SpasTech

Bumper sticker people

2008-09-25T12:52:00.001-04:00

Bumper sticker people, originally uploaded by Bostedor.

Why do people like to mass insult others with bumper stickers.

Testing my Flickr to blog

2008-07-22T11:52:00.001-04:00

Testing my Flickr to blog, originally uploaded by Bostedor.

Thank you,

Steve Bostedor

New Blog

2008-07-08T21:50:00.002-04:00

I've abandoned this post in favor for my new blog at http://www.bostedor.com. Please adjust your bookmarks.

Disney World 2006 Animoto Show

2008-04-25T11:57:00.001-04:00

Server/Phone Room 1

2008-03-26T11:20:00.001-04:00

Server/Phone Room 1, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

This room used to be kept orderly. I need to crack the whip and get it back into shape.

Issie and Tyler Video

2008-03-23T22:16:00.002-04:00

Just a short video

Issie Video

2008-03-22T15:35:00.003-04:00

I was just playing with iMovie and this is what came out. Nothing big - just cuteness.

My Cubicle

2008-03-18T11:43:00.002-04:00

The singer actually sounds good - the message is disturbingly familiar.

Verizon actually Gets P2P

2008-03-14T13:56:00.001-04:00

Story link

Verizon gets it. While Comcast and other similar ISP's are fighting Peer to Peer traffic tooth-and-nail to save their bandwidth, Verizon is taking the more intelligent route ... improving the protocol for better efficiency.

They are developing a protocol that they call P4P that will help the peer-to-peer clients make more efficient connections based upon carrier and bandwidth availability. Not only will this reduce the amount of bandwidth being consumed by P2P clients, it should also increase their reliability and throughput.

I highly applaud this effort by Verizon. Now, if all of the others would step up.

The State of Email

2008-03-11T16:34:00.006-04:00

The state of email is currently "broken". Spammers are only partially to blame. The inexperienced system administrators who employ damaging tactics to fight spam share a large portion of the blame for the break down.

I am spending a lot of valuable time each day explaining to our corporate users why their emails are not making it to their customers. They do a lot of business with colleges and small businesses. Most of these customers do not have enough money to hire qualified staff so they settle for the bottom of the barrel. These cut rate administrators are breaking email in the name of smaller inboxes.

One damaging tactic is to match the sender's domain with the domain name in the sending SMTP server. For example, if I send email to someone from blog@spastech.com but the IP address of our server resolves to mail.google.com, they immediately bounce it back to me with a cryptic message attached that is of no help to the lay person. The SPF record is all but ignored by most junk email filters out there today.

Any good email filtering system should do the following:

Quarantine all rejected email for an acceptable period of time
Notify the intended recipient that an email has been quarantined. This generally takes place as a daily summery list or a web page that the user monitors
Allow the intended recipient to white list email addresses or domains
Notify the sender in easy to understand language why the email was stopped
Inform the sender of the action required to get the email delivered. The action should be singular and easy to perform for someone who is not a computer genius
Honor the SPF Record!
NEVER silently drop an email without a bounce message

Email is mission critical in most businesses. The tactics being employed to fight spam are becoming more damaging than the spam ever was. Following these guidelines would at least mitigate the issues.

What do you think?

Data Recovery?

2008-03-05T16:22:00.001-05:00

Data Recovery?, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

This was on my desk this morning

Getting things done

2008-03-05T10:45:00.001-05:00

Getting things done, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

This is my first step at organizing my projects. I've been studyin the tactics in the book by David Allen called "Getting Things Done" and my stress levels have plummeted already.

Falling Hillary

2008-03-02T19:51:00.002-05:00

Some MAC annoyances

2008-02-29T19:09:00.006-05:00

Apple has done a great job of making their products flashy and easy to use. There are a couple of exceptions in their latest operating system. In fact, these annoyances go back a few operating system versions. Some of these only annoy me because of my Windows background.

For the most part, Leopard is everything that Vista was supposed to be and then some. I was really disappointed to discover that despite all of this Apple goodness, they failed to fix a couple of the most basic failures in the OS X operating system.

Finder

The finder is the OS X version of Windows Explorer. This is one area where Windows beats the MAC hands down. The Finder is a horrible file management tool. They were so concerned with cloning the look and feel of iTunes that they completely forgot that it's main purpose is to manage files and not music.

Drag and Drop - In Windows explorer, the directory tree on the left navigates as you click through folders on the right. No such feature on the MAC. Navigating through folders in the Finder can be confusing and difficult. You need to open two finder windows in order to do a quick drag and drop operation that is very simple in Windows Explorer by just dragging from the file list to the tree view on the left.

Network Browsing - This really sucks in Leopard. It was bad in Tiger and I expected them to do something about it. If you don't have your network settings set up just right, Leopard fails to find any computers on your network. Out of the box Windows can enumerate all of the workgroups on your network. Leopard often fails to enumerate even a single workgroup. It shoves what it does find into a partial list in the finder that you need to expand upon. Even after you get a good list of compters, logging onto their shares often fails. The "connect as" button works about half of the time. I've had a much easier time connecting to Windows shares using Samba in Ubuntu than I do on the MAC.

CMD+TAB

This is the equivilant to ALT+TAB in Windows. There is one major shortcoming on the Mac, though. If you minimize a window and then CMD TAB to it, the window will not restore. Noting at all happens. This is very annoying. To restore the window, you need to find it in the open windows list and click on it. This is very remenicant of Windows 3.1's "Window" menu. C'mmon, Apple! This is basic!

Single Mouse Button? Still??

Finally, the last annoyance that I'll mention here is the stupid single mouse button on all of the Apple mice. The typical answer is to purchase a third party USB mouse and replace the one that comes with your MAC but on the MacBook Pro, you get what you get under the touch pad. This was a bad idea ten years ago. Why have they not listened to reason and put a second mouse button on their mice and laptops?

Man stabbed a few houses down from me

2008-02-27T19:30:00.003-05:00

A 62 year old man from Jerome, Michigan named Daniel Harner was visiting his daughter a few houses down the street from me when an argument started between Daniel and his daughters ex-hubby, Troy Anthony Barlow (37 years old).

Daniel was stabbed in the neck once and in the torso multiple times. He was also slammed in the head with a metal pipe. Surprisingly, it appears that he's going to live.

When the handcuffs were removed from Troy so that they could get prints, he struck the arresting officer. This guys obviously wants to go to prison for life.

The funny thing is that I was home when this happened and didn't notice anything going on. So much for that neighborhood watch sign posted in my side yard. ;)

Audio HERE

Come On !!!

2008-02-26T17:32:00.001-05:00

Come On !!!, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

You'd think people in Michigan could handle a little snow

Digg TownHall Meeting

2008-02-25T21:30:00.001-05:00

Issie being cute

2008-02-25T21:15:00.003-05:00

Issie Resisting the Tired

2008-02-25T21:09:00.002-05:00

Adam Dean

2008-02-25T17:41:00.001-05:00

Adam Dean, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Google Grand Central

2008-02-24T22:08:00.002-05:00

I signed up with Grand Central tonight. The feature set looks awesome! They even had a local number for me to choose from.

You can get a list of features here. The thing that drew me in was the ability to have a single local phone number that would ring all of my other ones in a very configurable sequence depending on who was making the call.

For instance, if my wife is calling, it will ring every phone number in my list until I answer or a voice mail box is prompted. If it's someone that I don't know, only a couple of my phones will ring, leaving my home phone untouched. It even has a check box to only ring the home phone if it is not within normal business hours.

I can check my voice mails visually using my Palm Treo 755P. I can also check them from my laptop.

So far, this service bats a thousand. I'm not sure what they'll charge once this thing goes live. As long as they offer these basic features for free, it'll be a hit.

River in Deter

2008-02-19T12:34:00.001-05:00

River in Deter, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Ice forming on branches

New Car

2008-02-16T22:01:00.002-05:00

Slightly used but new to me. I really love this car.

How Are Abortions Done?

2008-02-09T00:38:00.000-05:00

Note: I'm not an activist of any kind. I just read this and it made me sick to my stomach. I believe that you can not have a valid opinion on the abortion debate until you read this thoroughly.

How Are Abortions Done?

Since abortion was legalized in 1973, approximately 1,500,000 babies have been aborted each year. One out of six women in this country have had abortions. Many times, they were not told about the procedure or the risks involved. They were most likely not informed about the development of the unborn baby inside of them.

Abortion is called a “choice”. If this is true, women should know what they are choosing!

The following is a description of the various types of abortions that are performed in this country.

RU-486

RU-486 is a drug that produces an abortion. It is taken after the mother misses her period. It can be used up to the second month of pregnancy. It works by blocking progesterone, a crucial hormone during pregnancy. Without progesterone, the uterine lining does not provide food, fluid and oxygen to the tiny developing baby. The baby cannot survive. A second drug is then given that stimulates the uterus to contract and the baby is expelled.

Women who abort with the drug RU-486 experience nausea, severe cramping, vomiting and bleeding. But the resulting emotional distress may have even more impact. Rather than being “over with” in a few minutes (as in a surgical abortion) this abortion could last for over a week. Then, when the woman finally does abort, she will expel a tiny dead human being - her baby.

Suction-Aspiration

In this method, the cervical muscle ring must be paralyzed and stretched open. The abortionist then inserts a hollow plastic tube with a knife-like edge into the uterus. The suction tears the baby’s body into pieces. The placenta is cut from the uterine wall and everything is sucked into a bottle.

Dilation and Curettage (D and C)

This is similar to a suction procedure except a curette, a loop-shaped steel knife is inserted into the uterus. The baby and placenta are cut into pieces and scraped out into a basin. Bleeding is usually very heavy with this method.

Dilation and Evacuation (D and E)

This type of abortion is done after the third month of pregnancy. The cervix must be dilated before the abortion. Usually Laminaria sticks are inserted into the cervix. These are made of sterilized seaweed that is compressed into thin sticks. When inserted, they absorb moisture and expand, thus enlarging the cervix. A pliers-like instrument is inserted through the cervix into the uterus. The abortionist then seizes a leg, arm or other part of the baby and, with a twisting motion, tears it from the body. This continues until only the head remains. Finally the skull is crushed and pulled out. The nurse must then reassemble the body parts to be sure that all of them were removed.

Prostaglandin Abortion

Prostaglandin is a hormone that induces labor. The baby usually dies from the trauma of the delivery. However, if the baby is old enough, it will be born alive. This is called a “complication.” To prevent this, some abortionists use ultrasound to guide them as they inject a “feticide” (a drug that kills the fetus) into the unborn baby’s heart. They then administer prostaglandin and a dead baby is delivered. This type of abortion is used in mid and late term pregnancies.

Dilation and Extraction (D and X)

This abortion is also used on mid and late term babies, from 4 to 9 months gestation. Ultrasound is used to identify how the unborn baby is facing in the womb. The abortionist inserts forceps through the cervical canal into the uterus and grasps one of the baby’s legs, positioning the baby feet first, face down (breech position). The child’s body is then pulled out of the birth canal except for the head which is too large to pass through the cervix. The baby is alive, and probably kicking and flailing his legs and arms. The abortionist hooks his fingers over the baby’s shoulders, holding the woman’s cervix away from the baby’s neck. He then jams blunt tipped surgical scissors into the base of the skull and spreads the tips apart to enlarge the wound. A suction catheter is inserted into the baby’s skull and the brain is sucked out. The skull collapses and the baby’s head passes easily through the cervix.

Political Headlines

2008-02-06T23:09:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most politicaly slanted headlines that I've seen from Reuters:

Gonna be a long ride home

2008-02-06T16:08:00.001-05:00

Gonna be a long ride home, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Rain, then sleet, then snow, then feeezing rain, and now more snow...

Who is hosting this?

2008-02-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

Check out this cool tool at http://whoishostingthis.com/

Twitter Feed

2008-02-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for something like this for a while. I guess I'm lazy. I want an automatic tweet when I update my blog. I'm just testing it out right now. If it is considered Twitter spam, I'll shut it off.

C'mmon Tyler!

2008-02-03T10:08:00.001-05:00

C'mmon Tyler!, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Even Issie knows this is the wrong end.

Ty and Issie

2008-02-03T09:56:00.001-05:00

Ty and Em, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

No sibling rivalry here

Local Community Involvement

2008-02-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

I just rediscovered some guys that are doing what I've been wanting to do for a long time. They're promoting my home town using technology and web media.

I grew up in Jackson, Michigan and all of my memories are rooted here. My wife moved here form Detroit and it's difficult getting her to adopt the city as her home. I believe that this is the case because Jackson has done a poor job of marketing itself.

I'm the only techie in my family and small circle of friends so I haven't had the opportunity to do what these guys are doing. I can't help but have a strong desire to get involved in some capacity. I'll be contacting them to see how I can help.

Play with me daddy

2008-01-27T09:51:00.001-05:00

Play with me daddy, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

I was engulfed in my work when I saw her out of the corner of my eye. Time for an hour spent doing something more important than work.

Ipod Touch For Breakfast

2008-01-26T09:43:00.001-05:00

Ipod Touch For Breakfast, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

DT375 Winterm

2008-01-21T23:21:00.001-05:00

DT375 Winterm, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

I'm experimenting with the Windows CE based Winterm DT375. Right now, I'm using it as a family calendar in the kitchen and to control other devices in the house.

Revision 3 on my tv

2008-01-20T14:29:00.001-05:00

Revision 3 on my tv, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Finally wrapped up my project. I could have bought an Apple TV. Instead, I set up a spare lapop up as my media center.

It's running XP Pro, Sage TV, Itunes, and the MIONet for remote access to the shares.

It's hooked up to my Samsung LN-4066F 40"LCD TV using the monitor output for video and stereo composite audio.

Apple wireless keyboard

2008-01-18T13:26:00.001-05:00

Apple wireless keyboard, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

I ordered this the other day. I've been using it for a couple of days and I'm not sure that I like it.

It's too small, really. Maybe it will grow on me...

In need of an upgrade

2008-01-18T10:51:00.001-05:00

In need of an upgrade, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

I need to update my book collection

Tyler's diggs at Mancinos

2008-01-16T19:41:00.001-05:00

Tyler's diggs at Mancinos, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Guys night out

Testing a blog update

2008-01-13T17:05:00.001-05:00

I'm just playing with a way to update my twitter every time that I update my blog. If I can pull this off, I'll be a happy camper.

Emily

2008-01-13T14:50:00.001-05:00

Emily, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Tyler playing with my laptop

2008-01-13T14:47:00.001-05:00

Tyler playing with my laptop, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Issie Sleeping

2008-01-13T13:25:00.001-05:00

Issie Sleeping, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

ITunes File System!

2008-01-03T19:42:00.001-05:00

I've been looking for something like this for a long time. It's pretty easy to install and get going. You download and install the prerequisite MacFUSE Core and then the ITunesFS app.

Both are available here.

I love snow!

2008-01-02T13:34:00.001-05:00

I love snow!, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

This is the scene all over Michigan. Global warming? This is one of the snowiest winters in the last couple of decades.

Issie getting into dessert

2007-12-31T19:40:00.001-05:00

Issie getting into dessert, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

It's sugar free - but messy! We were watching TV and then looked over to see this.

getting ready for 2008

2007-12-31T19:31:00.001-05:00

getting ready for 2008, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

We're keeping it low key this year - family and games

Yay! Snow!

2007-12-28T13:26:00.001-05:00

Yay! Snow!, originally uploaded by SpasTech.

Today's main task

2007-12-28T12:36:00.001-05:00

Today's main task, originally uploaded by Qbyte.

Today I am concentrating on gathering disaster recovery data for our Exchange environment.

2007 stem cell breakthrough is like turning lead into gold

2007-12-27T23:23:00.000-05:00

"This is truly the Holy Grail: To be able to take a few cells from a patient -- say a cheek swab or few skin cells -- and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory," said Robert Lanza, a stem cell pioneer at Advanced Cell Technology.

The Den

2007-12-27T16:39:00.001-05:00

The Den, originally uploaded by Qbyte.

This is where we come up with the plans to confuse and conquer

Out my window

2007-12-27T14:51:00.001-05:00

Out my window, originally uploaded by Qbyte.

Michigan weather is as gloomy as the Michigan economy

Strange VMWare Problem

2007-12-18T09:54:00.000-05:00

We have virtualized our Windows 2000 Terminal server and are seeing something strange. Whenever the network usage is heavy for the guest OS, the host CPU gets swamped.

The process that is using all of the CPU is the vmware-vmx.exe process for the guest server. If I disable the guest network card for a moment, the CPU settles down to a rumble but once it is turned back on and the network is used, the CPU spikes back up again.

This is what I am spending my day on today...

Photos: The transistor turns 60

2007-12-14T12:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday 111100'th Birthday!

Photos: The transistor turns 60 | CNET News.com

» Conversations between bacteria | Emerging Technology Trends | ZDNet.com

2007-12-13T16:05:00.001-05:00

» Conversations between bacteria | Emerging Technology Trends | ZDNet.com

"researchers think they can now develop artificial signals to interfere with this signal process and that this could lead to new treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

Kermit X-Ray

2007-11-30T23:56:00.000-05:00

I like you

2007-11-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

Take.TV

2007-11-27T22:45:00.000-05:00

So, I ordered a Take.Tv device from Sandisk last week. It finally came in yesterday and I'm not a happy customer ... yet.

All of the reviews that I've read about the device where positive and the features that it has are exactly what I need. Basically, it lets you copy Divx, MP4, and other types of movies onto it's flash drive and play them on your TV.

When I unpacked the device and plugged it into my XP laptop, nothing happened. It didn't try to install a driver or even acknowledge that I inserted the device at all. I plugged it into my MacBook Pro and received the same results. I put the device into yet another XP computer and it still did absolutely nothing.

It's supposed to install the mass storage driver like any other flash drive and offer a drive letter to drag your movies onto. No dice on three different computers.

The only way that I could find to get support was via email. I sent them an email yesterday asking for an RMA and still have not heard from them. I will call 1(866) SAN.DISK tomorrow and report the results here.

Comcast Upgrade

2007-10-31T06:56:00.000-04:00

Comcast upgraded our lines the other day. I am very happy with the speed.

When I test against some servers, I get up to 20Mb/sec!

Leopard -vs- Vista

2007-10-30T12:02:00.000-04:00

So, I've been running Vista and Leopard side by side for a couple of months. I've endured the betas of Vista and now I've endured the betas of Leopard. I have to say that I've had many less headaches in my beta testing of Leopard than I had with any Windows beta ever.

Now that the final release is out and I can fairly compare the two as final products, I officially declare Leopard as the winner. It's stable, full featured, and I'm having a hard time finding anything that doesn't work with it that worked with previous versions. This is a mirror opposite of my experiences with Vista.

CNet is down?

2007-10-16T21:52:00.001-04:00

I've tried cnet.com, news.com, and download.com and can't connect to any of them! Wonder who tripped on the chord.

Windows 2003 ADVANCED server?

2007-10-16T10:15:00.001-04:00

I have an HP xw8400 workstation in my office that I'm attempting to make into a host for virtual machines.

I can install the 64 bit Ubuntu Fiesty on it with no problems and it operates great as a VMWare host. I wanted to test performance differences so I decided to install Windows 2003 64bit server on it.

I am greeted with the pictured stop error in the early stages of Windows 2003 setup. I thought that it was just because it was not able to see the SATA controller so I downloaded a driver, put it on a floppy, hung a floppy drive off the workstation, and ran setup with the F6 option.

No dice. It still crashes the same. How is it that Windows 2003 R2 can still not install to a computer with SATA drives and new hardware while the open source Ubuntu can?

Things are looking very sad for Microsoft.

iphoto Crashing

2007-09-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

Ever since I upgraded to Leopard, iPhoto keeps crashing when I import pictures. I didn't really import many pictures in OS 10.4, so I don't know if this is a Leapord thing or something with iPhoto 08. Wither way, it's annoying.

iBricked - iToldya

2007-09-28T22:53:00.001-04:00

From the NY Times:

"Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, has said the company wanted to maintain control over the iPhone’s functions to protect carrier networks and to make sure the phone was not damaged."

Yet, he authorized an update to the iPhone that rendered it completely useless if it was legally unlocked. I know that there's this image of Apple that they're these peace loving, artsy fartsy hippies in California that are liberal and want world peace but this is a clear look at the real Steve Jobs that all of the iFanBoys need to wake up to.

Apple is no different from Microsoft minus the current market share. They are just as oppressive (or worse). This was a very bad stunt, Apple. Anyone who remains a fanboy after this one is a Sucker.

OS X Refreshing Feature

2007-09-22T23:10:00.001-04:00

This is really nice for someone coming from the world of Microsoft Installer Hell. With MSI, you can only launch a single setup at a time and if you violate that, the second setup closes with an error. In OS X, the second setup simply sits and waits for the first one to complete and then continues automagically. I like!

Latest Leopard Beta

2007-09-19T20:45:00.001-04:00

So, I finally got some time to install the latest Leopard beta. I'm very impressed although I still need to spend more time playing with features.

Podcasts that I regularly listen to

2007-09-07T19:00:00.000-04:00

Podcasts

I have a long commute to and from work. I could spend those hours yelling at other drivers or I could spend it learning something. After years of the former, I have found much more peace in the latter.

I also listen to many of them while I work as long as I'm not doing something that needs my complete attention. I also listen to audio books from audible.com after I have caught up on all of the podcasts. I'll go over the books that I've listened to (over and over again) in another post later.

Here is a list of podcasts that I regularly listen to. These are the ones that I learn the most from and the ones that I trust the most for what's happening.

Twit.TV Network

The Tech Guy - This is always a good take on the home electronics consumer market. I used to take calls like this as a repair guy in Ann Arbor and many of the calls bring me back to my roots. I often find myself yelling the answer at the iPod but Leo never seems to hear me.

Windows Weekly - Great Podcast to keep up on the inside scoop of the Microsoft world. Paul stays pretty comfortably in the home consumer market but he does occasionally salt his podcasts with some good IT content. It's always interesting to hear his take on the politics at Microsoft. I sometimes wonder why he's not on the panel of The Cranky Geeks.

Net@Night - Amber always serves a heaping scoop of the cool, the strange, and the ugly. She must be clicking the "Stumble!" button for hours to come up with some of the weird and sometimes very useful links that she reveals on her show. Leo adds the polished tone and linear structure to make this podcast a hit for anyone looking for a website to waste some corporate time and resources on. Come on, who really surfs this stuff after they punch out?

MacBreak Weekly - This is one that I most recently started listening to. Now that I have a MacBook Pro, I am always interested in what is happening in the ever flaunty world of Apple. This is actually really well prepared and accurate information that I've grown to rely upon. They have been going on and on about the iphone lately but I'm expecting that we'll get back to the computing world eventually.

This Week in Tech - This is the king of all panel podcasts out there. Every participant is highly respected in their fields. I am glued to this one with every new episode. If I were going to participate in a podcast, this is the one that I'd feel most at home with - Cranky Geeks is a close second, though. :|

Digg Nation - What's not to enjoy about a couple of drunk dudes talking tech? If I had friends, these are the kind of people I'd hang out with. Successful, rich, and drunk - Now that's a role model for every geek if I ever saw one. This is a Must Watch for anyone. Anyone who can create technology like Digg and Revision 3 and still keep it real at the same time deserves a lot of respect from me. Their liver is probably trying to bury them but I give them a Digg.

C|NET Live - Ok, this is probably the most corny and/or cheesy podcast that I watch/listen to. These guys often give mainstream answers to amateur questions but in between these annoyances, there are little nuggets of goodness. It's very well produced and the hosts are never boring. Sometimes I think that they talk about linux to seem cool but I can look past that as long as they keep bringing some good content into the mix.

JetSet Podcast - She's like your average like girl who like is animated and stuff but the sorta animation kinda takes away from the stuff she's kinda talking about. Yea. I actually enjoy this one sometimes even though I feel a bit emptier after some episodes. Really, though, she is very talented and delivers something cool and new with each episode. You just have to get over her weird attempts to be unique to appreciate it.

The Lean blog - My company is a Scanlon organization. We have practiced lean principles for over a decade and I am a firm believer in the lean philosophy. Our CEO was mentored by one of the original Lean Manufacturing guru's and that is a major benefit for our company. It's like having Daniel Larusso heading your Dojo - or something less corny but equally profound. Anyways, the podcast is a seriese of interviews of execs that have embraced Lean principles and have made it work in their organizations. It can be a bit dry sometimes but there are some good ones in there, too.

Scanlon Leadership Network Podcast (EPIC) - This podcast actually has an interview with our CEO - Myron Marsh. He is one of the great leaders in Scanlon and Lean Manufacturing. The interviewer is very professional and keeps things moving so that the interviews do not stagnate on one issue for too long. If you work in a manufacturing environment, this is highly recommended. You can never go wrong with the Lean approach as long as you embrace it fully.

The Cranky Geeks - These guys are right up my alley. I listen to them on my morning commute because that's when I'm most cranky. While I think that John can be a bit out of touch sometimes, I think that he gets a harder rap than he deserves. You've got to give him credit for staying as credible and relevant as he is for a man of his age. He adds priceless humor and toung-in-cheek arrogance to the show that nobody else could do. He's truely the Rush Limbaugh of the Geek world. The other guys on the show are cool, too.

Mac Progress

2007-09-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

So, it's been a couple of weeks since I've jumped in head first into the world of Apple. I've had some really good experiences and I've had some issues. Right now, my biggest issue is that the battery in my MacBook Pro is dead - done.

The thing has never really held much of a charge since it was given to me but it's so bad, now, that I can't even unplug it from the outlet without it just going dead immediately. I ordered one through CDW and it should be waiting for me when I arrive back to the office tomorrow.

Other than this, I have adapted pretty well to the MAC world. I don't know if that's a testament to the Apple's ease of use or my ability to adapt to any tech environment as long as I give it a fair chance. I took this plunge into Linux and wasn't as successful so I guess that the former holds greater influence than the latter.

I guess that if I did this a few years ago, I would have been justified in my macaphobia. It wasn't until recently that Apple switched to Intel and made it possible to run both OS x and Windows on the same box. There were also far fewer games and cool apps back than compared to what is out now.

I've learned a lot and eaten a lot of crow and I've been pleaslty surprised many times along the way.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... Microsoft had better take warning,

User, System, Nice, Idle

2007-08-23T11:51:00.000-04:00

When looking through the OS X Activity Monitor, I saw that it breaks down the CPU usage into categories. I see a lot of people asking what these mean but I don't see many good explanations so I'll take my crack at it here.

%user: This is the percentage of your available CPU time that is being spent on programs that you executed or were executed on your behalf or by other users on your system. They are programs such as iMovie or Firefox.
%system: These are the processes used by OS X to run your hardware and draw the pretty graphics on your screen. These processes are usually higher priority and at a low level that is not touchable by regular users.
%nice: These are programs that typically run in the background to do some maintenance task and have a high "nice number". This means that they willingly give up CPU cycles for other processes of the same priority level. An example would be a distributed.net client.
%idle: Duh

Vista made me switch to the MAC

2007-08-21T15:09:00.000-04:00

The folks at Microsoft had better listen up. I've heard stories of everyone from the young savvy crowd to the grandma and grandpa switching from the Microsoft world to the OS X operating system. I'm somewhere in between those demographics but I'm no less of a surprise to my co-workers and friends.

I have been a "Windows Fanboy" since the Windows 3.1 days and before that, I was all about DOS. I've been a Windows programmer since Visual Basic 1.0 and I've invested over a decade learning how Microsoft operating systems work intimately. Switching to another platform was not something that I took lightly - or ever thought would happen.

I've given Vista a fair chance. I've embraced it 100%. I really wanted it to work for me. I jumped through all of the hoops that I shouldn't have had to just to be disappointed by yet another bug or incompatibility.

Last week, I got a 2.1Ghz dual core Macbook Pro with 3gigs of RAM. This is roughly the same speed and capacity as the HP laptop that I have Vista Ultimate running on. One week later and I'm asking myself how I could have been so stupid by using Microsoft's operating systems all of these years.

Everything on my MacBook runs at least twice the speed as the similar program on my HP. Windows just SNAP open quickly and there's no lag switching between programs. The animations are very smooth and don't seem to tax the system at all. Why can Apple pull this off while the clowns at Microsoft can't animate an icon without pegging the CPU?

So, I've officially switched. I keep VMWare Fusion with an XP Pro on the MacBook just in case I need to run something in Windows but those are getting less and less as I find more quality apps that run natively in OS X.

I've heard our VNCScan customers asking for a MAC version for years. It looks like that's going to happen soon.

Larry Broat - Always remembered

2007-08-12T17:40:00.000-04:00

Larry Broat was my boss at Thomson Shore, Inc. He gained the respect and loyalty of our whole department due to his selfless management style. He was one of the Greats and will always be remembered.

In my technology career, I've had two mentors that have believed in me and given me a chance to make a difference. One of them was Tom Diroff of the former Technology Partners in Ann Arbor, MI, and the other was Larry.

Things just aren't the same in the department any more but he did lay a strong enough foundation that we will eventually be able to pick up the pieces and survive. This was one of his battle cries.

I can only aspire to be as strong of a leader as he was. We will all miss you, Larry.

Bozteck VNC Management Console

2007-07-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Bozteck VNC Enterprise Network Manager
Price: $59.00 per administrator

Download Here

Bozteck hits a home run with this feature packed remote management program. With VENM, you can remote control all of the computers on your network for one single price under $60.

Not only can you control using VNC, you can execute scripts remotely, take stealth screen captures, create custom commands, use RDP, and even remote control in safe mode!

Inbox Zero

2007-07-26T20:12:00.001-04:00

The Jing Project

2007-07-19T11:02:00.000-04:00

This is one of the coolest ideas that I've seen come out in the past few weeks. Techsmith, the company responsible for cool screen capture tools like Snagit and Camtasia, has released a free beta of their new screen sharing tool called Jing.

Instead of capturing images and saving them onto your local computer, they are uploaded to the Jing server and the web address to view them is placed into your clip board. You can, then, paste that address into an email or web page and instantly make it available to others.

You can save it locally as a PNG image file, also if you'd like. Not only does this tool capture and share screen captures, but also full video and audio annotations. This will be an excellent way for people to show how to get things done without describing it in words.

I think that I'll be using it quite a bit from now on.

Download: http://www.jingproject.com/

Michael Moore Goes Home

2007-07-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

According to the article below taken from the Iranian Student News Agency, Michael Moore is further emboldening our enemies by ensuring that his socialist anti-american propoganda is heard and embraced by the countries that hate the USA.

A hundred years ago, he would have been in prison for betraying his countrymen. In the sad state of politics today, he is cheered by the former drug smoking hippies that are now running our country.

----

TEHRAN, July 02 (ISNA)-Writer, producer and director, Michael Moore is to come to Iran for the screening of his new production SICKO in the first international documentary film festival held here.

This festival will be held from the 15th to the 19th of October in Tehran.

According to reports in SICKO, Michael Moore interviews Americans who have been denied treatment by the U.S. health care insurance companies, whose policies are designed to maximize profits at the expense of providing essential care. The consequences of these individuals' plights range from bankruptcy to the unnecessary deaths of loved ones.

Moore then looks at universal free health care systems in Canada, France, Britain, and Cuba, debunking all the fears (lower quality of care, poorer compensation for doctors, big-government bureaucracy) that have been used to dissuade Americans from establishing such a system here. The roots of those health care systems are explored, and our failure to establish free health here care is traced to a) President Richard Nixon's deceptive support of the then-emerging HMOs pursuing huge profits and b) subsequent pressures for Congress to sacrifice sound health care in favor of corporate profit.

A group of Americans who became ill from volunteering at 911 Ground Zero, but were refused health coverage for their illnesses, are ferried by Moore to Cuba, where they receive the top-rate, free care one would hope they'd get here at home.

In his interviews, historical reportage, and typical sarcastic wit, Moore soundly condemns American health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the politicians who have been paid millions to do their bidding. He makes the case that there is something wrong with Americans that we cannot learn from the successes of other countries in providing better quality-of-health than we enjoy in the USA.

Michael Moore was born in Flint, Michigan April 23 1954. He studied journalism at the University of Michigan-Flint, but also pursued other hobbies such as Gun shooting, for which he even won a competition. Michael started working as an editor for the journal of the University he attended at the beginning to his journalism career. He then turned to filmmaking, and to earn the money for the budget of his first film Roger & Me (1989) he ran neighborhood bingo games. He eventually got himself into leading a string of documentaries and TV series all predominantly around the same subject; attacks on politicians and business corporations, getting his opinion around and about. He landed his first big hit with Bowling for Columbine (2002) about the bad points of the freedom of weapon holding in America, which earned him an Oscar and a big reputation. He then shook the world with his even bigger hit Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) - making fun of President George W. Bush. Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.

Burned out

2007-06-29T18:38:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty burned out with programming lately. I get started writing some code and then my head starts feeling full and I close down. I think I just need some time to be a normal person for a while again. I go in these stages. The software is in a stable state right now so this is a decent time to take a week of R&R before diving into the new release features.

Palm Treo 755P - My New Toy

2007-06-11T14:43:00.000-04:00

Palm Treo 755P - My New Toy

I got sick of my Verizon phone dropping calls and getting poor signals so my Wife and I dropped by the local Sprint store and signed up with them. I chose the Palm 755P Treo because it had just about everything that I was looking for. The only question was Windows Mobile or Palm OS.

I went with the Palm OS because it has more applications and I'm already familiar with the interface and how it works. The phone is awesome. You can view the list of features here.

I wish that I could say that it was all trouble fre but I did run into an issue that I'm still struggling with. It comes with a feature called Sprint TV. You can access it from the touch screen icon and it delivers streaming TV over the wireless Internet. When I try to launch it, I get an error: "Application Error. We regret this inconvenience. Please try again later."

I found a back door deep link to the menu on the Sprint TV and if I click that, it works fine for me. It just won't open if I try to get in the legit way. I'm fine with this hack but I know that Sprint is going to find out about it soon and close the door on it.

The Sprint support is supposed to call me back today to help me with the issue but after 3 hours of dealing with them yesterday on it, I'm not optimistic.

All-in-all, I'm very happy with the phone and with the quality of the Sprint service. If they can just get the Sprint TC thing working, it'll be a 100% successful switch.

Intelligence Insulted

2007-06-05T11:27:00.000-04:00

Link: CNN News

I am trying not to get political in this blog but I read this article today and felt ill. Am I the only one who notices the fake politicians from the genuine ones? Hint: If a politician is pretending to be religious at campaign time but you hear nothing religious out of them at other times ... they're fake.

Senator Clinton is one of the most fake politicians that I've ever seen.

John Edwards is a close second. Both of them are an insult to the intelligence of the American voter.

Barack, although I disagree with him on some issues, is at least genuine in demeanor and doesn't patronize voters with canned responses to questions and typical campaign rhetoric.

Windows Genuine Spyware

2007-06-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

I just noticed something. I am setting up a new laptop and applying Windows Updates for the first time on it.

The first run through, it said that it needed to install the Windows Installer 3.1. This was the only thing in the list to install. The reason that it's the only thing in the list is because all of the other updates require the latest installer to run.

I watched as it installed the Windows Installer 3.1 and after it finished, it quickly slipped in that it was installing Windows Genuine Advantage without my acknowledgment or request. This is the typical tactic of someone with something to hide.

I'm posting this blog as a warning to anyone else that may not know that they are installing this spyware from Microsoft.

College Works Painters Initial Review

2007-06-01T13:24:00.001-04:00

We enlisted the people at College Works Painters to paint our house this year. When we signed up with them, they sold me based upon their preparation techniques and claimed thoroughness. They told me that I will not have to pay for the job until I am so happy with them that I would be willing to give them a letter of recommendation.

They have been at it for three days and they told my wife yesterday that they where finished with the job. when I arrived home from work, what I saw was a house that a 12 year old child could have painted better in less than half of the time that they spent on it. I also noticed the serious lack of preparation work all over the surface of the house.

I talked to the supervisor yesterday and she claimed to share my concerns although she was there at many times through the day and had to have seen them painting over areas of the house that clearly needed prep work done still.

She promised to have them come back in the morning to "patch things up" and that they would be finished by around noon. She must have sensed my wifes hesitation to lay into them like I did and they offered to have her sign the acceptance papers while I was at work. That made me even more upset with them and I demanded to hold off on any paper signing until I see the job and agree that it is good. Below are some pictures from the FINISHED job as of this morning.

They didn't even sand the house before painting over these huge crators of flaked paint!

They didn't pull the old vines down to paint as we had agreed upon

The paint was still flaking and chipped in many locations such as this!

Below was the letter that I left for them as I went to work this morning:

• The house still has many areas where it is flaking old paint. This is unacceptable. I want every area where there are flakes to be sanded down, primed, and repainted.

• The overhangs have not been painted. On one side of the house, you didn’t even bother to pull down the remnants of the old vines so that you could paint

• Many areas looks like you didn’t sand at all but just painted over the old craters left by the old paint flakes. See the last picture in the list above. This looks like crap and any good painters would have sanded that down with a power sander before priming and painting to minimize the depth differences in the paint. This looks like a 12 year old painted the house. I want these areas sanded with a power sander, smoothed, primed, and repainted.

• In areas of the house, it looks like you didn’t even paint. You can see the lines where you left off and decided not to finish.

• The border around many of the windows is still flaking and have not been painted
I am paying a lot of money to you under the promise that you have world class prep work and that I will have a great looking paint job that will last a long time. What I see instead is a horrible paint job that could have been done for a couple of six packs by a few friends. This is not professional painting.

No papers will be signed and no money will be paid until the house at least meets these basic requirements.

Was I being too hard on them? I hope that I can come back tomorrow and write a blog praising them for fixing this mess and making things right.

New Computer Stand

2007-05-27T09:33:00.001-04:00

We went to Ikea yesterday and picked up a few things. One of them was this computer desk so that I could hang out in the living room with my wife while she watches TV. I can geek it out on the laptop and still be a part of the family.

Until now, I've been in the next room using a couch because it had a flat arm and that worked out nicely as a mouse pad. This table is small enough to fit in between the arms of the comfy rocker that I use in the living room, yet big enough for my HP DV9000 laptop to sit on and leaves enough room for my mouse.

New Domain Name

2007-05-24T22:28:00.000-04:00

I purchased http://www.standardextract.com and set it up for my blog. I guess that I just wanted to do that because I'm a geek and I can.

I really don't get much traffic right now and I don't update it like I should. Every day I run into a lot of things that I tell myself that I'm going to blog about later but later never comes and my list of blogging points is endless.

HP DC7700 Reboot Problem Resolved

2007-05-09T14:59:00.000-04:00

I've been battling an issue with these HP DC7700 workstations that we've decided to standardize upon for all future purchases. They're great machines but one problem has shown up and it's been fun to figure out.

When you boot up the computer, it gets to the Windows XP ctrl+alt+del screen and everything looks fine until you move your USB mouse in any direction or click it. The computer instantly reboots and brings you back to the same spot.

If I unplugged the mouse and waited for me to log into the workstation before plugging it back in, the mouse would operate correctly and the system would not reboot. This obviously wouldn't be a good fix for our users so I dove into the drivers and software to see what could be causing this.

It happened right out of the box on all three of them that we purchased so it had to be something that shipped with the HP. I thought that it turned out to be an Intel management tool that was preinstalled on these workstations. I uninstalled it and the problem went away.

The fix only lasted one reboot and it was back. This time, I visited Microsoft's website and installed the latest Intellimouse software. This time, the problem is resolved for good.

Building a foundation

2007-05-05T08:15:00.000-04:00

This an exciting time in my life. I've done this twice already but every time is like new and equally amazing.

This is the time when I get to play a very large part of shaping the future personality of a new human being. Some child psychologists are split about this but only the ones who have not raised children themselves can possibly dispute that the first couple of years of your baby's life plays more of a role in their future personality and perceived intelligence than all of the rest of the years of their life.

These are the years when we are creating our childs foundation. Their little chemical factory in their new brains are being developed and fine tuned; and everything around them plays a large role in what neural connections are made strong and which ones are starved. The things that you do with your baby at this stage can have an enormous impact on their personalities even when they are 30 or 40 years old.

I use the analogy of the foundation on your house. If you build a house with a flaw in the foundation, to doesn't matter how well the house above that foundation is built ... it will be weakened and will likely not survive as well as a neighboring house with a solid foundation. Twenty years into the life of the house, the owner may not understand why they have to keep compensating for things that their neighbors do not. It is no mystery to someone who understands the importance of the foundation, however.

With your child, you can never go back and remake the foundation. It is there for the rest of the baby's life. That is why this stage of parenting is so scary as well as exciting.

Staying with Vista

2007-05-02T09:11:00.000-04:00

Ok, so now I'm staying with Vista and just reinstalling. As I was getting ready to go back to XP, it hit me that this install of Vista was done as an upgrade from my existing XP Media Center Edition.

It jumped out at me as I started looking through the programs for what I wanted to save. I stumbled upon all of the HP crap that they love to cram into the little corners of your hard drive for whatever diabolical reasons they have.

I believe that almost all of the problems that I was having in Vista are a direct result of things not upgrading properly when I ran the upgrade install months ago. Outlook was crapping out on me, Windows Search wasn't working right, some other software wouldn't run for unknown reasons, and all sorts of crap.

After discovering this, I decided to break out the Vista DVD and do a complete reinstall of Ultimate clean and see what happens before regressing back to the XP days. I really do love Vista and despite the extra steps to get some legacy apps working, it is otherwise a much more secure and stable platform than XP was.

Since the reinstall, everything that was not working before is now working beautifully and I couldn't be happier.

Sorry about the false alarm.

Goin' Back to XP

2007-05-01T15:00:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I think that I'm going to go back to Windows XP. I've given Vista my best and it's jsut not up to par, yet. I'm not one of those Microsoft hating people. I'm also no dummy when it comes to Microsoft operating systems. If you ask anyone who has worked with me, they will attest that I have this uncanny understanding of operating systems that almost seems as if I was the one who wrote the thing. Microsoft has done me in with Vista, though.

I'm going to miss Vista. It has a bunch of cool new features that I'll have to supplement XP with third party tools to achieve. I will definitely miss the UAC and the Aero desktop.

There are just too many things that I rely upon that are not working in Vista. Perhaps they will make it more stable in the next release or so, but they don't show promising signs of that. They are, in fact, promising to make it worse by strictly enforcing the session 0 isolation for services and preventing unsigned drivers from being installed in future releases (already being done in existing 64 bit releases).

Maybe I'll stick it out with XP for another year or so and wait for Ubuntu to mature a bit more. I will still be running Vista on a couple of computers but my main laptop just needs a less restricted operating system.

Schools Selling Junk Food

2007-04-26T15:23:00.001-04:00

Fat is the norm in Schools

When I was in High School, they put the first vending machines in the cafeteria area. It sold Soda products and some various sweets. As a heavy Mountain Dew drinker and junk food lover, this was Heaven for me! On the other hand, for kids who are struggling with obesity, this is the Devil taunting them every time they hit the lunch line.

According to ABC News, Schools are being asked to get rid of the junk food and soda machines to help combat obesity.  I am a big fan of this! My brother believes that it is taking the power to parent away from the parents but I disagree.

They are not taking the place of the parent on this decision. They are, instead, complying with what any good parent would want for their kids and not enabling the kids to get around the parent's desires by sneaking fatty snacks behind their backs at school. After all, if you want to pack your kid's gut with Twinkies and Jolt Cola, you can always send it to school with them in their lunch sack.

I would be more inclined to agree with my brother if they were going to put limits on what the parents could pack in their children's lunches. I applaud this decision and hope that all schools comply with it.

Big Brother

2007-04-26T11:25:00.001-04:00

Tyler is so cute with his new baby sister.  He will make a great big brother to her ... and an excellent babysitter when she is older!  ;)

Skateboarding

2007-04-25T16:37:00.000-04:00

I found my old skatebarding video from a couple of years ago and put it up on YouTube. I miss skateboarding. It used to keep me in shape and keep my mind clean by giving me something to push at and work frustrations out on.

My oldest two kids are getting old enough to skate and are showing interest. I think that's something that I'm going to encourage heavily.

Mommy and Daughter

2007-04-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

This is the first picture of Kate with Issie.

Introducing Isabelle!

2007-04-22T09:55:00.000-04:00

The time finally arrived! After a long, dragged out pregnancy, Kate was induced into labor on Monday and Issie came into the world the next morning at 5:37AM.

I have to say that Kate surprised me with the labor. She seemed to feel very little pain though most of it. It wasn't until she opted for the epidural that she showed any real signs of discomfort. It was the strange feelings from the drug that made her uncomfortable, though. She pushed Issie out with a few quick pushes and it was all over.

Issie scored very high on all of her tests and is a very serene baby ... when there's not a legitimate need for crying. She did have a touch of jaundice and we had to put her on a light blanket for 24 hours at home but no other issues other than that.

I am trying to decide if I should put pics and info about Issie up here or create a new blog for it so stay tuned.

Apple Airport Extreme Review

2007-03-22T13:02:00.001-04:00

We purchased our first 802.11n devices this week and have been testing them for the past few days. I have mixed feelings about the AirPort Extreme from Apple.

Pro's

I love the trademark Apple sleekness of the device. It's all white with smooth rounded edges.
It's easy to extend. There is a very simple interface for connecting multiple routers together in a Bridged mode to extend the range using a single SSID.
The security is great. It uses the standard WPA and WPA2, and it also has built in RADIUS support.
The "connected devices" monitor is great. It shows all of the wireless devices that have associated with the AirPort, their signal to noise, and their estimated connection speed.
It can host a USB hard drive or flash drive! This is a sweet feature for homes or small offices that need extra networked storage. It is very easy to configure.

Con's

There is no web interface!!! This is one of the biggest downfalls of this device. You MUST install the router configuration utility that currently only works on a MAC in order to configure and monitor the device. This just sucks big.
They rename standard terms to confusing layman terms. I know that sounds condescending coming from a geek but hear me out. Because they have chosen to rename a bunch of things so that the average user can understand what they mean, they do not show up on any Google searches if you run into trouble. It also throws off experienced Network Administrators. I went through a lot of crap trying to turn off the built-in DHCP server because I couldn't find the "Apple Term" for it anywhere.

Leno

2007-03-09T16:37:00.000-05:00

This weekend, we're going to go see Leno at Soaring Eagles. After that, it's the slots and lots of R&R.

Code Monkey Like Me

2007-02-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey seem to work a lot
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud.

Download the whole song here.

James Pacenza sues IBM over adult chat room firing

2007-02-19T15:34:00.001-05:00

I saw this and just Had to blog a rant about it. This is the most blatant frivolous law suit I've seen in a while. He claims to have been just visiting a chat room to deal with "traumatic stress". His buddy died 38 years ago in the Vietnam War and this stress still forces him to get virtual sex at work to this very day.

Perhaps he was reeeeaaaaallly close with this old buddy of his?

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_on_hi_te/chat_room_lawsuit

1-800-FLOWERS is worthless

2007-02-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

These guys have not been answering their phone for over 24 hours, now. I can understand if a company is slow to respond (in minutes) because of a heavy demand for their product but these guys seem like they left their website active and just skipped town!

If you call 1-800-716-4851, you will not get a response from anyone. How can a company expect to stay in business with service like this? I have been trying to cancel my order since the middle of the day yesterday.

I have tried calling them and emailing them to cancel. The email gets an automated reply and that's all. Now, I'm getting emails telling me that my order is shipping! Time to call the credit card company and stop payment. These guys are a SCAM!

If you google, you will find thousands of other blogs complaining of this exact problem. If you want to order flowers for a loved one, don't rely on 1-800-flowers.com.

My Minnis

2007-02-14T22:51:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon this web site last week and have been thoroughly impressed with it! It is called Your Mini's. It is completely written in Flash and it collects all of your RSS feeds into a single attractive interface that goes with you anywhere that you roam.

It's not an RSS tool, though. It has a lot of useful tools like a sticky pad, calculator, and much more. It really reminds me of the type of thing that you would see in the Vista tool bar or the OS X gadgets. The real advantage of this website, though, is that your data and tools are not stuck on your computer. Any web browser that can use Flash can quickly access all of your feeds and tools just by browsing to http://www.yourminis.com.

1-800-flowers.com gives poor service for Valentines Day

2007-02-14T18:52:00.000-05:00

I would normally let this issue go with a private reprimand to a sales rep but this is the second time that I've been burned by flowers.com. I placed my order yesterday and was promised that the flowers would be delivered to my wife on Valentines Day. They where not. Neither where the roses that I ordered to be sent to my mother at work.

I called this evening to cancel the order and could not get through to anyone. The third time that I called 1-800-716-4851, someone actually picked up the phone ... but nobody spoke. I said, "Hello?" but nobody spoke back.

After a moment of silence, I started hearing customer service reps talking in the background. They must have mistakenly answered my line and left the phone off the hook. Then, I heard something that widened my eyes ... "I can't believe that stupid guy hung up on me! What an ASSHOLE!". It was some lady not far away from the receiver.

I listened for about another ten minutes and then someone walked close to the phone and said, "I can't believe they all left!" The phone bumped a bit and then clicked off.

I called back five more times and got nothing but a recording just kept telling me that they had to end my phone call because they where too busy and then hung up on every time.

I recorded it and will place a link to it up here shortly. Needless to say, this is the last encounter that I will ever have with them.

If a company can not handle the volume of the seasons, then they have no business taking orders.

I'm an old man on Mercury

2007-02-09T14:08:00.001-05:00

According to http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/age/, I will be 140 years old on Feb 23,2007! I'm going to be 18 on Mars on April 14th, though.

National Leadership Award Scam

2007-02-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

I was targeted by the Republican Party as a fund raising scam. They tried to scam me out of $500 to get my name on some stupid advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, a gavel, and invites to the Presidential breakfasts in Washington.

I decided to call the number that the left for me on the answering machine (1-877-213-0603) a call this afternoon to see what this was all about. The lady told me that I was being honored and that I have already won. Immediately, this started to sound like a sweepstakes scam.

Next, she told me that I would have the "honor" of having my name listed with a bunch of the other suckers -err- co-chairmen in an advertisement in the Washington State Journal. All that I needed to do was to contribute $500 to their cause .. tax cuts.

I've voted mostly Republican for most of my voting life but this scam alone has given me a big shove to the left. What honorable party would take advantage of people like this?

They didn't get a dime from me and I hope that everyone else was that wise.

Reference: Here are some others who where contacted by these republican scam artists.

VNCScan hits Prime Time

2007-02-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

For a while, I've been in contact with a person that does the computer playback effects for shows such as Grey's Anatomy and Criminal minds. If there is a scene that involves someone typing at a computer or has a computer screen in the picture, he is the one that makes it happen .. and he makes it happen in part due to my software.

This episode after the Super Bowl is particularly exciting because I wrote a little something special just for one of the scenes and was able to see it work flawlessly on the show.

The tool that I wrote allowed Dauv to hit a key on his master workstation and send that keystroke to a bunch of different computers at the same time. It was very simple how it worked.

There is a listener running on each of the screen computers and a "sender" running on his. He hits a key and the stroke is send over Ethernet using UDP to all of the listeners. When a listener hears the keystroke, it gets a handle on whatever window has the focus on the computer and relays that keystroke to that window.

The scene that this was used on is the one where the psycho guy was monitoring a bunch of people's webcams and had about 10 monitors with a persons webcam on each one. There was a knock at the door and he looked very concerned. he hit a few keys on his keyboard and all of the monitors went to screen saver at the same time. Success!

Knowing that VNCScan and some of my custom programming is being used like this on the show has turned me onto the show but the quality plots, suspense, and action have me hooked.