Recipe: Spinach and Artichoke Fondue
It's the time of year for Christmas parties and other holiday gatherings. As such, it's time to make "bring a dish to pass" dishes. For tonight's party: Spinach and Artichoke Fondue!
Video: Seamless Paper for Studio Photography
Always looking to improve our photography skills, we've been looking in how to get studio-quality backgrounds for portraits. Somewhat related to my recent post, paper appears to be the way to go.
This Adorama TV video gives an excellent overview on using seamless paper; I highly recommend watching the entire video:
Create and Monitor a Backup of a Database in SQL Azure
SQL Azure provides a scriptable, easy way to create a backup of a database from within SQL Management Studio. This is very useful if you need to create a backup before making a large production change, or if you just need an archive/snapshot of your current data.
Additionally, SQL Azure gives you the ability to check on the status of the backup via a SQL query. Using that, we can create a small script to monitor the status of the backup and let us know when it has finished:
Get Database Size in SQL Server Using T-SQL
Today's quick tip: get the size of your database in SQL Server (including SQL Azure) by using a T-SQL statement.
Connect to your database, and execute this query:
Fix a "Check Client Version" Error in Azure Shared Caching
If you're using Windows Server AppFabric caching and have recently updated to version 1.8 of the Windows Azure SDK, you might be running into some difficulty in connecting to the caching instance.
I started receiving this error when trying to access the cache:
Engineering a Flat-Item Product Shoot Studio
One of my favorite areas of photography is product-shots. It takes a special skill to be able to highlight the important aspects of a product in one photo, and further more, to persuade someone to buy that item.
Recently, I was asked to shoot a small set of products for a friend (jewelry, specifically). However, I didn't have an ideal setup for photographing flat products. I couldn't use the usual light tent, but I still had to take the photos on a white background. Luckily, I was able to engineer something together.
It's Never Enough: Internet Speed
I've been meaning to post this for almost 6 months, but I thought I'd share my broadband statistics.
Photography Tip: Use Wrapping Paper for Backdrops
A quick photography tip for the holiday season: for a festive and easy holiday backdrop, try taking some wrapping paper and putting it up on a wall, or better yet, wrapping a piece of plywood or other large, flat surface.
Repair a Broken iWorks '09 Install
If you're running into an issue with any of your iWorks '09 applications, Pages, Numbers, or Keynote, crashing on startup, this might help.
I was working on a friends computer to resolve an issue with this error:
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I hope you enjoy a day with friends, family, and more, and have safe travels and activities.
