My employer pays me to provide applications from start to finish, and in a short period of time.  To me my current work environment (the most stimulating environment and best employer I will probably ever have, btw) has always been about productivity: how much software in how little time.  I've been working strictly as a telecommuter for 3 years now, so the productivity aspect is even more the defining characteristic of my work day (work night, work weekend, whatever.)

To stay productive and putting out applications for my company, I don't have the luxury to explore the underlying technology behind the code I write, I can't walk through the ASP.NET Starter Kits as I would like or study the new MSDN Application Blocks from start to finish.  I'm not complaining at all.  Like many (I'd bet to say most) developers, my learning and investigations must focus on the code I am writing TODAY.  Learning is done in very specific areas to get the job done, hopefully gain understanding along the way, add a source for future reference, then move on--back to the project and the next issue.

So the focus of the weekend was on xpath queries, with namespaces, and secondarily, the display of those queries.  I've used xpath "to get the job done" on several occasions but recognized the need to study outside of the app for a bit.  This is where Wrox's Professional ASP.NET XML with C# comes in. (Pic top right.)  I've read 4 books on XML and (the most recent being Dino Esposito's Applied XML Programming for Microsoft .NET) and this one was by far the most code-focused.  I was able to use its Xpath sample and customize it as a generic Xpath tool when I need it for quick testing and study.  (Original at right middle, customized version at right bottom.)  I learned a few things since yesterday and my xpath comfort level with namespaces has increased. 

Sidebar: don't get me wrong about the Starter Kits, Applications Blocks, and other broader scale learning tools I didn't mention here.  I'm spending two weeks in a beachfront house in North Carolina in a few weeks and am planning on loading up a few of these bad boys on my laptop for vacation pleasure reading.  Other beach study recommendations welcome.