ChetOS.net

I cannot stand The Message Bible.  People use it as their primary Bible, and it can completely skew the actual meaning.

The preface of The Message plainly says that the author's purpose was to provide a Bible written at a low reading level for people who would not otherwise read the Bible at all.  It isn't intended to "give a new perspective" or anything like that.

"I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready." ~ 1 Cor 3:2

Graduate already!

Windows Forms does not allow any thread to access its controls, except for the thread that created them.  If you do, you get an InvalidOperationException stating "Control control name accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on."

If you want to build a robust application that doesn't freeze when you have a long running task, you have to use threads.  This "limitation" makes that a little more difficult.

After a lot of research, I found that you can use lambda expressions to cleanly access another thread's controls:

string textboxValue = String.Empty;
txtBox.Invoke((Action)(() => textboxValue = txtBox.Text));

The txtBox is a Textbox control on the main thread.  The textboxValue is the variable that will hold the result, this variable can be accessed from the current thread.  Invoke has always been the way of getting the value, but you used to need a lot of infrastructure to do this (things like, additional "GetText" method, delegate to provide the interface for this method).  By using a lambda expression (cast as an Action), you can have your simply code called from the main thread (Invoked) and have it return the value you need.

Very useful.

I bought a gas mask today.  You can see what it looks like at http://www.getmask.com/.  Why, you may ask?  Because it was only $10 at Skycraft Surplus, and because I'll think of something interesting.

Of course, now I will be prepared when The Revolution comes.

I replaced the power brake booster in my wife's Mazda Tribute.  Probably the most complicated car repair I have ever done.  I was most concerned about needing to bleed the master cylinder, but it turned out to be easy.

We registered for baby gifts at Target and Babies'R'us.

I reverse engineered a bunch of carnival games (like those kind where you throw a ball though a hole in a piece of plywood).  Our church might build rather than rent because we use them every year.  In order to buy the parts, you have to know how to build them.

I installed a ceiling fan in the nursery.  And I don't mean that I just hung the fan in an existing box, I have done that many times.  No, this was the full deal.  In my house, the "light" switches actually control a power socket on the wall, which is really annoying.  In order to do this right, I had to re-wire the power socket to always be on, and run the wires from the switch to the fan mounting box.  I had to cut a hole in the ceiling and install the mounting box.  And then hang the fan.

The most annoying part was that I planned on using the wire coming into the power socket to fish a new wire up the wall.  But then I discovered (while dying in the attic) that the wire was stapled to the wall.  So I just cut it and fed a wire down the wall instead.  Which meant that I had to rip the box out of the wall to feed it though.  Not fun.  Luckily (or unluckily) the box was very loose because it had not been installed right.

We also went to Sea World for the evening and saw the night-time sea lion show, which is a parody of the other shows, it is great.

I also played some Zelda in between projects.  I have found all bugs and heart containers, and only need to find 2 more Poe Souls.

Perhaps these people wouldn't be able to pledge if we didn't prop them up by paying them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcPA1ysSbw

We had a small issue, so the doctor wanted to have a third ultrasound done.  This is a rare thing, our insurance covers two "fun" ones, which I hear is more than usual.  Since this one was medically necessary, it should also be covered.

Anyway, a third trimester ultrasound is cool because it actually looks like a baby.  And, the technician has to move the device around to actually see all of him.  We could see his femur bone, and his brain.  Also, she confirmed that he is still a boy.  But, she was 99% sure last time, so it wasn't necessary.  We didn't get a very good picture of his face since he decided to face her back.  It was funny because he was moving like crazy while the technician did the routine work, but when she went to see his face he just turned around and stayed their.

Turns out, everything is great.  The doctor said he is a little on the petite side, but that is simply based on charts and schedules.

I believe that Amanda posted the scan image on Facebook.