Um … well … it’s been a year …

Big-time APPX Conference coming up next month. That’s worth talking about.

Football season is here. That’s a good thing.

Aren’t you glad you waited a year for this? See you on Twitter!

Steve

We are taking this approach for a couple of reasons.  The primary reason is that it is easier for us to fix and test a small number of bugs and features.  As we release each beta, the number of bugs and other changes will be relatively small and more manageable compared to the number that will be in the final release.  This approach will also give customers access to some bugs fixes sooner than they would have otherwise been available and they can provide feedback to us at an earlier point in the release cycle.

I must remind you that beta releases should not generally be run in a production environment.

Steve

Our ODBC interface has been completely re-engineered and now incorporates an ODBC server that runs as a service on a Windows system.  Individual desktop users who want to use third-party desktop products such as Excel, Crystal Reports, etc. now connect to the ODBC server which in turn connects to the APPX server.  One advantage of this is that asql is now run by a system administrator and all file definitions are only imported one time into the shared database which is managed by the ODBC server.

The new APPX Source Code Control System will add a new dimension to your application design efforts.  We recently started using it on an internal project at APPX Software and have already begun to see the many benefits that it offers.  After you upgrade to 5.0.2, give it a try.  I think you will like it but, if you don’t like it, you can always turn it off.

Steve

I have never been a big fan of Styx, although a couple of their songs were decent enough. Their time came a while after the era that means the most to me (Beatles, Blind Faith, Moody Blues, Crosby/Stills/Nash, etc.), but it seemed like it could be a good mix to see the group with a full orchestra behind them, as some of their songs seem well suited for that. And the venue was Metropolitan Park – an outdoor facility adjacent to the St. Johns River. Add in a reasonable ticket price ($20 for lawn seating, bring your own chairs), and it became acceptable.

Parking was convenient and cheap. We had a decent location on the lawn, although binoculars might have made the view a little more personal (the reserved seating area, for $50 or more per ticket, was available, but Styx wasn’t worth that to me). The evening was a bit on the cool side, but tolerable. The seats, which we brought, were comfortable. The wine sold on site was both drinkable and affordable. The munchies that our friends provided were great.

The music was, as I said above, OK. The Symphony did a couple of pieces to start, and they were quite good. After a break (not sure why they needed it, but it happened), the orchestra returned and Styx took the stage. They performed probably about eight of their songs, half of which I recognized, and did one song that I knew quite well wasn’t a Styx original – “I Am The Walrus”. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone other than the Beatles do that. But it was probably the best use of the JSO all evening. For most of the rest, it was an effort to distinguish the orchestral sounds from the loud guitar and keyboards.

The last song they played before the obviously contracted encore was “Come Sail Away”. If that’s not their biggest hit, it certainly is the one I know best. That also was true for the audience, as most people were singing along. Following that number, they left the stage, waiting for the automatic applause, and returned for their encore. We expected “Mr. Roboto”, but instead they played something else, and then we, and they, left.

I was struck by a couple of things. First of all, those guys are getting old. Not that we’re not too, of course. And I have great admiration for musicians in their 50′s and 60′s who can still bring the energy to the stage, none better than Mick Jagger. But at some point, I don’t know, it seems like hanging on to what you used to be. Second, they were too obvious in seeking cheap applause. The “Hello, Jacksonville” shout at the beginning, and similar references throughout the concert made me think that their cue cards were just simply updated for each concert each night. “It’s great to be here in Jacksonville.” “It’s great to be here in Atlanta.” “It’s great to be here in Charleston.” “It’s great to be here in … where the heck are we tonight, anyway?”

Maybe what it all means is that I’ve outgrown the concert scene. But there are a couple of artists that I’d still pay to see. Paul McCartney. Billy Joel. The ones I mentioned above. As for Styx, domo arigato, but I’ve seen enough.

Should we, as Americans, be disappointed that we’re not very good at this alleged sport? We might stand a chance if we could use robotic vacuum cleaners instead of brooms. Maybe, to coin a phrase, we just don’t have the stones for this particular competition.

I’m not familiar with any American university that offers scholarships for curling, nor have we heard about recruiting battles and signing days for these, um, athletes.  Do curlers (ignoring the hair styling product term for now) specialize by position? Does one particular player excel at left sweeper, while another just can’t perform in that direction? Do they practice their shouting? Maybe a US team would do better if they could use rap instead of just yelling, “Good, good, good … sweep, sweep, sweep … ” or whatever code words they prefer.

Well, apparently this ancient sport originated in Scotland, if the Wikipedia article is to be believed. It became an Olympic sport a dozen years ago. But what about those other similar activities, like bowling, or bocce ball, or shuffleboard? Why aren’t those medal-worthy? Would it make a difference if bowlers ran down the lane alongside the ball, waxing the floor to help the ball get to its target?

Maybe what we competition-preferring Americans would want would be for curling to become a bit more, shall we say, confrontational. Instead of taking turns sliding big rocks, just send one on its way while the other team is sweeping. Perhaps score one point for hitting an opponent, two for knocking him or her down, two-and-a-half if the opponent is pregnant. Now that could make things interesting.

It’s amazing how someone as famous as Tiger can disappear from view, as he has over the past few weeks. Rumors of his being in a rehab center for sex addiction (come on, now), and the photos alleging to confirm those rumors, are fuzzy at best. He’s remained completely out of the public eye, which perhaps shouldn’t be that surprising considering that his luxury yacht is named “Privacy”.

What’s even more surprising, though, is that this hasn’t all become public before. How can someone who is likely to be the most famous and most recognizable athlete in the world carry on multiple affairs and not have the word get out? I don’t doubt for a minute that celebrities can get attractive women to latch onto them, but for those women to keep quiet must take a lot of trust, or, more probably, a lot of money. I don’t know these women, or any like them I suppose, but wouldn’t they want to share some exciting news like this with some close friends, or in a very large font on a Facebook page?

Here’s my take on it though, and I offer it acknowledging the risk of alienating some portion of the male species. Ready? I hope Elin divorces Tiger and takes a huge chunk of his money and property. I hope the companies that have dropped Tiger as a spokesman sustain that position, and that others don’t jump up to forgive him for the sake of sales. Don’t misunderstand me – I hope Tiger returns to the tour, plays well, and wins, and I will root for him to do so. But I also want a very clear message to come out of this, to athletes, to other celebrities, and especially to everyone else. That message is that when you give your word on something, you are expected to hold true to it, and that issuing a carefully-crafted public apology, or even a private one, does not make everything go away. There is a difference between a grown man and a 6-year-old boy. The latter can say, “I’m sorry I wrote on the wall, Mommy,” and get sent to his room without supper (oops, that room has a Wii, an HDTV, etc., etc., so it’s not much of a punishment anyway, is it?). But an adult is responsible for the actions and decisions he/she makes, and should be held accountable.

So, Elin, kick him out of the house, take whatever you and your lawyers can get (including the 9-iron, if that’s the one you feel most comfortable swinging), and let him feel some pain from this. And I hope that someone close to him has the courage to tell Tiger this undeniable truth: that his late father would be very disappointed and ashamed in what his son has done, as restoring one’s good name is never, and should never be, easy.

And, by the way, is there anyone who really believes that Tiger’s often-deranged caddy didn’t know about all of this? Uh-huh.