My friend DustyD found an obscure, total pain the butt error in ASP.NET 2.0 involving mismatched html tags.

He put the article up on DotNetKicks.com and some dude from Microsoft found it and reported it as an official bug. That's pretty awesome...

Nicely done, Dusty!

It's real easy to retrieve Embedded Resources in ASP.NET 2.0, as it has this functionality built in. However, there is nothing in place to do this in ASP.NET 1.1. It's a problem if you're, like me, maintaining old ASP.NET 1.1 apps that can't be converted to 2.0 (for whatever reason).

Here's the solution I came up with (I think dustyd probably helped). I wanted something that would closely mimic the WebResource.axd of ASP.NET 2.0.

For Starters...

I created an HttpHandler to handle the file request. This is pretty much the meat of the project:

EmbeddedResourceHandler.cs

The Solution Layout...

Create a new project in your solution and put the code above in a new class. Also, in this new project, you'll add your extraneous files. Here's what it should look like:

Be sure to edit the properties on your extraneous files and mark them as "Embedded Resource."

Next, the Web.Config entry...

Now, under the <HttpHandler> tag add in this entry. "CustomControls" is the name name of the project/assembly that contains the EmbeddedResourceHandler class that's listed above.

<add verb="*" path="Fetch.ashx" validate="false"
type="Zinknation.EmbeddedResourceProvider.EmbeddedResourceHandler, CustomControls" />

Presumably, if your project builds now, you should be able to check to see if it it's working by going to: http://yourhost/fetch.ashx

If you don't pass it any parameters, it gives you a Manifest of all the Embedded Resources in the project. You can use the links it provides to get the direct URL for the file you want. For instance, if I wanted to attain JScript1.js in the above example, I would use the link http://<SiteName>/fetch.ashx?a=EmbeddedResources.JScript1.js

That's about it!

If you attempt to use this code and have any questions or problems, feel free to Email me or post a comment; I'll try to help out. Also, feel free to modify the source code as you see fit. There is some stuff in there, such as the caching, that may or may not work well for you.

 I decided to deck the Bachelor Pad out with some Yuletide Cheer.

Moderate Yule-itude

Ah well, lesson learned. Next year I will make another attempt at it.

Today I went to Wal-Mart to buy some delicious Red Apples. I walk in and receive a furrowed brow from the grizzled old man of a store greeter. He tells me "Hello" in a raspy voice. Appreciate that, old man.

On to the Fruit Isle...

I grab a sack and load it with some friggin sweet apples.

Deliciously Delicious Red Apples!

Then, I go to grab a twisty tie for the bag... no twisty ties.

Blarg!

So I walk around to other fruit stands, looking for twisty ties...

Nothing!

So I head over to the vegetable section, thinking surely there would be twisty ties there.... Nope.

No Twisty Ties!

I was pretty frustrated over this whole lack of twisty-ties in Wal-Mart. What the hell is the deal with that? Is someone coming in and stealing all of them? Is there someone akin to the McDonald's Hamburgler except with Twisty-Ties?

Well, I did some research...

It turns out, yes there is! Check out this chart I compiled; it depicts the status of a random sampling of Wal-Mart shoppers at 10 P.M. on a random weekday night.

Results: 5% of all Wal-Mart shoppers are, in fact, bastardly Twisty Tie Thiefs.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the whole concept of being an employee vs. being a freelancer/entrepreneur/dude who does what he wants. This mindset, perception, whatever you want to call it it, is new to me.

I mean, there are plenty of books out there on the subject of entrepreneurship, and I've read a few. But, I always felt this sneaking suspicion that the authors are just trying to make some phat ca$h. After I'd finish reading them, I'd be all, "man, I'm so pumped to go start my own business." But then I'd realize that I didn't even know where to begin!

The big thing with entrepreneurial blogs is...

Blog authors aren't selling their stuff. Their material is entirely out in the open, free for anyone to gaze upon. Maybe that's what makes them so powerful. In fact, it wasn't until I started browsing around the entrepreneurial blogosphere that I truly began to consider this as an option for my own career. 

Blogs like Steve Pavlina, Matt Inglot, Seth Godin, and the amazing Trizle.com have impacted me big time. I really admire these people. But, then again, how can I not? They're doing what they love to do (at least most of the time, I'm guessing), they're in control of their career, and they're probably making some good cash in the process. Although, I'm sure if you asked them if it was about the money, they would tell you no; it's just sweet side effect. Other obvious perks you have as your own "boss": setting your own schedules, deadlines, vacation time, etc.

Ah. Wouldn't that be sweet.

As for me, I don't know what to do right now. I enjoy my job for corporate America fairly well. My coworkers are fun and awesome, and most days I look forward to going to work. Which is definitely a step up from getting up the morning and absolutely dreading going to work (been there and done that). But, I have a yearning to be more than just a dude who works for Corporate America.

It's a classic story. It's hard to just be happy where you're at; as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side, or in another field, or however the saying goes. I feel the only way I'm going to progress quickly and be truly satisfied with my "job" is by starting up my own gig.

If you're a coworker of mine...

Do not freak out. I'm not planning to walk in and quit tomorrow or anything sudden!

I'll be making more posts along these lines in the near future...

The term "blarg" is thrown around a lot these days, but what does it really mean? I utter the word quite a bit and even I wasn't really sure. So, I decided to hit up the urbandictionary to figure this tricky devil of word out.

My favored definition:

"Blarg is an expression that can be traced to its root words, blah and argh. Blah may be a shortened form of the word blasé meaning uninterested, or unconcerned. It is often used to express boredom. Argh is an expression commonly used in online chat and video games to express frustration.

The meaning of the expression blarg combines the defintions of the root words; frustrated boredom or disinterest."

Pretty apt. Anyway, so as I was reading this, I realized that I totally fall into a state of uninterested, unconcerned boredom which is sometimes even coupled with frustratration.  When this happens, I usually want to go bitch about my situation via a blog post. But, at that point, I'm not blogging - I'm blarging.

I did a google image search on blarging and this little guy came up. I think some dude drew him or something. Does he not scream blarg?

 
Blargnor the Blargmonster!

My Archnemesis Juanler seems to have taken a liking to me as of late. He recently posted a very truthful and honest poem on my MySpace page. I don't want to lose this precious gem, so I'm going to post it here, too:

Juan posted on Nov 12 12:01 PM:

A poem for you.

He has toothpick legs forged of mighty steel.
Enjoys a good cold beer at every meal.
He has graceful dance moves that will make you blink.
For this is the man known as Kevin Zink.

He has pube like hair on top of his head.
And many a fine lady can be found in his bed.
He exudes a most powerful manly stink.
For this is the man known as Kevin Zink.

His home is full of style and class.
Say otherwise and he'll kick your ass.
From his mouth comes philosophy that will make you think.
For this is the man known as Kevin Zink.

Future scholars will study his many feats.
Marching bands will play for him down our city streets.
Great stories will be written of him in pen and ink.
For this is the man known as Kevin Zink.

For this is the man known as Kevin Zink.

Thanks, Juan; it means a lot to me.

I just recently discovered the power of client-server API's for blogging. Three of the popular standards are Metaweblog, Blogger, and MovableType.

Sweet applications like Windows Live Writer utulize these API's to interface with your blog software. It seriously makes posting blog entries easy peasy like lemon squeezy.

Screenshot of me composing this post right now!

I can't agree with my friend DustyD more about web-based text editors like the FCKEditor and the FreeTextBox for composing blog entries:

I know I'm constantly making excuses for not posting that often,  but I think that one of the major issues was my absolute HATRED for web-based WYSIWYG editors (FTB, TinyMCE, FCKEditor, etc). They're clunky, and slow and I just generally don't like them.

Word and 'nuff said!