Wow, it’s been awhile. Almost a year since my last post. It truly is hard to believe. It’s been a busy year so far, but I’ve finally got some time to start posting again. I’ve got some interesting SharePoint posts coming down the pipe, plus a new site design I’m working on. It’s still in its early stages, but hopefully it’ll shape up pretty soon so I can get a sample up.

One thing you’ll notice if you’ve been here before is that I’ve managed to move the site into the 21st century by adding comments. I toyed with a few different comment management add-ins and ended up going with Disqus. It seems like it’ll suit my needs for now, and it was pretty straightforward to get integrated. Just added some script and markup to my master page and post page layout in SharePoint Designer. I’m not sure how I feel about the comments being stored separately from the site content, but it’s what I’ve got for now. It will make migration difficult if page URL’s change, which they almost certainly are when I change the architecture of the site in the next redesign. C’est la vie, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Anyway, please go ahead and engage with me through the comments if you see something interesting on the site.

I should also note, for completeness, that SharePoint includes a blog template that supports comments. I, however, rolled my own site and didn’t use the blog template or features. There were lots of reasons for this that I won’t go into right now, but there are certainly some features that SharePoint blogs have that I also want, like comments and MetaWeblog support (which I added myself). For now, I’m stuck with what I’ve got. But like I said, there are some exciting new things coming with my site redesign.

Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy man. The man had so much money that he bought anything and everything he could buy, and still had more money than he could count. As he grew older and wiser, he realized he was very unhappy. So he gathered all of his friends and confidants and asked them for their advice.

During the course of the conversation, a friend mentioned that there was a University close by filled with struggling students. The man decided he would give money to any student that wanted some.

The next day, the man walked to the main section of the University campus and arranged to rent out a small room in the center of the main campus student building, where all the students could come to get their money from him. He then sat down on a chair in the small room and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

For months, he would visit the campus every day and wait in the small room for students to come and claim their money. But no one ever came. Eventually, he became a fixture on campus. Students would smile and wave at him as they passed by the small room; some would say hello and ask how he was. But no one ever asked for money.

One day, while he sat in the small room, the man was approached by a student who had always been very friendly to the man. She stopped by every day and said hello and told him about her classes. She was always bright and cheerful. On this day, however, her eyes were puffy and red, and she walked as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

“Sir, I just wanted to come by and say goodbye…”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Well, my mom’s been really sick – and she’s better now, but my family has a ton of hospital bills and I just can’t afford to stay here at school any longer.”

“Why didn’t you say something before? I’ve been sitting here every day for months just waiting for someone to ask me for money, and no one ever has! Why didn’t you ask me before?” the man asked.

The girl looked up, her eyes glimmering with hope.

“Why didn’t you say something? How was I to know you were giving money away unless you said something? I would never have guess that’s why you sit here every day. But… can I have some money?”

The man smiled and pulled his checkbook from his pocket. “How much do you need?”

The next day, when the man arrived at the University, there was line of needy students outside the small room. The line reached out the doors of the building and wrapped all around campus.

The man asked every student why they had never come to him before, even though they needed money. “Because you didn’t tell me that’s why you were here,” they said.

Everyone repeat after me… Correlation does not imply causation! Just because two things can be proven to correlate does not guarantee a cause and effect relationship. Here’s a funny example from the Wikipedia article on the topic (courtesy The Simpsons):

Homer: Not a bear in sight. The “Bear Patrol” is working like a charm!

Lisa: That’s specious reasoning, Dad.

Homer: [uncomprehendingly] Thanks, honey.

Lisa: By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.

Homer: Hmm. How does it work?

Lisa: It doesn’t work. (pause) It’s just a stupid rock!

Homer: Uh-huh.

Lisa: But I don’t see any tigers around, do you?

Homer: (pause) Lisa, I want to buy your rock.

Please please please stop assuming that determining a cause and effect relationship is as straightforward as observing a correlation. It’s not.

Note: I know the != operator is not equivalent to “does not imply.” But I am too lazy right now to see if there’s even a Unicode character for the right symbol.

Should you ever find yourself watching a street performer’s act, and you end up volunteering, either willingly or unwillingly, to be a part of said act, here’s a piece of advice: don’t run away when the performer’s not looking. If you do, you might find out later that you’re missing something that might be important to you. This is what happened to Emily, a rather skittish young German woman who happens to be visiting Brisbane this week, and is now missing her watch.

While I was walking back to the Kookaburra this afternoon, I passed through the Queen Street Mall and stopped to view a street magician. Shortly after I started watching, he approached a girl in the audience to act as his second “assistant.” The girl didn’t look particularly happy to have been chosen, but rather than protest she joined the performer in front of the audience. Soon she was introduced s Emily from Germany, to much enthusiastic adulation from the crowd.

The performer continued on with his act, which primarily involved his first assistant, another young woman named Charlie. While he turned to face Charlie and continued on, Emily turned and left, running swiftly into the swelling crowd at the mall. It took a few seconds for both the audience and the performer to figure out what was happening. The crowd started laughing at her departure, but the performer yelled after her, “Wait! You’re missing something!” With that, he pulled a hand watch from his pocket and waved it above his head. Alas, Emily ran on, and was soon lost in the crowd. The performer looked a bit baffled, jokingly offered the watch to anyone who would buy it, then continued on with his act (with a new second assistant).

My first thought was that Emily was in on it, but after the act a few people approached the performer and asked if it was scripted. He explained that it wasn’t. He had removed her watch surreptitiously as part of his act and was planning to reveal it to her later on. His intention was by no means to steal her watch, but when she ran off so unexpectedly he didn’t know what to do.

So people, if you wind up in a street performer’s act, please just be good-natured about it and participate. It’s really not that hard.

Seriously, the next time you’re in Portland, go to Sanborn’s and get some breakfast. Freaking amazing food. Elizabeth and I went there last weekend during our trip down there. Despite the fact that we got lost (I blame our crummy GPS technology – or maybe it was the navigator?), once we found it it lived up to the hype. Definitely get the biscuits – I am drooling right now just thinking about them… The pancakes and omelette’s were also very very good. It was busy, but service was decent. We also went to Lucy’s Table for dinner, which I can also highly recommend. Excellent food and service, though it was a bit pricey. I’d liken it to Café Juanita in Kirkland in terms of quality and atmosphere. Unfortunately, not all of our dining experiences in the City of Roses were good. Despite good reviews on CitySearch, the J&M Café left a lot to be desired. Not outright bad, but definitely nothing to write home about. Meh. And also note that the only Sonic within 200 miles of Seattle is in a Portland suburb. Mmmmmm, so worth the drive.