I have evolved into a MySpace user.

For my reader-base utilizing MySpace my profile is located:

www.myspace.com/siteconstrux

and my RSS feed (basically announcing that I've posted content on this web site or ForeverRemembering.com) is located here:

blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm

The second drawing in my series of Granby, Missouri mines is the 1905 Cheap Screw Mine.  Again, I took inspiration from a book published in 1905 using Missouri State Geology records.  The endearing thing about this mine is its apparent lack of upkeep. This pencil drawing illustrates the disarray of the immediate surroundings of this lead mining site.   My initial thoughts on creating prints is beginning to materialize into two runs, a limited edition Giclee, which will be printed on demand and another limited edition run of prints.  The Giclee run will be limited to 25 and the limited edition run will be 500.  I'll post more details as I finish negotiations with each of the printers.  Thanks to all my supporters (both of you are appreciated ;) and the critics who have helped me improve my art.

My grandparents still maintain Purple Martin houses and have for at least 25 years. In Southern Missouri you have to mitigate all the mosquito bites in some way, just so happens, they chose to encourage Purple Martins to next near their house.  The cats used to get close and the birds would dive bomb them promptly. I never saw the cats catch one, but of the dozens of Martins around I suspect they got one from time to time.

The best Purple Martin habitat almost always contains a large open field.  I've seen small colonies (25 birds plus their young) on as small as a half acre tract.  My Grandfather's colony consisting of well over 50 adults has about 75 acres of open terrain.  The one thing I almost immediately noticed is the Purple Martin's tendency to fight for the gourd houses more intensely than the tradition multi unit houses.

I hear that a newspaper recently did an article on Grandpa's Martins. Can't wait to see it.

Ebay.com purchases are a norm for me, but what I do with them is often a mystery with my family.  My acquisition of the 1905 Geology of Mines, Granby Missouri Area turned out to be a source of drawing inspiration.  In one of the later plates a photograph appears of the Jack Sprout Mine in Granby, Missouri.  After viewing several photos I finally composed this picture of the mine in the hometown of my youth.  One day maybe I'll determine the exact location of the old Jack Sprout Mine and photograph the present day area.  In the foreground of my drawing a hand jig is seen and the bigger tower is an example of a beam pump.  I'm exploring turning this drawing into a print series for others to enjoy, though I don't have much experience in this arena.

In any event drawing is a relaxing hobby that keeps my stress level in balance, and gives me a sense a purpose.  The enjoyment of finishing a sketch is quite an experience to be treasured. I pray everyone finds a stress reliever as good as the one I possess.

This shot was a long time coming.  Over the past three years I've tried various ways to shoot fireworks, however; it wasn't until this year did I apply my methodology of shooting lightning strikes to fireworks.  Basically, what I did was set up my tripod with my Canon 10D and a 17-40 lense wide open.  To achieve the shot I went to full manual mode and set the Time Priority to 'bulb'.  This means that when I press the shutter button and hold down my exposure will be 'active' until I release the shutter button, and I will have captured everything that happens during that time frame.  If you have further questions on how to use this technique to shoot fireworks, please, add a comment and I will answer you in the comments for all our other readers benefit as well.

My top pick for bowling balls is the Hammer Black Widow Pearl.  I stand about 5 to 7 boards off to the left of center and throw at the right gutter.  At the very end of my roll the Black Widow Pearl will break hard at the end.  I've rolled about 12 games with this ball and have 4 200 games at this point.  If you have questions about this ball I'll answer any you have if you leave a comment!

Driving out on South Saint Vrain in Estes Park will quickly take you to Lily Lake, a Reynolds' vacation spot favorite.  There are a couple of easy trails, one completely around the lake and another up a small mountain.  Going around the lake in early morning will get you nice photos from any angle.  Not every day will you get fog at Lily Lake, so enjoy it when you can, though I prefer a clear day with a nice sunrise to shoot.

Photo Statistics:

Shutter Speed 1/90 sec
Lens Aperture F/4
Focal Length 17mm
ISO-100
Metering Mode Partial
Exposure Compensation 0 step
No Flash

With as many new modules as I've created for my web sites and shared between them all, I've developed a need for custom sections in my web configs.  That way it's easy to copy and paste setting for a component into a new (or existing) project and not worry about overlapping (i.e to config elements with the same name).  I've been doing this for a long time but it always took me 4 or 5 lines of code to access the values in the elements.

Here some example web.config code:

<configuration>

   <configSections>

      <section name="RSS" type="System.Configuration.DictionarySectionHandler, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/>

   </configSections>

   <RSS>

      <add key="ContentType" value="text/xml"/>

      <add key="Title" value="Site Construx's Article RSS Feed"/>

   </RSS>

</configuration> 

Here's how to access the custom config element with a single line of code

	(string)((Hashtable)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("RSS"))["Generator"];

If you're having trouble with this feel free to post a comment and I'll help you out!

In a 1 on 1 meeting with one of my senior developers today the topic of Continuous Integration with Cruise Control.NET was brought up.  We have a unique situation were we have Team Foundation Server as source control and backlog tracking, but not being used for Continuous Integration, instead we use CruiseControl.NET.  Needless to say with approximately a dozen developers working on our solution, we've encountered some weaknesses in trouble shooting broken builds.  Ultimately our weakness lies in a lack of experience...developers are so afraid of breaking the build and causing other people pain that they just don't try much and therefore don't gain much experience in troubleshooting broken builds. 

Ultimately, my conversation with the senior developer revolved around what he could do to further educate the team and get us using CI more extensively.  In hindsight I would have recommended that if he could get people using CI at home on their own personal web sites and projects their knowledge would increase exponentially faster than any effort we could do.  Funny how hindsight is so clear. 

After experimenting with the Time Value setting on my Canon 10D setting it on about 1/10 of a second, I was able to get some nice river pictures.  I really like the photos and the effects that they were captured on our vacation this month.