What’s been going on?  First of all, what I really want to write about I can’t (or, more precisely, won’t) write about.  That’s stuff for my journal.  With that caveat out of the way…

I recently had reason to pass in a username/password combination to an MSi file for an unattended auto-install of a Windows Service.  I’d been following this CodeProject post on how to pass in additional parameters to an MSI, and things were going along swimmingly….almost.  It turns out that the parameter names I had chosen – “UserName” and “Password” – were reserved, and the “UserName” parameter was being replaced under the covers by my full name “Anthony Stevens” instead of the string parameter I’d been passing along on the command line.  Of course there was no warning, no error; the thing just didn’t work.  Lesson learned: logging can be your friend.  I have to get better at log4net so I can introduce a new log4net configuration in my sleep.

My CSS work is just about complete.  I got to include a smallish bit of JavaScript/jQuery work in the project as well.  Next steps look like they may include a broader architectural review, maybe including updates to the SDLC processes, which is really my bread and butter.  This organization wouldn’t fare so well on things like The Joel Test, so there is an opportunity to make significant progress right away.

Today and tomorrow I’ll be working on some architectural diagrams for a large-ish system that I’ve been collaborating on with a partner.  It’s a long-term investment of time and effort, but who knows which things will pay off.  On a philosophical level, sometimes you spend a lot of time doing things that seem like they’ll *never* bear fruit – but if you enjoy the time spent, you never know what can happen.  I believe that good things happen to good people.  I believe in optimism.  I believe in hope.  I believe that “no” can turn into “maybe” can turn into “yes”.

Exercise has been going well.  Last week’s proto-cold has disappeared, and although I’m not going back to two-a-days, I’ve been going every morning.  Yesterday I ran 4 1/2 miles on the treadmill, and this morning I lifted weights, to put day 88 behind me.  I also did something strange (for me) – I introduced myself to, and chatted with, someone that I’d seen at the gym regularly the last couple months.  Normally when I’m at the gym I’m very focused, intense, an in-and-out kind of guy.  But I figured I should get to know these people that I see every day so I had a nice short conversation before I left for the day.

I’m still losing weight, steadily – I’m down 57 pounds from my all-time high.  None of my pants – and this is not an exaggeration – fit me.  All of my belts are too long.  I’m also getting less and less shocked at seeing ab muscles in the mirror.  I feel physically great.  My sleep the last week or so has been ragged, but that’s a symptom of something else, not the exercise.

Wishing you the best possible day, whoever you are.