Chris Hammond's Blog

My first windows mobile application?

Chris Hammond

Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:08:50 PM

So I think I came up with an idea for my first Windows Mobile application. A Windows Live Writer type application for my Windows Mobile phone. I have an AT&T tilt, and it sure would be nice to be able to blog from the road without having to load up...(read more)

Corvette loaded up for Topeka

Chris Hammond

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 10:55:13 PM

Dave and I loaded up the car on the trailer tonight, we're leaving around 4am on Friday morning and he has plans tomorrow night. Before loading it we took the wheels and tires and flipped the tires around on the wheels for the practice session on Friday. We'll run the test & tune friday on the old set of wheels and tires, then on Saturday and Sunday we'll run the good set of tires, the set that were new for the Milwaukee National Tour two weeks ago. We did all of this tonight in the rain, so we were soaked by the time we changed tires on the car and loaded it on the trailer. I'll post an update Friday night.

The best show this summer

Christopher Hammond

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 10:34:00 PM

I think this is the fourth or fifth week of the show, and I must say I am still in love with it. Wipeout is a hilarious show. I've watched I believe every episode this summer, and while the show changes a little bit each week it is funny every time. If you haven't seen it before I highly recommend watching it next Wednesday on ABC.

Earthquake in Los Angeles

Christopher Hammond

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:09:18 PM

The news stations are reporting a 5.8 magnitude earthquake near Los Angeles California this afternoon. My folks are out there, of course the cell phone networks are so jacked right now I can't get through. "All circuits are busy, please try your call again later"

Update: Dad says he didn't feel it, Greg felt a little bit

St. Louis DotNet User Group Meeting

Chris Hammond

Monday, July 28, 2008 11:23:10 PM

So I went to the St. Louis .Net user group meeting after work this evening, two months in a row now! It was definitely an interesting presentation from Denny Boynton . He was talking about Software + Services, rather than SaaS. It was a good talk, but...(read more)

Cool Photos

Chris Hammond

Monday, July 28, 2008 1:57:21 AM

I always love finding other people's photos, especially when they are of my car! I found some cool photos from the Milwaukee National Tour that were posted on Apexlater's flickr feed This one is me on Saturday Dave on Saturday Check out the other shots from the Milwaukee tour.

Another Local Event

Chris Hammond

Sunday, July 27, 2008 8:27:49 PM

Another local event down, and another reminder of a couple of things 1) St. Louis in the summer sucks 2) Racing in the summer in St. Louis sucks Heat and humidity! Nonetheless, it was a good event, I still need to drive faster, but I did manage to take FTD (fastest time of day) as well as the top Index position, and first place in Super Stock. Dave finished 2nd in SS. Beth took first in SSL and also took the top Ladies Index spot. That makes two local events that the CorvetteZ06.org team has taken the top index and ladies index positions here in St. Louis. Next stop, Topeka Kansas for the Midiv Championships next week!

All lubed up and ready to go

Chris Hammond

Saturday, July 26, 2008 7:40:28 PM

Dave and I spent the day working on the Corvette. Here's what was accomplished drain the rear end and replace with Redline gear oil removed the rear Konis from the car and replace with the stock shocks drained the transmission and replaced with redline drained/replace oil and filter, both with Mobil 1 hack the stock radio to add a line in wash the car, clean off all of Dave's cone marks #5 and #6 were done by myself, Dave had left by then. #5 involved splicing into the CD input line and wiring up a minijack input, I actually wired this into the back of the radio, I thought it was ingenius, but I figured out the error in my ways. The jack I used was one that when nothing was plugged into it would allow the CD audio to pass through normally. When a line was plugged in the jack input is used and the CD Audio is bypassed. Anyone see the err of my ways? By mounting the jack in the back of the radio I effectively disabled the CD audio from working until the radio is removed and the minijack wire unplugged. This actually isn't a big deal for me, I never use the CD player anyways, and now I can listen to my Zune! Though I will most likely need to rewire or just unplug this before I sell the car, otherwise the next owner won't know WTF is going on. Now it's time for a http://shirt.woot.com party, I'm meeting some guys from the office there. Race on Sunday!

I post because I must!

Christopher Hammond

Friday, July 25, 2008 2:16:13 AM

Now that Windows Live Writer is working, I have to post just because!!!! Yay WLW works! Now I must go to bed, it is late, and it is only Thursday.

The 240Z, August 2008

Chris Hammond

Friday, July 25, 2008 1:57:30 AM

August 2008, that is the month that the 240Z will come home. Oh yes, it will come home, and hopefully it will run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my first blog post from Windows Live Writer

Christopher Hammond

Friday, July 25, 2008 12:06:19 AM

This post might not last long, but who knows, perhaps it will! This is my first blog post from Windows Live Writer to ChrisHammond.com. This post is being created on my desktop computer, without using my internet browser.

This might not seem cool to most of you, but the true geeks out there will understand the benefits of this. What else does this mean? Windows Live Writer is interacting with Engage: Publish! This is just the first step, and the first real post on the web, but it should be a great improvement for the Publish module as we get the kinks worked out!

~~Take 2~~

Take 3

Twas a Dark Night

Christopher Hammond

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:41:04 PM

Wow "The Dark Night" is an amazing movie. Natalie and I just got back from seeing it on the Mega Screen down in Chesterfield Valley. I wanted to stay and watch it again!

How did I get to where I am in my career?

Christopher Hammond

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:59:42 PM

So I got a random email tonight, his words not mine, from a 21 year old Comp Sci student up in Wisconsin.

"I'm 21, a computer science major at a smaller private college in Wisconsin. I stumbled on your blog just by chance. I see that you're 31, a software developer, and (if I do say so myself) leading a pretty nice life.

I was just curious what kind of career path you took that led you to where you are today?"

Check out my full blog post to see my response.

Milwaukee National Tour Results

Chris Hammond

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 12:48:18 AM

So the weekend started out wet on Saturday, Sunday started out the same. It was very overcast and foggy/wet on Sunday morning, by the time we ran Sunday morning though it was nearly dry on course, all of the water was out of the air and the sun was out making it hot. After first runs I had a decent time, but I knew that time wouldn't be anywhere near what I needed to run. I was the last driver in super stock, so I had 2 more runs to watch what everyone else did, then a chance to put down my final time. I was able to run what I think was the 5th fastest time of the day in SS, though it was enough to move me up into 4th place, from 5th, by about 24 thousands over another Z06 driven by another Chris. Dave managed to get three clean runs, an impressive feat for him, though he was off of my time by about 8 tenths if I recall correctly.

I have a new office mate, community credit award

Chris Hammond

Monday, July 21, 2008 2:27:00 PM

Last month I received my first Community-Credit.com award . Today my prize showed up ! I am sure this alien will be abducted by someone else here at Engage before too long, but I will fight long and hard to protect my new office mate. One day I need to...(read more)

Home from Milwaukee

Christopher Hammond

Monday, July 21, 2008 1:22:22 AM

Home from the Milwaukee National Tour, more on results tomorrow.

Milwaukee National Tour Day 1

Christopher Hammond

Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:35:02 PM

Day 1 here in Milwaukee was wet! Beth ran the car in the first heat on the brand new hoosier wets, by the third heat Dave and I switched to the race rubber. Beth finished up today in 2nd place, if she can stay there tomorrow she'll win a trophy and a free contingency tire! Dave had his usual cone issues, he complained about the car being too loose on corner exit, but I think he just forgot that it was wet outside. I ran well, I'm sitting in 5th after Saturday, .14* back from the 4th and final trophy position. Tomorrow I am going to do my best to try and move up, not back like I have the past few National events on Sunday. Check out the full post for some videos.

What am I doing?

Christopher Hammond

Saturday, July 19, 2008 8:32:06 AM

Some of you might have noticed that I've added a new feature to my website. You can follow along with what I'm doing on the right side of the homepage where I've added my Twitter feed. That is of course assuming I update the feed frequently, which I am trying to do.

Morning in Milwaukee

Chris Hammond

Saturday, July 19, 2008 6:24:41 AM

It sure is early this morning! 5am start, at least my shower is down, but I sure don't feel like waking up today. Still looks like it's going to rain, I'll blog later today from the site if I get a chance.

Made it to Milwaukee

Christopher Hammond

Friday, July 18, 2008 11:46:43 PM

We made it to Milwaukee, uneventful trip up, which is always good. Weather isn't looking so hot so far, we'll see if we get to try out the Hoosier Wets tomorrow or not.

On the road again

Christopher Hammond

Friday, July 18, 2008 7:16:34 AM

Shortly after I finish this message i'll be hitting the road, I'll post from Milwaukee when I get there.

HundredPushups.com Week 2 Day 2

Christopher Hammond

Friday, July 18, 2008 12:07:41 AM

Week 2 Day 2 went alright, 16-13-11-11-15+

I managed the match the requirements, I couldn't do any more than 15 at the end, it's fairly late and I played softball tonight, maybe I'm just worn out?

Off to Brewerville

Christopher Hammond

Thursday, July 17, 2008 9:49:47 PM

Headed up to Milwaukee in the morning for the National Tour up there this weekend. Time to shower from my softball game, pack, and find some food.

I've got nothing on this time lapse

Chris Hammond

Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:12:38 AM

This time lapse makes my time lapse videos for www.project240z.com look amatuer (hey wait a minute, they are). This is apparently GM Engineers assembling an LS9 for a ZR1 (View the full blog post for the video.

St. Louis Event 5 Autocross Review

Chris Hammond

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:32:44 PM

So this past Sunday was the 5th event of the St. Louis Autocross season, really it was only the 4th event held this year due to rain/blow out of what was supposed to be event number 3. The region has changed their event structure this year, back to a three heat format, with the attempt to get 5 runs each heat, that worked out on Sunday. Beth ran the Corvette in SSL during the second heat, there were two drivers in the class, Beth ended up taking first, and also taking first on the ladies index challenge. Dave and I both ran in the third heat. I managed to take the win in SS, as well as the win on the index results for the event, I even managed to get the fastest raw time for the event, though I took out a single cone before the starting lights on that run so it doesn't count for anything! Dave managed 2nd in SS behind me, and 6th on index for the event. I've posted some of the videos from the event in a post a few days ago. I did come to realize there is no need for me to attend any more local events this year, as I have no possibility of winning the class championship, or the index championship due to the fact that the solo board decided to screw up the points by making the divisional worth a single event but double the points, so now, unless people just don't attend 6 events in SS I have no shot at making up 10k points. That doesn't mean I won't continue to show up though, I'll be doing my damnedest to win every event, both class and index for the rest of the year (cept 10/6 when I'll be in Europe). I might not have a shot at winning based on points, but I'll be damned sure to make people know who the fastest mofo in St. Louis is this year. This weekend the CorvetteZ06.org team is headed to Milwaukee Wisconsin to take part in The Tire Rack SCCA National Tour event, videos of that to come next week!