Windows Crash: multiple_irp_complete_requests Stop: 0x00000044

Thought I'd do a bit of a defrag on my old Windows 2000 box. A few minutes in, I got a blue screen:

multiple_irp_complete_requests
stop: 0x00000044 (0x852CCE68, 0x00000D39, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Tried a chkdsk but got the same error, even when running it on boot in console mode.

After some web trawling, found this google answer, which suggested that the problem was caused by 'Intel Application Accelerator' conflicting with recent service packs.

After uninstalling the 'Intel Application Accelerator' my chkdsk finished successfully and defrag seems to be going fine.

Thank goodness for the internet and its wealth of technical solutions!

Bye Bye EDI... Hello ThoughtWorks

Well, after almost four years at EDI (now called CargoWise edi) I am leaving. I finish in the middle of January next year. It has been an interesting time, and I have learnt a lot working with very talented people and from building the framework for a big solution suite (around 4 million lines of C# code). I've also had the opportunity to experience the very different joys and pitfalls of product management.

I will be starting at ThoughtWorks (of NUnit, Jim Webber and Martin Fowler fame) in the middle of February in the new year. I'm expecting that there will be a lot of new exciting stuff to learn, and a lot of variety in terms of clients and technologies. ThoughtWorks are strongly XP, do a lot of development on client sites and even have some Rails projects. The people I have met from ThoughtWorks have all been very friendly and I look forward to starting there soon :-)

Our Christmas Party '06

Last Saturday, we had a Christmas party at our place. It went really well. Many thanks to Anh and Neeraj for doing such an excellent job with the BBQ.

Chark Jong - The Calm in the Eye of the Storm

Doing Chark Jong (breaking of the guard) today, my instructor pointed out that I was tensing up too much, and comitting myself to a big forward rush, when I should have been simply walking forward in my correct stance. After this and some more demonstation, I had an ephinany and things suddenly clicked. Here is my summary of how to do the technique more correctly:

1. Put on a correct stance.
2. Imagine yourself being sucked up towards the ceiling head first, or that your body is suspended from a thread going from the top of your head to the ceiling. This will straighten your back and neck and relax your spine.
3. Mirror your oponent's guard with your guard.
4. Imagine your arms are very heavy, and relax all the muscles in your arms and shoulders. Your arms should be rotated up and forward by your shoulder ball joint, holding the ultimate angle, but otherwise completely relaxed. Your elbows should feel as though they are pointing towards the floor.
   
5. Step forward naturally from your waist.
6. As you close with your opponent's guard (preferably a bit above it), allow your arms to drop down under their own weight, while focusing strongly on a point (eg, on the centre of your oponent's chest). Don't stop walking as your do this. The combined forward movement of your body and downward fall of your arms will mean that you collapse your oponents guard and hit through to their chest.
   
7. Pull back both hands with a circular movement driven from your elbow, like in the form. This will catch the remains of your oponent's guard and further disrupt their stance. If this move isn't working for you, don't overdo it - be careful not to come out of your stance.
8. Finish by stepping foward from the waist (imagine your belly button is leading the way) and drive your arms forward in a double palm strike.
   

When it clicks, it feels like the calmness in the eye of a storm. You are relaxed, in control and uncomitted, with time respond to any counters your oponent may choose to do.