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So I noticed in my Hotmail account (which I only check to see if I get other people’s email) that Bing recently “updated” their Webmaster tools.

So, the question is, does anyone use it? Is Bing at all relevant? I jumped on the Bingwagon when it first came out, then I quickly realized it never indexed any of my websites, while Google ate them up and showed me in search results.

Should I bother setting up my sites in their webmaster tools? Or should I just stick with Google?

I have thought for a while now that I should do some SiteMap integration for a couple of modules, but I honestly never got around to getting it done.

Something triggered my need yesterday, and I got rolling with things rather quickly. Chris Paterra has a great post on how to implement a sitemap for your modules, I ended up implementing one for the DNNSimpleArticle module which powers the homepage of Solo2.org and SCCAForums.com. I also implemented it for the module that powers ChrisHammond.com, DNNBlogs.com, Project350z.com and DomoticsBlog.com

The basics are pretty straight forward for getting a SiteMap integrated with your custom modules. I won’t recreate Chris’ blog post here, but basically you need to create a new class, and populate a list of SiteMapUrls. Depending on your module, and it’s content, that may or may not be difficult.

I think I’m going to implement the sitemap for the next release of the Wiki module, should be fairly straightforward.

So should I change my site to be more W3C compliant? Right now it's table based, what impact will going to a CSS/DIV based layout generate? Thoughts?
If you're looking for a search engine optimization specialist in St. Louis you've come to the right guy. I enjoy analyzing and providing reports focused on assist your company move up in Search Engine rankings. If you wonder what qualifies me to do so? You found this post didn't you? Point proven. Beyond that though I've been doing SEO for over 10 years with my work in web design and development. So if you're looking for the St. Louis SEO specialist, be sure to "contact me" now!
Looking for something to do in St. Louis this weekend? Here's what I've got planned.Forest Park Balloon RaceRacing at Grandprix Speedways. they'll have a close to 1/2 mile track open this weekend.Rallycross at GIR on SundayBuy my car! posted from...
I'm selling my 2003 Nissan 350Z. It's currently on Ebay. You can find it by following this link. Details, a 2003 350Z with just under 79k miles on it. I'm selling it in stock form, but have other items I'd consider selling to set it up for BS in Solo if there's interest. Contact me for more information! posted from...
I've been putting things on ebay this evening, Here are my 350Z Enkei RPF1s, 17" wheels, BStock legal for 17" 350Zs. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=150032437137 Also listed a dual weber setup off the 1973 240Z. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=005&item=150032411962   posted from...
Due to the fact that I'm not going to Nationals this year (wedding/honeymoon in december and I'm out of vacation) I'm open to the idea that someone else competes my car at Nationals. My usual codriver has taken an excellent opportunity in a BSP STI, so he won't be driving the Z this year. I believe this car to be the most well prepared 350Z in the country. Not to knock Carter Thompson's car, but I think the 2003 Enthusiast model 350Z is the car to have in BStock if you're going to be driving a 350Z. I've managed to keep up with Carter a few times this year, finished in 10th place last year, and I'll stand up and say I'm not anywhere near the driver that Carter is. With someone who has some skill I'm sure this car could finish at the top of the class, even against the lemmings, err I mean Mazda RX-8s. Stats about the car. 2003 Nissan 350Z Enthusiast ModelTC Kline DA KonisHotchkios FSBEnkei RPF-1sKumho 710sHoosier Wets (for the rain)6 SpeedNismo Titanium Y-Pipe with custom 3" exhaust system This is the only 350Z that has competed at Nationals every year since the model was made eligible for BS, I'd love for someone to keep that statistic going. Rental Price negotiable, also an option to Purchase the vehicle and all my spares is available as well. Delivery to Topeka Kansas is also an option. Contact me for further information. posted from...
Many thanks to Jim over at www.stlrecruiting.com, yesterday he called me up for a quick interview and  today he posts an article about me! If you're looking for my Technical posts, check out my blog at http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc/. Just heads up though, for any posts you find that may seem odd ;), I use my blogs to do a lot of SEO work, so some posts may not seem to fit, but they all have a...
So what could it be that made me purchase yet another domain name? My wedding! Well, that actually made me purchase two. The first one being HorsesandCars.com, which I purchased a few weeks back. The second one however, I purchased and setup yesterday. For the wedding my goal is to weight 200lbs, what I did when football started senior year of high school. So, to reach that goal I need to drop 65lbs, yesterday morning I stepped on the scale at 265. So, what's the new domain name? http://65lbs.com keep track as I track EVERYTHING I eat, all the exercise I do, and my daily weight loss (hopefully not gain). Oh, and as of this morning I had 63.5 to go! posted from...
I've had no luck with Charter and Directv Customer service over the past month.Here's a letter I sent to Charter this morning via their website. "I'd like to know how Charter is going to make me a happy customer. Here's my story.During the storms in July I lost my Directv service. They were unable to come out and restore my service in a timely manner, totally missing an appointment. I called charter, was told I could get a DVR, Digital Cable, and HD service installed at my house the following week, all for a good low price based on the fact that I was leaving Directv.Fast forward three weeks, that's today. So far all I have is a digital cable box, no HD and no DVR, and a $350 bill from charter. When the technician came to install the DVR and Cable box he showed up without either piece of equipment and told me I would have to go to charter's offices myself. I went there, and was told I couldn't get the DVR. That $350 bill includes charges for the DVR, cable service, and $100 of installation charges. I was told when I signed up my installation would be waived due to me switching from Directv.I'd love for someone from Charter to call me and schedule an appointment for my DVR to be DELIVERED and INSTALLED. I tried picking it up myself two weeks ago and was told I couldn't as it had to be professionaly installed. Then, last week I was told they were out of stock in STL, though when I ordered they were in stock.I'm extremely unhappy with the level of service I've received thus far, and if these matters are not corrected, all the promised equipment installed and working by Friday the 18th of August I'll be cancelling ALL my services with Charter and going to SBC and Dish networks.Unhappily,Chris...
Here's a few lessons I wish I had learned a few months ago, could have saved me two fires, and many hours tearing apart a scooter for no reason. 1. To start a scooter with the ignition button you must be holding the front brake down. 2. Some scooters won't start if they're on the kickstand. I tore apart the switches on my scooter trying to get the damn starter working, only to learn that the reason I couldn't get the starter to run was that I wasn't holding down the brake lever. Now that I know this tracking down the other issues on the scooter will hopefully be easier. I don't think I'm getting any spark, but at least i know the rest of the electrical system seems to be in order now. posted from...
I'm in Lexington Kentucky this week. After meetings all day with the client myself and another consultant headed up to Georgetown, KY to see the Bengals Training camp up at Georgetown College. I've never been to an NFL camp, so it was definitely an interesting experience. First thing I wasn't expecting was the $12 parking fee! Next, I was surprised at all of the people! The parking area was packed, and the stadium itself was packed as well. If I had to guess there were a couple thousand people there watching. It was a darn hot da, mid 90s around 8pm), and just like my trip to Denver last week I didn't bother to bring my camera. So I was kicking myself yet again. At least now I can say I've seen a...
Over the past weekend we lost a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha, Robert Cook of Rolla Missouri was killed in a plane crash in Sullivan Missouri. Here's an article where one of the survivor's fathers calls Robert a hero, as he attributes Roberts actions to saving his daughter's life. Thank Robert, we'll miss you. More information about Robert can be found on our fraternity site....
I've been doing some testing on a recent DNN module and noticed some issues that I think a 301 Redirect will handle. Doing some quick googling I came up with the following topics to setup 301 redirects in asp.net. http://www.wwwcoder.com/main/parentid/263/site/2668/68/default.aspx http://scottwater.com/blog/archive/2004/04/14/PermanentRedirects.aspx I'll be building this into the module tomorrow and will report back on the results in the next couple of weeks. Currently I've got a site with close 100 pages of content, but google is only seeing 6 of those pages. I'm thinking if I implement 301 redirects for a link tracker I'm using this may help. Time will...
Over the years I've followed the job hunting/recruiting on blogs. It's been interesting to watch more and more folks get hired from a blog. I was hired at my current employer due to my online presence. They found me posting on what is now http://forums.asp.net and hired me to work on various DotNetNuke projects here in town. It's been very lucritive for all parties. I've been able to delve deeper into the DotNetNuke world, even becoming a DotNetNuke Core Team member, and for the business we've been able to create and fill a need in a totally new market. Today I was surfing around and somehow stumbled upon http://www.stlrecruiting.com, it looks like there's a body here in town, not sure who or where, that's using it as a place to discuss recruiting and positions local to St. Louis. Consider that site bookmarked, always interesting to see how other people do their...
Well, it's been just over two months since I picked up the Project 240Z from Krekeler. Today I successfully pulled the motor and transmission from the car. It took me a few hours today, in some of the hottest weather of the year. If you watch in the video below you'll see I aim the fan at me whenever I move around the car :) Also in the video, you may not notice, but before the motor comes all the way out of the car the front end of the car gets lowered. I had intended to lower this manually when I was ready, but the car decided it was ready to be lowered while I was pulling on the motor. Luckily I wasn't near the car, and I left the wheels/tires on it so the car just slipped off the front jack stands and onto the ground. It worked out perfectly, dropped the car down just enough to everything free and clear. Enough banter, here's the video!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKmMYhwZrMU   posted from...
Here are my runs from today, except for Run 4, which of course would have been the cool one because I hit cones on the camera side, but of course I checked to make sure the camera was recording right before I ran, and apparently turned it off. For some reason the videos aren't working here, you can view them here.   Posted from...
Well, it's been nearly a month since I last worked on the 240Z, had a few events in there, July 4th, and various other activities keeping me away from the car, but mostly it was just me being lazy. So today I spent a couple hours out in the garage wrenching. I got just about everything left that needs to be disconnected to pull the motor disconnected. Pulled the rusty exhaust out from under the car and threw it into my junk pile outside. Here's what I know I have left to do to pull the motor/tranny. 1. Disconnect the shaft from the transmission. 2. Put the mounts for the hooks from the 83 motor onto the 73 motor. 3. Disconnect the transmission mount 4. Disconnect the engine mounts and lift it out. Hopefully I can get that done next weekend! posted from...
This looks pretty darn sweet. 2007 Nissan 350Z GT-S Concept revealed: production possible A small team of Nissan development engineers working in their spare time have transformed a 350Z into a highly tuned 'Saturday Special.' Called the GT-S, the supercharged super coupé is a performance-focused version of Nissan's acclaimed 'Z-'car' and is designed to appeal to enthusiastic 350Z owners who simply want more. Although boasting a power hike and a substantially modified chassis, the GT-S is far from being a stripped out racing car with a rock hard ride and a peaky power delivery. "The GT-S has been created as a real car not an ornament," says Communications Director Wayne Bruce. "We wanted to build a 'Club Special' that could still be used to commute to work during the week but would provide added thrills at the weekend: a weekday workhorse and a weekend warrior in one distinctive package." More info and gallery after the jump…   The project's technical leader Steve Robbins — who during the week is a senior engineer in the new vehicle evaluation team at NTCE — gathered together half a dozen like-minded enthusiasts to work on the project. Working after hours and at the weekend, the team members came from within NTCE and also from outside suppliers and was known internally as the S-Club Seven… Most of the changes center on the car's engine and chassis. Using a supercharger installation from Swiss manufacturers Novidem, power has increased by more than 25 per cent from 300 hp to 382 hp, while torque rises from 353 Nm to a heady 425Nm. Performance gains are expected to include a one second cut in the benchmark 0-60mph time (5.8 seconds for the standard 350Z) with 2.5 seconds slashed from the 0-100 mph time. And it sounds better, too, thanks to an electronically controlled by-pass valve that enriches the exhaust note at a pre-determined engine speed. NTCE engineers — the very men who tuned the original 350Z to suit European roads and our higher speeds — have undertaken the suspension changes. Working closely with specialists from Bilstein, the changes concentrate on optimising road performance, with improvements in both handling ability and ride comfort. Wider wheels and tyres complete the chassis alterations. A wind tunnel developed body/aero kit from German firm Strosek not only gives the all-black GT-S a distinctive look, but also improves the 350Z's aerodynamic performance with increased front and rear downforce at speed. The package is completed by a NVH pack which makes the GT-S even more civilised than the standard 350Z. Steve Robbins said: "We could have produced a balls-out racer with huge power outputs and very little suspension movement. But while this would have created a superb racer, it would have been virtually unusable on the road. Instead we approached the GT-S from an engineering stand-point with a view to creating a 350Z that provides more of everything… performance, handling, looks, comfort and excitement. "We also looked at the possible marketing potential of such a project and have designed the improvements as individual 'packs' — an engine pack, a suspension pack, aero pack and so on — and kept a close eye on costs." So will the GT-S ultimately become more than a weekend project by a group of mavericks? Nissan is saying nothing officially, though insiders point to its appearance at Goodwood as a sign the company is giving the GT-S concept serious consideration. posted from...
I took the oil pan off the L28ET motor tonight to try to get inside and see what all I could find out about the motor. I've posted a few pictures over in the 240 photo gallery, check them out, let me know what you think of what you see. http://sccaforums.com/photos/christoc/category1053.aspx Here are some of the recently uploaded...
If you're looking for some good Mexican food, DON'T go to Zapatas on Manchester Road! We, the office, went there the day they opened, for lunch, to give them a shot. The food was horrible, no one enjoyed their meals. I figured, maybe, just maybe, that was just a bad day to go, the first day a place is open. So, a month later, I tried it again last night. We went there for dinner. It was STILL HORRIBLE. The food is just very low quality, high prices and the chips both times tasted burnt. So, if you are looking for a restaurant on Manchester road for some good Mexican, I suggest trying one of the other places. Senor Pique's (sp?) down near Sulpher Springs Road is a good start, I've eaten there twice in the past two weeks and it's been great food and service both times. Don't eat at Zapata's, trust...
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Chris Hammond

Chris Hammond

is a father, husband, leader, developer, photographer and car guy. Chris has long specialized in ASP.NET and DotNetNuke (DNN) development, so you will find a variety of posts relating to those topics. For more information check out the about Chris Hammond page.

If you are looking for DotNetNuke consulting please visit Christoc.com Software Solutions

Find me on Twitter, GitHub and LinkedIn.