If you were to recommend a definitive ASP.Net book which one would it be? Why? I would like a book that provides a starting point for a newbie, but allows me to use it as a reference once I progress my skills. Let me know. Wayne

Depending on your budget and the number of tracks that you need, you could go for the free version of ProTools. I think it's the LE version. You might also consider the Cakewalk Home Studio version. The newest version allows more than just 2 inputs at one time. Wayne http://www.wcater.com

It's lunch time right now for me. I am sitting at my desk eating a Starkist Tuna pkg with crackers and a banana for desert. All this while I try to achieve something at work. There have been deep enough cuts that now I am wearing so many hats....Oh I shouldn't even get started! What are you having for lunch? :) Wayne

Been a long time since I heard this one. Thanks for making me laugh a little today. Wayne

I have a full time job working for a small firm who contracts my services to a Fortune 100 Company. I used to work for that F100, but left after 4.25 years. I went out of state and returned 1 year later as a contractor. I have been in this position for the past 7.5 years. I too have a home based business. LukeV wrote: If so, what kind? Custom software development, web page design, consulting. I developed and sold Pocket PC software in the past. I ran PocketSoftFactory.com for 2 years. LukeV wrote: Why do you do it? Satisfaction. The fortune 100 company that I contract to is not the technology mecca of the world. I did it to learn new technology. I also have done it for the money and....that little dream of working for myself in the future. LukeV wrote: Would you rather work exclusively for your business or you like it that way? The little firm that I work for has been very good to me. I would rather work for myself though. LukeV wrote: ...but I don't have enough time to acomplish anything fast! How do you guys manage both things? I understand! I have 3 children and a beautiful wife. When I ran PocketSoftFactory.com I would often be up during the week until 3 am. I then got up at 6:30 and got on the road to do the office thing. It was tough. I learned to drink lots of coffee and nap a little on the weekends. If you believe in your product and are having fun, go for it. :) Wayne

I am staring at a huge VB6 project. I need a tool that will compare the current release to the last release source file by source file. Basically I need to know what's been changed since the last release. Can you recommend a tool that does this? Wayne

Stephan, That was great! I needed to break up my day with laughter. :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: Wayne

Paul Watson wrote: Is $25 a reasonable amount of money to you? Yes, $25 is a reasonable amount of money. I work hard for my pay. I don't want to part with it too quickly. It doesn't come back all that easily. Paul Watson wrote: For those who live in first world countries; Do you realise that $25 to most of the world is not peanuts I went to Russia with a buddy of mine about 18 months ago. We went south from Moscow by train. 19.5 hours later we were in a small town where the average pay of a well paid person was equivalent to about $8US. Simple things like deoderant that cost $2 was a luxury for many. It was eye opening. I will never forget it. One more comment... I sold software via Handango.com and PocketGear.com. I sold a little PocketPC utility for $5.00US for a while. The utility was used to set the default input method on the PocketPC. I got a couple of emails from folks who felt $5.00 was way too much money. I reconsidered and decided to give away the little util. There were quite a few folks out there who bought the product at $5.00. Generally I ask myself 'how many hours of work does that purchase equal?'. Regards, Wayne

Gerald Schwab wrote: Average salary for a C# developer is $98,813. This is too funny! I recently saw a posting for a C# developer. The pay was near $34K/yr. My wife and I both just laughed at the thought that an employer thought he'd get someone with skills for that amount. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Wayne

Marc Clifton wrote: Anyone else up to see it? Tried here in South Louisiana. Unfortunately, we were largely shrouded by clouds. The only way I saw it, was on 10pm news. They were showing shots taken in St. Louis.:( Wayne

Mike Mullikin wrote: Any recommendations on what versions to use on this slow of machine? Try Suse 7.3 Pro. They are upto release 8.1, I think. Version 7.3 comes with some good documentation, and a myriad of utils. It gives you the various GUIs (besides the standard KDE and Gnome). It's worth your time to check it out. It will even help you install it along side of Windows Fat32. Wayne

Barry, Thanks for the link. I multiplied by 1.6 and got what appears to be close to the last figures I saw here in the States about 6 - 9 months ago. :) Wayne

Jeremy Falcon wrote: I'm somewhat of a joker/get people really pissed off at me kinda guy. It would take a whole lot more to get me worked up. So do you like New Orleans/Metarie? I have thought of commuting to N.O. from Walker. Wayne

Jeremy Falcon wrote: I don't stalk people on Tuesdays anyway. I am not paranoid about you stalking me. :) It's that I don't want to loose the gig I currently have. I am not sure who at work frequents CP. Wayne

Jeremy Falcon wrote: Which part of Louisiana are you in? Working in BR. I live 15 miles East of BR. I work in North BR at one of the plants. (Not gonna say which one) Thanks for the link to the tech companies. Wayne

Do any of you have a fav site that shows 2003 pay scales for Programming jobs? I have seen them in the past, but I want to see how my pay falls now. I know that I need to be thankful that I even have a contract and job, but I am working on 4 years without a pay raise. Management keeps using the 'soft market' phrase when I bring up money. AND of course, I am doing lots more than 4 years ago!!! I am also curious as to your perception of what jobs are like in your area. I live in Louisiana. Let's face it, there just aren't all that many programming jobs here. (I heard on the radio last week that 7000 more folks left the state than came in since 2000. The brain drain is on.) :| Wayne

A very Interesting read. I have 3 former co-workers who have been out of work since last August and September. I am a contractor who used to have annual contracts. Now the contracts are for 6 months at a time. I have been at this one location for 7+ years and I am approaching age 36 in 18 days. IT management has asked several of my coworkers to take cuts in pay up to 18%. I haven't had a raise in 3.5 years. Funny that the Fortune 100 company I contract to just reported over $6 billon profits for Q1. My current delimma is when to take some vacation. I backfill 3 other folks and yet I have no backfill. If I didn't have 3 wonderful kids who are accustomed to eating and a beautiful wife who depends on me, I would consider opening a bait shop and fishing for my meals. I love coding and designing software, but the job satisfaction is not what it was. I am glad that I have a job right now, but I welcome a change in scenery. Wayne

BestSnowman wrote: now I am doing most of my C# work with the command line. All you need is the .NET SDK (or whatever they call it) and csc will do your C# command line "compiling Looks like all I need now is a good C# Book. Any recommendations as to something that will get me started and be useful as a reference later? bwcater

Daniel Turini wrote: There is even a nice and free IDE for streamlining this, just like the WebMatrix, named SharpDevelop. I didn't try it yet, but it seems very good. Daniel, Thanks for the info. I am looking at SharpDevelop info right now. Thanks again!!!:) For those of you reading this and interested in the SharpDevelop tool... http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Download/ bwcater

I was looking at EBay last night and noticed quite a few VS.Net Academic Editions for sale. Some of the sellers listed the Microsoft policy requirements, but of course some didn't. Is there some limitation as to what the academic version contains and can do versus the non academic equivalent? Why do you think that there are so many AE versions for sale? One more question. I have VB.Net Standard and the WebMatrix Tool installed on XP. I noticed under the \Windows\Framework\ folder that there are command line execs for what appears to be CSharp, JSharp and some others. Is it possible to write CSharp and JSharp code outside of the IDE and fully compile using these command line execs? What are your thoughts? Just curious. bwcater :suss: