A fun one of me made at StorTroopers.  This is as close as I could get.

Some pictures of the new XBox are making there way around the internet.  Cool looking design.  Personally, I'm more worried about the game play and the cost than I am the new look but it gives me something until that info starts coming out.

Pics at Kikizo

This post by Scott Mitchell points his article where he discusses why he doesn't use Datasets in ASP.NET Applications.  I guess I've never really thought about it (maybe a bad thing?) but I don't use DataSets in WebApps either.  Not on purpose it's that I've not been faced with a situation to need the added functionality that the DataSet provides.  I know that the DataReader is the forward-only/read-only data object that is most efficient when reading data so that's what I've used.  So far in WebApps, I've not needed to add/update/delete data without committing it immediately to the database so I just use StoredProcs for this or if there is a delay then I'll keep the data in a custom class before calling an update method or something similar.  Anywho, it's a very good article and no, he's not saying never use a DataSet he's just saying that there are trade-offs. 

 *  "According to A Speed Freak's Guide to Retrieving Data in ADO.NET, the DataReader is roughly thirty times more performant than the DataSet." 

• The Fundamentals the DataReader
• The Fundamentals of the DataSet
• The Tradeoff Between the DataSet and DataReader
• When is a DataSet Useful?
• Reasons Why You May Be Using a DataSet... and Reasons Why You Probably Shouldn't

*  I noticed Scott's use of  "performant".  Jeff brought this up in a recent post of his...not Scott's use of the word but the use of non-word's in devspace.  I chuckled when I saw it.

So being 32 means I can still be a kid?  Well, I got a game for my birthday - Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

It has eaten up a few late nights over the last week.  I've completed three missions and the game is as great as before.  There are some new moves that I've not figured out how to do yet or the opportunity to use.  There is also a new Co-Op mode for the story where you and a friend can work as team to complete the missions.  I've not even touched this yet but a good friend of mine says it is really cool.  That being said, here are some new features that I really like in the solo game:

• Kit selection.  They give you a recommended set of items for a mission but you can optionally select to take the stealth kit or the assault kit.  This is a very nice add-on.  I'm a peaceful guy and like to go stealth all the way so now I can take more cams/stick shockers/air foils.
• Multiple Objectives.  There have always been primary objectives but now there are secondary and opportunity objectives too.  This is a nice game within a game.  There have been times I've completed the primary objectives and stuck around trying to complete the others.
• Map.  I can't tell you how welcomed this little thing is.  There have been times where I would walk around for a long time just trying find a way to go.  I've knocked out all the guys around me but I just can't figure out which way to go.  It doesn't give anything away but it does help in pointing you in a direction.
• Quick Save.  In previous versions of SC there were always 3 or 4 checkpoints in a mission and those were the only times you could save.  Now, with quick save you can save an any point and go back to that point at anytime.  You are allowed only one quick save at a time but they still have 5 different save blocks that you can use to save points in the game other than for quick saves.
• Mission Status.  At the end of a mission you now have a rating and it lists out all of you stats for that mission.  Nice little feature to keep you coming back for more.

Even though the game overall is basically the same it is still fun!  I would normally get bored with a game like this but for some reason I'm not.  The story line has changed, to what I'm not sure, other than us again them.  It's still intriguing because there is no set way to go through the game.  I like to try and find the "stealth" ways to go..like zip lines, crawl spaces, ledges, etc..  So I do waste some time looking for that but that makes it fun for me and I appreciate that.

I was down and out for a few days there but now I'm up and running again.  My server was having some hardware issues and now it appears that they are fixed (hopefully).  I think I lost a post or two but I can deal with it.

Side note:  As time allows I'm going to begin my first real try and a dotText skin.  My wife spoke of it on her blog but the skin will be for her.  I've thought about it for myself in the past but never did it.  She's got a greak looking design now I've just got to implement it. 

If you've ever watch ESPN's Dream Job and thought, I could do that.  Watch this video and tell me you wouldn't be in the same situation.  I have a sinking feeling that I would be.

I can't help but feel bad for him but its still funny as all get out.  [clip is 3 mins. long]

Mainly for me and future reference.  The quickstart tutorials for ASP.NET 2.0 are now up.  I also like to new logo.  :-)

[ > Scott ]

This was just to funny to pass up...even a day late.

NASA has found water on mars.