The Cattle Drive forum is where the drivers get together to complain, uh rather, discuss their assignments and encourage each other. Thanks to the enthusiastic initiative of Johannes de Jong, you can keep track of your progress on the drive with the Assignment Log. If you're tough enough to get through the nitpicking, you'll start collecting mooses at the Cattle Drive Hall of Fame.

Gettin' them doggies...
This month the number of Cattle Drivers wrastlin' Java code has stayed around 20. The Servlets corral has the most ropin' going on, followed closely by the activity in the Java Basics corral. More than half of the drivers on the assignment log are busy with OOP, Servlets and JDBC.

Fresh riders on the Drive...
A big welcome to the new riders on the log: Bryant Constant, Jeremy Thorton, JD Lambert and Brian Coates. Check yer spurs folks, you'll be needin' em!

Another moose on the wall for...
Yep, that's right, you make it through, you get yerself a nice little moose to hang on the wall. Well, OK, so it's a virtual moose on a virtual wall, but you can be right proud of 'em! Thanks to the efforts of Marilyn deQueiroz, you can now proudly admire your codin' accomplishments at the recently opened Cattle Drive Hall of Fame. Check it out, pardner, it's worth a wink.

This month Gerald Dettler showed lots of persistence and bagged a moose on the OOP trail of the drive. Way to go Gerald! Congrats also to Louise Haydu, who picked up a Servlets moose, no easy task!

Saddle sore...
So close and yet so far, that's how it feels when you're just about to get through one of the Cattle Drive sections. Two consistent riders, Manju Jain and Louise Haydu, are both just about done with those Servlets assignments. Hang in there, cowpokes, yer almost there!

Changin' hands at the reins...
You'll notice another new moderator at the Cattle Drive forum: Dirk Schreckmann, the fastest Cattle Driver in the west, is stepping in to help out with all those wild riders, while Pauline McNamara eases up on her Cattle Drive chores. Big thanks Dirk!

Nitpicking is hard work too...
We know they're workin' reeeeeally hard, after all, we've seen what those assignments look like once the nitpickers have combed through 'em. Hats off to Marilyn deQueiroz and Jason Adam for their dedication and patience with the pesky vermin that always manage to make their way into those assignments. Newbie nitpicker Pauline McNamara has started collecting nits too.

Tips for the Trail...
Ever get one of those nitpicks about optimization? Yer not alone pardner. So here's a couple sources of inspiration for yer tough optimization decisions: check out this thread over at the CD forum. Happy codin'!

Written by Pauline McNamara