I am, I told Mike to go to location A instead since my friend is already there (they don’t know each other) . The more people the better, and so I had him convinced and therefore, we all ended up in that one location. Happy ending!

Right after dinner, we went to go play bowling and my friend took us to this ghetto bowling alley by his placed lol. I thought to myself and told him, “there’s no one here and they place sucks lol”. I know of another place that is 3x the size of where we went with a better amenities and the facility is more clean and nicer…with the same price! Since we have a decent size of group of people in the place already, we just decided to stay there. One thing for sure though, I’m not coming back there any soon lol and most likely will keep going to the nicer one close to my house. I think we have 6 people and rented one lane for 2 hours–and guess who won the game?
The great one came up on top edging everyone. It doesn’t matter what sport it is, I say, “just bring it!” lol. I can pretty much play any sports known to man kind. I never backed out of a good challenge.

Anyways, while we were waiting for another friend in the bowling place, my friend’s friend’s friend (haha) approached me and asked, “you work out huh?” lol. My usual respond to those type of question is, which I get a lot is, “just a little bit” lol. He then referred to how big my chest is and saying that I must have been working on it a lot. I told him that I work on all of my body parts pretty much and not just do chest like a lot of people. He then asked me what I take, etc. and he mentioned about a friend who uses steroids but not as big as me.

I told him, “I have never used one and I never will…and if you train right, eat right…these are the only things that you’ll ever need to be successful”. I’ve been approached by a few people before mostly in my gym if I take any steroids, and honestly been quite offended initially. I’ve never used any and it seems like they don’t give credit to all my hard work that I put in it day in and out. But over the years, I’ve become used to it that I take it now as a compliment and just tell them that I don’t….it’s all a byproduct of hard work and dedication. I just go smile and walk away. I can almost tell if anyone is using steroids judging by their physique/appearance…honestly they look good but back in mind, the potential danger is not worth it. Strength wise, I can hang with any of these guys.

With last night’s conversation, this is yet another compliment that keeps my fire burning.

Trouble with Stylesheets

I just got home from the gym a few minutes ago and it felt good knowing that my strength is almost back up again. I almost didn’t go today and felt tired (as usual coming from work) and even so since I stayed half an hour later at work to finish up some things. Today was pretty stressful and with my project due tomorrow, I felt like I will never meet it. Aside from the project that I’m working on, problems left and right were holding me back and it took away the whole day of working on the project. If I can’t get it done tomorrow, I might propose to work on it during the weekends so I can catch up and finish the rest of the project that I’m working on. One problem that arose today was figuring out why the form is being forced to used a style sheet (CSS) when all classes in it has already been removed. It was quite a mystery, and to think that I was rather having problem with the ‘presentation layer’ and not something in the code-behind. It challenged my ability because I thought I know it all when it comes to HTML and CSS. The tricky part is having multiple controls referenced on the web form itself, which will needed to be dig upon further. That’s probably going to be held until I finish the project that I’m working on. It’s nothing significant but it bugs me that I can’t figure it out.

Anyways, going back to the gym story–I just wore a t-shirt today rather than my tank top since my sunburn is starting to peel badly. So I was a little bit embarrass to show my shoulders today lol. I was tempted to take off my shirt and just have my tank top  because there were two puny asian kids who thinks they’re the sh#t. I was like, nah–I’d rather be humble and just train hard as ever. Halfway through my workout, I set my MP3 player’s play mode to repeat track while playing, “Timbaland’s – The way are I”. That song is hot and it just pumps me up big time–I was bopping my head to it, giving me that extra boost and confidence while lifting. Good stuff. Overall it was a good workout and by the way, I worked on my chest and triceps today. Tomorrow’s my friend’s party–well actually it was last Wednesday but we’re going to play bowling tomorrow but before that, we’re going to eat in a hot asian grill buffet. Just about when I’m starting to get leaner, I’m going to be stuffing myself again with food–arghh. Another, oh well.

Healthcare industry secrets

I just finished watching the documentary directed by Michael Moore called, “Sicko”. While health care has been a huge issue in the United States for many years, this documentary spills a lot of bad things particularly of the health care providers. The movie was created/documented rather for the purpose of telling people how bad the health care industry has been treating the Americans. There were instances in the movie where other countries revealed free medical benefits/treatments/preventive cares for everybody, and it was awfully shocking how great they have awesome benefits while the Americans are struggling. A lot of people works until they die so they can support their medical expenses such as medicines, while others go bankrupt in attempt to pay medical bills.

The video revealed how these health care providers makes more money by rejecting applicants from getting health care because of their pre-existing medical conditions or history. The sick people are the ones that needs the health care the most and they’re being rejected left and right for the purpose of profit making. It made me think of myself and the future to come. We might be strong and healthy now, but what will happen when it comes our time to seek medical attention? How about those individuals who have their medical insurance gets canceled just because they are in need of health care? There is nothing that can stop the health care insurance from doing this…and this is because they can.

Instead of putting effort in a healthier society, it seems like the opposite is happening as more and more people dies every year because of lack of medical attention. Even preventive care doesn’t exist anymore as people are being rejected also for seeking diagnosis, only to find out later that they’re dying because of it.

The sad part is, the government officials are corrupted to keep the health care industry as it is since they also make money by not taking actions against it. I’m not a politics-type person but ever since 9/11, I lost a lot of respect for the U.S. government for various reasons. The facts are real and this whole nation is just going to get worse leading into the future. The documentary was a wake up call.