I use an RSS aggregator almost daily. I started off with RSS Reader, then decided to move to SharpReader because it had a little more of what I was looking for feature-wise.

I’ve used SharpReader for quite a while, but while it’s configurable in some ways that other readers aren’t, I found the control you have over feeds in RSS Bandit is pretty cool, particularly with the ability to apply your own XSLT to the feed, not to mention there’s actually a product roadmap and some pretty decent support.

So today I downloaded RSS Bandit and started messing with it, liked it, and decided to move my settings over to it.

Hoo, boy.

SharpReader exports in OPML format. RSS Bandit exports in some other format. Time to write a conversion…

…and here it is. An XSLT document that, when run against the exported SharpReader settings, renders an XML document that you can import into RSS Bandit.

SharpReader2RSSBandit.xslt

UPDATE:CR_Documentor has found a new home on Google Code.Head over there to get the latest version and updated information.

Lutz Roeder, a fantastic developer of ultra-helpful tools, took his “Documentor” application - which allowed a developer to preview what XML document comments would look like rendered into end-user documentation - down from his site. He was nice enough to send me the source for it, though, so I’ve converted it into a Visual Studio tool window add-in via the rich plug-in framework offered by the Developer Express, Inc. package, DXCore (which also supports CodeRush for Visual Studio .NET).

This plug-in allows you to see a preview of your XML document comments - a la Roeder’s original Documentor - real-time, as you edit the comments in Visual Studio.

CR_Documentor offers the ability to choose the level of tags you want to be “compatible” with, the manner in which “unrecognized” tags are handled, and other formatting options.

CR_Documentor also offers context-menu support to aid in working with XML documentation comments, including inserting templates, embedding selections in templates, toggling outlining on XML doc comments, and toggling visibility of the CR_Documentor window.

Installation is as easy as copying a DLL into a folder. The included readme.txt outlines installation, usage, and workarounds for known issues.

UPDATE:CR_Documentor has found a new home on Google Code.Head over there to get the latest version and updated information.

It was a pretty long week back at work after vacation last week. There was a deadline today… well, I guess it’s yesterday, now… Friday… for the project I was working on. I got done what needed to get done, but the stuff I was working on didn’t really get tested too well, so that’ll have to happen next week.

I got home after work Friday and, after some dinner and conversation, decided it was time to re-enter San Andreas for a short period, which I did. Like, maybe only four hours. Heh.

And now… It’s time for bed. I’m too tired to play anymore (and win; I could play and get killed repeatedly, but that’s not really fun), but I’m just slightly too awake to sleep. I figure I should probably just go to bed, though. A friend of mine is coming over tomorrow night (that is, tonight, Saturday night) and I should probably be awake enough to, you know, visit.

This evening is the end of my nine day sabbatical, and I look back on it with fondness, like the end of a movie where the person flashes back to all the good times in their life in a soft focus. I did nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.

Tomorrow I’ll return to work and wade through the emails, voice mails, sticky notes, white board scribblings, and other communicative relics folks felt so inclined to leave for me in my absence. I’ll do my best to make sense of what happened while I was gone, piecing fragments of communiques together in a near-arbitrary order (since chronological doesn’t ever quite do it), and people will ask why I’m not done with whatever it was I was working on, what my status is.

Sigh.

I will also face the choice of allowing myself to be distracted by the innumerable requests for a recount of my adventures in San Andreas or blocking my cubicle door, at which point I will only get half as many requests, these from the people who think the “I’m Busy” indicators outside my cube really don’t apply to them (and those people would be incorrect). I will attempt to point them to my web site, where there is bound to be more richness and detail about my travels than I am able to impart in the abbreviated time allotted, but they will all always rather hear it directly from me, since I obviously will have copious amounts of time to spare on such things my first couple of days back.

In the end, my vacation was good, and I am glad I took it. However, when I return to work, bright and early tomorrow morning, I will probably close my eyes, shake my head, and wonder if it was really worth it, to take a small amount of relaxation time in the midst of one of my neverending projects, just so I can be that much further behind.

That said, I suppose it can be argued that if one is constantly sprinting, when “crunch time” really comes and additional speed is required, there will be no energy left to go that extra mile.

I think the answer is that maybe, just maybe, life itself needs to slow down - just a little - so it isn’t always required that one sprints; perhaps slow and steady really does win the race. Sadly, the business world - the high-tech business world - rests for no one, and doesn’t really afford its minions the rest, either. One must take one one can get, and enjoy it while it lasts, since the world waits for no one.

Onward, ever forward, I go.

My last day in San Andreas was probably my most eventful. I won’t bore you with too much detail, but I did some cross-country racing; lost my girlfriend, Catalina, to a mute dude headed to Liberty City; destroyed a huge crop of weed and, once the cops came, a police helicopter; drove around San Fierro (one of the major cities in San Andreas); framed the San Fierro DA for drug possession (won’t be seeing any more of him, will we?); and took a few photos of some very suspect individuals in an attempt to figure out who my lame ex-friends, Ryder and Big Smoke, are working with.

It may not sound like a lot, but it was. Much of this activity took me all across the countryside, particularly in the Badlands, in the southwest quadrant of San Andreas, and that’s some real rural stuff.

I did take the time to participate in a defensive driving school, where they taught me useful skills like how to do cookies, control a car after running over a police spike strip, and execute a PIT maneuver. All things I’ll definitely use back home.

I also took the time to drive some very popular women around town. They’d get calls from people named “John” (there are a lot of people named John in San Andreas!), and I’d drive them all over to meet these Johns. Then they’d finish talking (or whatever) with these gentlemen and I’d go pick them up and take them to see another friend. Each time I’d pick them up, they’d give me quite a large sum of money. Not too shabby for a glorified taxi driver, right?

San Andreas has taught me all sorts of useful skills during my stay. I’ve learned new vocabulary, driving skills, shooting skills, and even some new ways to positively influence the ladies, if you know what I mean. I’ve also decided that I’m definitely in the wrong line of work back home because there is so much more money to be easily made doing other, possibly less legal, things. I’ve probably made half a million dollars over the course of my stay. Tax free, no less.

In all seriousness, though, my stay in San Andreas was great fun. I’ve only seen about 2/3 of the place, so I’ll definitely be coming back for more, just not during such an extended stay like this one.

One thing to note - I never saw any kids while walking/biking/driving the streets of San Andreas, and I think that’s because kids aren’t (and shouldn’t be) allowed to visit. It’s a lot more harsh than I remember my visit to Vice City being, and Vice City wasn’t a child’s destination, either. So, mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be gangsters. Or something like that.

In summary: Great place to visit (I’ll be coming back! Soon!), but, as usual, wouldn’t want to live there.