Ramblings of a geek with a few hobbies…

  • Chuck Box

    Chuck Box

    We go camping a couple times per year and every time it comes to making meals I get a little frustrated when I have to look in multiple places for things I need.  Hunting around in Rubbermaid containers for spoons, spatulas, spices and paper plates – while food is on a hot camp stove –…

  • Testing?

    It this thing on? …checks the date of the last post… August 12, 2015.  Over 4 years of neglect. Oops.

  • Surface 3 and Windows 10 “Touch is Right Click” Workaround

    After upgrading my Surface 3 to Windows 10, a very annoying bug surfaced where I’ll be writing with the pen and all of a sudden any and all touches (pen or finger) are interpreted as right clicks. For a few days, my only recourse was restarting. I have since learned that you can avoid a…

  • The Tall Ship Manitou, a GREAT Time

    While vacationing in Traverse City, Michigan last week, we took a cruise on the Tall Ship Manitou operated by the Traverse Tall Ship Co.  We had a fantastic time on the 2 hour cruise in Grand Traverse Bay. Our 7 year old, David, spent quite a bit of time asking questions of Captain Brandon.  Captain Brandon…

  • South Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

    This post is meant as a warning to those fellow internet searchers looking for information on South Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Northwest Michigan.  We visited last week during our vacation (3rd week of July) and were looking forward to a great time. Unfortunately, none of the literature we encountered about the…

  • Surface 3 on Vacation

    I’ve had my Surface 3 (4GB of RAM model) since the day it was released, use it heavily daily for both work and home, and love it.  This past week it has taken its first road trip, vacation, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Devices, Devices, Devices Replacing my laptop on a trip isn’t an easy…

  • Centering a WPF Window in an Outlook 2013 Add-in

    I recently came upon the need to show a WPF window in an Outlook add-in, preferably centered on the Outlook window (WindowStartupLocation = CenterInParent).  Easy enough, but without setting Window.Owner, it will appear in an uncontrolled location when calling ShowDialog(). Setting Window.Owner is where things get a little tricky. Searching online produced a few variations…

  • Kindle Voyage

    Kindle Voyage

    Yesterday I received my new Kindle Voyage. I’ve been a first-gen Paperwhite user since shortly after it was released and I have been nothing but pleased with it.  It was miles ahead of the other Kindles we in the household have owned. The Voyage is another big step forward.  I was expecting an improvement, obviously,…

  • Instagram, June 06, 2014 at 08:07PM

  • Ugh: Windows 8, Metro and Desktop

    First I’ll say that every PC I use these days is running Windows 8.1.  That’s my home desktop, laptop, Surface RT, and work PC. Windows 8 is actually very good on the tablet form factor.  It’s fine on PCs if you’re wanting to stick to the new Metro style apps. But it’s horrible when mixing desktop…

Got any book recommendations?