I got a catalog in the mail this weekend for “The Noble Collection.” Normally I’m not too into the whole “collector’s reproductions of movie crap” thing, but this stuff rocks. They have a great section on Harry Potter as well as a really cool section on Lord of the Rings.

I didn’t even like Lord of the Rings, but I have to admit, I must have the 18K One Ring. Like, to the point that… well, I don’t wear jewelry of any nature, but I’m considering getting the sterling silver version of the thing, just to see how I like it (and to see the quality of the stuff these folks sell).

I also think the revolving elvish script ring is pretty cool.

And to answer my dad’s question from this weekend: No, Liv Tyler does not come free with purchase of Arwen-related items, nor does Cate Blanchett come with Galadriel items. Sorry.

Due to the incompatibility with peoples’ schedules, their desires, their qualms, and so on, my family has put a moratorium on Thanksgiving.

Which is to say: nobody’s getting together, so I have a vacation day all to myself. Sounds like some Chinese food is in my future. Mmmm…

This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever. I’m sure I’ll be making my way back to San Andreas for a bit, which will be nice since I’ve only really had time to return on weekends.

Speaking of San Andreas, my shirt should be here today. I ordered it last week and I’m anxious for it. After spending so much time there, it’ll be nice to have something that openly declares it so. I told Jenn I ordered this and she shook her head like I’d broken some unspoken rule that says I can’t be a gamer geek like the rest of the English speaking world out there. Too bad, baby! I’m a citizen of San Andreas now!

I also got to play (San Andreas) for a while this weekend, which was nice. I finished a few more missions that opened up the ability for me to fly, so I’ve been cruising around in airplanes and helicopters, going back to other places to pick up money and guns that I normally wouldn’t pick up because it’s too far away… but now that I can fly, it’s a lot faster. Just take a helicopter, land in the middle of the street, get what you need, and fly away. (My favorite flying vehicle is the jetpack - don’t leave home without it!)

I finished the book I was reading, Eragon, this weekend and it was awesome. I can’t wait for the next one.

While normally I alternate between fiction and non-fiction/educational books (I can only really read one book at a time because I forget what’s going on in the various books if I don’t stick to one), I’ve decided to break that and read another fiction. Next up is Lyra’s Oxford by Philip Pullman. Admittedly short, but I loved the His Dark Materials trilogy with the same characters, so it’ll be nice to see a little more from that universe.

Saw National Treasure this weekend and had a good time with it. Sure, it was totally implausible, but it was fun, so I have to give it high marks. I don’t know if I’ll be picking it up on DVD, but it was definitely worth the watch.

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.