MS View

Stardate 59011.2
Microsoft has an interesting view of the world sometimes. I installed Visual Studio 2005 on my work computer, and then loaded an old version of a common project (old in terms of it was worked on in September 2005). Rebuilding it resulted in thousands of C4996 warnings. Apparently much of the C standard library functions have been deprecated. In software development, deprecated means the feature is slated to be removed at some unspecified time in the future, so don’t use it. Now, I call attention to the word STANDARD. These have been part of the library for longer than Microsoft has existed as a company. Granted, not understanding them or misusing them opens security holes, and has led to many a critical update or patch. But these are common to millions of programs. MS does provide ‘safe’ alternates, but for projects such as mine and many others that need to port to operating systems besides Windows, these are not an option. My opinion is that this is the same as telling people that driving cars is not recommended because you might get in an accident, and you need to find an alternative because we will be taking them away in the next five years. There needs to be a better solution.

I took Patrick to his first fencing lesson. He loves it. The instructor was nice and very patient. We will see how long his interest holds, but now I have one more thing to do.

Rachel and Thomas have started basketball practices. Rachel’s coach is a little reserved, and seemed to favor his daughter over everyone else. I could be wrong, though, but we shall see. Cub Scouts is the same time as Thomas’s basketball practice, so I didn’t get to see it. I’m told his coach is good. Thomas’s games are all 8 or 9 on Saturday, and Rachel’s is 1 or 2, so I’ll be spending a few Saturdays in Ogden.

April took the car to Young Chevrolet for an estimate. $849 was the total. I figured about $1000. I pay the $250 deductible; the insurance company gets the rest. The other issue is that it will take three days. I’ll need to get a rental since I need a car.

2006 is turning out good so far, in a strange way. The printer started flashing all the lights on Monday and would not print. I checked HP support website, and it said the printer has a hardware failure. April called support, and found out the warranty expires at the end of the month. HP is shipping us a new one. I’ve been pleased with their support, if not the products. We seem to go through printers very fast.

I updated my resume on Monster.com after getting an email that said I’d be entered in a contest. I figured it could not hurt. I’ve had calls from a bunch of headhunters…er, recruiters to use the new century term. Nothing they’ve offered is outstanding yet.

I got message from SmithBarney. They wanted to verify my mailing address. I was a little puzzled since I don’t have an account with them. I called them and gave them my address. They had tried to mail me a check for $3.50, but it was returned. My guess would be it got delivered to the wrong house, since that happens a lot. It turns out they are managing some stock options I was granted in the mid nineties. I had forgotten about it. I checked on them, and found out one grant of more than a thousand shares would expire on the 18 of January. So I exercised them at $61.41 a share. I am in a little bit of shock.

Mood: uncomprehending
Music of the Moment: Rossini’s Overture for William Tell. Besides reminding me of the Lone Ranger, this also conjures Daffy Duck. It was the background music for many a Looney Tune.


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