Dragon's Eye News

I've been on a Sangria kick ever since going to El Cerro in Orlando and Susan and I made it out to Cafe Malaga in McKinney for lunch on Saturday.

It wasn't be best experience we've had there but the company was good and while the Sangria was bloody expensive, it was tasty.

Unfortunately the ladies who have been running the cafe every other time we've been in were nowhere to be found and they'd left it in the hands of the men. This was a mistake. Not a fatal one, but not a good one either. I'll admit that I generally have a bias against waiters as they typically aren't as service oriented as women. This time was no exception.

So, what the H**l have I been up to since my last post?

Workin' my ass off.

I was at a customer site from the 11th through the 29th (and flying back on the 30th) with no real time to blog or really anything more interesting to share than status on the work I was doing. Since I don't blog about work, that didn't leave me with anything.

On the other hand, the frogs in Orlando are cool and make a neat noise.

Here's what they sounded like when I got back to my hotel on the second night.

Day2Froggies.wma

Technorati : frogs, trip, work
Del.icio.us : frogs, trip, work

So I'm on my way to Mesa, AZ and the flight starts out delayed an hour but at least I'm rewarded by a pretty sunset that lasts a looong time because we're headed West.

Technorati : flying, sunset
Del.icio.us : flying, sunset

Chip's fur was getting matted in places that hadn't been groomed in a while so Susan took him to the groomers on Friday.

The poor guy came out naked.

He should be cooler though and the short fur makes him feel like velvet.

Technorati : schnauzer
Del.icio.us : schnauzer

So some of you are aware of the joy that BatteryGeek has brought to my (& Susans) life.

Recently I was contacted by someone claiming to be his soon to be ex wife and saying that Sean Murray had run off with the company leaving her with no money and millions in debt as he apparently used her credit to prop up the company.

User IP-address: xxxx
User Name: Melissa
User Email: melissabo---1@hotmail.com
User Homepage: www.newlaptopbatteries.com

Comments:
I am Sean Murrays wife. Currently we are getting a divorce. He ran off with the company leaving me no income even though I am also on our Articles of Incorporation. I sympathize with your story, it is quite obvious that he is manipulative as I also have felt the defeat of being used for my good credit to help propel our company forward. Now I have to file for bankrupcy. MOre on the story, write to me.

Before responding to her I did a few net searches and found that even his neighbors dislike Mr. BatteryGit.

The pictures from my recent trip to Burgess Hill and Brighton are up on the gallery.

My favorite one? Probably this one...

Click on the picture to see more.

Technorati : brighton, burgess hill, uk
Del.icio.us : brighton, burgess hill, uk

Dinner tonight was taken at the Indian Garden in Burgess Hill.

Things started off with a couple of very crispy pappadom and sauces I couldn't begin to name. One was obviously yogurt based and the other a kind of chutney but other than being very good I couldn't tell you what they were called.

To go with the pappadom I had a Kingfisher beer. Outside the restaurant was a relatively quiet street and bright blue sky. Inside it was "typical" indian furnishings and employees with impenetrable indian accents.

Next up was some really good keema nan filled with thinly sliced red lamb inside. It was a little odd just because I'd never had nan filled with a continuous layer of "meat" inside and I wonder how they did that. It was good though, especially with the yogurt sauce.

Halfway through the nan the chicken tikka vindaloo arrived with some pulau rice that smelled and tasted wonderful. I was warned that the vindaloo was hot but it really wasn't that spicy although the spiciness it did have built pleasantly as I made my way through the dish.

Yum.

Technorati : UK, restaurant
Del.icio.us : UK, restaurant

Stopped in the Kings Head pub for a pint and bite to eat but they only serve food for lunch.

The bartender recommended going to the Oak Barn and was very helpful so I'm having a pint here before heading off to dinner. Decided to try John Smith's but probably won't try it again. It's billed as "Extra Smooth" but is really just flat.

Next it was off to the Oak Barn and a pint of Fosters to start with.

I was warned that football was on tonight and it would be very quiet. It was indeed quiet with the waitresses, one waiter and the too-serious manager bustling about the dining room and only a handful of tables filled.

The food was very good and the environment very pretty with the sun coming into the wood filled room "just so" and a wood floor that just begs to be danced on. In fact, I might just have to do that on the way out.

Dinner was composed of a veggie ravioli (a very large single) followed by salmon on a bed of olives and onion with the house merlot and trailed by cheesecake and Irish whisky. Ok, two Irish whiskys.

Technorati : UK, beer, pub
Del.icio.us : UK, beer, pub

I cheered her on and got some video, which I'll post on the main gallery later, and eventually the squirrel made a break for it. Unfortunately Sophie wasn't fast enough and the Squirrel made it to the roof where she proceeded to taunt Sophie with squeaks and tail swishing.

A new version of CTR has been released.

0.3 - June 27, 2007. Modified so that a full screen redraw is always issued after the screen is rotated. Ensures that all current apps will redraw with current CT settings.

Go get it...

http://www.dragonseye.com/blog/pages/CTR.html

ClearType Rotator v 0.02 is available through the previous link.  It's mostly functional with the only remaining work to do being:

1. Remove the UI.  That's the plan at the moment although I may just make it an alternate interface.
2. Change the icon.  It was borrowed from some .NET sample code.
3. Implement loading the ClearType Tuner powertoy.
4. Implement a "load on startup" setting.

What it does at the moment is:

1. Rotates the screen to a user-specified orientation.
2. Saves the current ClearType settings.
3. When the screen orientation is changed, if CT settings have been saved CTR will automatically restore those settings.

All of this is through a menu available from an icon in the system tray.

I got tired of not having the ability to rotate my Fujitsu T4215 Tablet PC screen to a specific orientation, rather than having to cycle through them using the rotate button, so I put together a tiny program to rotate the tablet screen to a specific angle.

RotateScreen Archive

Feel free to use this program however you like just keep the copyrights intact and don't claim that you wrote it.

Usage:

RotateScreen [0|9|1|2]

The numbers represent angle rotation, either 0 degrees (normal laptop orientation), 90 degrees, 180 degrees or 270 degrees rotation.

The store has been upgraded and a new addition is Express Checkout through PayPal.

This means that you don't need to create an account in the store before making a purchase. Just make your selections and then when you're ready to pay, click on the "Checkout with PayPal" button and pay through PayPal like you're used to.