Converting Varchar To Date From Asp.net To Sort

for some odd reason our other programmer used varchar datatype to store dates. he claims it gives him more control. now i am trying to sort it based on date. so i create a procedure:





CREATE PROCEDURE GetAllWeekEnding





AS


Select convert(datetime, we) as we2 FROM tblArchive order by we2


GO





if i use the convert function in the procedure, i'll get an error msg when i run the code. this is the code i am using.





Dim MyConnection As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("ConnectionStringSQL"))


Dim MyCommand As SqlCommand





MyCommand = New SqlCommand("GetAllWeekEnding", MyConnection)


MyCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure


MyConnection.Open()





Dim mydr As SqlDataReader = MyCommand.ExecuteReader()


While mydr.Read()


DropDownList1.Items.Add(mydr("we2"))


End While





mydr.Close()


MyConnection.Close()





the error message is: No accessible overloaded 'ListItemCollection.Add' can be called without a narrowing conversion





any ideas?