At HDC 10, I had the opportunity to eat at THE DROVER in Omaha, NE.  If you are not familiar with THE DROVER (capital spelling due to required emphasis on the name of the restaurant), it is simply the WORLD’s BEST steakhouse on the face of the planet.  I used to live in Omaha and discovered THE DROVER almost twenty years ago.  There is simply no comparison or description worthy of THE DROVER.  It is one of a kind. 

I had the good fortune of eating at THE DROVER two nights in a row when I was in town for HDC.  It was perhaps the two most fulfilling nights of my life.  I feel a warmth in my belly at the mere thought of THE DROVER, yet I also feel a certain sadness.  Why?  Because I am now far away from THE DROVER.  But how far away am I?  How many miles of unforgiving, whiskey fillet empty sadness and despair stand between me and THE DROVER? 

Fortunately, Windows Phone 7 and Silverlight can easily provide me the answer.  I present to you, the FIND THE DROVER application.  This app brings me solace during the day just knowing that THE DROVER still exists.  That while I may be many miles away, there is still a whiskey fillet being ever so lovingly grilled to perfection on iron grates.  That some day, I will once again travel the barren wastelands between THE DROVER and I, and once again enjoy the “heaven on earth” that is THE DROVER.

Make sure to look for FIND THE DROVER in the Windows Phone Marketplace in the near future.

Well, all of a sudden, I can now move my XP virtualized apps to my second monitor.  Not sure what was goofy the first time, but I can now move the apps from monitor to monitor.

I have finally had an opportunity to play around with Windows XP Mode and XP Virtual Applications.  All in all, it is a pretty cool setup.  If you aren’t familiar, Windows 7 will have a built-in Windows XP virtual machine.  You can run it as a normal Virtual PC (complete XP desktop) or you can actually run an application that looks just like any other “installed” application but it is actually being run under the covers inside of the XP virtual machine.  It has come in quite handy with an application I had that was broken by the SQL Server Express 2008 install (issues with updated version of the C++ runtime).  I installed the app into the XP virtual machine (you do that from the full VM desktop experience) and I know have an icon that will launch the app directly from my Win7 desktop.  Works like a champ.

Of course, you probably knew all of that already. But there is a small fly in the ointment.  What is it?  Virtual app mode does not like multiple monitors.  The virtual app is restricted to your primary monitor. Grrr…….

Totally off normal topic (if there every really is such a thing on this blog), but I’ve signed up to take motorcycle riding lessons in a couple weeks.  I am still on the fence about getting a bike, but this seems like a logical first step.  I’m looking forward to it.  No idea what to do for a first bike should I decide to pursue it.  All the bikes I really like are much more than likely to be way to much bike for a first time rider.  Admittedly, that takes away some of the allure – not getting to ride a cool bike. ;-)  I get the feeling I need to stick to 600cc or less and that does not leave a lot of cool factor in the choices that remain!  ;-)  I’ve even heard some say to not get anything over 500cc but that is just not an option – I can afford a bike now so I kinda need to get something that I can grow into ‘cause I am not sure an upgrade option will exist in a year or two. Anyone with recommendations/experiences as a first time rider, please leave a comment.  And no, I am refuting the notion that this is some kind of mid-life act out!!! ;-)

Well, as I push through the sub-200 pound barrier in my weight loss program, I thought it was time to see what the Internet thought of me.  As my three long time followers already know (get a life already!), I am the world’s first, and as far as I know only, .NET Sex Symbol.  Even though it is a self-proclaimed title, it has been a long, hard journey to achieve world wide recognition, and it has not been as easy or as glamorous as you probably think it is. 

So, without further ado, I am proud to proclaim that this web site, this humble blog, now shows up as the top listing on three of the four major search engines when you search for “.net sex symbol” – and the quotes are not required!  BTW, Yahoo – you suck!

I’m very proud of this achievement and would like to thank everyone that has made it possible.  I would especially like to thank the Microsoft marketing department for not changing the .NET name brand to something else!  The Microsoft Windows Code Development and Deployment Runtime Environment for Scalable Applications Sex Symbol just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Check out the pics!  Running Win Mobile 6.1.  Wonder if it is upgradable to WinMo 6.5 when that releases????

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

Some of the commentary and comments during this vid are fantastic.

Well, if any news is good news, I guess this article qualifies.  Not sure if I have ever seen a company put the lay off blame quiet this way, but hey, kudos to Silverlight I guess. ;-)

This CNET story almost seems like a rumor that ends up taking on a life of it’s own even though its not true.  But then again, CNET is pretty good so I have to think this is the real deal.  And if it is, I just quietly threw up in my hand…