My best selling books

Have I mentioned that my best selling book are in the C# area?

Drexel University--thanks for the change in the Graduation Date

Drexel University is proud of having a calendar that is years ahead---almost since he was a Freshman, the 2010 Drexel University commencement has been scheduled for Saturday, June 12, 2010, which is wonderful since my daughter is graduating from 8th Grade on Friday, June 11, 2010.


Guess what?


My son just received this in an email dated November 25th.



2010 University City Main Campus Commencement Schedule



The schedule for 2010 University City Main Campus Commencement ceremonies has been announced by President C.R. "Chuck" Pennoni and Provost Mark Greenberg. Ceremonies will be held on Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12, 2010 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center (33rd and Market Streets).



The schedule is:



Friday, June 11



10 a.m.: College of Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems

1:30 p.m.: College of Nursing and Health Professions and School of Public Health




Saturday, June 12



9 a.m.: LeBow College of Business

12:30 p.m.: Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and College of Information Science and Technology

4:30 p.m.: College of Arts and Sciences and Goodwin College of Professional Studies (including the School of Education)



For more information about the 2009-10 academic calendar, visit http://www.drexel.edu/provost/calendars/quarter/index.html.



Approved under the authority of Philip Terranova, Vice President for University Relations


I feel like writing a letter, but what's the use? Is Drexel going to change the date just for me?



Now what are we going to do?



My son's graduation is 10AM, my daughter's 11AM, and they're about 15 miles apart.



There's no way we can attend both graduations.



Thanks Drexel!

Web Resources for the EFT Investor

Summarizing a Wall Street Journal article on ETF (Electronically Traded Funds)

http://morningstar.com/goto.etfs

http://finance.yahoo.com/etf

http://marketwatch.com/tools/etfs/html-home.asp

http://indexuniverse.com

http://etftrends.com

http://etfguide.com

http://etfdb.com

iPhone Shortcomings

I bought my iPhone back in June. I really love it, but it's not perfect.

I've noticed some shortcomings, and I thought I would make a list.

It would be nice if...

1. I could sort Notes alphabetically
2. I could snyn my notes with my PC's Notepad application
3. I could do Internet Tethering, the way the online manual says I can
4. If there was Voice Recognition for texting
5. There were more ring tones

6. If I could designate special ring tones to certain senders of text messages
7. If there was a speed dial like there was with my Sony Erikson phone
8. If I could designate a group in my Address book


I'll think of more and update here...

Fan Mail Letter of the Week (November 7, 2009)

I just received this very nice email from someone who read my C++ book--it's kind letters like this that keep me writing computer books.

Hello Prof,

My name is Lekhotla Khoboko and I’m a final year Computer Science student at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). I’m writing this email to reaaaally thank you for the confidence boost you have given me in my C++ programming skills! I have just finished following your book Learn To Program with C++. I took about six days to read through the book and I’m really happy with what I have learned.

As I said, I’m a final year student, and I had been feeling veery nervous and incompetent with my programming skills in C++. I have gone through about four courses in C++ in my study years, but C++ had still been a dreadful programming language to take up any project in (until today!)

I’ve very much enjoyed our class (your 18 pupils plus myself!). The lectures were clear and very easy to follow, and they kept me stuck to the book from beginning till now that I’m done reading it!

Just like Rhonda, topics like those on Pointers, Objects and Inheritance had been my worst nightmares! I tried several introductory books but they were still way advanced for my comprehension! But at last, I feel like a genius. None of the questions I used to have or had in the course of reading are unanswered – either Dave, Ward or any of those my colleagues would bring them up and before we passed the topic, I would be clear and ready for the next class!

I really want to appreciate what you have done for me (I truly wish I could follow on with the friends in that five weeks’ time when they would be beginning their intermediate course – I’m sure I was going to come out the more brilliant)!

Your teaching methodology is very great as I compare it my C++ instructors’. Programming courses and careers are feared today, also because of the way they are presented by lecturers. In fact, I feel I can make a very good C++ instructor myself, having gone through this material. And this book would be my very first and preferred recommendation to my students!

You’ve trained a C++ programmer in six days! CONGRADULATIONS and thanks, Thanks, THANKS

Sincerely,

Lekhotla Khoboko
Mathematics and Computer Science Department
Faculty of Science and technology
National university of Lesotho Lesotho,
Southern Africa

Programming Projects that may light your fire

I've been meaning to put some additional programming projects on my website.

When I was taking my first programming class, some of these were pretty infectuous.

Let's start with just a couple and we'll see how we do---I have over 100 here...

1. Write a program that asks the user to enter 2 numbers, obtains the 2 numbers from the user, then displays the product of the 2 numbers.

---

2. Write a program that displays the numbers from 1 to 10. Do not use a loop.

---

3. Write a program that utilizes looping to display the numbers from 1 to 10.

---

4. Write a program that asks the user to enter 2 numbers, obtains the 2 numbers, then displays the larger of the two numbers. If the 2 numbers are equal, that display the message "These numbers are the same"

---

5. Write a program that utilizes looping to display the following table of values:

N	10 * N	100 * N	1000 * N	10000 * N
1	10	100	1000	10000
2	20	200	2000	20000
3	30	300	3000	30000
4	40	400	4000	40000
5	50	500	5000	50000
6	60	600	6000	60000
7	70	700	7000	70000
8	80	800	8000	80000
9	90	900	9000	90000
10	100	1000	10000	10000
11	110	1100	11000	110000

Excel 2003 can't open a Lotus 1-2-3 File

I tried to open an old Lotus 1-2-3 file in Excel 2003 and received this message

"You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting".

Isn't that a pain.

Microsoft has a fix on its website that will allow you to specify a folder containing Lotus 1-2-3 files you wish to open. Here's the link...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922848

Game Programming Site

Check out this site that one of my students recommended for Game Programming

http://www.blitzmax.com/

Game Programming Site

Check out this site that one of my students recommended for Game Programming

http://www.blitzmax.com/

Kids Programming

Here are a couple of great websites for kids wanted to learn how to program Microsoft products...

C# for Kids
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308756.aspx

Kids Corner
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308754.aspx

Hack Yourself

You should hack yourself before others do it...

Just this morning, I discovered residents of my small town listed on a new site I didn't know existed...well, I did, but I didn't consider it significant. Armed with a name, people can steal your identify. Try this one...

http://namesdatabase.com/schools/US/NJ/Cinnaminson/Cinnaminson%20High%20School/

Some Goodwill Centers will accept old computer equipment

According to the Goodwill website, some Goodwill Centers will accept old computer equipment

http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/howweoperate/donations/tipsfordonatingacomputer

The very helpful woman at the Cinnaminson Public Works was correct--thanks!

I'll keep you posted on this---I need to find a nearby center that will accept it.

20 minutes later....

Just found the number for the Goodwill Donation Center on Route 73 in Maple Shade.

The very pleasant man I spoke to on the phone said that they will accept any and all computer equipment you have---it doesn't have to work, and you can just bring in the parts. Here's the contact information

Goodwill Donation Center
2835 Route 73 Soute
Maple Shade, NJ - (856) 439-0174

Getting rid of old computer equipment in Cinnaminson

OK, I've had some old computer equipment (PC, Monitor, Ink Jet Printer) sitting in my garage for 2 years.

I tried to give the stuff away at my neighborhood yard sale last Saturday with no luck.

I put the stuff at curbside on trash pickup day this past Wednesday with a sign that said 'free' and no one picked it up.

I know that I can't just put this stuff in the trash---it's against the law because of the potentially environmental harmful components.

Let me check the Cinnaminson Website to see if there is a mention of what to do with it...

Let me call my friendly Cinnaminson Municipal number and see what happens...

Hmmm...

http://www.cinnaminson.com

takes me to the School District Website. I don't want that. But wait, there is a Cinnaminson Township link

http://www.cinnaminsonnj.org/

Let's click on the Services menu...yes, there's another menu. How about Public Works? That takes me to another menu, but nothing about trash. Hmmm, it looks like everything I click on the Services menu takes me to the same menu, with Parks Highlighted. Must be something broken.

I take matters into my own hands and manipulate the url directly like so...

http://www.cinnaminsonnj.org/publicworks.htm

That takes me to what appears to be the correct window, but nothing specific about computer equipment (or for that matter the old paint I have).

I then called the number listed for Public Works

856-829-6703

and within 2 rings, a very pleasant woman answered the phone. I explained I had some computer equipment and old paint.

She told me that I missed the computer equipment pickup which was May 16th (I missed the announcement) and suggested that Goodwill Centers might take it.

As far as paint, she told me that if it's less than half a gallon, I can mix it with kitty litter and put it out normally. Any more than half a gallon, I can drop it off at the Cinnaminson Department of Public Works...

Department of Public Works
1601 Union Landing Road
Cinnaminson, N. J. 08077

I'll let you know how I make out with the Goodwill Centers.

Fan Mail post of the week

Hi John

I have purchased one of your books in the past and now I working on getting back into programming and wanted to get your new C# 08 express book. I look forward to reading it. I do have a question however, I have been a System Engineer / Sys Admin for about 17 years now and now I have the honor of working for a local health department as the Network Administrator.

I support a network of 70 staff and equipment and we use a lot of data bases and various programs to do our work as you can well imagine. I want to streamline a lot of the day to day activities by writing web based programs and pc based programs to better serve the staff here in their work.

My problem is that when programming I have used numerous books and although I do feel that yours is the best that I have read I still have the same problem when staring at the programming interface "how do I start?" what I mean is there is a lot of code in programs; now that being said nowadays most of the back-end coding is already done but I still have problems figuring out how and where to start, why would I use one command over another and are there cheat sheets a beginning programmer can keep around for quick reference?

I am interested in using Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with C# and using SQL for Database and am just at my wits end on figuring out the basics. Any advise would be helpful and I do appreciate any assistance you can give.

Thank you
Bob


My response:

Hi Bob

In the old days of team programming, we would just borrow some one's code and see what they did. That's a little harder these days, as there just aren't that many big programming shops---lot of people are doing things on their own. Plus, the technologies are much more advanced than when I started coding in COBOL.

Having said that, a book I use in my Internet classes that seems to meet your requirements is

Build Your Own ASP.Net 2.0 Web Site using C# and VB

It has a full featured Web application that you develop that could give you a good starting point.

You only need to know the C# you'll learn in my book, so that would be the next best step.

Penn State MIS 204

I've been asking my Penn State students if they've been reading my blog, and I can see from my Search statistics that several of you have found me.

Let's start thinking about the midterm, shall we?

Comcast showed up on time...Friday, February 20, 2009

Comcast showed up right on time this morning--the technician, Kevin, was someone who's been to the house several times before (for my problematic Digital Voice Service) and he confirmed that I had 3 Digital boxes, not 4 as the Central Office believed.

He told me that the phantom box will be removed from my electronic account (Penn State students, are you listening) and that I should no longer be billed for the movies that the person who has that box has been ordering.

I'll continue to monitor for these charges, as he or she seems to order them on the weekend.

Thanks Kevin and Mark for (hopefully) resolving the problem.

COMCAST Cares

Wow, I'm really impressed.

I had blogged about my experience with Comcast, my phantom box, and their failure to show up for an appointment to inventory my house.

Someone from their Customer Service department somehow saw my blog post, contacted me via a comment he posted, and within an hour of emailing him with my story, a representative (Betsy) from the Comcast Executive office called to say she would be personally handling my problem.

Comcast still isn't coming out any earlier (Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM), but it's nice to know that someone there is overseeing the problem.

Can there be another company more INCOMPETENT than COMCAST of Burlington County

You may recall the issue of my 3 cable boxes--COMCAST of Burlington County has me recorded as having 4.

Last Wednesday, February 9th, I scheduled an appointment to have a search done of my premises to verify that I truly have 3.

When I made the appointment, the Customer Service Rep (I should have written or blogged her name) told me these types of appointments are limited, and that the earliest she could get someone there would be Tuesday, February 17th, between 12 and 2.

At 2:10PM today, after no one showed up, I called COMCAST to ask where they were---the Customer Service Rep (again, I didn't record the name) told me the technician was running late, but would be here today.

Finally, when no one showed by 3:45, I called COMCAST again. The Customer Service Rep (Danielle her name was) told me the appointment had been set up wrong, and that no one would be coming out today. Furthermore, she said, these types of appointments are limited, and the earliest she can get someone to verify my service would be Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM.

Danielle apologized profusely, and assured me she knows how to set up the special appointment.

COMCAST, by the way, is great for apologizing---they do it all the time when they mess up your service, fail to provide reasonable Digital Voice in the Cinnaminson area, not show for appointments, mess up appointment registrations, etc, etc, etc.

Want to be they don't show?

Comcast---February 16, 2009

Comcast believes I have 4 Cable boxes---I have 3. I found this out last week when I returned an unused cable box and their representative told me my count had gone down from 5 to 4. Huh?

I only have 3, I said. No problem, they're sending out a technician on Tuesday to execute a search warrant on my premises. Presumably, at that point, they'll realize I only have 3.

Interestingly, the 4th cable box they believe I have has been used to order 7 on demand movies on my accounts since November (it could be worse, it could be more, and the person has decent taste in movies.)

After installing Purchase code PIIN's on all 3 of my Cable boxes last week, I thought I was fully armed to ask Comcast to remove the charges. They refused. Well, after some arm twisting (asking to talk to a supervisor, threatening to call my Cable ombudsman--whatever that is--they agreed to think about it.

They still didn't see the issue.

In fact, I was absolutely stunned to discover that Comcast can't prevent the purchase of any Pay-per-view activity from my house. Really?

Their solution? Put a purchase PIIN on all of my cable boxes. I did that, remember?

It's hard to believe that a company as big and tech savy as Comcast can't figure out where cable box

M1....805

really is.

All I know is that it's not in my house.

More to follow.

Links to my books

Recent analysis of my blog stats indicates that people are looking for links to the many computer books I have written, so here they are...

Learn to Program with VB.Net 2008 Express
ISBN: 978-0-615-24843-1 (Smiley Publishing, August 24, 2008)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with Visual C# 2008 Express
ISBN: 978-0-615-24842-4 (Smiley Publishing, June 20, 2008)
Note: If you already have the Visual C# 2005 Express edition, please don't order this one. The changes in the Editions, at the Introductory level of this book, are miniscule. Only screen shots have changed.
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with Visual C# 2005 Express
ISBN: Not Assigned Yet (Smiley Publishing, April 7, 2008)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with VB.Net 2005 Express
ISBN: Not Assigned Yet (Smiley Publishing, May 16, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with JavaScript
ISBN: 978-1-84728-999-1 (Smiley Publishing, September 20, 2006)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with C++ (using the Borland C++ Batch Compiler)
Original ISBN: 0072-225-351 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, April 23, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, February 14, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 6)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with C# (using the .Net C# Batch Compiler)
Original ISBN: 0072-222-611 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, April 23, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, December 11, 2006)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read an article on Installing and configuring the C# Batch compiler
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Java
Original ISBN: 0072-131-896 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, November 2, 2001)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, August 13, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read an article on Installing the Java Development Kit
Read the bonus chapter, Chapter 14 on Applet Creation, which is not in the book
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 7)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic.Net 2002/2003
Original ISBN: 0072-131-772 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, January 11, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, February 14, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 8)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Objects
Original ISBN: 1902-745-048 (Wrox Press, December 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-165 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon
Download the China Shop Project as of the end of the Intro book/beginning of this book
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Databases
Original ISBN: 1902-745-035 (Wrox Press, July 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-157 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal) Hurry, only 1 left!
Order via Amazon
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Examples
Original ISBN: 1902-745-06X (Wrox Press, May 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-157 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $38 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon

Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6
Original ISBN: 1902-745-000 (Wrox Press, November 30, 1998)
ISBN: 1590-591-518 (Apress, July 3, 2003)
Now being published by Smiley Publishing (September 1, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon
Order via Lulu.com (Coming soon!)
View Table of Contents

.NET 3.5 framework object models

My thanks to a student of mine, Steve, for pointing this out to me.

For anyone who might find this useful (I know I always do), Microsoft has a link where you can download the .Net 3.5 Framework Object Model Posters.

These come in quite handy if you are programming in any of the .Net languages, such as VB.Net or C#. Here's the link...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7B645F3A-6D22-4548-A0D8-C2A27E1917F8&display=en&displaylang=en

Here's the Tinyurl

http://tinyurl.com/asahe5

Printing the poster will be up to you---I have an old one here that came with my Visual Studio 2003 edition---it's about 3x5 feet, and it hung on my wall for many years.

Drunken driver ignition lock bill advances

I'm all for this one...

The Associated Press reported last week that a bill requiring alcohol-sensing ignition locks on the vehicles of most people convicted of drunken driving advanced in the New Jersey Legislature on Monday.

The lock is a Breathalyzer like device that keeps the vehicle from starting it is senses an alcohol level that exceeds the legal limit. Either states have ignition-lock laws. New Jersey currently requires the licks for repeat offenders.

Not everyone convicted of drunken driving will be required to use the locks---but repeat offenders will, and that makes me feel better.

Here's a Philadelphia Inquirer link to a story that details the fight to get this law passed by the family of a teenager killed by an Ocean City realtor (repeat drunken driving offender) who plowed into him as he and a group of his friends rode on the shoulder of Ocean Drive on their way to Ocean City.

http://tinyurl.com/al35gd

Let's hope the law passes---your chance of being hit by a drunken driver are high.

My parents were twice in cars hit by drunken drivers.

Gene therapy curesa a "bubble boy disase"

I used to think that Gene Therapy was getting closer to curing diseases--now it seems to be there, for at least one disease.

Researchers report that Gene therapy seems to have cured 8 of 10 children who had potentially fatal "bubble boy disease" according to a study that followed their progress for about four years after treatment.

The eight patients were no longer on medication for the rare disease, which cripples the body;s defenses against infection.

The successful treatment is reported in Thursday's issue (January 29th, 2009) of the New England Journal of Medicine and offers hope for treating other diseases with a gene therapy approach.

Bubble boy disease is formally called sever combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. this genetic disorder is diagnosed in about 40 to 100 babies each year in the United States.

The nickname comes from the experience of a Houston boy, David Vetter, who became famous for living behind plastic barriers to protect him from germs. He died in 1984 at age 12.

He was portrayed in a made for TV film my John Travolta.

Letter of the week (and my response) January 24, 2009

I received this email the other day---it illustrates the desire on the part of inexperienced people to learn programming. Check out the email and my response which is quite lengthy

Hello,

I was looking around for C# classes and was wondering what the difference was between Introduction to Visual C#---Any Version (8 weeks) vs. Introduction to C# using the .Net Batch compiler (8 weeks).

Would there be any discounts for students like me?

Do you also have any testimonials that these classes do help?

I really want to learn C# and am looking for something that would help me easily.

I have no prior experience in programming. I'm looking forward to your reply. Thank you.

My Repsonse

Hi J

Thanks for your interest in my classes!

The difference in the two courses is the course textbook I use--both of which I have written.
Intro to C# uses a book I wrote a few years ago which concentrates on learning C# using the C# Batch compiler.

Visual C# uses a book I recently wrote using C# Express, which is a Visual Tool.

Both courses are good, and you'll learn fundamental C# programming, but you'll learn more about creating your own objects (and what that means) in the C# Batch compiler class.

However, learning C# in the batch compiler world is harder than Visual C#.

Why have you chosen C# as your first programming language?

Unfortunately, I don't offer discounts to students, only active duty military.

Somewhere on my website I'm sure I have some accolades about my classes, but those naturally come from happy students, and I can be a bit more objective.

Students who do well in my Internet courses tend to be those who are independent.
As you can imagine, if we met 3 hours per week in a classroom, it would be a bit easier than using my electronic classroom to communicate (although I hope to have Webcam options available soon).

This much I can guarantee you---if you are serious about learning to program, and put in the time (about 10 hours per week for reading, working on assignments, etc), are willing to post questions and comments in my electronic classroom, you will know how to program when you finish the course. That doesn't mean you will be an expert, or will get a job in programming, but it does mean you are on your way.

From that point on, you can continue to learn C# on your own or continue with me in some other courses.

Programming is a big world--depending upon what you want to learn and do, your learning path can be a year or much longer.

On the other hand, if you are an impatient person, one who gets very frustrated when things don't work the first time, then my courses are probably not right for you.

I can't be with you all the time while you are coding your first program---and if you deal with programming errors as a sign that you are a failure, instead of a challenge, the programming world may not be for you.

I still remember my first COBOL programming attempt---over 4,000 errors on my first compile. I felt pretty low.

I corrected a single mispelling on one line of code, and the number went down to 2,000. I thought to myself, this is pretty cool.

I corrected another error---down to 1,000.

You get the point.

Within 10 minutes, I had reduced my errors from over 4,000 to about 28.

Of course, it took me about two days to correct the remaining 28 errors, but I did, and all time I was thinking this is the greatest way to spend my time.

I've been doing that ever since for 32 years.

So, if you are the type of person who sees a challenge in an error message from a computer, and not a reason to smack the keyboard (well, we all do that from time to time) then programming is for you, and my courses may be right for you also.

In an ideal environment, I would be with you in a classroom--but even though my Internet courses are remote, that doesn't mean you are alone.

I hope this helps you with your decision.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Have a great day!

John Smiley

Guitar Hero Drum Console finally arrived

For those of you following the saga of my daughter's Guitar Hero Drum Console (purchased in November of 2008, found defective on December 25th, 2008, and shipped back on December 31st, 2008), I'm happy to report that a working Drum Console arrived at our house yesterday, January 20th.

My daughter is pleased with it--although both my wife and I expected to hear real drum sounds.

It sounds more like beating a wooden spoon on a Tupperware container, but as I said, my daughter is pleased with it, and that's all that matters.

Special Symbols such as °

Ever want to enter the degree symbol in something you're writing and not know how?

The degree symbol (°) can be entered by holding down the ALT key, then typing 0176 on your numeric keypad.

For a full list of additional symbols, check out this link...

http://code.knopok.net/alt-codes.html

Before you lay out big bucks to buy that HDTV set

Check out this Tech article in which it suggests that as much as 70% of the population can't discern the quality difference in HDTV.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/115868

My Computer Programming Internet Courses

A lot of people don't realize that I teach Internet based Computer Programming Courses.

I teach courses in a variety of popular, up-to-date languages such as Visual Basic, C#, C++, Java and HTML.

The courses are convenient, since they are Internet based you don't have to 'be' somewhere at a particular place and time.

Except for 1 hour per week, the course is totally message board based using my Moodle (Open Source) electronic classroom.

1 time per week I host an interactive chat where you can talk with me and the other students in the class.

My courses are not free, but they are cheaper than College Courses---plus, you get the benefit of being taught by a popular author and consultant. Many of my courses use my best selling books at the course textbook.

Each course gives you a chance to practice with programming assignments and quizzes.

You can take my courses when they are scheduled---regularly throughout the year---or self-paced versions of the courses where you work at your own pace.

I also offer a yearly subscription to my courses wherein you can pay a single fee and take as many courses as you want for a full year.

A great feature of my courses is that, unlike other training venues, I never cancel a course---they are always held, regardless of the number of students who sign up. I'll hold a course for a single student, which can be a very intimate learning experience.

For more information on my courses, follow this link.

http://www.johnsmiley.com/main/training.htm

Guitar Hero---Update, January 12, 2009

An update on my daughter's Guitar Hero Drum problem...

Both the Orange and Yellow Cymballs have arrived---the Yellow one arrived on Thursday, January 8th.

I was hoping the drum console would show up on Friday or Saturday.

When it didn't, I tried to look up the RMA on the Activision Website--but basically all it said was that I had a valid RMA number, and there was no tracking number.

I decided to call Activision again.

The helpful customer told me the RMA lookup feature hasn't really been working lately.

He looked up the RMA on his system and reported that they had received the Drum Console from us, but they were out of stock of the Drum Console and he was hopeful they would have them in by the end of the week.

Bottom line---it's now January 12th, we bought the Guitar Hero World tour in November, returned it on December 31st, and won't have it until January 19th at the earliest.

Guitar Hero Drum Set Update---January 8, 2009

Well, the second cymball arrived today via FedEx Express Shipping---still waiting for the Drum Console. Hopefully it will show up on Friday.

If not, I'll probably call on Monday to see where it is.

Guitar Hero Drum Set Update---January 7, 2009

You may recall that I shipped my daughter's defective Guitar Hero Drum Console, Orange Cymbal and Yellow Cymbal back to Activision on December 31, 2008. These were 3 separate shipments that I personally dropped off at the FedEx delivery center in Mt. Laurel.

FedEx tracking immediately showed all 3 items in the system, and as of last Saturday, all 3 were showing up on their system as being in transit.

Interestingly, on Sunday the Drum Console and Yellow Cymbal dropped off the system--only the Orange Cymbal remained, and it finally showed that it was delivered on January 5th.

Where are the other 2 items?

Also interestingly, yesterday the Yellow Cymbal was delivered to our house via FedEx Overnight express. The Yellow Cymbal delivery to Activision still is not showing up in the FedEx system. Hmmm...

Hopefully the Drum Console and Orange Cymbal will show up today or tomorrow or I will need to contact Activision.

By the way, when I go to the Activision website, and enter my email address and RMA numbers, all I get is some vague message that basically says the RMA was issued. It doesn't indicate the status.

Wonderful.

AT&T Cellular in Delran, NJ

Just wanted to say that Garry Pinner, Store manager at the Delran NJ At&T Cell Phone Store is top-notch!

No one provides the personal service that he does---other companies could learn a great deal by observing the way he treats his customers.

Blog Keyword Analysis Reveals a lot

Guitar Hero---Drum Problem---Update January 2, 2009

I just wanted to provide you an update on my Guitar Here Drum Problem.

I contacted the Activision Customer Service department on December 26th and was told that I would receive 'Prepaid Packing Labels' via email within 1 to 2 business days.

These hadn't shown up by December 29th, and I contacted Activision again.

A very helpful Customer Service representative told me that the Holiday slowed things down, and that I should give it another day.

I finally received the email (3 of them actually) with the Prepaid Packing labels.

They were for FedEx. We boxed the items (Drum Console, Yellow cymbal, and Red cymbal) and shipped them on December 31st.

As of this afternoon, FedEx tracking indicates that all 3 packages are in North Carolina, headed to Georgia.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.