Tod means Fox

Ever get stuck on a word? Here it is, only 9:30am, and I must have used the word ‘cool’ 4 times already. Once in front of my boss (”Ok, that’s cool. Thanks”), another in front of our data operations director (”Cool, I like it.”), yet another with a colleague (discussing his recent trip to Scotland), and finally again on the phone with my doctor (I have a sore throat). What’s funny is just before I drove in I was thinking about Craig Bailey’s post from last year “VFP: How to make Visual FoxPro cool“.

But “cool” needs to take a back seat at the moment.

Now, for VFP, it’s about being a survivor.

In September, I will be presenting at Fox Forward. My discussion will be about using VFP for Data Warehousing — especially for the prototype/iterate phase of planning and as an ETL tool. There is nothing really ‘cool’ about using FoxPro for ETL (although, I’ll try my best on FoxETL.com, a site I’m in the process of putting together for this very topic). After all, we’re talking about lots of code, objects and design patterns, schedules, staging, shuffling data, etc. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing cool: But incredibly valuable.

When you think about how much it costs to build a full Business Intelligence solution (could be in the $-millions-$), you can really begin to lose sleep. Couple that with the fact that many small and medium organizations, who realize that their data is a valuable asset, simply do not have access to resources (DBAs, SQL Programmers, Business Objects gurus, etc.) to implement such a solution. FoxPro presents an interesting and powerful alternative to the big players, all for a fraction of the cost. Everything you can do in SSIS for example, you can do in FoxPro (What Tod? Are you serious? Yup. I am). And in my humble opinion, you can do it better.

I suppose — come to think of it — that this makes VFP pretty darn cool. No? And using VFP for these types of tasks not only fills a large gap in the market, but also gives us die-hard FoxPro programmers lots to do in the foreseeable future.

This just in:

Fans trumpeting the cause of CBS’ canceled drama “Jericho” have caught the network’s ear. CBS, deluged with calls, messages and shipments of nuts signifying viewer displeasure, is reconsidering its decision, a source close to the production said Tuesday.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. A decision on whether to bring the show back, probably for a midseason run, is imminent, the source said.

Yahoo! Looks like all those nuts are making a grand impact!

Wow, what a difference a week makes! I wrote last week of my displeasure with CBS canceling my favorite show, Jericho. A petition was started and fan messageboards were buzzing. But then I got busy with work and my attention drifted away from Jericho and onto other things.

A colleague at work then informed that things have really taken off. First, many of the show’s actors and actresses have joined the discussion on the discussion boards. Skeet Ulrich wrote:

A week ago our show was canceled and it feels like time has stood still ever since. We loved bringing you this story. […] Your support is incredible and means more to all of us than you will ever know!

And from Lennie “The Hawk” James, who played my favorite character, Hawkins:

I write to you from my home in London utterly staggered by the events of the last week or so. I, along with all the cast and crew from the show, was totally gutted (UK slang for ‘very upset’) when news came down that our show was canceled.

Many others have chimed in as well. I have never seen anything like this before. The cast (and I bet even some crew members!) have stepped up and have become involved. Imagine if CBS continued the show now? Fans have had an opportunity to interact with their favorite characters. This can only create an even stronger base audience.

But perhaps the biggest and loudest development over the past week is the Nuts campaign!

As I write this, CBS has had the pleasure of getting MORE THAN 18,000 lbs of NUTS from JERICHO fans. Let me say that again: More than 18,000 POUNDS!

Check out http://www.nutsonline.com/jericho. In true capitalist spirit, this company stepped up and made ordering Jericho nuts super easy. All you have to do is go to their website, specify the amount you want to spend. And off they go.

Here are some YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9UogT5AWRo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoxePewKK8o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g07OKqGSb0o

You might not be a fan of Jericho, but why not help Jericho fans make this statement by sending CBS your very own bag of NUTS!

Other websites:
http://www.jericholives.com/
http://www.jerichorallypoint.com/sm/index.php

It seems like all my favorites are getting canceled. I only watched one network show on television with any kind of regularity: Jericho on CBS. Now, after a mediocre second-half of the first season (CBS’ fault, by the way), CBS opted to cancel it in favor of more reality TV (something about a Lord of the Flies rip-off with kids in Mexico). If you watch Jericho, or want to sign another petition, please do so at: petitiononline.com

If you’re really into Jericho, please mail a bag of nuts to their studio (they’ll know why you sent them — it’s a reference to the final episode in which Jake tells the invading town of New Bern “Nuts” when asked to surrender Jericho):

CBS TV
ATTN: President RE: JERICHO
51 West 52dn Street
New York New York 10019

But I’m not posting this here for Jericho support. I’m wasting my digital space today (and possibly your time!) to rant about how Corporations really run our lives. Soma Somasegar of Microsoft tells us (my words:), ‘Hey, no more FoxPro. I know its hard to hear that you need to learn something else, but why don’t you check out .NET!’. And CBS (Kelly Kahl, CBS’ chief scheduling executive in particular) is saying (my words:), ‘hey, no more Jericho. I know it’s hard to hear that you need to watch something else, but why don’t you check out CSI?’.

Whether its our livelihood or our down-time, we’re being run by a handful of corporations that mold and shape us into their image. So much for the little guy. As FoxPro developers, we’re outnumbered. The old saying that ‘power exists in numbers’ is very true. That’s one of the reasons people like me like to hold on to the niche, the subculture, the atypical, exceptional, and extraordinary!

Jericho has a decent chance of being picked up by the Sci-fi Network, TNT, or others. I wish the same can be said for FoxPro.

I’ve never been so bummed about a television show being cancelled before. But for some reason this one is different. It’s different in a lot of ways but most importantly: It isn’t anything like what else is on TV. CBS is making a bad decision on this one. This is the type of show that could (with better management and scheduling) attain the ranks of something like X-Files.

Ahh well. Please sign the petition!:
http://www.petitiononline.com/09272006/petition.html

Now that we have our new car (a VW Rabbit, no less), I’m starting to notice something: People don’t seem to respect me on the road as much as they did when I had the Jeep. I get cut off more, produce less of an impact when I tail-gate the slower folk, and have also noticed that I get less ‘looks’ — almost like I’m not even there.

My wife thinks I’m an aggressive driver (and based on my tail-gate comment, I bet you think that now too). I’ve always maintained that I am a defensive driver who has a little offense in him as well. Apparently those days are over, though. Looks like I have to shape up, calm down, and stay in my lane. I can’t even see over the feller in front of me anymore.

On the bright side, this car is FAST and fun to drive. It has this “S” mode (which stands for Sport) and can accelerate much faster than the Jeep. Plus it feels good not to worry about tipping over so much. I still need to play with the tiptronic. Lastly, this car is much, much more fuel efficient. Which is good for everyone except Mobile and Shell.