I spent Christmas Eve and am spending Christmas day in my sister and brother-in-law’s house.
It’s a small but significant cultural shock to be in a home where everything works and the rooms, uncluttered and well-organized, are serene and pleasant.
JET Data Providers and 64-bit VISTA
This is a well-documented issue, but I’m saving these notes anyway because it took a while to figure out.
I’m doing some maintenance on a web application that uses Excel files as data sources.
The files require the JET Data Provider.
The app is running under VISTA on a 64-bit machine.
I was getting the error message “The ‘Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0’ provider is not registered on the local machine.”
For VISTA, the JET .dlls are located in the WindowsSysWOW64 directory, not Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DB
I tried re-registering the .dlls. No luck.
Turns out, Jet only has 32 bit versions, so you have to change the target CPU of the app to x86.
In C#, there is no “Advanced Compiler” project property, this is only available in VB.NET.
On IIS7, though, there is an option to run your app in 32-bit mode. In the Advanced Options under the Application Pools where your app is (mine uses DefaultAppPool), there’s an option to Enable 32-bit Applications (it was False by default). Changing this to True worked.
The C# project file does have a section “Platform Condition=” ‘$(Platform)’ == ” “>AnyCPU” It may be possible to edit this, but I didn’t try it.
List of JET .dlls: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278604
Excellent resource:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/adodotnetdataproviders/thread/45aa44dd-0e6f-42e5-a9d6-9be5c5c8fcd1/
Jet 4.0 db engine service pack download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239114
Christmas Past, Christmas Present
There’s snow on the ground with rain likely over the next couple of days, but for now it feels sort of Christmas-like.
For New Year’s 2008, the grandkids and I had a high old time in Newport, including Awful-Awfuls at the Newport Creamery, swimming at the Y, a boat trip to Rose Island, a really nice lunch at the Atlantic Beach Club, and fireworks. Thanks to a break in the weather, we got to Milton and back safely.
This year, kind friends and family have extended no fewer than four invites for Christmas day, but I can’t drum up much enthusiasm. Thanksgiving was a “downer” without Carolyn and now Christmas and New Year’s, probably the last in Milton, will forever be incomplete.
Snow
The back yard, after 8.5 inches of snow:
Gardener’s Diary
This will likely be “it for 2008.
I finished the leaves – or as much as is going to get done this year – at Edgewater last Saturday, hauled a truck full to the transfer station on Sunday morning, and today, I finished the front yard at #20.
The winter’s first major snowstorm started just a few minutes ago.
Emme’s Eyes
A while back, Emme and I were traveling somewhat south and somewhat west, and we could see the sunset through the front windshield.
Emme is an artist. That fact is relevant because her eyes see things that mine at least cannot.
As she looked at the horizon, Emme told me that she could see multiple colors: orange, pink and green, maybe more. Me, I saw pink, that’s it. Which I guess is why she’s an artist and I’m a developer.
Digging Out
I wasn’t going to keep the appointment with my Primary Care Physician (PCP) yesterday, since the dry cough that had been plaguing me for 5-6 weeks had finally stopped.
I’d procrastinated so long about cancelling the appointment, though, that I figured her office would charge me for it, so I might as well go.
As it turned out, that may have been the best thing I’ve done for myself in a long time.
Girl’s Gotta Eat
This year, I wanted to throw a 15th anniversary party for Peter and Bonnie. He didn’t think 15 was especially memorable, so I punted on it.
As it turns out, last week, I was able to host a luncheon for the people we likely would have invited from Peter’s family. The occasion wasn’t an especially happy one, my adoptive Ma’s funeral, but the setting, meal and service were outstanding.
Maybe it was just as well I didn’t throw a shindig on the Cape. The difference in value between what is being charged here versus what I paid at The Common Market, a well-established and highly regarded eatery in Quincy, is astonishing.
Here are the details.
Old Coffee Grounds
Reusing yesterday’s coffee grounds: well, I tried it and it just doesn’t work. The result is disgusting. There have got to be other, better ways to economize.
That’s Life
A couple of Cape Cod websites have been running stories on the problems that some younger families have making a living and buying property in the region.
By coincidence, yesterday, I happened to be in a room full of Gen Xers, many of whom have been able to buy homes in areas much more expensive than this one.