Just Sayin’ More Words

It’s been awhile…

Lately (while not blogging) I’ve been thinking of things I’d really like to blog about but haven’t made the time for. Here they are:

jQuery
I hate JavaScript. jQuery changes everything though. I can actually be a functional JavaScript programmer. I particularly like how you can attach events without overloading your code with onclick="" everywhere. I got hooked on jQuery for UI bits (especially the tablesorter and tabs plugins), but I’m becoming obsessed with it because of the sweet Ajax functions. jQuery + ASP.NET AJAX PageMethods is teh awesome (minus the HUGE ASP.NET AJAX script handlers). I’ve also been pondering using jQuery for a light-weight faux-UpdatePanel setup (similar to this). You may hear more about this in the future.

SubSonic
I can’t really add anything to the SubSonic conversation that you probably haven’t heard before so I’ll keep this section short. The unofficial MVC templates have made their way into a ton of my projects. I’m psyched for version 2.1 codename "Pakala" and the new, officially-supported Repository Pattern to replace the MVC templates.

Flee
I have an extremely fun project that’s heavily using Flee but unfortunately, that’s still under wraps for the time being.

Super Mario Galaxy
You can’t work all the time! This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing a game. I usually stick to sports games, but this game is incredible. It will redefine what you know about Mario and platformers.

Jing Project
I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this before today. I was looking for a way to more easily take screengrabs (without spending any money) when I came across TechSmith’s Jing Project. Jing is a dead simple way to share screengrabs and even simple screencasts. The interface is exceptional and the service works great from capture to uploading. Here’s hoping they keep it free!

MozyPro
Cheap, instant off-site back up. Takes the work out of backing up.

FogBugz On Demand Student and Startup Edition
FogBugz combines my favorite things: well-made software and free. Evidence-based scheduling help us keep the January 2008 update of SnapLeague mostly on time and the SVN integration works well and has come in handy many times.