brettdavis.net Blogs

Netflix and the Playstation 3

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:00 GMT

Today I got my Netflix streaming disc for my Playstation 3. The disc allows my PS3 to connect to Netflix to retrieve movies and shows. It is nice to finally see the PS3 supporting Netflix. The disc is a little bit annoying, considering I do not need to use a disc when viewing Netflix content over the Xbox 360. I also found the navigation on the PS3 to be a little confusing. I think the 360’s navigation is more intuitive. The playback on the PS3 was very good, I sometimes run into buffering and streaming issues with the 360. Overall, I’m really tempted to part ways with the 360 and just use Playstation 3 as my media and video game system.

Projects

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:17:00 GMT

Lately, I have had a problem of producing examples of my career. This is mainly because a lot of my work lately has been done on internal Intranet sites. The other reason is the previous sites that I have developed have either been redesign/redeveloped or are no longer in existence.

I think I might have come across a solution to this problem. I have decided that I will create my own small to mid size projects. I’m also planning on making the code available in case anyone would like to review it.

There are 3 projects that I am planning on doing: A DotNetNuke site, an asp.net web site and an asp.net mvc web site. After these projects are completed, I will do other projects in other languages.

I am also planning on blogging about these projects and how they were created.

I’m now an MCTS Web Developer!

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:28:00 GMT

I passed the 70-562 today and I am now an MCTS Web Developer. The exam wasn’t as bad as the 70-536. To study for the exam I used the following books:

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-562)
Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5
ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed

Becoming a Group Fitness Instructor and a Personal Trainer

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:56:00 GMT

I have started the process of becoming a Group Fitness Instructor. A Group Fitness Instructor is someone who leads a group of people in a workout class (typically something like kickboxing or cycling). Eventually I would like to be a Personal Trainer.

There are 3 reasons for why I am doing this:

I like to help people. I’ve helped people use their pc and I think I’m pretty good at it.
I’d like to have a back up career. Currently, all I have is web development and computer programming experience. If sometime in the future, I couldn’t find a job as a web developer, it would be nice to have a back up career.
I would also find it a real challenge. Physically I can do the workouts with no problem. It would be a challenge for me to get up in front of a group of 20-30 people and lead them in a workout. I also think this would lead me to becoming more vocal and it would help me in my personal and professional life.

I’ve recently completed the TurboKick training pretty hard in it. TurboKick is a cardio kick-boxing workout. I’m planning on having an audition later this year to teach it. I’m also making plans to get certified in the following Les Mills programs: BodyCombat, BodyPump, and RPM. I plan to get my ACE and/or AFAA Personal Training in late 2010 or early 2011.

Crossfit

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:37:00 GMT

Lately, I have become a really big fan of Crossfit. Crossfit is a strength and conditioning methodology that is a combination of the following 10 fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. The workouts intense circuit based and typically run 20-30 minutes. It is used by Police & Fire Departments, The Military, MMA fighters, and by people who are looking to stay in shape.

I became a fan of it because it is a very fun and time efficient workout. I wouldn’t recommend this workout to someone is out of shape and wants to get back in shape. I would recommend it to someone who is decent shape and wants to get into better shape. The other nice thing about Crossfit is the Workout of the Day. All I have to do is go to www.crossfit.com and view the workout of the day and that is what I do.

For more information about Crossfit, go to their site at www.crossfit.com

My upcoming blog project

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:45:00 GMT

In the not too distant future, I will be starting a non-tech related blog regarding something in Indy.

I wanted to keep the design nice and clean and I wanted it to look different then the other blogs that deal with topics related to Indianapolis. I believe this design does both.

By the way, I will not be calling the blog, "Stupid In Indy". I went with that name because it kind of looks like the real name of the blog.

My proposed redesign homepage for IndyGov.org

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:10:00 GMT

While I was working at the city, I proposed the following as the IndyGov.org homepage:

Unfortunately, it was never deployed. My supervisor at the time did not like it. He did not like having the mayor’s picture on the site and IndyParks getting so much attention on the homepage. The look he was trying to go for was a simple clean text look, something like Google. That version never happened either because shortly before we moved forward our department was outsourced.

I kept this design, because I thought it was one of my better design projects that I’ve done.

By the way, I did not design this version of IndyGov site. The talented folks at Descom Designs designed the web site.

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:06:00 GMT

I thought I would write about the 2 best video game systems on the market, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. I own both systems and I am going to write about their similarities and their differences.

Both systems can be used as media players. Videos, music and photos can be stored and played on each system. The difference is the PS3 supports Blu-ray discs and the Xbox 360 does not. Blu-ray is the best video format available for videos. However the Xbox 360 has built in support for Netflix streaming. Netflix streaming is really an awesome feature. A Netflix streaming device will allow you to watch shows and movies that are made available online by Netflix.

Game play on both systems is pretty even. There are some games that are exclusive to each system. If you had to pick one system between the two, you would need to compare the game libraries for each system. As far as the controllers, I like the PS3’s controller a little bit more then I like the Xbox 360’s controller. The 360 controller can feel bulky and heavy after playing a game for an hour or two. The other nice feature about the PS3 controller is, it uses a rechargeable. The Xbox 360 controller requires 2 AA batteries. Online gaming is supported for each system.

I have a hard time picking which system is the better of the two. The PS3 has built in wireless network while the Xbox 360 has an additional adapter for $50. The PS3 also runs quieter than the 360. However, the PS3 doesn’t support Netflix streaming. There are rumors that eventually the PS3 will get Netflix streaming. If that happens, I would recommend going with the PS3. I personally got myself a 360 because I had friends that had one and at the time it was cheaper than the PS3. If you are debating about which system to get, I would factor in which system your friends have or might get in the future and if you would prefer to watch Blu-ray movies or Netflix streaming.

2009 Mini-Marathon

Mon, 04 May 2009 04:17:00 GMT

Today I ran the Mini-Marathon for the third time. Unfortunately, it was my slowest time to date. The big reason why I had my slowest time is I really didn’t train for it. I have been spending most of my time lately trying to build muscle mass and I’ve really layed off doing any cardio work.

Next year I will try to plan better and will hopefully be able to run the race again in under 2 hours.

Building my first DotNetNuke Module

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:45:00 GMT

I recently updated the EWGA Central Indiana web site. I originally built it using DotNetNuke(DNN). DNN was an excellent choice for a CMS system. It has been reliable and it since it is an open source project, it made the web site very affordable for the EWGA.

The EWGA needed a calendar to list their events, golf outings and trainings. I tried to find an existing module to use and was unable to find one that met their needs. I decided that I would create the module myself. At first I was a little bit timid to develop the module, but after doing research on online and playing around in Visual Studio, I found out that it is very easy to develop modules for DotNetNuke.

The following web sites were very helpful to me while I was building the calendar module:

DotNetNuke 4 - Module Development
The official DotNetNuke Site