The bailout is intended to rescue bankers from the bad loans that threaten to derail the economy and plunge the country into a long depression.
What about people like me who have paid their loans on time every time. I haven't taken out a loan that I could not pay back. I have been turned down by banks in favor for someone who would not pay their debts.
Disgusting!
I heard Debrah Orman on Oprah this week saying to only place your cash in an account backed by the government nothing else. She suspects some of the banks will go under. This is very scary!
Myself? I am stockpiling a bit of food.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Define Success
So a friend of mine gave me a book for my birthday. It is called "The Secret". She has told me many times that I am already living my dream. After I have made some lucrative business deals, purchased a big house, purchased beautiful furniture and made sure my kids are healthy and happy I have to wonder what is next on the agenda for me.
I try to help people realize the value of positive thinking. If you are constantly in the negative zone then you will be extremely unhappy. Another aspect of positive thinking is to make sure you are grateful for what you have. I think at any time a person can hit rock bottom.
I want people to realize there is so much out there if you believe in yourself and help other people to do the same. So how do I define success?
First I would break it down into several areas of success.
Professional Success
If I am successful professionally then I have not only climbed the career ladder and am well respected in my field but I have also helped others to do the same thing. By helping them improve professionally I am also improving myself professionally. I can inspire and motivate even the lowliest person to do better in their career.
Personal Success
I define personal success as having the ability to love myself. Putting my professional success aside and realizing what is important in life. Family and friends should remain at the top and their happiness and well being is very important to me. To live a long life I also think a person is successful by making their mind, body and soul healthy.
Human Success
I am successful in the human race if I have shown compassion and service to others. I am also successful if have brightened the most depressed person on earth with my smile. I want to make a positive influence in people's lives and make them glad that they met me. Making people laugh is the greatest thing on earth. Even if they are laughing at my corny jokes or reading the constant stream of humor email I send out.
Overall
I want to go to bed at night and sleep because I know I have achieved success that day. I want to die with no regrets. There is that old saying about sliding into the grave not saying "Geez I can't believe my life is over" but saying…"GAWD…what a ride!" I want to take risks and never have regrets.
The point is success is not about the money I have made or the places I have been. The best success in life is how well I respect myself. If I have done the things that I know are right then I will respect myself and others will respect me too.
I try to help people realize the value of positive thinking. If you are constantly in the negative zone then you will be extremely unhappy. Another aspect of positive thinking is to make sure you are grateful for what you have. I think at any time a person can hit rock bottom.
I want people to realize there is so much out there if you believe in yourself and help other people to do the same. So how do I define success?
First I would break it down into several areas of success.
Professional Success
If I am successful professionally then I have not only climbed the career ladder and am well respected in my field but I have also helped others to do the same thing. By helping them improve professionally I am also improving myself professionally. I can inspire and motivate even the lowliest person to do better in their career.
Personal Success
I define personal success as having the ability to love myself. Putting my professional success aside and realizing what is important in life. Family and friends should remain at the top and their happiness and well being is very important to me. To live a long life I also think a person is successful by making their mind, body and soul healthy.
Human Success
I am successful in the human race if I have shown compassion and service to others. I am also successful if have brightened the most depressed person on earth with my smile. I want to make a positive influence in people's lives and make them glad that they met me. Making people laugh is the greatest thing on earth. Even if they are laughing at my corny jokes or reading the constant stream of humor email I send out.
Overall
I want to go to bed at night and sleep because I know I have achieved success that day. I want to die with no regrets. There is that old saying about sliding into the grave not saying "Geez I can't believe my life is over" but saying…"GAWD…what a ride!" I want to take risks and never have regrets.
The point is success is not about the money I have made or the places I have been. The best success in life is how well I respect myself. If I have done the things that I know are right then I will respect myself and others will respect me too.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
WPF Zip Code ValidationRule
I am working on validation for a WPF application and here is my class to validate American Zip Codes.
class ZipCodeRule : ValidationRule
{
public override ValidationResult Validate(object value, CultureInfo cultureInfo)
{
ErrorMessage errMessage = new ErrorMessage();
Docs.App_Code.Validation validationHelper = new Docs.App_Code.Validation();
try
{
string currentValue = (string)value;
if (currentValue.Length == 5)
{
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(currentValue))
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 9)
{
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(currentValue))
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 10)
{
string firstFive = currentValue.Substring(0, 5);
string lastFour = currentValue.Substring(6, 4);
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(firstFive)) {
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(lastFour)) {
if (currentValue.Substring(5,1) == "-") {
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 0)
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
return new ValidationResult(false, errMessage.getErrorMessage(1005));
}
catch (FormatException)
{
return new ValidationResult(false, errMessage.getErrorMessage(1005));
}
}
}
class ZipCodeRule : ValidationRule
{
public override ValidationResult Validate(object value, CultureInfo cultureInfo)
{
ErrorMessage errMessage = new ErrorMessage();
Docs.App_Code.Validation validationHelper = new Docs.App_Code.Validation();
try
{
string currentValue = (string)value;
if (currentValue.Length == 5)
{
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(currentValue))
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 9)
{
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(currentValue))
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 10)
{
string firstFive = currentValue.Substring(0, 5);
string lastFour = currentValue.Substring(6, 4);
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(firstFive)) {
if (validationHelper.IsNumeric(lastFour)) {
if (currentValue.Substring(5,1) == "-") {
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
}
}
}
else if (currentValue.Length == 0)
{
return ValidationResult.ValidResult;
}
return new ValidationResult(false, errMessage.getErrorMessage(1005));
}
catch (FormatException)
{
return new ValidationResult(false, errMessage.getErrorMessage(1005));
}
}
}
Friday, May 2, 2008
CSS Stylesheet Frameworks
Based in part by Paul Spencer.
As Web Developors we are usually in the business of designing web pages that contains all kinds of content. While limiting myself to plain HTML tags and avoiding any kind of color/style decisions is usually a wise idea, sometimes its nice to put some effort into the web page beyond the absolute minimum.
For those of us that are, um, designed-challenged, using a CSS framework is a great place to start. Paul recently found a couple of them that might be of interest:
http://code.google.com/p/blueprintcss/
"Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing."
http://960.gs/
"The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem."
Both frameworks provide a fixed column grid based on a fixed width of 960 pixels, and blueprint adds some decent choices for colors, styles etc.
Paul put together a simple (non-mapping) page using blueprint after about 5 mins of reading the tutorial and was pretty happy with the result.
I haven't tried 960.gs yet but it seems similar in concept and probably more appropriate if you just want the layout part.
I haven't researched other CSS frameworks so there's probably something better out there if you care to look.
As Web Developors we are usually in the business of designing web pages that contains all kinds of content. While limiting myself to plain HTML tags and avoiding any kind of color/style decisions is usually a wise idea, sometimes its nice to put some effort into the web page beyond the absolute minimum.
For those of us that are, um, designed-challenged, using a CSS framework is a great place to start. Paul recently found a couple of them that might be of interest:
http://code.google.com/p/blueprintcss/
"Blueprint is a CSS framework, which aims to cut down on your CSS development time. It gives you a solid CSS foundation to build your project on top of, with an easy-to-use grid, sensible typography, and even a stylesheet for printing."
http://960.gs/
"The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem."
Both frameworks provide a fixed column grid based on a fixed width of 960 pixels, and blueprint adds some decent choices for colors, styles etc.
Paul put together a simple (non-mapping) page using blueprint after about 5 mins of reading the tutorial and was pretty happy with the result.
I haven't tried 960.gs yet but it seems similar in concept and probably more appropriate if you just want the layout part.
I haven't researched other CSS frameworks so there's probably something better out there if you care to look.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
After a While
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And present aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight,
After a while, you learn that even the sunshine
Burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn...
With every goodbye you learn.
By Veronica A. Shofstall
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And present aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight,
After a while, you learn that even the sunshine
Burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
And you learn...
With every goodbye you learn.
By Veronica A. Shofstall
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Apples
Women are like apples on trees: the best ones are at the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.......
So the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing.
They just have to wait for the right man to come along - the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.......
So the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing.
They just have to wait for the right man to come along - the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.
People in your life
People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
I didn't write this saying but I certainly love it.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
I didn't write this saying but I certainly love it.
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