So, I have registered to attend Windy City Rails.

I hope to learn a lot there and to meet a few of the people I follow on twitter as well.

The apps that I have installed on here are:

• Air Video – stream video from a server directly to the iPad
• Netflix – mandatory for video
• Plants vs. Zombies – my wife truly enjoys this game, much to my amusement
• Flight Control HD – I have a thing for planes
• RadarScope – Level 2 radar at your fingertips, along with Spotter Network integration make for an awesome experience
• X-Plane – again, an excellent flight simulator

The one thing I am surprised with is reading books. I thought that it would be different because of the backlit screen and my eyes would hurt, but I haven’t had any problems picking up the iPad to read a nice book on Python.

Overall, I am extremely happy we purchased the iPad.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention GoodReader which is an awesome app to manage documents.

I asked on twitter how this could be done and Argenis Fernandez (@afernandez) suggested that I look into a Powershell script to verify stored procedures still work.

After some investigation on how Powershell and SQL work together, I scraped together this script:

$server = "localhost";		# The SQL Server instance name
$database = "MyDatabase";		# The database name

# Load the SMO assembly
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO") | out-null

# Create the SMO objects
$srv = New-Object "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Server" $server;
$db = New-Object ("Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Database");

# Get the database
$db = $srv.Databases[$database];

# For each stored procedure in the database
foreach($proc in $db.StoredProcedures)
{
    # NOTE: my stored procedures are all prefixed with "web_"
    if ($proc.Name.StartsWith("web_"))
	{
        $proc.TextBody = $proc.TextBody;
        $proc.Alter();
    }
}

If any error occurs, it will display which procedure name did not get altered properly.

In my application, all my stored procedures that I use in the websites are prefixed with “web_”.  This made it easy to check if the procedures used still work. 

The iPad looks like a wonderful device.  I can see myself using it for the web and email quite frequently on the couch and with my son (2 years old already, wow).  The app store would be wonderful for getting game for him to play.  We would be able to play videos and music for him in the car.  We are also embarking on a vacation soon and he is going on his first airplane ride. 

I am looking to minimize the inconvenience for all parties involved, including my son.  I would like to keep his attention for more than an hour watching the Muppet Show or Clone Wars and not thinking about the fact that he is flying.  The pressure changes are going to be hard enough.  Between any apps that I get and the videos, I’m hoping that instead of bringing my laptop, the iPad will be easier to bring with on the trip and take less room. 

I’ve searched and found a few toddler apps on the store, but since I don’t have an iPod or iPhone, this will be my first experience with the app store.  What apps to people with kids install?

I am still mulling over this idea, considering every bullet point before pulling the trigger.  If you have any suggestions, I’m willing to hear them.