Last weekend was Ande's family's 59th annual reunion. Ande and I hosted the event this year for the first time, along with help from her brother and sister-in-law. We think the reunion was a great success. I think the greatest thing was that attendance about doubled from the previous year's reunion. We got VERY close to having 100 people there! To support the reunion, Ande and I started a website, http://www.woodfinfamily.net, to host information about the family reunion. Since we started the site, it just keeps growing in scope. Ande just finished uploading a 350+ picture photo gallery of all the pictures we took during the reunion. As we get more and more pictures from past reunions and old family photos on the site, this will become a great repository of information for future generations. We are also thinking of many ways to expand the site so it can house all the history of the family, or should I say families, that fall under the "Woodfin" umbrella. We hope to capture stories from the past so they don't get lost to future generations. So come by the Woodfin Family site and let us know what you think.
Last Saturday, October 20th, I opened the mailbox to find the package I had been so eagerly awaiting. It was so sweet. Just a small envelope with a simple plastic card inside. I expected more fanfare. Perhaps a large envelope with tons of ads, a welcome to CHLdom letter from the President, or Governor, or Mayor even? Nothing. Just the card. But that's ok. Other than the picture on the front, I couldn't have been more proud. I had expected a 4-6 week turn around, but mine took 8 weeks.
I couldn't wait to tell David (my CHL instructor), and a few friends that had encouraged me to get my CHL. I'm honored to be a part of this select group of CHL holders. If you haven't taken the class, it would be hard to understand the responsibility that comes with holding this license. That's one of my favorite parts of taking the class from David (www.chltx.com). He prepared us so well and instilled in us the responsibility and pride that comes with the license. I get nothing from David for mentioning his site or his classes except a friendship with a great like-minded guy. I can't recommend him as as instructor enough.
I've spent the last week trying to figure out how I'm going to carry. I've hit all the gun forums and looked at all kinds of holsters, rigs, tactical clothing and even underwear made to conceal a carry weapon. I haven't made any decisions yet. I need to get to a gun leather store and try out a few. My biggest fear is that I'm going to have to change the style of clothing I wear. I've long been a jeans and tucked-in polo shirt wearer. I can't stand an untucked shirt, but I may have to get used to one. I'm going to look at the "tactical" pants and see how those fit. Maybe even look at the SmartCarry. So that is my next worry, how I'm going to carry.
But, the decision has been made to carry and I'll find a way to do it. I'm sold on this program and all the intended benefits. I want to be a part of it and I'm proud that I now am.
Trent
CHL class taken Saturday, August 4th
Online application filled out and application fee paid, August 4th
Application received from DPS, August 13th
Application and packet mailed back to DPS, August 21st
LICENSE RECEIVED, October 20th.
After a week of taking that excited walk to the mailbox, just to walk back bummed out, it finally came. The packet from the DPS arrived today with my application. I filled it out last Saturday online, so it took 9 days, or basically a business week. That's about what I expected, but that doesn't mean I wasn't wishing it would be shorter. So now I can get the packet back to them completed and wait some more.
So here I am, trying my best to be patient. I'll keep you posted!
Trent
Schedule so far:
CHL class taken Saturday, August 4th
Online application filled out and application fee paid, August 4th
Application received from DPS, August 13th
My wife and I attended our first CHL class today!
We have been waiting for a weekend where we had all 3 children out of the house so we could have a Saturday free. It finally came and we jumped at the chance. We found the class online at http://www.chltx.com/. The class was a full-service class (photos, fingerprints, paperwork, etc). Our instructor was David Gilreath. Class started at 9:00 am.
When we arrived, David let us know that we were going to the range first, so we immediately headed for the range. We did our range session at The Shooting Gallery Indoor Gun Range (http://www.winchestergallery.com/index.php?page=Gunrange). I was excited, as this was the range where my wife and I shoot when we can. It would be considered our "home court".
We arrived at the range and got geared up. There were 10 people in the class and we got on a range with 10 stalls. Everyone shot together. The whole process from walking in, shooting, scoring our targets, packing up, and checking out of the range took a total of about 30 minutes. Everyone in the class passed. I think the high score was a 249 and the low score was 237. (A perfect score would be 250 and you must have a 175 to pass.) I was fairly happy with my 246, but I'll probably never hear the end of my wife's 247! She's always been a great shot. She shot the S&W 1911 and I shot my Kimber Ultra CDP II, both are .45s.
We gathered back for our classroom portion. This was a very enjoyable class. David was a great instructor. He is funny and very entertaining. David had prepared a slide show in Power Point to help us follow along with the lecture. The slide show was great as David had embellished it with some great video clips from the internet. Some were just funny and some showed a particular point that we were discussing. It really broke up the class and kept us interested.
David is an obvious fan of the CHL program and is a great spokesman for the program. He drove home to me at least the awesome responsibility that comes with the CHL. While he kept the mood lively, he NEVER took any part of the course lightly. He was serious about what we had to learn. He didn't try and scare us or chase anyone off with horror stories. He simply went into great detail as we discussed the laws concerning CHL and the use of deadly force. I don't think any of us walked out of there with any questions unanswered as it pertained to the course. We all got to ask questions and we discussed a great many scenarios.
What I learned in the class was not at all what I expected. I was amazed at the laws concerning CHL and use of force by a CHL holder. The Texas law is pretty straight-forward and gives a great deal of protection to the CHL holder. I grew up hearing that you can't shoot a person unless they are in your house and you are in immanent danger. This may have been true before CHL laws, but it isn't true anymore. A CHL holder is a vital part of a civil society. Just taking the course and learning what CHL truly is, I feel safer knowing (and hoping) that some of the people around me are as interested and as equipped to protect my safety as I am (soon to be) their's.
During breaks, David would fingerprint a few of us and after the lecture, he worked on our paperwork with us. He took our pictures and printed them for us. Everyone left with a completed package of all the necessary documents that had each been reviewed by David.
If anyone is reading this and looking for a place to take their CHL class, I wholeheartedly recommend David's class. You can find all of his course and contact information at http://www.chltx.com/. If you go to the site, you will also notice that David as a Kimber dealer. Owning a Kimber myself, I can attest to the greatness of a Kimber weapon. If you're ever in the market for something with the Kimber name on it, give David a call. He has some great prices, from what I can tell. The next time I'm looking for a Kimber, David will be my first call.
I came home from class and did my online application. If I had more advanced notice that I was going to get to take the class this weekend, I would have done the application before the class, so I could turn in my packet as quickly as possible. After filling out the application online (and paying the fee), I should receive the packet in about a week. I then sign the application they sent in the packet and mail it back with all the materials received in the class today. From then, it should be 5-6 week before I receive my license.
I was excited before the class, but now I'm even more excited. I've said it before and I'll say it again, CHL is an awesome responsibility. It makes me feel good that I can protect my family, myself and others. It also makes me feel good that I can participate in such an American ideal. I follow this course with the utmost respect. I completely agree with the CHL program. I completely feel, without any hesitation, that it makes for a safer society. I'm proud to be a part of this program.
I'll keep the blog updated with my application and license process.
Trent
P.S. I mentioned David Gilreath and chltx.com on my own accord. I found the site online and took a chance that the course would be enjoyable. It FAR exceeded my expectations. I happily and personally endorse David and his class. David did not ask me to write this. I did not tell him that I was writing about the class. I will tell him about this post after it is posted and I do hope he uses it as a satisfied customer comment on his site if he wishes. But it was not solicited by him in any way.
I was just visiting one of my favorite web sites this morning and it hit me that I should put the information here so that others interested in development might find this site also.
There is currently only one site that I wake up in the morning knowing that I am going to visit at some point during the day. Sometimes, 2 to 3 times a day. If you have never stumbled upon http://www.worsethanfailure.com, then I suggest you give it a try. The site posts articles daily about dreadful mistakes, oversights and just bad coding found as people use software, or most often when developers find that special nugget of code when maintaining some other developer's project.
The articles are a great break from the tedious software development process - including but not limited to - staring at your IDE all day, debugging, profiling and pulling your hair out or wishing there was some left. The guys that write the articles are very entertaining.
The content comes from developers that submit a chunk of offensive code or a great blunder that they have found in a dialog box or web page. I've submitted a few code blunders and a couple of those have been published.
Each article allows comments from anyone and often these are better than the articles themselves as other developers argue about the "right" way to accomplish what was done wrong in the article.
When I first found the site, it was www.thedailywtf.com. The owners decided to change the name to WorseThanFailure because in their words, it was hard to explain to his grandmother what WTF meant. I completely believe that the site had taken off and companies were willing to put paid advertising on the site, but were uncomfortable with the "WTF". So they found a way to keep WTF and give it a better name that fit easier in the corporate world.
Whatever the name, the content is great. Take a look when you get a chance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It is a great read for that much needed break during the day.
Let me know what you think about it! And no, I have no connection with the site. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. I don't advertise on the site. I just enjoy it and think that if you are a developer, you will enjoy it also.
Cheers.
Trent Grandey
http://www.trentgrandey.com
Earlier this week, I was working on a project and needed to find a way to set the title for the page from a control that was loaded programmatically onto an aspx page that was using a MasterPage. I knew how to set the page title from the child of the MasterPage (by adding it to the @Page definition), but that wasn't going to work. I needed a way to set that from a server control that was going to be loaded during the Page_Load event.
Here's the structure I was working with:
Article.aspx is a page that displays certain articles, based on the id passed in the QueryString. The Article.aspx page references main.master that provides the site layout.
In the Page_Load event in Article.aspx, the server control that actually renders the article is loaded with LoadControl(..) and the control is added to the placeholder on Article.aspx.
I wanted all the data access to happen in the control. I didn't want to have to make a call to the database from Article.aspx just to retrieve the title of the article. So I turned to Google as I often do. One of the first pages I came across was, not surprisingly, from 4 Guys From Rolla (http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/051006-1.aspx). I have found myself on the 4 Guys site many times and I usually come up with a great solution. It is a great reference site. But anyway, the article seemed to have exactly what I needed. I read through it and was a little dismayed. I was hoping for something a little more elegant than putting a runat=server in the HEAD tag of the master page.
The next page I visited was on .NET 247 (http://www.dotnet247.com/247reference/msgs/23/117737.aspx), another great reference site, although personally I get frustrated with the layout. This had another solution to pass variables between pages, but it was more complicated than I wanted as it was for a much different purpose.
After reading through a few more pages, I pieced together a solution. The control has a reference to the parent page, via this.Page. So after just trying it out, I found that the control could set the page title all the way up the chain with
this.Page.Title = pageArticle.Title;
So I had my problem solved. I could go to the database just once to retrieve the article from the control where it made the most sense. I didn't have to jump through any hoops like exposing properties on the various pages and controls to get the data back and forth or having the head of the parent page become a server control. After quite a bit of digging, I was actually led to something that seemed so simple, I should have known it off the top of my head.
I was happy for a bit, until i realized that I wanted my site's name in the Title to, for SEO reasons. I could add that to the control, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of the "control" as it would now be bound to that site. So I turned to the master page, where it seemed most beneficial to have code that should be site-wide. I added a handler for the Page_PreRender event and added the following:
private void Page_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!Page.Title.Contains("Web Security Tips"))
{
Page.Title += " - Web Security Tips";
}
}
Now I've got my site's name in the Title of every page and I can set the rest of the title from whichever control I'm using to retrieve data for the current page.
I hope this helps. I know it isn't rocket science that I solved here, but sometimes the most obvious solutions can elude a developer when they are drilled into the process.
Trent Grandey
A great friend of mine pointed me to the Internet Business Mastery Podcast. The podcast was started in 2005 and has 29 "Main" episodes so far. The hosts Jay and Sterling are internet entrepreneurs that, like most, have given up the corporate life. They have started a no nonsense podcast to help others develop internet businesses. Having listed to and read many books, podcasts, articles and the like on the subject, I find the podcast to be really one of the best.
One of my favorite things about the podcast is that there is no fluff. This isn't an overproduced podcast, but it isn't under produced either. They have some theme music and that is about it for production. I'm not sure what technical equipment they use to record the show, but while not sound-studio quality, there is no hiss or other background noise to distract you, like most podcasts that are recorded on a computer, seemingly with a 50 cent microphone. The sound quality is great, Jay and Sterling are easy to listen to and all the distracting stuff is left out.
Each "main" podcast has planned segments that keep things flowing. You can tell they do their show prep. The cast is not just a bunch of rambling. They have obviously planned ahead and while they aren't reading a script, you can tell they have show notes that they follow to keep on track. It is very well done.
The subject matter is very well focused. This is information the listener can use to get an online business started and running. It really seems as though the information is mostly what they have learned by experience. They don't offer anything earth-shattering and not much that you couldn't find elsewhere, but this is the most concise program I have found. It is like a great aggregation of some of the best online business info that is spread across the net. They lay it out simply. The salient points are driven home by personal stories of how the point was tried by them, or sometimes against them by their competition.
The podcast is backed-up by a blog-style web site. Each episode gets it's own blog entry with a synopsis of the cast and best of all, links to all the resources they discuss. It is great to not have to go back to the podcast and try to find the url for a site they discussed or a software tool they recommend. I always know that I can go to the site and find the resources later. I often listen to the podcast while riding my bike, so I don't get to take notes. Having the web site to refer back to is just another way they make this easier.
I've mentioned "main" episodes, because they have started adding in extra episodes. Some are called "b" episodes where they give a quick update, usually when there has been significant time between "main" episodes. Even these have some great resources, as they try to add beneficial content to each cast. One other episode they did was called a "Bonus" episode where they interviewed a player in the Internet Business genre. It actually turned out to be Sterling interviewing Jay, where we find out that Jay is a pseudonym! It's a great episode and really gives you some insight into each of the hosts.
I just started listening to the podcast a couple of months ago. I've caught up on all the back episodes and this is one of the podcasts that I eagerly await the next episode. Sterling and Jay are obviously in this to make money. Having this podcast gives them some great exposure. Yes, they are doing this because it helps their other ventures. But, there is no harm in them doing this either. Even if it is purely to help them make more money, it is still invaluable information for the listener. AND, they do not do it as a sales pitch. They are never asking you to go buy their other products. So many other podcasts, blogs and article sites are simply masks for generating sales. While I'm sure this podcast has made them money, the benefit is still there for the listener and you don't have to spend any money on "extras" to get the "rest of the story".
If you are interested in online business, I heartily suggest you subscribe to this podcast. This podcast is probably the biggest factor in me deciding to start my blog. It has given me some great advice and insight. It has also led me to some great resources. This is where I first heard about Tim Ferriss' book The 4 Hour Workweek, which I wrote about earlier. They have pointed me to several books and sites that give me even more information. I've become an internet business information junkie. I'm hooked and you might be to if you listen to the Internet Business Mastery podcast.
If you do decide listen to the podcast, be sure to come back and let me know what you think!
Happy business development!
Trent
I recently finished reading Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek, Escape 9 - 5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich. This is simply a must read for anyone interested in independence from the 9 to 5. Whether you have left your job and have started your own company, or sitting in your cubicle dreaming of quitting between cold calls.
Tim is an interesting character. The book flows with many stories of Tim's adventures. If only half of them are true, then Tim has really led a charmed life. Through these stories, Tim explains that "The 4-hour Workweek" is a lifestyle change, not a get-rich-quick plan. Tim's writing is refreshing. His message seems sincere.
After reading the book, I not only want to be a member of the New Rich, but I have a plan that Tim lays out very clearly on how that goal is obtainable. Tim does not preach about how to amass a fortune. In fact, he falls just short of telling you not to. Tim's idea is simply to figure out what you would want to do and where. From Tango world championships in Buenos Aires to kickboxing in Thailand, Tim shows you that it isn't about how much you have, but how much you enjoy.
His plan is to teach you how to decide what would make you the happiest, then decide how much it would cost you to do that, and then plan out how to make enough money (passively) to be able to live your dream. He really drives the point home that enjoying your life while you can is what can make life more than you can imagine. I've read books that say the same thing, but never a book that details it so well.
This book is not just about changing your thought process. The 4-Hour Workweek goes into great detail about HOW TO ACHIEVE your dreams. Tim isn't just another speaker saying "Think Big" and then leaving you to figure out what to do with your thoughts. I've read some GREAT books about thinking big and living large, but Tim really gives you a plan to let you achieve your dreams.
It takes you step-by-step on what you have to do to automate your business or get/start a business that you can automate. He doesn't simply tell you that you need to get out of the office, he has an extensive chapter telling you how to do it, gradually. Right down to the scripts you use to put a remote working agreement in place with your current company. He role-plays the discussions that will take place between you and your boss. He doesn't hold anything back.
There is just as much detail about how to automate your business to the point that it can run whether you are working from home in the same city as the office, or whether you are hiking up a mountain in Switzerland. Again, the details of how to do this are so in depth that you have the confidence immediately to think that you can do it.
I've read books, listened to Podcasts, purchased seminars, etc. I'm not knocking any of them. Some of them are what put me in the mind frame for finding and reading a book like The 4-Hour Workweek. But I have never come away from reading a book with such a clear plan of what to do to accomplish what the author's objective was. Tim really lays it out for you. He even has worksheets on his web site to help you work on your plan. Most books, podcasts, etc. that I've leave you with the message that "If you want to do this, sign up for one of my seminars and I'll show you how." They all seem like a sales pitch for buying the "rest of the story". This book is Tim's seminar. I've never read a more complete "How-To" in the entrepreneur genre than this book. Few books in life are the life-changing type. Few live up to their own hype. But this one is life changing and Tim cuts through the hype with actual facts. If you're ready for a ride to freedom, and not just financial freedom-but true freedom, you will find The 4-hour Workweek invaluable. Get this book, and then let's meet up sometime as members of The New Rich!
Trent
We were excited. My wife and 3 children and I pulled up to the Omni Theater at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History Tuesday night July 10th about 10:15pm. A line had already formed outside the theater. Probably about 50-75 people were already in line. A few Hermiones were there, many males wore their dress robes and there were a smattering of other costumes from the series. when the museum opened the doors at 11:00, the line was out towards the parking lot and down the sidewalk. We made our way in and planted ourselves in the center of the theater. For those that do not know about the Omni Theater, it is an iMAX dome. I had never seen a feature film on the dome. All I had seen here were films created directly for the dome. I was scared that the dome might distort the movie. But we settled down and after a small science/magic exhibit by a museum staff member, the lights went down. A cheer rang out from the crowd. Everyone there was obviously as excited as we were.
No previews. No build up. All Harry Potter and nothing else. No distraction. Greatness.
The opening scene got everyone's blood pumping. I was hooked. Starting from the Dursley's as usual, Harry fends of 2 deatheaters, sees Dudley nearly killed and gets kicked out of Hogwarts. 5 minutes in and 2 hours to go. The next suprise was Natalia Tena as Nymphadora Tonks. Nice addition to the cast! The rest of the movie flowed nicely. I found the Order to be one of the harder books to like, just because Harry has such a tough year. The movie did touch on that, but did not harp on it as much as the book. The final cresendo of the movie was spectacular. The build up to the meeting at the Ministry was great. Once inside the Ministry, the action never let up. The ending was a little sudden, but it was much like the books. You know the ending is coming, but you're always disappointed when it finally comes. As usual, we all want more. I really have to wait another year + for Half-Blood Prince?!?
The Omni experince turned out to be perfect. The film was not distorted to a distracting degree. The clarity was great. The sheer size of the experience was stunning. Seeing the movie stretched from the left horizon of the theater to the right horizon is a better experience than I would have imagined. Watching the movie was a joy. The environment for the movie was great. The audience was fantastic, obvious ardent fans of the series. Many rounds of applause during the movie.
The movie was exceptional. The story line was followed as I have come to expect. Yes, there were MANY departures from the book. And YES, there were MANY stories from the book at were not depicted at all in the movie. I have felt since the Prisoner of Azkaban that the movies just CAN'T do the book justice. There is simply no way to make a movie that covers every storyline from a book that takes 25+ hours to narrate. The movie is over 2 hours and would have to be 3 times that long at least to satisfy those that want the book treated as a screenplay. I do not fault the movies for leaving out many side stories and the often departures from the book's depiction of details. I understand that something has to change to make the 138 minute movie actually work within itself.
The acting was impeccable as usual. My props to the casting department for keeping the cast together over 5 movies and 6 years. This really helps the viewer visualize the flow of the movies as a complete story. I'm excited to hear that Emma Watson has finally signed on to complete the series. Seeing the same actors in the various major roles helps my enjoyment of the movies. I can't imagine a different Snape, or McGonagall, or Hagrid, or even Filch, let alone Harry, Hermione or Ron. I have gotten past a different Dumbldore, but all in all, I think seeing mostly the same cast over 5 movies has helped my enjoyment of the series.
The effects in the movie were first-rate as usual. This is where I miss some of the items that are left out from the book. I catch myself while reading the books (actually listening to them) trying to picture in my mind what that effect is going to look like in the movie. One of these items from the Order of the Phoenix was the coin that was given to the members of the DA to allow them to know when the next meeting was to be held. I thought that was going to be a fun effect, but was disappointed to see that it didn't make the movie at all. I thought Grawp was done pretty well. The effects in the Ministry of Magic hall where they received the prophecy looked great as the shelves came down. The one effect that did catch my eye was Sirius in the fire. The effect changed from the Goblet of Fire where Sirius is seen in the embers to Sirius being seen in the flames now. Other than that, I thought the sets and the effects were done well. Again, my only disappointment here is not seeing some of the effects that I was looking forward to from the book.
I thought this was one of the better movies of the series. It would be hard for me to rank them in an order of preference. All of them have impressed me. I can say that Goblet of Fire was my least favorite, because I thought it jumped around too much. But the others, I'm not sure if I could rank them in the order that I enjoyed them. Again, some will be disappointed and even give bad reviews because the movies don't follow the book. They are being unrealistic. You can't have a 6+ hour movie. And there is no time to make 3 feature films for each of the last 3 books, which is what I think it would take to cover any of the last three books, just because of the book's sheer size.
I often wonder how the movies stand up for someone who has not read the book. I'm afraid that the viewer who hasn't read the book would be completely lost and have a hard time figuring out any of the story. Maybe not and there's no way for me to tell. I think the movie makers have done a great job in understanding that the movies are for the readers. I don't think it is a stretch for them to assume their audience has read the book, just look at the book sales. So, I'm not going to mark them down for what isn't in the movies. It leaves some of the movie to our imagination, which let's face it, is what the series is all about, right?
I loved the Order of the Phoenix, as did the rest of my family. I recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the series. I would love to hear from someone who has seen the movie, but has not read the book. I want to know how the story depicted in the movie holds up without all the holes filled by having read the book. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it. In my opinion, you will like it if you are a fan of the books. And if or when you do it, let me know what you think!
Trent
My Sunday School class volunteered to help convert one of the rooms at our church into a theater. The guys all met and put together a plan to build risers for the theater chairs that we got when a local theater closed down. I found this one of many reason to add a power tool to my small collection. I bought a Skil table top "table saw" for a bit more than $200.00. I took it to the church that night, used it for about 5 minutes and was scared to death by it. It shook like the old Electric Football Games. It went back to Home Depot the next day. Of course, giving up a power tool (even with good reason) and not replacing it is one of those things that male homo sapiens just can't do and live with themselves. I had to upgrade. I settled on the Ryobi BTK3000.
It was a great improvement and started me on my way to a garage shop. I spent the next few months going to every Home Depot and Lowes and buying every accessory I could find for the saw. The long rails, the caster set, everything. While it wasn't a table saw by any stretch, it was a great place to start. I started spending all my time in the garage. There hasn't been a car in my 2 car garage since.
It is now a pretty full shop. I have replaced the Ryobi with the Dewalt Contractor's Table Saw. I got all the accessories for it also, including the long rails, sliding miter table, outfeed table, mobile base, etc. I have the exact set up shown in the picture at the link above. That is the anchor of my shop. To compliment the table saw, I bought the Rigid Radial Arm Saw. I'm so glad I got this when I did, Rigid has since discontinued the Radial Arm Saw. I have enjoyed the RAS more than I thought. Next to it is the Rigid Oscillating Edge Belt/Spindle Sander. I got on a Jet kick for a while and bought the Jet Air Filtration System, 14" Band Saw with a 6" riser block, 6" Jointer, Dust Collector, and Bench Mortiser. I love the DeWalt yellow, and along with the table saw, I have the Scroll Saw with stand a light, Thickness Planer, 18V Cordless Set, and 2hp Router. I had to buy a few Porter Cable tools for the collection, if for no other reason than to support Norm ;). But, they really are the best I found for these 2 tools. I bought their Plate Joiner and 3 1/4hp Router. One last tool of mention. This is probably the most fun "tool" in the shop. The Incra Jig Ultra.
The rest of the stuff filling up my garage is the various shop vac, Dremel, Rotozip, palm sander, circular saw, bit kits and clamps galore. Oh, and the pile of wood!
I've had a ton of fun in the garage and setting everything up was a blast. Hopefully we can discuss tools, techniques and resources here. I'll probably write a tool review every now and then and share some of my favorite wook working sites. Grab your apron and "the most important safety tool in the shop", you safety goggles and come join me in making sawdust!
Trent