Nice little trick if you want to return results sorted randomly from a SQL 2000/2005 database:

SELECT * FROM Customers ORDER BY newid()

So say you want to return 10 random customers from the database, you'd modify the statement as such:

SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Customers ORDER BY newid()

For those who don't know, newid() generates a new guid, just as Guid.NewGuid() does in .NET.  By ordering a uniquely generated guid, we're guaranteed random results.

Well it was bound to happen.  Everyone in my office had made the switch back, I was the last holdout.  I finally had it with Vista! 

I really wanted to like it, I really did.  It looked sharp... hmm, come to think of it, that's all I can really say about it.  I looked sharp.  But in the end, after installing some updates, it became unstable and I failed to figure out what the cause was.  Even with uninstalling said updates, it still randomly spiked the cpu to 100% for 5 or so minutes at a time, leaving me helpless to do any work.

So, before I left work yesterday I repartinioned my C:\ drive and reinstalled XP.  Up until 11pm last night I was trying to get my machine back to par for work.  I have to admit, after making the switch from XP to Vista then back to XP, I do notice that XP is considerably faster.  I guess making it look "sharp" had it's disadvantages.

Quick note to Microsoft: WTF MAN!  How could you screw up an OS so badly?  I want Vista, but I want it STABLE.  I don't want to have to cross my fingers before installing updates as I had to ever since I installed it.  And yes, I have had to uninstall updates in the past. 

Here's another WTF that Vista threw at me today.  I had to come home early today and decided to work the rest of the day from home.  Now, because I can't undock my laptop because Vista freezes, before I leave each day, I put it to "sleep".  So, first thing I needed to do before I could resume working was to connect to my works VPN.  Now, normally this is not an issue, but sometime (I'd say every 1 out of 4 times) Vista displays "This connection requires an active Internet connection" in the "Connect to a Network" dialog even though, directly below it, it clearly shows that I'm connected via my wireless connection. 



To get around this, simple do the following:

Click on the "Set up a connection or network" link on the above dialog box.



Scroll down the list of connection options and select "Connect to a workplace".



Choose "Yes, I'll choose an existing connection" on the next screen and Vista will connect to the VPN.

Not sure why this happens but I've seen it enough times to warrant this post.

Yesterday, my wife and I went out to our favorite christmas tree farm and picked out three lovely trees.  Yes, I said three.  We do this. 

The farmer was nice enough to let my wife cut down the smallest of them.



Exhilarating! Her first confirmed kill.



After all that hard work, here she is in her "pose" under a warm cup of Peet's Coffee.

I recently installed Google Deskbar and the image rotator went and indexed my pictures directory (Vista's toolbar did not).  Today, while working, I looked up and smiled because I saw my wife looking at me. 



Isn't she adorable?