Myst III: Exile

I finished Myst III: Exile last week -- the coolest part is the graphics at the completion of the Ameteria world. The puzzle for Narayan is very elegant and satisfying to solve but not obvious at all. (If you're stuck, re-read through Aitrus's book.)

I also started Myst IV: Revelations, but I'm still stuck near the beginning. I know how to transfer power between different devices, and I've found the different symbols around the island, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to actually USE the power yet. The levers all seem locked. Hopefully I can finish this before the release of Myst V: End of Ages.

I won the motorcyle auction on eBay and hired a company to transport the bike from Springfield to SLO. I have notified the seller, and at this point, I have only to await delivery of my Suzuki Bandit 600!

Install Services

I'm still unclear what the "instrumentation" is all about, but I think it has something to do with message logging WMI events (whatever those are) and performance counters. (And I'm not sure what those are, either.)

In any case, after I ran the "Install Services" executible that came with the Enterprise Library, I stopped getting Application Errors logged that spoke about a failure to load a few different performance counters.

It's under Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft patterns and practices > Enterprise Library > Install Services. (It's the same folder as the Configuration App.)

But that isn't the end of my problems. Logging a normal error to the Application log works, but when trying to send an e-mail, I'm still getting an error.

Sink failed because: System.Web.HttpException: Could not access 'CDO.Message' object.

Enterprise Library Exception Handler

Fortunately using the Exception Handler that comes with the Enterprise Library for .Net doesn't require doing any subclassing to customize (yet). The secret is to use the configuration application. You can add an "email sink" to the list of destinations for your exception processing. A couple articles helped me out:
This one by Matias Woloski, and
This one by Santosh Poojari

The email sink still doesn't work properly, though. For some reason, my application isn't able to instantiate a CDO.Message object. Also, I'm not even able to do the "General" error handling (i.e., logging to the Application Log). I think it has something to do with "instrumentation", but I don't really know what that's about. I'll find out on Tuesday. One thing at a time.

Best Haircut in Grover Beach

Check out Gentlemen's Quarters (formerly "Beach Barbers") in Grover Beach for a great men's haircut. Includes the straight razor for the next, and an electric shoulder massage at the end. $14.

OK, I think I completed Voltaic in Myst III. I received a weird "drawing," and I don't know of any more puzzles. I made a little progress on Amateria where I managed to get the roof airborn. And on Edanna, I successfully got downstairs and raised the "mousetrap" like device. But now I'm stuck in both places, and I can't figure out what to do next. I'll take another look at it next week. The hardest thing about Edannna is figuring out both what and where the puzzle is to begin with.

Sadly I didn't run this morning. I forgot that I was planning to. I probably won't take the time to do so while visiting my parents this weekend. Oh well.

On Tap

- Haircut
- Meet with someone in the advising center at Cal Poly to figure out how to calculate my transferable GPA and transferable units. I get to apply this month for readmission to Computer Science.
- Start using the Enterprise Library instead of the Microsoft Application Blocks for Exception Handling in one of my .NET websites. I think this involves building the exception handler (and logger), and then referencing in my website. I don't know if it requires that I subclass the logger. We'll see.
- Rotate tires.
- Figure out the next step in Myst III: Exile. Right now I'm stuck on Voltaic. Very frustrating, but perhaps I should try making progress in a different Age, and that will help.
- Finish memorizing the epistle to Titus. (I'm in chapter 2 right now.)
- Finish reading the book of Numbers. My buddy Jacob suggested staying in the same book for a while and continually re-read it. I know that did help when I was in Philemon, but maybe I should try that with a smaller book than Numbers. :)
- Figure out the next step with AGO.org.
- Run tomorrow morning.
- Swim on Tuesday morning.
- Schedule a "HealthyCheck" somewhere.
- Schedule a vision check somewhere.
- Connect to the web service and ASP.NET website that Tim created.

Brownbagging It

Do you struggle, as I have, to make/bring your own lunch to work? Spending too much money at the deli? I have found a magic solution!!! :)

Make your lunch as soon as you get home from work. Let it be the first thing you do. I've found it to be much easier. I'm usually not hurting for the time to do this. I started doing it this week, and it was great. We'll see if I can keep it up, or if I'm just "in the zone" right now.

I think this is an especially good idea for those of you who need to pack lunches for the kids for school. Or better yet, have them do it first thing when they get home in the afternoon.

This works for making dinner, too... If you can, fix tomorrow's dinner as soon as you finish eating tonight's dinner. Saves a lot of time thinking, "hmmm.... I don't really feel like anything." You eat better, too, because you become more intentional about throwing in vegetables and other healthy bits.