MoonMen for Windows Phone 7 and 8
I’m officially announcing MoonMen, an arcade game for Windows Phone 7 and 8. It takes inspiration from a game we used to play on our Commodore 64, which itself takes inspiration from another arcade game that takes inspiration from another arcade game, and so on. This is how many games go. So feel free to download it!
BlarghPad returns
BlarghPad is back as a Windows Store app. I can’t honestly say the words “new and improved”, because it would be like comparing apples to oranges; but it certainly has features that are new compared to its old incarnation. I made this release for the faithful supporters of the old version (Thanks Jon F.—there may have been others also). Over time, if I have the time and inclination, new features may spring into existence, and updates will show up in the store also.
Powerful sneeze
I sneezed while standing at the bus stop this morning. Apparently it was a powerful one, because the metal clasp on my shoulder strap broke. So, on the list of odd emotions, it was somehow a combination of amused and stunned, with a dash of annoyed for the inconvenience of it all.
It’s fun seeing things like this…
…on the walk into the office. More info here.
A Good Husband
I LOVE boneless buffalo wings (BBW’s)! To give you an idea of just how much I love BBW’s, here’s an example: when I was 16 to maybe 20, my friends and I would go out to Applebee’s and get their b1g1 appetizers. Generally, there were 4 of us, so if we were hungry, we’d get 4 appetizers and share. I usually ate most of the BBW’s. If I wanted to, I could eat a whole basket myself (healthy, I know). These days, I could still do this, but I’m cheap and somewhat healthier.
This weekend, as Peter was contemplating what to make for dinner (he cooks on Saturdays – yes, I am blessed), I told him I wanted something “unhealthy”. Something like chili cheese fries, a chili cheese dog, or boneless buffalo wings. After some deducing, we decided upon the BBW’s. Peter used 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, then breaded them with half of Jeff Mauro’s breading recipe (here) and baked them. (Making “unhealthy” things at home allows you to make them healthier.)
After baking, he sauced them with some Frank’s Buffalo Sauce. With a side of blue cheese dressing, they were AMAZING!!
And yes, he is a good great husband!
Chopped Greek Salad with Chicken
Yesterday, I opened my email to see a typical note from Eating Well. Usually, I glance at the good looking food, but never actually make it – the recipe reviews are always 3 stars or less. This time was different, I was drawn to the website for Chopped Greek Salad with Chicken – it looked so good! (Salad Recipe) Once at the website, I was amazed to see that the recipe had twenty-seven 5 star reviews! I checked out the ingredients – I had most, and could buy the rest. I was hooked.
When making this for dinner, I only strayed from the original recipe by leaving the cucumber peels on (they’re good for you), and using a mix of balsamic vinegar and rice vinegar (I did not have Red-Wine Vinegar). The salad turned out wonderfully! The ingredients mixed nicely together – the creaminess of the cheese, the crunch of the cucumbers, the tartness of the dressing – mmmm!
As a side note, make sure to eat all of the salad the first day. By Day 2, most of the liquid has drained to the bottom of your bowl, making a sad salad.
Marion’s patio
And speaking of new platforms
My division just announced our release candidate for Visual Studio. Of course, you should run it on the new Windows 8 Release Preview that was announced today also. 🙂
Update: Our Blend Insider articles are out now too: here and here.
Why make a new blog?
There were a few reasons contributing to the decision to start over completely. The old one had languished, untouched, for so long, that it seemed silly, at this point, to simply write new articles or posts for it. Additionally, I had the idea that it might be nice to form a joint blog where both Bonnie and I could write and share the same space.
While these first two ideas existed, the catalyst for actually doing it was that I now have a shiny new Windows Azure space; and since I have that, I now have an opportunity to save a bit of money by moving all my web-hosted stuff over to it. So, given the various articles and resources that document the process, I decided to try it out.
For the record, there are a few different articles that outline how to accomplish this, but this one seemed the best written of the ones I found: “WordPress on Windows Azure: Single-Site Deployment.” It”s worth a read if it interests you at all. Note that the steps about the “FileSystemDurabilityPlugin” are no longer necessary; it was removed from the scaffolder. That tripped me up for a bit, until I found this section on an article on the AzurePHP website.
Update: For those that might be interested, it doesn”t quite work out of the box. One small tweak is required to get it to work properly.