A little disappointed on the release date.

I was hoping the 4th quarter this year. 

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/08/29/announcing-the-windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta.aspx

I’m hoping they will add more Ultimate extras in the mean time.

I meant to put this one up last week.  The tool,  Easy Search, allows you to add a search engine to your asp.net site.  It has live search (search as you type) built into it.  This is an easy to use tool and works great when your using ASP.NET sites.  Right now there are 2 versions.  The $99 and the $249.  The difference is the $99 limits you to 200 page returns.

Sure you might be thinking that’s steep, but wait, if you order now, your money will go to a good cause.  The money will be going to Scott Hanselman’s American Diabetes Association goal.

Did I mention the price?  Right now through August 31st, you can get the low cost version for $10.15, and the high cost version for $25.15.  That’s right no joke.  HUGE discount and the money goes to a good cause.  If you have the use for this program, you should jump on this deal.

http://maps.live.com  or http://maps.google.com

That is the question.  I’ve been more of a fan of Microsoft’s lately because you can add a bunch of “push pins” locations.  You can just click and add them in.  You then get a collection that you can save.  That feature still works and is much better than Google’s. 
Also another feature was you could say…drive to or drive from and you would get directions from those two locations.  I wanted this on Google for the longest time.  THE WAIT IS OVER.  Yes that’s right.  Google of course followed suit…(copied the idea?) from Microsoft.  Now you can right click a map and do that.
Also, another win for Google would be, say you don’t like the route your going or want to go down a different road after a route has been auto generated.  You can now click on the “blue line” and drag it over the road you want.  Pretty cool.

Both companies allow you to integrate maps pretty well on blogs too.

View Larger Map

My friend Mike made an offer I couldn’t refuse at the beginning of august.  He offered me tickets to see Dave Matthews Band in Detroit.  The concert was at DTE(Pine Knob).  I hadn’t been there in years and forgot how big and nice of a place it is to be at. 

If you’ve never seen a Dave Matthews concert, this is how it works.  The lights go dark, Dave walks on stage, and he plays music.  Period.  Sure he has lights and giant monitors, but what he doesn’t have is fire, dancing, skimpy clothes, lip sinking, and all that other tween stuff.  He was amazing.  The group can perform so well.  They were not stop energy.  They played over 2 hours and had 2 encores. 

Now, I’m trying to decide who I liked better in concert.  Last year I saw Eric Clapton with Pat and A-TALLY.  That was also amazing.  That man could have jammed for hours.  Both guys were amazing and both could perform.

About ten minutes before the show, a thunder storm came in.  If you have never been to DTE, it’s an outdoor amphitheater with limited covered seating.  Needless to say, the concert was delayed, and mud slides were created.  After the rain passed, the lightning came in and it gave an AWSOME effect while Dave was on stage.

On a side note, here’s a map of where DTE is.  I just wanted to try out the new embedded Google map.  try zooming in and you can see the high quality of the theater in the lower right.

View Larger Map

Just my shout out for today.  I fully believe this is true though. 

This past weekend my dad and I took a short Bike trip.  We started our tour from Ludington, MI.  We left on the Lake Michigan Carferry.  This massive boat has a lot of history.  The boat started service in 1953, but was originally used to hold rail cars.  It could go through any weather conditions you threw at it, even breaking ice.  It was only during 1990 that it stopped service of rail traffic.  At one time there were 7 of these massive boats leaving from Ludington.  The boat now currently transports cars and passengers as a leisure boat.  It goes almost around the clock.  The most impressive fact is that the ferry is one of the last coal powered boats on the Great Lakes.

I wish I would have gotten some photos of the inside where they parked cars, because it was HUGE in there.  They say up to 180 cars, semi trucks, and more can fit in.  We saw one semi truck, some campers, FULL load of cars, and a truck full of apples.  Our bikes were parked among about 30 other bikes.

ANYWAY….

After getting over to Wisconsin, we headed up to the Michigan Upper Peninsula.  We stayed in Gladstone.  We left Sunday and followed Route 2 along Lake Michigan and crossed the Mackinac Bridge.  Of course the weather looked bad and luckily it didn’t start raining until about 1 hour from the end of the trip.  All said in done, it was only about 500 miles of riding.

Next year, we’ll aim for a longer trip.  Most the photos for the bike trip are of the ferry, but you can find a few of us just goofing around and with our bikes.  http://photos.bigredsplace.com/weekend_events/biketrip_081907/

I’m suppose to be the good guy.  And I’m a pretty good leader, so I’m not sure why it told me I wasn’t.  Maybe I’ll take it again. I was much more happy with my quiz on which super hero to date.  Comic Book girlfriend test

I AM
69%
STARSCREAMTake the Transformers Quiz

I just wanted to drop a thank you to some of the original consultants at GVSU’s HORRIBLE IT department.  We put up with a lot of SH#$T and it was you guys that made it entertaining. 

It was at the start of my sophomore year that I decided it would be a good idea to try to get a job.  After all $$ means more crap to buy.  (haven’t stopped buying crap but have less money now). 

So a couple of guys made an awesome memory that I will have forever.  I of course was nervous

Russ,wess,jason,jeff, chouse,shock

The job once one of a kind for a student job.  This wasn’t the typical sit in one spot and do basic work for an office or a professor.  This job allowed us to get out and about.  In fact we saw the whole campus and met with most all professors.  The meant driving the IT VAN.  OH YA, that 4 banger was awesome.  Thanks to Brian totaling the original van at 15mph (*HE SAYS LOL*) in the University roads, we were able to get a newer used van from another department. 

Who can forget Louit.  I think watching Jason swing CRT’s in there was some of the funniest things ever.  Of course we had russ sleeping, and Wess complaining.  ZAMMY was around then too.  This guy was bouncing jobs and was working for us through a contracting firm.  This guy was awesome really funny.

shock, he never worked for IT, he was an AV guy, which meant doing horrible work all the time and being underpaid.  He was basically an honorary consultant when John wasn’t kicking him out of the office.

Let’s not forget about Chouse.  Chouse is the man.  One of the smartest guys there.  He of course worked on all the housing computers.  Without him the Housing computers would have fall’n apart.

Last but least, there is fulljeff.  I was never really sure if he liked that name but I think it started from the stupid usernames we were forced to get.  Without jeff, I think the all the apple computers would still be broken.  His ability to fix, complain, and make the world go round really kept the motivation going.   Later we had people like (