http://beautifulfutility.com Cynicism is humor in ill health. H.G. Wells Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:29:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is one of those posts that exists to remind myself of my own stupidity. So, this is the code I was writing: string pathToFile = Server.MapPath(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get("SmartCardMaker_PathToPdfForm")); FileStream _stream = new FileStream(pathToFile,FileMode.Open,FileAccess.ReadWrite); string pathToFile =                    Server.MapPath(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get("SmartCardMaker_PathToPdfForm")); FileStream _stream = new FileStream(pathToFile,FileMode.Open,FileAccess.ReadWrite); Seems pretty straightforward, but for the life of ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2010/02/23/server-map-path-failure/ Pivoting off this post by Phil Haack about creating custom data annotations, I found myself in need of one today when putting together some code for a project for the spousal unit. I wanted to be sure that a given field contained a valid abbreviation for a U.S. State. It's simple, ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/11/28/custom-dataannotation-for-us-states/ So let's say that you drag your view onto the design surface in L2S. Why, you ask, aren't there the extensibility methods for OnCreated() and the rest of the INotifyPropertyChanged interface? Because a view doesn't have a primary key and without one there is nothing to track. Set a PK, save, and ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/11/23/linq-to-sql-wont-generate-partial-methods-for-view/ Since I have written a post here, and for good reason. Most of the time that I spent writing about politics and such here in comments in other places, I was unemployed. Which makes plenty of time available for writing and venting one's spleen. It's all well and good to ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/11/17/304/ ...and I know that most of you are too. Sorry, I just need a moment to vent to the outside world. The kids are swimming the bacteria frappe of kindergarten and pre-school and I have a sinus blockage so bad that oxygen needs a passport to get into my lungs. There, ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/02/05/man-im-tired/ There is an inherent contradiction, I think, in being a widely read blogger and a decent human being. As just about anyone who has been here at least once knows, I made some people mad last week. The consequence of that were three days of easily my best traffic on ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/01/30/im-trying-to-be-the-shepherd/ Has to go to CEO Howard Schultz of Starbucks, who described closing 300 stores and firing nearly seven thousand workers as a courageous decision. Not to put too fine a point on it, Howie ol' boy, but this has nothing to do with courage. This has to do with saving your ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/01/30/the-definition-of-ass-hat/ Why is it that I can tell my son that his Grandfather died (which was about six months ago) but I still can't tell him that Barbaro died three years ago? Every horse he sees he calls Barbaro. He talks about how he can run now, something I agree with. I ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/01/28/there-are-some-things-i-cant-say/ Ta-Nehisi Coates gets on those who criticize people who cracked on the poetry at the Inauguration while admitting they don't know about poetry.. Haven't we been here before? Like many things, Monty Python says it best... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/01/25/i-may-not-know-much-about-art-but-i-know-what-i-like/ The prize goes to "precipitous", as in "precipitous withdrawal". Left out is any practical definition of what that means. Politically, it means any course of actions that doesn't go perfectly. And given the right-wing screeders who claim that the Iraq War has been won, there's little doubt about which ... http://beautifulfutility.com/index.php/2009/01/25/the-ultimate-iraq-war-weasel-word/