Personal
Belly up. That is what happened to my DC’s on my home network. I just got around to identifying an issue with my firewall that has apparently kept the blog offline for quite awhile. I still have to move some hardware around to accomodate for some new configs but should be stable enough to finish the CS 2.0 update this weekend.
Cheers!
…so I sit down with my handy copy of Ghost to image my web server before making some last minute updates on the way to the CS upgrade. Only when I go to logon, I get a message that the system is unable to contact a domain controller. Quite odd since I have two at home. So I logon to my DC, check the event viewer and it is solid red. I have spent a LONG time today troubleshooting only to find that hardware is a culprit.
So now I have a domain controller to work on, the CS site to build out, and that just gives me all the reason I need to wipe out the home network and go it again from scratch. Expect yet more down time in days to come.
Cheers!
I just loaded up the latest version of BlogJet. The install seems to have gone flawlessly. Even on Vista Beta 2. This is the first post I am making. I am noticing that BlogJet is highlighting words like hyperlinks. We will see what they do.
Posting….Now!
Cheers!
So I am nearing the end of my tweaks on Community Server and decide to grab dasBlog as an alternative blogging server. So I am delaying the roll out of the new blog for at least a few more days while I play with dasBlog…
Cheers!
Moving. It is stressful, time consuming, costly and physically demanding if you do it all yourself (we did). The Nun and I have spent the last two weeks painting rooms, cleaning up, and trying to make furniture from the previous home work in the layout of the new place (of course she sees it as an “opportunity” to redesign and make things “better”. Sigh. So on top of the cost of the move there is the impending cost of replacing furniture. My poor wallet.
Anyway….all of this lead to me missing the first of Jun – The date I committed to becoming active with my blogging again. It has just been hectic.
But here I am now and ready to go. I am still working on getting the site updated to the latest version of Community Server. Expect a little downtime still till I get that all worked out. I am also going to trim the categories WAY down to narrow the focus of the blog.
Look for a post to follow-up the webcast I delivered yesterday on the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer. I have gathered some resources that provide more information on how the ExBPA can help resolve issues and truly simplify the maintenace of your Exchange Org regardless of the number of Exchange Servers you have.
I am also (like all of my co-workers) spending a lot of time with Vista and Office 2007. Look for a LOT of postings on both of those.
Vista Ultimate and Media Center is looking sweet. I happen to love Media Center and plan on digging very deep into MCE features and functionality.
Some of you may have heard about the new version of Internet Security and Accelleration Server (ISA). I will be working more with that in the newxt few months as well. I have to make sure that my home network plays well with ISA, in particular my Vonage VoIP phone which currently sits behind my ISA firewall. So look for ISA postings.
Of course Longhorn Server is going to play a big part in my postings as will the new Exchaneg Server product.
Finally, I am going to be heading back to my roots with the Small Business Server product. I worked tech support for SBS for 5 years before coming into my current role. It is a fabulous product and I want to stay on top of it.
So that is the basically outline of how things will pan out over the next few months!
Cheers!
The move is complete…..almost. Everytime I have moved in my life it seems like it is months before things are truly in place. So far, The Nun and I have lined out the main living areas and our bedroom. We have painted a couple of other rooms and still have most of the house left. baby steps.
Anyway….the real reason for the post is to annouce that I am settled and I will be blooging again with regularity starting Monday (tomorrow!). I am also going to convert to Community Server 2.0 and get the site all updated. So do expect some up and down time for the next week.
Cheers!
Long time no type……So here is what has happened in the last 45 days or so.
Went to Washington to find a house. Found a house in Redmond, Washington. Sold my house in SoCal. Got Married In Texas. Bought the house in Redmond, Wa. Packed my house in SoCal. Over this weekend we pack the U-Haul and then on Tuesday we start making the drive up. Should be in the new place by the 12th.
Of course I have to disconnect everything here in SoCal which means my domains and blog will go offline. I then have to get set up with an ISP that will provide static IP’s and all that rot. I suspect my blog and domains will be back online around Jun 1st. I will also be through the most stressful 3 months ever in my life and will get back to blogging.
I think I mentioned in in another post, but just for good measure, i will be focusing my blogging activities around the following products – Windows/Vista/Longhorn, Media Center, SBS, Exchange, and ISA. I may narrow it even further but for now those are the products that I like working with the most.
Cheers!
(seeya in June!)
When I decided to get all gung-ho on blogging, I did it for all the wrong reasons. There was some perceived pressure from management that blogging would be an unwritten requirement to succeed come annual review. There was the competitive factor from seeing some of my co-workers embrace blogging and become successful at it. Finally, there was the desire to try something new.
I have since learned that there are much better reasons for blogging.
First, let’s assume you aren’t blogging with the end-goal of making money directly through your blog by advertising. That is a whole different reason for blogging. Once that is out of the way, most technical bloggers blog for the following reasons: Raise awareness of a product or technology, to form a relationship with a community that has a common interest or goal, ensure correct and accurate information makes it to the public, and most importantly – being passionate about something.
While my blogging to date has sort of touched on some of those areas, what I have lacked so far has been the most important aspect – the passion. I have spent the past few weeks thinking about this and whether blogging is the right thing for me to do. I have decided that it is.
I do have some passion around a few products and technologies that Microsoft (and others!) has or will have. I just have a difficult time expressing that passion outside of being hip deep in product CD’s in my computer room. I think some of what I get to work with and see is fantabulistic. I just don’t express myself well when trying to communicate it in writing.
BUT! I seem to be able to tap that passion when I do live presentations. I get animated and excited. I get stressed when demos don’t work, and spastic when they do (there is no better feeling than demoing a beta product that has given you grief for weeks only to do it live and it work). So how do I tap that same energy, broaden it’s reach and appeal, while overcoming my lack of written communications skills?
My Answer: ScreenCasts
Actually, it isn’t my answer so much as a borrowed answer. Some of my co-workers have done a few screen casts already. If you have not seen Chris Henley’s fantastic ScreenCast on Vista Voice Recognition, then you have missed a phenomenal presenter with true passion talking about a very, very cool and useful technology in Vista. Go watch it now. I will gladly pause typing while you do.
Welcome back……now, go watch his ScreenCast on Vista Parental Controls……and now go watch his ScreenCast on PhotoStory. ScreenCasts are one of the coolest ways to talk about and show the technology that we (and others!) have.
So what does this all mean?
It means I am changing my blog. I am going to narrow the focus of my blog to fewer technologies. I talk about a lot of different products, but let’s face it, not all of them interest me. It is a lot easier to get truly excited when you are excited about the product. It makes you WANT to talk about it. So what do I LIKE? Small Business Server, Media Center, ISA, Exchange and Windows. That sounds like a lot but when you consider that Exchange and ISA are a part of SBS Premium and I have worked with SBS for 7 years now, it lends some perspective. I also run my own Windows, ISA, Exchange, Web servers at home (which I wouldn’t be doing if I didn’t LIKE to). I also have a secret love affair with my Media Center (actually, I built it for the Nun 3 years ago under the guise of a Christmas present……it’s really mine…..she just thinks it is hers…..) that I wish to extend and grow. Like any love affair, there are rough spots and like any relationship that you want to succeed there needs to be some good communication. So I want to communicate my ups and downs with the product.
I suppose I could just narrow the focus to SBS and Media Center. Now that I have typed that up, it even makes more sense. I will leave that up in the air for now.
There is another part to this as well. Community Server 2.0 is available now and I have been itching to try it. That means the blog gets a face lift and over all improvements. My understanding is that 2.0 is more than just a new coat of paint too. So I am going to change the look and feel of the blog over the next two weeks to go along with the refined focus. Btw, I was originally going to do this in the June timeframe (after the wedding…after the relocation) but I am really excited about doing the ScreenCasts so I have decided to do it now instead of later.
Besides…..I still feel a perceived pressure from management, I am still competitive with my peers, and……it’s something new to try!
Cheers!
Ps….I recently attended an MVP Briefing in San Diego and met some fantastic MVP’s. During the session, Ed Hickey, a Director (someone correct me if this title is incorrect) in the MVP Program explained some of the most basic criteria to being an MVP – Be Recognizable, Be Credible, Be Accessible. All of which apply directly to blogging as well. So that is my promise to you, faithful readers.
Double Cheers!
There is a new Administration Tool Pack that alloows you to administer some of the new Windows 2003 R2 features from an XP workstation. You can grab it here!
Cheers!
If you didn’t know, Technet has an Internet Radio show that you can access over the web. Our very own geek blogger, Robert Scoble, is currently featured with a couple of short interviews. You can stream it or download and MP3/W<A for offline listening on your favorite (Media Player!) audio listenin device.
Cheers!
Well how about this for some cool news…..headline – “Windows bumps Unix as top server OS”. I kinda like that headline!
Cheers!
I have noted in a couple of previous blog entries that I may be relocating up to the Bellevue/Redmond area so I can work closer to the mothership. Well, this post is my first official notice that, yes, I am going to be relocating.
This is something I have wanted to do for many years. I have discussed this with several managers over time and I have just been waiting for the right opportunity. I am fortunate that I am going to be able to make a “lateral” move. One of my fellow presenters who worked and lives in the northwest moved to a new role and I jumped on the chance to be able to backfill his position. Long term this is a great career move for me while for the short term I am able to continue doing what I like to do – live presentations.
For those of you that know me from SoCal, I am going to miss you and the area. Nothing can beat the SoCal weather and I have met some great people in the last three years I have spent here. I am not leaving immediately as I have to get through my wedding in April first. But things will be moving quite rapidly for me over the next couple of months. I expect to be fully relocated to the north by Jun 1st if things go smoothly.
My blog will move with me so you can expect to see it stay in place though I do intend to make some changes. I want to be more focused on some products that I like to work with: Media Center, Small Business Server, Exchange, ISA, Vista, Windows. I know that seems pretty broad, but it much more focused than my original intent of just blogging about everything I have to work with. I am even considering splitting the blog up around those products for organizational purposes (and my own sanity!)
As for my relationships with User Groups, the Community, and other local organizations, rest assured that I will pass that torch on to whoever is brought on board and make sure they continue to be involved.
Now…..go register for the local events we have this week!
http://technetbriefings.com
Cheers!
I came up to the Seattle, WA/Portland, OR area on Monday and with the exception of Monday (and later Tuesday evening), the weather up here has been spectacular. Not exactly fair to The Nun who is also here evaluating the area to give her stamp of approval on a move.
I had truly hoped the weather would revert to the normality of partly cloudy to overcast skies typical of the area so she could make a fair assessment of things. The last thing I want is for her to say “Yes!” only to relocate 3 months later to the REAL Seattle weather and not like it. So far, she has assured me that the mountains and trees, the astounding views, the friendly people, and her growing dislike for Southern California won’t be any impediment regardless of weather conditions. So I am going to hold her to that.
Sidenote – If you have been trying to reach me by email, I have been pseudo-intentionally ignoring email for a day or two which coincides with a mail server issue at work. Expect me to (hopefully!) start catching up in wee early hours of Monday morning.
Cheers!
I am in Seattle, Washington today (and through the weekend) checking things out. I have an opportunity to move up to the mothership (to complete my assimilation) so myself and The Nun are checking out areas to live. If you have any suggestions, send me an email or drop in a comment!
Cheers!
Just annoucing that I will have some blog downtime over the next few days. I am having some housework done that will require electricty be shut down and computers moved around. Should be all good by Monday.
Cheers!
I managed to pick up an XBox through an online retailer just moments ago. I have been holding out for an XBox Premium bundle system and finally caught one online before they sold out.
How did I manage this? There is an interesting website called XBox360Tracker that provides updates on different XBox 360 bundles offered online by different retailers. It provides and RSS feed so you can quickly get updates by opening your reader. I saw a notification just 15 minutes ago on a system that didn’t cost into the 4 digits area and still gave me the options I wanted. I have been watching this thing since right around Christmas. Up until just last week, as soon as there was anything listed as available, by the time I made it to the ordering page for the retailer, they would be out of stock.
Now, I have been sitting on this tidbit since I picked it up from some other blogs as well as an internal alias for a while now. I am not going to apologize for withholding this information because like a lot of people, I want an XBox 360 too. I don’t get any special treatment for being an MS employee so I have been left to my own devices just like the rest of the world. Had I advertised this when I first heard about it I would have just diluted even further my chances of getting a 360 in a reasonable amount of time. But now that I have mine on order, I don’t mind letting my 18 regular visitors about it.
Cheers!
Robert Scoble comments on how he doesn’t care for the title of “evangelist”. He believes there is a religious connotation applied to it (and he is right about that). He goes on to explain why he doesn’t want religious customers. He details this along with a link to Guy Kawasaki’s blog entry on the Art of Evangelism which I think is a very good analogy for what we do. I think Scoble is too caught up in the religious meaning of the word which gets reinforced by Guy’s analogy.
I am also an evangelist. I am an ITPro Evangelist and I also have that on my business card. However, I started out not liking the title. I have since changed my mind to embrace it. When my title changed from “Technet Presenter” to “ITPro Evangelist” I didn’t care for it for the exact reason of its religious meaning. But as time has passed, I have realized that what I do as an ITPro Evangelist is exactly what a religious evangelist does – I speak the good word about Microsoft products and technologies to the masses in hope of educating the masses about what we have to offer. Maybe I will convert a few along the way; maybe I will turn some away. But I believe in my company and our products and think they can help a lot of people with their technical problems.
I decided to go check out Webster’s to see how they define evangelist –
Evangelist – 1) Any one of the four authors of the New Testament gospel books – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; 2) One who practices evangelism, especially a protestant preacher or missionary.
That led me to look up –
Evangelism – 1) Zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work; 2) Militant zeal for a cause
I also looked up the synonyms to see if maybe there was a better word for what we do –
Evangelist - advocate, champion, companion, converter, herald, messenger, missionary, pioneer, propagandist, proponent, proselytizer
I am all of those things for the company. However, none of those synonyms work as a job title as none of them truly convey the depth of what we do. Evangelist is a rather broad word that allows me combine all of those words to champion our products, convert the undecided and be a messenger both for the product team to the customer and for the customer back to the product teams. I think the word is perfectly appropriate in spite of the religious connection. If someone wants to spend all their time debating with me the religiousness of my job title, maybe they have some other non-technical issues I can’t likely help them with anyway.
Scoble doesn’t want “religious customers”. He wants “skeptical, educated, pragmatic” customers. I believe my role is to address the skepticism customers may have about our products, educate them about our products and give them the facts and practical information that allows them to use our products to solve their problems. I choose to do this by talking mainly about our own products where Scoble chooses to talk a lot about competitors.
I agree with Scoble that people should make educated choices about purchasing and implementing based upon a comparison of different products. I don’t think it is my job to educate people on 3rd party products though. The competition has their own evangelists. They don’t need Microsoft employees doing it for them. With so many products out there, it is very difficult for the average consumer and even the hard-core ITPro to know everything there it to know about all products. That is where I come in to make sure that MS products are being evangelized to the masses such that the features and capabilities are known. If we don’t then we become obscure. Without someone letting people know what Microsoft has to offer, we will cease to be relevant. Let the competition figure out how to be heard above the crowd while we focus on making sure we are.
Regardless, we are both evangelists and I believe the word appropriately describes what we should be doing for the company and for our customers.
So…..Hello, I am Chris Avis. I am an ITPro Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation. What can I tell you about OUR products?
Cheers!
Normally I avoid blogging when I have had a few beers, shots, ???????.....but I made a promise to two young ladies this evening, and I intend to keep it. I just made it back to my hotel room after an evening of beers, shots and karaoke. The karaoke was to be had at Ozzie’s Bar in downtown Seattle. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to have a site of their own (come on……it is 2006.....how does ANY business NOT have a web site these days?!?!!??!?.....Ozzie owner’s….contact me, and I will set up a web site for you at no charge)
Anyway, so I went to karaoke tonight and I met Cari (Happy Birthday!) and Becky. These were two wonderfully engaging young woman who carried on with us (some co-workers went with me) until closing time (which I must say…..karaoke that shuts down at 1:15am is pretty weak….).
So to Cari (Happy Birthday!) and Becky….thank you for the wonderful evening and best wishes!! Se3nd me blog links and I will link back to you!
Cheers!
I would like some feedback from those who read (or at least glance at) my blog. I have been struggling with direction since starting up my blog and have finally come to a crossroads where I need to make a change. A couple of things have brought me to this decision – 1) There is a new version of Community Server that I want to migrate to and I am going to improve my hardware for my network. I like rebuilding my home network now and then just to get my hands dirty. 2) I have a tendency to blog about things that are interesting to me that I think others might find interesting as well. I also NEED to blog more about Microsoft products and technologies as I am an IT Pro Evangelist for the company. The problem is, blogging for work and blogging for interest seem to be muddling up the blog (IMO).
I am not trying to increase hits and readership so much as organize and structure what does get posted. I am even considering splitting my blog into two separate blogs – one for work and one for personal. The downside there is maintaining two blogs. The upside is organization and clarity.
Now….I work mostly with our “BackOffice” server products. I tend to gravitate towards Windows 2003, ISA, and Exchange (and all of their predecessors). I even supported the Small Business Server product as a whole from it’s inception through SBS 2000. I also have a passion around the Media Center and other consumer products (am I not a consumer?). Of course there are blogs-a-plenty on all of those items so I want to offer something they don’t, if I can.
So I would like some feedback from you. Do you like it the way it is? Would you like to see it split? And from a Microsoft perspective, is there something missing from other MS Product and Technology blogs that you want filled in? For that matter, is there an MS Product or Technology that isn’t getting enough or the proper “air-time”? What about podcasts and webcasts? What is valuable to you?
What it really comes down to is this – I don’t want to push a corporate agenda, I want to give you what you want. So…..What do YOU want?
Send me an email – chris.avis@microsoft.com or comment on this post about it. You can even, give me a call if you want – 760-695-7838 – if I don’t answer, leave me a message with a number and I will give you a ring back.
Cheers!
Thomas Hawk reports from CES on Dish Network’s new PVR and other HD goodies. I am with Thomas on the hope that Dish and MS (must…..not….be…..bias….) will sign some dort of a deal. Not sure that will happen given the recent MS/DirectTV news but I can only hope. I have been a Dish subscriber for many, many years now and have always liked their service. If Dish and MS could meet in the middle with content and Media Center it would be a match made in heaven for my houseld and many others.
Cheers!
I have a lock pick set that came from my grandfather’s tools many, many years ago. Why he had it, I don’t know. I found it many, many years ago, tested my skills and have managed to open a few simple locks. Ifeel pretty comfy that I could open most standard house door locks given enough time and more importantly….patience.
So this tidbit caught my eye this morning. It is a hack to convert a vibrtaing toothbrush into a vibrating lock pick. Now, I don’t and never have used an electric toothbrush, but I may pick one up just to test this little project out. If nothing else it might save me a call to the locksmith if i lose my keys.
Cheers!
I know this isn’t exactly new product but I just have to say how cool it is. Orb allows you to connect to a home based Windows XP or XP Media Center machine and listen to/watch/view stored content. I just finished watching the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica via Orb.
But it gets even cooler….
I used my Samsung i730 with the Bluetooth hack to connect through the Verizon EVDO network to Orb and then to my Media Center which is connected via Wireless to my home network. Wireless to Wireless to watch a TV show just seems flippin’ cool to me.
Oh yeah…..in the episode…..they all die…. J
Cheers!
I will be delivering some Technet sessions in Florida next week. Jan 17th in Royal Palm Beach and Jan 19th in Tampa. We are going to be covering a rather large set of topics including – New Features of Windows 2003 R2 such as Active Directory Federation Services, better Distributed File System capabilities, and benefits provided for Branch Office deployments. We will also be discussing some new features in Exchange 2003 SP2, and some great information on how to locate resources that every ITPro should know about to help make their day go a lot smoother.
I am looking forward to heading out to Florida next week and hope some of you make it as well.
Cheers!
Ps… I am delivering these same events in SoCal in late February. No registration links have been made available yet.
Every now and then, I feed my ego by finding out who links back to my own blog. Since I don’t command a Scobelesque size audience, I don’t get a phenomenal amount of hits (yet) so I have to come up with ways to keep me interested in blogging. The best way is to pump myself up by checking my logs to see who links back to any post I have made.
Remarkably, the most active post I have made in the past few days has nothing to do with Microsoft (and you just might get a post later this week on why this is a good thing and yet another post on why it sucks).
Nathan Wienberg over at BlogNewsChannel …. Linked back to me and called me out by name. Angry or not, as far as I know, outside of my co-workers, that is the first time someone has taken the time to type my name in as a part of a blog post and it jazzed me to no end. There is a certain amount of head swelling that comes with that, but I am not going to let it get to me. All I am going to say is say……thank you, Nathan. It made my evening to see my name on someone else’s posting.
Cheers!
Okie…..this is just cool…..
Create your own virtual sand machine…courtesy of WFMU’s Beware of the Blog
Cheers!
Happy New Year!
Moving on…to the important stuff…..
Go right now and grab a calendar or open Outlook. Start filling in people’s birthdays with a reminder pop-up for two-four weeks BEFORE the birthday. This has been an annual ritual for me now for a while. I still miss someone’s every year. Damn Snooze button…. Everyone knows someone with a birthday in January so I just reminded you. Now put it in Outlook.
Guys…..only 44 days till Valentines Day. Only 6 shopping weekends most of which are football weekends. Make a commitment to get the gift figured out the weekend BEFORE the Super Bowl (it’s a bye week…..just do it!) so you can have a puking good time on Super Bowl Sunday without any guilt. Oh yeah, Valentines Day is on a crap Tuesday night this year. That means you are going to have to leave the house and take her out to dinner on a (gasp!)…… weeknight. Get reservations NOW or you have to cook dinner yourself. If that happens…..here is an easy one.
Lemon Thyme Chicken
3 tbl Flour 1 Medium Onion (chopped)
½ tsp Salt 1 tbl Margarine
¼ tsp Pepper 1 can Chicken Broth
3 tbl Lemon Juice (fresh) 4 Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 tbl Olive Oil
1 tsp Thyme
Combine flour, salt, pepper in large zip-lock bag and shake thoroughly. Add chicken and coat well. Save excess flour mix. Remove chicken to pan heated at medium heat with 1 tbl of Olive oil. Brown chicken on each side adding 1 tbl of Olive Oil when flipping to other side. Do NOT cook all the way through! Just brown the outside. We want to sear it and lock in some of the juices. Remove chicken to plate and cover to keep warm.
Add Margarine and Onion to skillet cooking till Onion is softened. Stir in excess flour mix (make some extra if you want a thicker sauce) and cook for approx 1 minute or until sauce thickens. Add chicken broth, 2 tbl of lemon juice and Thyme. Bring to boil stirring constantly.
Return Chicken to skillet covering chicken with mixture and reduce heat. Simmer 10-15 minutes or until Chicken is cooked to liking. (Test for doneness, should NOT be any pink). When chicken is done, add remaining lemon Juice to taste, Mix, serve over cooked white rice
Suggested Side Dishes: Roasted Red Potatoes, Asparagus, Steamed Vegetables
Suggested Wine: I just had to add that because it sounded good. I don’t know anything about wine. I use the white meat/white wine/red meat/red wine formula. But I like this meal with a Zin.
Some of you will STILL drag your feet so I have assembled some handy sites to have in case you just don’t get it together in time –
FTD.Com (they can’t help you if you logon on the 14th)
Hallmark.com (do not attempt to get away with an electronic card and flowers alone)
Victoria’s Secret (who is the gift really for?)
Godiva.com (an old stand by…..better have some backup though)
Exotic Car Rental (okie….really for the guys but she won’t complain)
Sky Diving (Do NOT tell her about this BEFORE you get her to the diving facility)
Red Envelope (great, inexpensive items with some higher end items now and then)
Las Vegas (only works once…….and usually only if she has never been before)
The Trip (sweetness…..may have to promise this one and write an IOU)
The Rock (when you need some serious juice or doing damage control)
Everyone….SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Tx – March 10-19. St. Patrick’s falls in here on the 17th. What could be better than green beer on 6th street, awesome music, great people? Just go.
Everyone….Taxes are due April 15th. ‘Nuff Said…
Cheers!
…by Journey is one of a couple songs I hope to sing tonight at Karaoke. I am in Dallas this week visiting friends and family for the holidays. The Nun and I have already been to Karaoke a couple of time this week, but my friend Glenn Lukin with On Stage Entertainment has a new show starting this week that we wanted to go out and support. You won’t find it on his website yet, but you will see us at Stratos tonight at 8pm.
Cheers!
Our presentation team had a meeting a few months ago where they brought out a professional photographer to take what were essentially publicity stills of our presenters to use on web and print materials. We had a little fun with it and each of us presented the corporate image as well as an alter-ego. You can view these secondary personalities for our Technet team here. Just mouse over the presnter picture for a glimpse into our other selves…..
You can see our MSDN counterparts here….
Cheers!
I have been in a blogging funk. The 19 people on the planet that read my blog have not seen much lately. I could blame the holidays… but it has been a good season for me since well before Thanksgiving. I could blame it on being too busy… but if I have had Xbox time, I have blogging time. Nope, nothing to blame it on except me. I just haven’t felt like blogging. I go to blog about something only to lose my passion about the post. Or I spend 2 hours typing a post up only to realize it didn’t say anything (I am not going to promise to fix that either).
I knew I was in a funk, I knew I had to fix it, and I wasn’t doing anything about it. A few weeks ago I started thinking about New Years resolutions and decided that I would get excited about blogging again and just do it. Tonight I found something interesting enough that I thought I would get an early start on the resolution. Tonight I found inspiration in….a pair of panties. A thong, no less.
(digression alert)
I am an American Idol fan. I didn’t become one till Season Two though. I heard a lot about Season One via The Nun who watched it mostly when I was traveling (the first season of Idol was also my first year in my current role…..which moved me from a 6x6 condo cube to a pretty significant amount of travel…..which limited my TV time…..which I was hardly going to waste watching some Christina Aguilera wannabe’s getting polished up by a bunch of corporate star-makers). The Nun gushed about the show and how she voted for Kelly Clarkson from the get go. I don’t remember seeing anything but commercials for Season One and none of it grabbed me. Season One passed me by and I was none-the-wiser.
One Year Later…
….I am a year into the new job, moved to SoCal, and things have settled into place. I now have some extra TV time. We also had a new Media Center PC which I had built for The Nun for Christmas (read this as, I wanted a new PC in the house and so I built the Media Center for her as an excuse to get it in…..it worked) so we were stockpiling shows I recorded as well as shows The Nun was recording. One day I watched an early episode of American Idol – Season 2 and….
…few months later….
…I am frantically dialing over and over and over to get through and register my vote to make sure that Clay Aiken beats out Ruben Studdard for the finale show. Ruben Studdard was ultimately declared the “winner” (define “winner” as “the person that was declared victorious by an American public that just doesn’t get it” - a strange phenomenon that seems to apply not only to reality shows but to our political processes as well). Clay Aiken, even though he lost (came in second place), has reaped much greater financial rewards, popularity, and overall success than Ruben.
In my opinion, there is no better proof of this than…..a pair of panties. A thong no less. (back on track). Now, before I start linking, I am going to ask you to adjust the sound on what ever you are using to read this with. No trickery here - just trying to help bring a smile to your face. Even without sound the link will still explain itself, but having the sound high enough to hear Clay speaking adds a certain surreal quality that shouldn’t be missed. If you are in an office space, no need to crank it to 11. Two or three should suffice…if there is no sound, check out the upper right side of the page underneath Clay’s mug…
…..a pair of panties. A thong no less.
Cheers!
<**Updated** Fixed the picture links**>
I often think about the advances in technology man has made over the years. Not just the cool stuff like microwave ovens, wireless communications, and silly string either. I think about how simple it is for everyday people to do certain things that were either cost prohibitive, required specialized training (because it was complicated or dangerous), or required some sort of magical natural skill.
I think photography is one of those areas where technology has eliminated the barriers to entry to all but those not yet concieved in the womb (only a matter of time). Cameras are everywhere. Entire cities are wired with cameras. Camera Phones, something that any spy from the 70’s would have given up an identity for (except they would have been a little conspicuous talking into futuristic clamshell phone in 1975), are being used by grade school kids (which by the way…..to all the parents out there……come on? a camera I understand…..but does a 3rd grader really need a cell phone?).
But the real reason I rant and rave is because of digital cameras. They are cheap. Take excellent pictures. Simple to use (I will allow arguements here). Best of all, ANYONE can take good pictures. Today’s cameras have all kinds of hocus pocus features that will practically let you take a perfect picture of an American flag left on the moon while snowboarding.
I am no camera genius, but every now and then I take a picture or two worth bragging about. The Nun and I were chillin’ at the crib last night, when we caught a view of the back yard. I grabbed the camera and tripod and took these pics.
The tallest palm tree is my back neighbors and is about 60–75 feet tall. What sort of looks like a cactus to the right of the tall palm is actually our Christmas Tree from last year which was a live tree with a bulb that we moved to the back yard.
I don’t like this one so much. It reveals my fence which is badly in need of a whitewashing.
I am sure someone with a PhD in backyard sunset photography is grimacing right now. My answer to that is….you paid 6 figures for your PhD in backyard sunset photography, between 5 and 6 figures for your backyard sunset photographic equipment and likely spend hours setting up for the perfect backyard sunset photograph.
I took a total of 12 shots in 5 minutes with a 4.1 megapixel Sony Cyber-Shot on a rickety tripod.
nyah. nyah.
This one is from the same position but the angle twitches just slightly (note: it would have cost me a lot more money to get educated on the doctoral version of “twitchy angles” but I think everyone still gets what I am talking about.)
Same position but with a change in the landscape setting on the camera. This game me a different exposure which make sthe frame more red.
This is my favorite shot. Too much black at the bottom so I fired up Digital Image Pro and cropped it (below)
Change the orientation of the camera for a couple of shots.
The remaining pics were bad or not interesting. These turned out pretty good all things considered.
I have a Canon i9900 Photo Printer that I immediately sent a cropped photo to which turned out wonderful on 13x19 Glossy Photo Paper.
This is my favorite shot. It was cropped from “Sunset Red” above
You can click on any of the picture and get the full size version. They are a couple megs each if you are on dial-up.
All pictures copyright Chris E. Avis. Wanna use them? Have your people call my people and we can send them to lunch while we go have a beer and sort things out.
Cheers!
First….the Bad…
In all my years of working with computers, I have never had a RAM chip go bad, in a machine, DURING normal operations. I have killed them off when swapping them. I have zapped them when laying out in the open. But never had one go bad, in the case, while performing it’s duties. But that is exactly what happened to my firewall server yesterday. Of course everything else is behind that server so when it died, my virtual world ceased to exist.
The Good…
I will have some additional downtime today. I am supposed to recieve two Buffalo Technologies 1.6 TB NAS boxes today.
That’s right……3.2 Terabytes of storage to ease my storage woes. I already have two terabytes scattered amongst the many machines that are on the network, but it has been quite cumbersome for a while now to remember what drives are where and more importantly, where I am putting things.
So that means some downtime later today as I move some things around and get a little better organized. Will post again when I have had a chance to play with the boxes and let you all know a mini-review of the Buffalo products.
Cheers!
For anyone who has been tracking my progress, I am trying to work up to running a 5k (roughly 3 miles) three times a week. I have been using this program to do it. It is actually myself and my fiance’ that are doing this together and I am happy to report we are (sort of) still on schedule. We modified last weeks running (week 4 on the chart) to 3 minute run, 90 second walk for 4 repetitions. We just didn’t feel we were up to the 5 minute run yet. So we are doing week 4 starting tomorrow.
I also had some links forwarded to me for additional training beyond the 5k.
This one is for a 10k
This one is for 1/2 marathon and marathon training
This one is for marathon training
*MY* goal is to run a marathon roughly a year from now. I may even try for a Turkey Day Marathon of some sort for next year. Any way I look at it though, I am getting off the couch and getting some exercize.
Cheers!
Press Release!
Finally! Though I have nothing against my STB’s (they are hidden out of site anyway), I will be happy to get rid of the extra cabling needed to support them. Anytime I eliminate wiring it makes me happy.
Also, if I read the article correctly, this makes getting an XBox 360 more appealing since we will be able to stream that HD content to an XBox 360 that is acting as a Media Center Extender (MCX). For that matter the article implies we can stream the HD content to a PC!
Cheers!
I wanted to get a post online by today with the results of my loading a Sony DRM enabled CD to an XP Pro System. I have been otherwise distracted by last minute prep for two large SQL Presentations this week. So I am pushing this yet again. I am not going to set a date this time though as I would rather not set expectations agin and miss…..again.
Suffice it to say it may be Friday before I get around to posting again as I will be doing some local travel for events.
Cheers!
If you have never had the pleasure of reading Rory’s blog, clear 3–5 minutes of your day and read this post……it will make you smile……
Breakthrough
Cheers!
Sony has been hit with it’s first lawsuit (class action even!) regarding it’s DRM rootkit technology….
Mark Russonovich’s blog on how he found it on his system….
Short list of affected CD’s…
Washington Post article…
Slashdot info on the lawsuit…
**Update** – Link to Sony’s “Service Pack” to disable the DRM rootkit (make a backup of your system BEFORE running this. I have read reports that trying to remove thr DRM kit can cause problems. I have not confirmed myself)
The Nun and I buy a LOT of music CD’s which go directly into our Media Center PC. When I first caught wind of of this, I ran RootKitRevealer on my Media Center and thankfully didn’t have anything unusual listed. But that didn’t make me feel any better about it. Especially since I don’t know what it would look like even if I was affected by this.
So today I am going to head out and find one of the CD’s, build a sandbox system, “infect” it with music, and then run the test again.
I will blog about this with screen shots later this evening.
Cheers!
….well……if you can call 5 minutes of brisk walking and then alternating 90 seconds jogging with 120 seconds walking for 20 minutes a run. The best part of it is that my fiance, Jeanne (The Nun), is doing the routine with me. She doesn’t have the marathon goal that I have but she supports me in that goal. She just wants to be able to do the 3 miles after 2 months and maintain that going forward.
There will be some problems as we go to longer distances though. I am 6’3” and she is 5’4”. My stride is significantly longer than hers. I have to hold back now for her to maintain pace and I am sure she is pushing herself a little harder so I don’t have to hold back as much. She is getting the better workout I am sure.
I am going to talk to the Nun about puttiing up some before and after pictures. If she agrees, you may see thosed later this evening.
Cheers!
Whew! The Nun and I made it through Day 3 of the first week of running. Week Two has us increasing the time/distance we run while also increasing walk time between jogs. It is a subtle increase (tell my legs that!) so I don’t think it will make things too much more difficult.
I am just stoked that I did the 3 days. One of the most difficult things for me in this process will be not skipping days or cheating the program by stopping earlier or short of a goal. It is pretty easy to just just stop running when the body seems like it can’t go on (I have hardly been at that point yet, but I am going from practically no regular exercise to jog/walking 3 times a weeks and it *is* a change for me). I did the first 3 days, now on to the next 3.
So tomorrow starts Week 2!
Cheers!
…..and we realized we were short by one “leg” on the first day. Feeling great after the exercise though and looking forward to being able to run 3 miles non-stop a little over 8 weeks from now. I read through the full schedule of runs/walks I am using and while the gradual increase of running over walking seems simple enough, by the end of today’s jaunt I was wishing I never committed myself by blogging about it. Of course here it is now 45 mins later and I feel great and I am blogging about it again. Funny how that works.
From my comments –
“You know Chris, I have never thought of you as overweight. I'm surprised that you feel like you are.”
Well SMHyrd, it isn’t so much that I feel I am overweight right now. (for the record….my doctor has suggested I “lose some weight, eat a healthy diet and exercise”…..but never gives any more detail than that) The fact is I weigh more now that I did 5 years ago. I know that if I continue to do nothing about it then 5 years from now I would weigh more and 5 years later even more. I don’t want to be 50 yrs old, bitchin’ about how much I weigh when I knew I could have done something about it 10 years earlier. Plus, if I am going to accomplish my goal of running a marathon someday, losing weight is just part of that process. Just makes sense that it would be easier to lug 210 lbs for 26 miles than it would 240.
So Day 2 is done. Eight weeks and a run away from 3 miles….
Cheers!
Life is full of key dates and turning points - the birth of a child, the death of a grandparent, the date you get hired at your dream job, the day you get married, the day you get divorced (if you are unfortunate enough to get divorced). There have been all kinds of turning points in my life. Heck, I missed several of the turns all together. For this post I am going to focus on a few key points that deal with one specific aspect of my life – My Weight.
The Starting Point - In October of 1987 I was about to get married for the first time (Yeah, yeah, yeah…..getting married should be listed as a Turning Point but it also happens to be the point at which I started noticing what I weighed and when), I was roughly half as old as I am now, I worked at a grocery store and thought I would be there for the rest of my life, and I weighed a sparse 163 lbs. Sounds like a fine number to some until my height comes into play…..6’3”….so you could say I was a little thin. I weighed in on my wedding day for no particular reason at all. I didn’t expect to gain weight and certainly had no plans on losing any. I just weighed in for the hell of it.
Turning Point One (not so much a turning point as much as a temporary resting place) -- Exactly one year later I weighed in again – 228 lbs. In one year I gained a hefty 65 lbs. There were two primary reasons for the weight gain – 1) I stopped using some rather nasty illicit substances that were wreaking havoc on my body and 2) Switching from “single, no sleep, party, party, party!” mode to “married, child (no sleep of a different kind), work, work, work!” mode is a pretty drastic lifestyle change. In the latter mode I actually ate regular meals on a regular schedule instead of just eating whenever.
I never complained too much about the gain. I am a big guy…. 6’3” and 228lbs is hardly obese. In fact I looked a hell of a lot better at 228 than I did at 163. But over time that weight built up a little more and a little more until about 6 years ago when (Turning Point Two) I peaked at 264, saw a picture of myself in a swimsuit and realized I had to get it under control. I didn’t do anything drastic. I just modified my diet, ate a little better, ate a little less, and within a year I was under 240. I was happy under 240 and never wanted to go over that point again.
Turning Point Three – In the past 5 years I have never (knowingly!) weighed more than 240 lbs. Any time I jumped on the scale I was happy to see I was between 230 and 240. But two weeks ago I got on the scale and I was at 244. The most I had weighed in 5 years. I was disappointed but not surprised. I have been traveling (a lot!), not eating well, practically zero exercise for several months and….oh yeah….I am about to be 40 (I was going to make that Turning Point Four but it is still a little over a month away…..let’s stretch that out as long as we can).
Going over 240 is an issue for me for a few reasons…..
I have never weighed over 240 since meeting my wonderful fiancé (The Nun). We are to be married in April of next year and I would like to be in good health and look well for that occasion. She deserves it as much as I do.
240 was an unseen line I had not crossed in 5 years and didn’t want to. I had made a promise to myself to not go over that point and I broke it. If I let 240 be okay……would 250 be next? Then 260? Then ??? Time to fix it.
Finally……There were two things I didn’t want to become. First, for long time acquaintances, I didn’t want to be “That Guy…”. You know……”That Guy….who started gaining weight and never stopped”. Second, for new acquaintances I didn’t want to become the “Whoa!” guy……as in “Whoa! That was you?” when they see an old picture of you.
But even as I knew I wanted to do something about it, I wasn’t motivating myself to do anything. I needed a push…..
Nudge One….
Also about two weeks ago (just a couple days after my fateful 240+ weigh-in), my group had a team meeting in Dallas, Tx. There are roughly 55 of us on the team that are “remote employees” – we work out of our homes instead of an office. That means 55 people who are scattered across the US come together for a few days at a time 4 times a year where we notice someone grew their hair out or got it cut. Someone dresses differently. Someone has a tan (or NEEDS one). In my case, I shaved off my goatee of 5 years and I heard a bunch of, “You look different…but I don’t know what it is” comments.
Brian LaMee had taken it a step further though….
Brian has a blog where he is detailing his path to two goals: Meeting a weight loss goal and entering a bicycle tour. I want you read the blog because I think it is inspirational so I won’t give away too much here. Suffice it to say that when I saw Brian two weeks ago it was not the same Brian I saw at our March team meeting. There was no fumbling for “Did you cut your hair?......Did you Shave?.......Did you get a Pedicure?” to try to figure out what was different about him. His weight loss to date is obvious and inspirational. Read his blog.
Nudge Two…..
Two other team mates of mine just completed a marathon together – John Baker and Matt Hester. For those of you who know that a marathon is a looooooooong run, but don’t know exactly how long, that is 26 miles. For perspective, grab a map, find where you live and then map out something that is a 13 mile drive from your place. Now run to and from that place in about 5-6 hours. I couldn’t do that now if my life depended on it. John runs a couple of marathons a year just because he wants to. Go figure.
That brings me to Turning Point 4 – I am almost 40, I am over 240 lbs, and I have been inspired by Brian, Matt, and John to make some changes in my health.
So this morning, The Nun and I started an exercise regimen. The plan was actually forwarded to me by Brian. It sets a goal of going from no exercise at all to running 5k (~3 miles) in two months. Like Brian, I want to set some goals for myself. So…..
Goal #1 – Look and feel better than I do now on my wedding day (roughly 6 months form now…)
Goal #2 – Down to 210 lbs – Why 210? I haven’t been below 220 in 18 years. Most weight charts say I should be right about 200. I will start with 210 and then shoot for 200 if my doc thinks it is a good idea.
Goal #3 – Run a Marathon. John has been bugging me about this for a couple of years now so why not?
I have a couple other goals I would like to hit, but I will shoot for these three first. Goals 1 and 2 have an April time frame. The Marathon….well...check my blog one year from today for an update. If you are interested in tracking my progress seperately from the rest of my posts, I have created a category feed for Fitness. I will be updating regularly as a means of keeping myself on track.
Wish Me Luck!
Cheers!
I am back and catching up. I just posted a BUNCH of link posts to a variety of new downloads that have been made available over the past 3 weeks. Sorry to flood your feeds with all fo that but there was just so much good stuff to make people aware of.
My hands are actually cramping a little so I am going to take wrist saving “anti-carpal-tunnel” break, get some other work done and then post about what I have decided to to about my blog in the next few weeks.
Back in a bit!
Cheers!
I have been traveling….I have had countless con-calls….I have been in meetings….and when I have not been doing work related stuff I have been trying NOT to think about work. Thus, the inactivity on my blog.
I needed a little off time from blogging to decompress and set some priorities. We had a team meeting this past week which allowed me to vent a few frustrations, get some direction from my management and team members, and let off a little steam. It was good for me and I hope good for our team.
I have three things I am focusing on the next 1–2 months:
The next iteration of the Technet Resource DVD
The upcoming “Best of…. SQL!” events
The SQL 2005 Launch on December 6th
Technet Resource DVD – This is a DVD that gets handed out at our live events across the country. It is also available at trade shows and will be available at your local SQL Launch events. The DVD has a large number of resources to help the ITPro with everyday activities. It includes, whitepapers, technical specifications, webcasts, slides and demo shorts of the delivered presentations and much more.
Best Of….SQL! Events – Leading up to the SQL Launch we are delivering free technical sessions that were developed from some of the best SQL sessions we have run in the previous few months. You can check for where the events are in your part of the US here.
SQL 2005 Launch – For the SoCal area, we are on for December 6th at the Anaheim Convention Center. Don’t forget to Register online and show up at the event to get your free software!!!
Let me add a 4th area of focus as well….blogging….I am brainstorming with friends, acquaintances, co-workers on how to make our team blogs the #1 source of information for ITPros across the world. While this will be a learn as I go process, I want to assure you that I am doing everything I can to make this a valuable resource for you.
Any suggestions you have please send to me at chrisavi@microsoft.com !!
Cheers!
Whew! I am still travelling for another week and then I get some much needed downtime where I will be back in the swing and more active with my blogging again. Look for a few changes at the site in about two weeks!
Cheers!
…I am everywhere…..
I like to travel. Be it personal or work related I normally enjoy it. But I am burning out. I have done quite a bit of cross time zone travel the past month or two and it has worn me down. I am in Anchorage this week. Home on Friday. A week later I hit the East coast with my fiance to attend her mother’s wedding. On the way back I stop in Dallas for a week for a team meeting. Then I get a break…..no more cross time zone travel for about 6 weeks. It will be a working vacation of sorts where I get to spend some much needed home time with my bride to be, catch up on housework, and start blogging regularly again.
I have also given additional thought to how I blog and what I blog about. It isn’t like I want to be Scoble but I would like to increae readership with something valuable. I have been tossing around some media casting ideas with a couple of other co-workers which may come to fruition here in a couple weeks when my travel dies off. I am also going to do some regular posting around Group Policy and ISA. I will likely narrow my categories a little so if you have subscribed to any of the category feeds, please watch them over the next two weeks to see what if any changes I make.
More later…..
Cheers!
Last week I was in Dallas, TX attending the SQL PASS seminar. I went to Karaoke one night, closed the bar down, and on the drive back to my hotel I noticed a flashing TIME/TEMP sign on a bank.
1:34am
84 degrees
1:34am
84 degrees
Insane heat for 1:34am….
This week I am in Anchorage, AK. I have not found a Karaoke bar (yet!) so I have not found a blinker to tell me the temp at 1:34am. It would be safe to say though that it won’t be 84 given that it was 47 degrees yesterday afternoon when I landed at 3pm.
Yesterday, while trying to find the only listed PHO restaurant in town, I got a little turned around and had to drive into a subdivision to get going the other direction. Coming around a corner to an intersection, I saw my first live bull moose…..walking in the middle of the road. It was fantastic. Bigger than a horse. I didn’t get a picture of it (didn’t take my camera to dinner with me……I will from now on) but linked to one above. I drove right by this thing and it was massive. Unless you have seen one you can’t appreciate it’s size.
The leaves are turning earthtones of red, yellow with plenty of green pines still. It’s like an autumn bomb exploded and coated the landscape with the fallout of the changing season. The mountains that surround Anchorage are topped with snow and ice which will decend into the town over the next few few weeks and months. I would love to see Anchorage in the dead of winter, I bet it is stunning.
I will get some pictures posted later this afternoon once I have had a chance to run around…..
Cheers!
I have a problem.
I have a customer facing job and the distinct ability to forget someone’s name immediately after they say the final syllable. It is uncanny. Anything I can read or learn to help overcome this trait I try. Robert Scoble found this posting on “Listening to Customers” through Memeorandum. So I gave it a read. I was hoping it was an article on listening in the now and being able to retain information. Turns out the article was really about filtering who and what to listen to. Not what I hoped for but an excellent read.
The first thing I picked up was how similar the first section is to concepts in Malcom Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. The concept of early adopters and mavens is identified very early on in the book. I think these people should be listened to very carefully, but like Ken Norton notes, “…companies have been lured to their doom by a very small, well-meaning and vocal group of power users who fooled the company…”. The early adopters don’t have all the answers. Ken goes on to talk about Middle and Late adopters and identifies some of their traits. I think he is right on the mark.
After reading the post a second time, it jolted me because I sometimes think *I* have all the answers. *I* know what people want. *I* know this isn’t true, but I let myself believe it anyway. I need to spread myself out and talk to a wider audience. I need to listen to what they say and throw out some of the perceptions I have. Clean slate time.
I had an opportunity to do that this past weekend. Microsoft held an informal gathering of MS Developer Evangelists from all over the world (already in L.A. for the PDC) and local college students to brainstorm on “digital lifestyle”. I piggybacked on this from the ITPro side as I have a passion around getting our technologies in the hands of students. I wanted to know – straight from students – what they thought of Microsoft and the products we have.
Let’s jump back to the clean slate thing real quick.
I grew up in the old days of real “chalkboards” that used super-dusty chalk. None of this fancy, low dust stuff. Dry erase boards were a still a pipedream. The chalkboards we had were a dark, heavy black and the chalk was a blinding, dusty white. Anything written on the boards was NOT easy to remove. It took some effort to really get the chalk off. Forget about it if the eraser was choked up with chalk dust. To really get it clean you had to use a damp cloth.
I thought I had a clean slate when I sat in on this meeting. Turns out I used an eraser instead of a damp cloth so I still had remnants lurking around my brain. Perceptions of students that just weren’t accurate.
As Ken Norton and Malcom Gladwell note, there are early adopters. In the computer world these are the uber-geeks that must have the beta before anyone else. They will gladly take an alpha as well. Thankfully, we did not have a room of uber-geeks. We had a room with some geeks, some developer students and then……miracle of miracles……history majors, pre-law, language majors and others. My first blown perception was that ONLY CompSci students would want to attend. Thankfully, we had an excellent mix.
My second blown perception was this: I thought the students would have heard about all of the products we have released and already made a choice on using the product or learning more about them. I was shocked and amazed when I spoke to three students together (2 – CompSci, 1 – Political Science) and none of them had heard of Media Center. I was even more shocked when they reacted to it as a very cool product they would use regularly (had they heard about it before now). Isn’t this part of our target market – students who need a PC and a digital media device when they leave home for school?
With that I whipped out the damp cloth and wiped away anything I thought I knew about the students and what they knew about our products. The only thing I was dead on about was the “hip and cool” factor. It does play a big part in product perception. From the students –
iPods are hip and cool (and very much associated with Apple) and….they just work (till they break). Windows is not cool. Office is cool, but only because you can’t survive as a student without it. Linux users are perceived as hip and cool (and knowledgeable) because they know more than just Windows and Office. Linux is cool because it is new and different (though none of the 6 students I talked to had ever used it). Microsoft is perceived as the “grandma company” and Windows as “grandma’s operating system”. Ouch. “If your friends think it is cool, you probably will too.” (peer-to-peer marketing). Apple makes “cool” products and students know what those products are. Microsoft makes Windows and Office. Beyond that the association of Product Name to Microsoft trails off very quickly. (Wouldn’t it be great if we (MS) were more identifiable as one of the companies that made some of their cell phones work!?!?!). Oh yeah. Microsoft is Evil. But I never got a clear answer as to why. (Peer-to-peer perception spreading).
It was quite refreshing to hear all of this from a group other than the ITPros I speak to most every other day. The “I work in the field” ITPros know what MS products are and how they are used. Some think MS is evil but for different reasons than “my friend says so, so it must be” (though I would argue that this form of peer-to-peer perception spreading is a lot more prevalent than we realize). But I build my own perceptions about how the industry perceives Microsoft around the ITPros I am primarily connected to. The fact is, we have a 90%+ share of the home user/desktop market and they have a lot of spending dollars. We need to listen to them (and all the sub-groups) as well.
BTW…..There was a lot more valuable stuff in this brainstorming session besides the cool factor, but this post is already longer than I wanted.
What all of this boils down to is making sure when I decide to wipe slates clean that I use a damp cloth instead of a chalk laden eraser. There exist groups other than the ITPros I speak to that can give some excellent feedback on our products. I am going to keep my eyes and ears open.
Cheers!
I have been trying to figure out where i stand on this Google WiFi thing. One one side we have a company that can help make WiFi access as widespread as McDonald’s. On the other we have the same company channeling and cataloging all of this information through it’s own servers.
I want access from anywhere/anytime. The Price? I have to give up some privacy.
Check out this article by Seth Jayson over at the Motley Fool. He does a great job of summing the issue up.
Google is (right now) an advertising company. That is where their revenue comes from. Google Desktop, GoogleTalk, GMail, and now the WiFi are all means of collecting more specific information about you, me, everyone so that marketing and advertising can be more targeted. Brilliant Plan. But I don’t like it because I don’t want to be targeted. I don’t want “better” advertising designed to circumvent my willpower to get me to buy. What Google is doing is brilliant…..for them. What they are doing is not so nice for consumers.
Cheers!
I went to do a Google search (first one of the day I think…..I am trying to wean myself….. I am liking SearchMSN more and more as I use it….I think it is just habit….more on that later) and I find the following on the lead page -
Get less spam. Use all 2.5GB for your real email instead. Gmail.
Maybe I just haven’t noticed it. Maybe it has been there for days, weeks, months. Google, with it’s understated viral marketing techniques, may have simply under advertised me.
Or, maybe I was the first one to see it and this is a scoop…..
Probably not…..
Cheers!
Someone used a camera phone or something similiar to capture the BillG and Napoleon Dynamite clip at PDC. It isn’t great quality, it is shown from a pretty extreme angle, and it is funny. I debated on whether I should link to it or not and the way I see it is like this…..
It wasn’t me (as in I didn’t record it)….I didn’t go to PDC.
According to the counter at iFilms (where it is being hosted) it has been seen 53,000+ times.
The cat is out of the bag…..
BUT…..I have opted not to link to it. You should be able to find it easily enough with the information provided. After watching it……and laughing……I realized the violation of trust that occured. The fact is, someone recorded it when they were expressly forbidden from doing so. It demonstrates to me that we just can’t trust anyone these days. I fully expect this to be released as a VCD which can be bought on a street corner for $5.00 in a few days. At the very least it will be all over the web.
It reminds me of after the 2003 PDC when preview versions of Longhorn were distributed and those were leaked and subsequently sold on the street. An unfinished and decidely inferior product being sold by someone capitalizing on the unsuspecting or geek-greedy.
In the case of this film, it is also an inferior copy AND was never meant to be seen by the public (at least at this time).
I would like to say some other really ugly things about the individual that recorded and leaked the video. But I am trying to be decent where they weren’t…..
Cheers….
Michael Moore, a co-worker of mine, sent a note to my team about some XBox bundles that are being made by a variety of retailers.
Amazon
EB Games
GameStop
My Favorite is the XBox Omega Bundle being offered by GameStop. It is insanely pricey and insanely supplied.
Slobber……
Cheers!
Bill Gates seen here with John Heder, star of Napoleon Dynamite.
Microsoft has done many parodies over the years to help promote products or just to have fun. Rumor has it this one is to be used for college recruitment efforts. It was shown at our techReady event a couple weeks ago and again at the PDC in LA this week.
If it leaks……email me….. :)
Cheers!
I was fixing the color on my iPaq Camera this morning while I was connected to it with SOTI and snapped this picture. I have alwas liked the redundant, infinite, self creating, whatever you want to call it pictures like this so I would share.
Along the same lines is a site I stumbled on sometime ago called the The Infinite Cat Project.
Finally, while I was cruising around the web trying to find a picture to help represent database mirroring in SQL 2005, I stumbled across the Mirror Project.
Cheers!
Wow……this just amazes me. The Chinese government’s heavy handed tactics rearing their ugly head again…..
I wonder how this will impact eBay given their intentions to purchase Skype? (New York Times has a story on this as well)
Cheers…
Nothing like a Cowboys games! I was fortunate enough to get to go to the Cowboys season opener today against the Chargers (eBay rules). I won’t bore you with a run down of the score since that is going to be in the paper. Besides…..it nearly impossible to express in words the excitement and pleasure of attending a live sporting event to someone who wasn’t there. It is just impossible to recreate properly (except the cost…..$7.00 for a thimble of beer……and $6.75 for a hot dog that was probably cooked in the sun).
I took some pictures though because I wanted to show how few Chargers fans were there. Apparently, in San Diego, the beach is more of a draw than the Chargers are (for Chargers fans anyway….). Cowboys fans attended en masse. The proof is in the pictures…..
This Charger fan wandered into our section during the game. He didn’t stay long. He tried to fake it on the way out by yelling, “Peanuts! Hot Dogs! Cold Drinks!”
The other 4 Charger fans we in the row directly in front of me. I think they were to token Charger fans on the vistors side. The grouped together for safety. They didn’t want to be photographed…..I don’t blame them.
I hate seeing anyone getting kicked out of a sporting event (can’t we all just get along!?!)…..when there are only 10 of you to begin with it really doesn’t help your cause. See Ya!
Cheers!
PDC starts up Monday in LA. I have other commitments though so I won’t be there. Many of our MSDN presenters will though so look for them. BillG will be keynoting and it will be broacast live on the web. It is supposed to be accessible though this link but It doesn’t appear to be active yet.
Tuesday I am delivering Rock Solid SQL for a HUGE crowd in Irvine, Ca.
Wednesday I go to the doctor to have him say: “Chris, your cholesterol is to high, you don’t exercise enough, and you need to wear sunscreen when you are outside. Oh yeah, your are going to be 40 next visit so we get to start the fun tests……”
ugh….
Thursday I do Rock Solid SQL in San Diego, Ca.
Friday I have a webcast – Part 2 of Understanding Group Policy
I will post as I get to come up for air…..
Cheers!
I woke up this morning, made coffee, showered, shaved, started reading some blog news, and unltimately got smacked in the face with an awesome wake-up call.
I was reading Rory’s latest posting about a blog called Mini-Microsoft. Rory says it is the most important Microsoft blog there is. I am not going to follow that line until I have read a bunch more MS related blogs. Mini-MS *is* the most interesting and thought provoking read so far though.
Mini-Microsoft stirs up some emotional issues regarding employee morale, review compensation and broken processes. All things a bunch (not all ,unfortunately…) of us at Microsoft think about but rarely voice.
I am not going to go on and on and on singing the praises of the 6 or 7 most recent posts I read. I want you to read and make your own decision on how good they are and how important they are. I will only say one thing about it because this is a hot-spot for me…..
The posts are anonymous. I understand why. Being opinionated and being a blogger doesn’t always mix very well. We all need the freedom to be critical (not malicious), and honest (though tempered) about our work places. Most of us choose to work somewhere for a reason. For those of us that have chosen to work somewhere because of the mission of the company, we should be allowed to provide input and direction if we think the company is beginning to stray from that mission. We should not be afraid being smacked down for offering up honest opinions and thoughful resolutions to problems we see. We should be able to do this whether we are a shipping clerk or a public figure without fear of unemployment.
Someday….
Cheers!
We now have registration cities and dates available for the Big Launch……
Here is a challenge to my faithful blog readers (now up to 7!)……
I want the largest attendance of any of the nationwide events. For the SoCal area it will be in Anaheim, CA on Dec. 6th. I wish I could offer some sort of prize to everyone if Anaheim has the largest attendance but sadly, my budget is about $1 dollar……and that has to cover my T&E for the next 10 months.
Fortunately, EVERYONE that attends will recieve a copy of SQL Server 2005 AND a copy of Visual Studio 2005. I think that is a darn good incentive to go……considering the event is FREE. Of course there is some legal mumbo jumbo that applies to this so let’s break away from our regularly scheduled program to get that over with…..
*Offer only good to registered launch event attendees. Must be present at event to receive software packages or vouchers for software redemption. Limit: one offer per person, while supplies last. The software may not be resold and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient*
(I read that as – register, show up, get it, don’t try to sell it afterwards…..but I am not a lawyer)
So……for my SoCal SQL people (and you Dev types and Biztalkers)….tell your boss know you need a paid day off to learn cool stuff. Tell your friends, tell your User Groups, tell your grandma and grandpa, put in for a day of vacation if your boss won’t pay ya to learn. Link to my blog, post to your blogs, chat about it, get a tattoo with the regostration link……well……a temporary tattoo. Make the Anaheim event the largest of the events in the states. Get your free stuff, meet the SQL/VS/Biztalk Gurus and yes…..I will even be there.
I just had a fabulous idea……(”The Nun” won’t like it……but she isn’t home to stop me…..)
If, after the counting is all done (sometime after the January 11th event), Anaheim has the largest attendance in the states, I will let one of my attendees shave my head at one of my Live Technet briefings in SoCal……I will even let my hair grow out till then for a more dramatic shave if it happens….
I better post this……she is pulling into the driveway…..
Cheers!
*update* - I just realized the Anaheim event could be the most attended event without this post. We do have a pretty darn good marketing machine at MS. Since there is no easy way to know for sure and I am committed, I am just gonna run with it. I would like to see how much impact this challenge generates though. My request to you is to post your comments here if you will be attending, and make an effort to come see me at the event. When I have the details, I will post what I will be doing at the launch event and where I will be. My goal is to meet you, get you the information you want, and take your feedback into the product groups. So post your comments (Thank you Sylvia!), email me, come see me at the event!
The BBC (and every other news org…) has reported on Apple's new hybrid IPod Phone.
Boooooooooooooooooring.
For weeks, there was all of this speculation about what kind of announcement Apple would make. Then it was surmised it would be an IPod phone. Now it is an IPod Phone.
Boooooooooooooooooring.
I am not trying to beat Apple up. I like Apple products. I still have a couple of Apple //gs machines. The IPod is a fabulous product (even though I don’t have one) and capitalizes on Apple’s superb ability to market a stylish product to a specific group of people and then have it spill over into the mainstream.
The media AND the tech world have made such a big deal out of this announcement though. Why? Adding an IPod (music) to a phone is hardly spectacular. It isn’t even innovative. I have been playing music on my iPaq 6315 PocketPC Phone for almost a year now.
But Chris…..your “phone” isn’t even a phone….it is a PocketPC with a phone tacked on!!!
It *is* a phone. The phone dials when I ask it to….literally… When someone calls me, it rings (except at my house which is a T-mobile dead zone…..not the phones fault). That makes it a phone.
But Chris…..your “phone” is big and clunky and a pain in the ass to carry around!!!!!
Ya know, you are right…..and I knew that when I considered it and I got it anyway. Size does matter and everyone considers that when they buy a phone. I didn’t want a tiny phone AND a PDA to carry around. I wanted one device. Ya know what else?……it isn’t THAT much bigger than an IPod (which doesn’t make/receive calls no matter how much you beg it to). I am a man with big man hands annd a big man pack pack to drop it in. Since I rarely make or receive calls while driving (the way it should be….), in the grocery store checkout line (the way it should be…), or in the middle of a library (the way it should be!), I don’t mind if it is stowed away in a pack instead of easily accessible in a front pocket.
But Chris…..your “phone” cost an arm and a leg…..what about that?!?!?! Huh?!?!? huh?!?!? HUH!!!!??????
Sure did. Because it does a lot more than your average “phone”…..it is also BlueTooth enabled, WiFi enabled, has a screen size that is usable, allows me to connect a thumb-keyboard OR a Bluetooth based keyboard OR one via IR. I can also browse the web, synch my email, use Excel and Word, view PDF’s……what the!?!?!? Do I even need a laptop??!?!? I can do voice, stylus and the aformentioned keyboard input. I can IM (YIM, AIM, ICQ, MSN all preloaded) with it (and using the keyboard I don’t have to press key’s a bazillion times to get the character I want displayed), play games…..I even have a Terminal Service Client so I can remotely administer my home servers.
I am even writing this post with it!
But Chris……what about a camera?!?!?!?!? What about that?!?!?!? HUH?!?!?!?!?
It does have a camera…..a crappy one I never use. How many super awesome camera phone pics have you ever looked at though? (I will admit they are getting better though….)
But Chris…..your “phone”……your “Ph….”…….damn I don’t have any more arguements….
That’s right. Ya don’t.
But I will note one more thing…..the reason I started this post……
It plays music. It shuffles it. It stores 1gig of it on the SD card I have (how much music do you REALLY need on a device that small!?!?!). I know…..I know…..I know……the IPod (and upcoming phone) are dramatically simpler to use when starting/stopping/shuffling the music. But if you are shuffling and it takes 5 seconds longer on my device than an your IPod device and then you have to whip out your laptop….boot it up……log on…….find the wifi……to cruise the web, when I just…..find the wifi……who is saving more time? Who has more convenience?
Cheers!
There is an odd phenomenon that exists out there. I am sure there is a name for it I just don’t know what it is…..
You know how when you get a new car, you start to notice other people driving the same car? Or you get a new cell phone, you start to see other people that carry the same one? Or when you get a body piercing you notice other people who have one as well (I have my tongue pierced)? It is sort of an odd sort of bonding thing….a heightened awareness of those around you that have similar interests. It seems magnetic….fate….kismet. If anyone knows if this “experience” has an official name….please let me know.
My fiance - “The Nun” – got this awesome lower back piece on Saturday. If you know your astrology, you will notice the Capricorn symbol to the right hand side. She had that done some 10–11 years ago and wanted to compliment it with some Celtic symbols which we took a liking to when we were on our recent trip to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. The runes she picked out say, “The seeds of love grow in trust”. I am going to have the same round portion and wording done in a few weeks on my upper back near the neckline with some different side work (read that as more masculine…). I also have an existing shoulder tattoo I am going to have covered a little later on.
Two days after she got this tattoo, we are channel surfing and run across a TV show called “Miami Ink” on TLC. It is a reality show of sorts about a group of tattoo artists that have known each other for a few years and how they band together to start up their own tattoo shop. I suppose it is just as much a show about the people that come in to get inked as well. They showcase 4–5 people per episode who come in to get inked, the reasons why they are getting a particular piece and the actual artwork being done. It is an interesting show even if you have never considered getting a tattoo. They also tell a little about the lives of the tattoo artists and how they got to where they are.
It is quite interesting to hear the stories of why people choose the art they want (or in some cases let the shop owners choose for them)…..
A mother and daughter – the daughter is 17 (under age for a tattoo), turning 18 the next day, so they turn her away only to suggest she come back at midnight when she is legal. She does.
A woman who’s fiance was killed a few months earlier and wants a memorial tattoo done to remember him….
A man who’s pet cat passed away after 14 years and wants a tattoo of the cat to remember it by….
A man getting a neck piece to show loyalty to his crew and a shout out to an old friend….
A father and son, both getting different symbolic crosses to show their family bond as Christians…
And my favorite….Mark Zupan of the documentary “Murderball” who comes it to have a large shoulder/arm/chest piece reworked. The tattoo artist asks if he can just “skip drawing it and just do the work” and that is the way it goes down – free-hand, no lines to follow, ink work.
Amazing.
The show goes to almost annoying lengths to show how the stereotypes of getting a tattoo are really breaking down. The editing could use some serious work too (there will be a line spoken, and then immediately looped back in with different footage). What do I know….I am just watching it. What do I know….I am just watching it.
If nothing else, check it out for the unbelievable art work these guys can free-hand draw….
The thing about all this is……The Nun got her first tattoo 10 years ago…..and didn’t get another till this past weekend. I got my first and only tattoo 10 years ago….and now I am getting another (with plans for quite a few more) in a couple of weeks.
I don’t think I would have stumbled on this show otherwise….
Fate….Kismet….Chance….a butterfly tattoo flaps it’s wings…..
Cheers!
I am delivering two Rock Solid SQL 2005 sessions next week in SoCal….
September 13th — Irvine, Ca – 8am-12noon
September 15th — San Diego (Mira Mesa), Ca – 8am-12noon
Rock Solid SQL: Strengthen your SQL Servers with SQL Server 2005
SQL Server databases provide the foundation for your business solutions, so don’t you want to build the finest groundwork possible? The new SQL Server 2005 will enhance security, reliability, and performance to give you a solid, dependable base. Think about your current SQL system: Can you still access your database if the server goes down? How fast can you failover? What is your Maintenance Plan? Who is Locking and who is Blocking? In this session, we’ll upgrade an existing SQL Server database to SQL Server 2005 and show you how to maintain a more secure, reliable database solution for your business.
We will look at:
- How to exploit the new security features to tighten controls on your existing systems.
- How the new Database Mirroring technology can provide faster, automatic failover.
- How simple and easy it is to configure automatic maintenance plans and alerts.
- How the new Dynamic Management Views provide greater insight into your database performance with simple, yet powerful reports.
- How to quickly tune the database with the Database Tuning Advisor.
- How you can reduce locking contention with new optimistic concurrency controls.
- How to enhance performance and reliability by partitioning tables on the disk.
Cheers!
I will be at the Microsoft booth for the SQL 2005 Roadshow in LA this Thursday, Sept. 8th. You can also meet some of the local Technology Specialists and others from the SoCal district. Put a face on an email address and let us know what you think about the new SQL 2005 product.
Cheers!
I took a break from blogging over the long weekend and gave some thought to how I have been posting so far and the direction I want to take in the future.
I don’t want to be a geek all the time. I think the geek blogs that are “all geek and nothing but the geek, so help me Bill” are boring. I also know that posting about my exploits at a Karaoke bar, or the history of how I started working at Microsoft (yet to be posted) only succeed in complimenting my own narcissistic view of…..me.
I want to offer some quality “how to” advice for my community while also being a human. I think a good mix of both is the way to go. I don’t want to make assumptions about what the ITPro community needs to know about though. I want your feedback on what you need.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I allow comments to my posts.
I want you to use them.
I want to know what your thoughts are about something I have posted. I also want to know what you would like to get information about. If you don’t want to post a comment for all the world to see (and provide their own comments about) then email me – chrisavi@microsoft.com – I don’t get paid enough (nor am I important enough) to have my own admin or secretary so I answer all my email myself.
Tell me what you need and I will do my best to fulfill your request.
Cheers!
Okay….I am hooked on this thing already.
In the 10 years I have been working on the web, I have only had 3 different home pages for any substantial length of time. In order…..Yahoo!, MSNBC, Google, back to MSNBC. I have always liked reading Internet based news and so MSNBC so far holds the record at close to 5 of the 10 years as my home page. I read other sites but I liked the format of MSNBC so I kept it and branched out from there.
Start is my new home page.
Start accepts RSS feeds so now I am able to add and organize a bunch of feeds the way I like them on a web page that I can access from anywhere. I can also add weather, stock quotes, and a few other goodies from a canned menu provided by Start. I have just spent the last hour or so adding feeds and organizing it the way I like it.
huh? an hour?
Yeah…..I have never been much of a blogger and as a result, not much of a blog reader. So I decided I needed to expand my horizons at the same time I was configuring my Start site. As I searched for some blogs I wanted to add I ended up reading some of them and it took me longer than expected to get my page set up.
I have no idea how long it would takle some one who has a bazillion feeds they read to get setup. I just figured after an hour I needed a break from reading and I wanted to post about what I had stumbled on so far.
I like the Start site. Simple, clean, easy to set up, drag and drop enabled for organizing and a couple of themes so I have some control over look. The coolerest (yeah….coolerest!) thing is being able to shrink down the sumary of the feeds, close the page, re-open and they are still shrunk. I can cram a BUNCH of feeds on the page and expand/collapse as needed.
It does have a few quirks though…..
I had to delete my cookies to get the page to reset after I hosed it all up while playing around. No big deal really as I needed to get the crumbs out of my system anyway.
I can add stock quotes and weather sites but I can’t find a way to remove any I don’t want any longer.
It seems a little plain after having MSNBC for such a long time and seeing pictures on a home page. Yeah….I am all about the pictures (now that I typed that, does Playboy have an RSS feed?……well, yes….they do…..). Maybe let me lick to a URL based pick so i can decorate my site some (no….not Playboy)
Check out Start when you get a chance. I think you will like it.
Cheers!
While bouncing around the web today (or tomorrow or the next day or…..) Drop in on start.com. You can add feeds, news links, localized weather and other web information through a very easy to use interface. It will require (bummer!) a Passport account but I am overlooking that for now because of the usefulness of the Start site.
The site can be themed and you can even change the columns that are presented to you. Fascinating to me the amount of control I have over it.
I have not had a chance to make use of all of the features yet to give a proper review so I have set aside some time to accomplish that tonight. So far, very, very promising….check it out and let me know here what you think.
The group that is working on start.com also has a blog where they allow feedback on site features and post updates to what is happening with the site. Check them out….
Cheers!
....and as a naturalized Texan I should never have had any pre-conceived notions about how the evening would turn out.
Southern California has made me soft which is something I thought only happened north of Bakersfield.
My sincerest apologies to my southern brethren....
(btw....waiting on my Colorado Omellete, hashbrowns and grits at IHOP)
Jett, the owner of Hawaiian Don's is a kick as KJ and the owner of the place. In spite of being a mile from OSU, he has nice little place that defies the sterotypes that anyone may wish to apply. Sure, plenty of country music gets played and mimiced by the above average crowd. But they seem to be regulars and very comfortable with Jett and each other.
Jason and Will are the only two names the Jaegermeister will let me remember right now (I may need to read this in the morning to remember them further) and they sang very well. Will's rendition of some Snoop Dogg track more than impressed me after hearing him pump out several country tracks.
Fushizzle to the hizzy bizzle my bruthizzles.
I managed to get in the following -
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (last minute change from 'Drive')
Journey - Faithfullly
Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Hoobastank - The Reason
If you happen to be on OK City any time soom, ignore the fact that OSU is spittin' distance away (go Longhorns!) and look the place up.
Good unfiltered wheat beer, lotsa tracks, good people and......jaeger.
Rock On....
Cheers!
....I just found the menu - the list of tracks they have - and they have a kick ass selection.....
'Hollaback Girl' playing on the jukebox...
Opening with....Incubus - 'Drive'
Rest of the set list in the morning...
Cheers again!
Here I am in a bar callled "Hawaiian Don's" about 1 mile away from OSU waiting for the KJ to show up.
There are roughly 30 college students drinking a wide and varied assortment of drinks that serve no other purpose than to lessen inhibitions and relieve the stress of college life.
It is 9:39pm, the karaoke starts at 10:00pm, and I am tapping this out with one hand while I nurse a Shiner Bock wiith the other.
I am one shot of jaeger into the evening and dipping into the sordid conversations around me...
The crowd is about 40% men, 60% girls on cell phones.
I found this place by way of the very, very southern front desk attendant at the hotel I am staying at. I should have known I was in trouble right after I asked, "Do you know of a GOOD karaoke bar around here?" and the reply after the extended perplexed look (i am 6'4"...wearing a tye dye t-shirt and flip-flops) then the reply...."Well, there is this place over by OSU...."
I probably should have called it a night......but here I am.
I adriving the only car in the parking lot.....trucks being the only known form of transport in these here parts.....and I have yet to hear anything but country from the jukebox.....
I suppose I will have to bust out my Lonestar, Vince Gill and Garth Brooks....
Gonna throw in my rendition of Baby Got Back just to see what happens.....
6'4....
Tye dye....
Flip flops.....
Here comes the KJ....Should be a fun night.... :)
Cheers!
6:20am – UA Flight # 77 – Seat 11c
Destination: Dallas by way of Denver
Note One – I have discovered I can’t write a short blog entry. I am the Stephen King of bloggers - in length only, not style, creativity or quality.
Note Two – I started this blog on the said flight, I finished it 1 day later in the airport waiting for a flight to Oklahoma City.
Connecting through Denver made me thing back to when I used to live here. I actually lived out in the burbs in Littleton, Co - the home of Columbine High School. I went to school there in 1979 and that is where I really discovered computers.
A friend of mine (okay….let me confess….a guy I played Dungeons and Dragons with) had some computer stuff at home. I think it was actually his fathers but *I* got to touch it so it didn’t matter. If I remember correctly, he used to make D&D player sheets on the computer and print them out. They were (in retrospect) horribly formatted, dot matrix print-outs that weren’t the nice 8.5 x 11 sheets we have today. These were the giant daisy-wheel print outs that had the perforated edges and tops that always seemed to rip into the part of the paper that was important when you tried to separate them.
At the time they were the best player sheets on the planet.
This same guy also introduced me to the computer lab (more like a computer closet) at Columbine. A magical place where there existed an old Hazeltine machine with it’s glowing, yellow-green phosphorous screen, and a couple of other machines that I don’t remember the names of. He got me in that computer lab, my eyes glazed over, and here I am today – blogging at 35,000 feet (and wrapping up in Terminal B at DFW).
The Hazeltine, while more “advanced”, was not my favorite machine in the lab closet. There were two other, much less modern machines as well. They were teletype machines that had large paper rolls in them – no screens. Everything you typed on the extremely loud keyboards was echoed to paper in typewriter fashion. They also had modems attached to them. Not the single board, internal, mini–modems of today. These were monstrous, external, acoustic coupler modems. There were two of these behemoths – one for each teletype – and each also had their own rotary dial telephone sitting next to it. It seemed like it took a full minute to dial a 7 digit number on these things. A decade if the number had a couple of 9’s in it. My friend showed me how to start the teletype, dial the mainframe phone number, listen for the other end to screech back (I always thought of it as a phone chicken), and then place the phone into the giant rubber cups. A few minutes later the teletype would spit out a bunch of stuff that indicated it was ready to accept commands, and then……joy of joys…..I had access to Star Trek and Wumpus.
I was hooked.
I loved playing Star Trek and Wumpus on those old machines. There was certain level of excitement in waiting for the slow teletype to spit out the new x/y graph of where you had moved your ship to. The anticipation of waiting to see if a Klingon ship, denoted by the letter “K” in our version, would get printed out on the paper and give me something to attack. Or, I would make a move and then have to wait another 30 seconds for that move to be printed out. Another move, another 30 seconds. Another move, another 30 seconds……damn……warped into a star.
Same thing with Wumpus. Type “N” to move north, wait 30 seconds for the machine to print out that I had exits to the S and W. Move West, wait 30 seconds to be told I had exits to the E, W, and N.
Uh oh……I hear a Wumpus.
Shoot an arrow W, wait 30 seconds, find out the arrow bounced back and killed me.
Good Times…….Good Times.
These machines were old. Not just 1979 old, but early 70’s old. Possibly even the 60’s old. There were much more modern machines I had access to in that day. The TRS-80 at the local Radio Shack (more on that later). If the family made a day trip to the mall I had access to Space Invaders, a cycle jump game where the motorcycle criss-crossed the screen top to bottom until on the last pass you had to jump over barrels or cars and attempt to land on the opposite ramp (I never did well at that game) and of course…..PONG. There were other cool games too but I can’t remember all of them. Compared to the teletypes I played Wumpus on, Space invaders was Star Wars like futuristic. I was pretty darn good at Space invaders…..figured out to shoot X number of times, wait, shoot the ship, get the big bonus, shoot a few invaders, wait, shoot the ship, get the big bonus, repeat, repeat, repeat. As fun as it was pumping quarters (and a single quarter per game, mind you!) into the arcade games, the teletypes had an appeal the arcade games lacked…..
Programmability.
Not only could I access the mainframe to play games, but the teletypes also had a means of accessing a programming environment which, as far as I can remember, was BASIC. I was able to write simple programs to make the teletype print what I wanted it to on the screen. I wrote a very simple program that let you ask questions and it would offer replies. It only had maybe 5 replies and everything you typed in, it considered a question…..
User – HELLO?
Computer – HELLO!
User – WHO ARE YOU?
Computer – HOW ARE YOU TODAY?
User – I AM FINE. WHO ARE YOU?
Computer – HELLO!
User – I ASKED WHO YOU ARE. ARE YOU STUPID?
Computer – HOW IS THE WEATHER?
User – YOU SUCK!
Computer – HELLO!
I never was a good programmer…….
I did write a nice little practical joke version of it though. There were different people that would check the lab in the mornings. If I knew who that person was I program a little “good morning program” and leave it “running” on the machine over night. When the victim arrived in the morning and pressed any key on the teletype….
Computer - “GOOD MORNING! YOU LOOK WELL TODAY, MRS. JOHNSON! I LIKE THE OUTFIT YOU PICKED TODAY!”.
I would try to get there early to see the response and most of the time it was a look of amazement and then a tinge of what might be construed as unease. Back in those days, human computer interaction was still associated with HAL from the movie “2001”. It creeped some people out. There would be a quick realization it was a prank of sorts which ended when the victim lifted the phone from the coupler. In one case, much to my delight, it resulted in a look of true ear and the machine getting unplugged from the wall.
Good Times……
Even with all that fun to be had, my absolute favorite thing about the old teletypes was the paper tape puncher/reader they had. Whatever you programmed on the mainframe you could have sent to the puncher/reader and it would punch holes in the one inch wide, yellow tape to represent the code. I liked it as much for all the confetti dots it created which were devilishly difficult to remove from heavily sprayed hair…..or so I heard (whistle…) (I was in 9th grade……gimme a break!). I think my most creative version of my human/computer interaction program required a couple hundred feet of paper tape to store. It took what seemed like eons for it to create the tape. It took the same amount of time to read it back in and transmit back to the mainframe. But it was a record of what I created.
Good Times…..
A few months later, my family moved to Edgewood, MD and I lost access to a computer of any kind (except for playing Asteroids, Pac Man, Space Invaders et al, and of course…..my Atari 2600) until my 11th grade year. By this time it was 1981, Disco was (thankfully!) dying, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, and the Cars were my fave music, and the Rubik’s Cube Craze was in full swing. My school (Edgewood HS) had a computer lab and I managed to get into a Computer Math class. They had a gigantic machine – I have no idea what it was – but it was the old switch and button type with the punch cards.
I never played with it. Why?
Because my first day in the lab I saw someone playing “Adventure” on an Apple ][. I was a Dungeons and Dragons player and this was like heaven for me. Best of all, it was a computer that could be purchased for use at home AND it had <drum roll please> a color screen! And not just a color screen but <drum roll please> 16 colors! (I didn’t know until after I started working at Microsoft some 13 years later that it was a Microsoft game…..thank you Uncle Bill).
I begged my father for an Apple ][. But with myself and 3 brothers, it just wasn’t happening. So I spent as much time as I could during and after school playing Adventure, learning DOS and BASIC. I wrote a dating program (didn’t work for me), a more advanced computer/human interaction program, and my crowning achievement, an application that simulated working a Rubik’s Cube. That simulator was slower than a TSA security checkpoint at LAX, but it worked (in color!) and gave me a reason to be in the lab……
All good things have to come to an end though. My family moved again, this time to Arlington, TX. I had copied all of my programs to floppy and convinced my teacher to let me take them with me. Those 5¼ floppies were expensive back in 1982 so it was awesome cool of him to let me take them.
Upon arriving to my senior year at James Bowie High School, Arlington, Tx, graduating class of nineteen hundred and eighty-three, I discovered there were more than just Hazeltines, teletypes and monstrous punchcard spewing COBOL machines in the world. I knew this already, but really didn’t have much interest in the TRS-80 (it just didn’t look cool) or the Commodore PET (a PET computer?!?!?!). But that is exactly what we ended up with. The new school had the Commodores, which were actually an annoying step backward in my opinion. My Apple floppies were worthless in them not just because they weren’t compatible, but because they didn’t have floppies. These things had cassette tapes for data storage. Ugh. But I adapted for the one year I was at the school. BASIC was still basic with a few changes, and I started doing some machine language programming and playing with PEEKs and POKEs. I learned that machine language was much faster than BASIC and could be more powerful if you could figure things out.
This great about the middle of my senior year because I managed to get my hands on an Apple //+. The processor was similar (6502) and I started doing some machine language programming on it and subscribed to some Apple related computer mags. They had some cool machine language entry programs that check-summed your line entries so you could see if you made a mistake. That made things simpler but I didn’t learn a lot form them because they didn’t explain what I was typing. I stagnated a little until….
I discovered it had a modem in it. And not just any modem, but an Apple Cat. For the first time in almost 4 years that I could dial into another machine again. Only now, I could dial into a BBS. One that was run on an Apple. One that other Apple Users also dialed into and shared information with each other. The world opened up for me……
Good Times……
<to be continued>
Pseudo Epilogue – The guys I played Dungeons and Dragons with in Littleton, Co – Eric Geisking, Greg “Gonzo” Gonzalez and a non-player, Eric Watts – drop me a line sometime if you stumble upon this. It would be great to hear from you. (I will update the other names when I get home and have a chance to look at my yearbook…..many moons have passed and I have had a few beers since 1979…)
….I had first pick and I am happy with my choice……and for the most part I am happy. I still get to pick up some players in waivers before the first game to shore up the roster so I may have a little more depth in a week or so.
Here is what I ended up with and the order I picked them in:
LaDainian Tomlinson, Rudi Johnson, Brett Favre, Steve Smith, Jason Witten, Jimmy Smith, Casrson Palmer, Buffalo Defense, Jason Elam, Ronnie Brown, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Mike Anderson, Jermaine Wiggins, Travis Taylor
Hardly the best draft I have ever had but with Tomlinson being the BEST RB in the league from a fantasy perspective, I have some time to work the rest of the roster through waivers.
If there are other FF players out there, I would love to hear from ya!
Cheers!
Today is draft day!
Yours truly has pick #1......
Results later this evening...
Cheers!
Apparently there have been power issues in Cali (No Way!) and my place was hit with blackouts. Unfortunately my DC and my Web Server don’t auto power on after a blackout so things were offline again today for a couple hours till I made some calls to get buttons pressed….
More later…..
Cheers!
I am getting into this blogging thing....
In fact, consider this my replacement for all the FPS games I gave up a couple years back because they were just too addictive for me. (I did jump back into the fray for Halo 2 but I avoided XBox live with it.....I would have fallen in and never returned...)
I am one of those people you know that has some goofball idea or lopsided opinion about something almost ALL of the time. I am also one of those people that has an idea or a thought, I expend a lot of mental energy fleshing it out, I make a feeble effort to remember what it all is, and then I promptly forget it (I grew up in the 70's.....what can I say...) My Pocket PC has been a god-send because it allows me to jot a quick note or type up the details and now I get to forget about it only to stumble on it later.
I have been taking some of those notes and converting them to blogs for the past couple weeks.
But have you ever had one of those moments where an idea or thought hits you that is so amazing (to you)....so astounding (to you)....so utterly stupendous (to you) that you felt you had to tell someone, right then, that moment, or else the thought would be lost in time and lose it's impact if even a single minute were to pass?
That is me all of the time....
My Pocket PC is nice enough to have WiFi and GPRS as well as Bluetooth. In short, I can be connected to the Internet (and my blog) all the time if I want. In my hands I have the perfect outlet for my ravings.
But, as anyone with a Pocket PC will tell you, browsing the web, even with the decent sized screen on an iPaq, leaves something to be desired if the site is not mobile device aware.
My Pocket PC has a browser.....can I blog with it? Sure..... as long as I don't mind spending half my time scrolling all over the screen to check formating and trying to find the damn "submit" button. It reminds me of the early web days when many people still had small monitors with a max (readable) resolution of 800x600 and you would hit a site formatted for 1024x768.
Beyond !@#*ing annoying.
So I set out on a hunt this afternoon to find a PPC based blogging app that I could actually use. The search literally took about 1 second. I went to http://search.msn.com, used "Pocket PC Blogging" as my query and 1 second later, hit number 1 was for the tool I am using right now to write this post.
Kevin Daly is the coder and has written a nice PPC blogging application called "Diarist". What caught my eye, and the reason I downloaded the first tool I hit, is the tool supports Community Server Web Posting as well as it's MetaBlog API which is what I use on my site.
The tool comes in two versions (I am using 1.1) and each version has an .MSI install version and a .CAB install (I grabbed the .MSI). It installed perfectly to my iPaq 6315 to the default directory. I am going to play around later with installing it to my storage card.
It has a very simple interface (nice!) and an easy to use lay out. It supports
hyperlinking,
basic text markup and assigning multiple categories to a single posting which *I* find invaluable. It even allows you to link to a picture.....I just didn't have one handy. If I had one suggestion to offer it would be to allow the categories windows to be static once opened so I could pick multiple categories without having to re-open the window. Hardly a show stopper.
Make that two suggestions - I was going to take a break from writing this post but couldn't find an obvious method of saving what I have written so far just in case something flakes out. Cut and paste to a text doc kept me from worrying but it would be nice to be able to save it through the app for later editing.
I think one of the best features of the app is the support for a fairly wide range of blog site providers. I intentionally ignored blogging matters for years. Over time I picked up the names of the popular providers and many are listed in the configuration setup. If *I* have heard of them then the TRUE bloggers certainly have heard of them.
The number one best feature of the app - it just works. Very little config, not a lot of setup involved, and seemingly little footprint on my PPC.
I should mention that on Kevin's site he states very plainly to read the README.TXT file that comes with the app. I second that motion. I am your typical "just get in the car, screw the map" kind of guy. I was initially stumped when comparing the Diarist setup to my BlogJet configuration and that didn't get me connected to my server. A quick glance at the README took care of that and I was up and running within 15 minutes of download (1 minute of reading the README...)
To be fair, this is the ONLY PPC based blogging app I have downloaded so far. No doubt there are others. I will probably spend some time this weekend looking for a few others to test. But this one hit the mark out of the gate and set a pretty high bar.
Rockin...
Cheers!
<clicking Post.....NOW!>
<first…….go grab yourself a 6 pack….this is a long one>
<beer 1>
I admit it…..I am a SQL n00b…..So I am taking a SQL 2072 course next week in Oklahoma City.
Go ahead…..I know you want to…..have your chuckle about how Oklahoma sucks and you know it does cuz that is the only thing that keeps Texas from falling into the Gulf of Mexico.
I like that joke btw…..BUT!
The fact is, I will be learning more about SQL in one week…..in Oklahoma…...than I have in the past 10 years.
<beer 2…..you know you chugged the first one right after you saw “Oklahoma” and “Texas”>
On a personal level, I have had zero use for SQL. For that matter I have had zero use for databases of any kind for the last 10 years or so. I used to have an Access (95) DB years ago. The only reason I had that one was to make an attempt at moving my fantasy football league over from AppleWorks and my Apple //gs to my brand spanking new AMD 486–120 (I still have that machine and I still use it now and then….it posts and boots to a Win95 OSR2 desktop faster than most of my gHz boxes get to WinXP) ((I also have my Apple //gs still which comes in handy for playing Wizardry!))
Wow…..I feel like I just jumped into the way-back machine with my pet boy, Sherman…..but I digress….
I tried to port my fantasy football league over from AppleWorks (which I loved) to Access (which I hated). I didn’t know I hated it until after trying to figure it out. I never did get comfortable with Access but I blame the simplicity of using AppleWorks on that.
Now I find myself in the position of having to learn SQL for my job….which isn’t a bad thing. It’s not like I haven’t been in a similar position about every two weeks for the last 8 years with the monstrous number of products and technologies we churn out. I believe anyone at Microsoft will tell you “If you don’t like learning new stuff, you work at the wrong company”.
I have just never had a use for or had to learn SQL…..till now.
In 1994, I never imagined that a database application – one that could essentially run on a home PC – would be capable of storing and querying the massive amounts of data that SQL can today. Of course, in 1994 I never imagined that I would need more than 200 megs of hard drive space or that my 5 1/4 floppy would be useless in just a couple of years. Back then, it would take my Apple //gs (which had an Applied Engineering TransWarp GS Accelerator) 30 minutes to parse the AppleWorks database and create the scoring report for my 10 team fantasy football league. It took well over an hour if I turned the TransWarp “off”. That database only held a few hundred players with weekly – not cumulative – stats in it. Today www.fanball.com supports hundreds of individual leagues, each determining their own scoring method, players rosters, play off schedules and ALL with the ability to provide immediate scoring information.
And that is just the football portion of their site. They also do baseball.
All that accessibility……all of those stats…….all of that FOOTBALL!!!!!….because of a database….
<beer 3…..come on…..we have a football related topic here>
*Note* – I don’t know what database Fanball uses…..for all I know they have linked a couple thousand TransWarped Apple //gs machines together and have Wozniak on the payroll….The point I am trying to make it how far we have come……
Now…..I was semi–advanced back then. On my Apple //gs I actually had two 5 1/4 floppies AND two 3.5 floppies. I even had two SCSI hard drives but I used most of the hard drive space for my BBS. The fantasy football stuff was pretty small and I wanted to make use of the 5 1/4’s as long as I could so I ran AppleWorks from the 3.5’s and stored the football stats on the 5 1/4’s. I learned a few tricks in those days…..you could notch the floppy disks with a $5 disk notcher (or a pocket knife if you were lazy) and use both sides. This allowed me to use both sides of the floppy – doubling storage capacity – AND it saved me money which I desperately needed for beer. But it always seemed to reduce the reliability of the floppy disks. It certainly shortened their life spans. But even on an un-notched disk, sneeze the wrong way and those old floppies would scramble data faster than a Waffle House cook does eggs. That meant manually backing up data to another floppy. I usually made yet another copy just in case (I almost always sneeze in pairs…) THAT was how I backed up my data and guaranteed it was accessible when I needed it.
Now, with SQL 2005, we have things like log shipping and peer-to-peer replication. Magical, wondrous, computer voodoo to someone who manually made 3 copies of their data just in case it was allergy season.
But my favorite way to guarantee that SQL 2005 guarantees data is protected (and ALWAYS available!) is - mirroring with automatic failover.
If, like me, you are new to SQL/Databases (or just haven’t been exposed to SQL 2005 yet), let me offer a very simplified explanation of what is involved.
For database mirroring with automatic failover to work, you need….take a deep breathe…..relax……<grab your beer so you don’t commit alcohol abuse>…….three (3) SQL Servers……
<finish beer 4, grab beer 5 but don’t open yet…..>
….I know you winced. You may have blown beer out your nose. Some of you may have even decided to quit your job as a SQL DBA and (gasp!) become a SQL Developer…..
Let me finish and then I will tell you a little secret that may save you some beer money…..
….breathe……relax…..
<bathroom break>
<beer 5……nurse it>
Server 1 is the “primary” or “principal” database server. It is the machine you want up 24/7. It is the “all the eggs in one basket” machine. It is online and active and is the DB server that all of your applications are writing to and reading from. The apps have no concept of any additional servers in the mix.
Server 2 is the “backup” or “mirror” database server. It *must* start off with an exact copy of the primary database data. Simplest thing is to just restore a backup of the primary to this machine. There is some planning involved here to make sure this DB has the exact same data as the primary….but I only had you grab a 6 pack. For the 12 pack version come to a Live Technet briefing or find a local SQL 2005 Roadshow or SQL Launch Event or read this.
As our applications are reading and writing data on Server 1, we will commit the transactions at both servers at the same time (technically we don’t commit to the primary until we can commit to both at the same time). This can introduce some latency so monitor your network especially if you have bandwidth concerns. The trade off is availability and redundancy.
Server 3 is called a “witness” server. The witness server is essentially the innocent by-stander at the scene of the server failure crime. It’s purpose is to just keep an eye on both servers and determine if one or the other goes offline. if one goes off line it notifies the other that it is now the primary. If the original primary comes back it notifies the servers and we can switch roles again after data is back in sync.
So you decide to implement this solution. You go purchase a SQL 2005 Enterprise license. Cough of the same amount for the Backup server license, Then you grab SQL 2005 Express edition as a witness server.
<waitadamnminute….. beer muffs must have distorted my hearing>
Did I just say you could use SQL 2005 Express Edition as the witness server to a SQL 2005 Enterprise mirror?
Yes I did.
No need to have an Enterprise class server twiddling it’s thumbs and keeping an eye on two other servers. Use it’s little brother to do that job…..you can even fudge things a little and have a second instance on the primary or backup server act as a witness but if that dual-role server goes offline you won’t be failing over automagically. Just so ya know….ANY version of SQL 2005 can act as a witness.
How far have we come in just 10 years…..
<beer 6>
Enjoy at your leisure……
Cheers!
For the 4 people that have ever read my blog…..
My apologies for the up/down status of the server for the last hour. My ISA Firewall server is connected to an OLD Belkin OMNIView and for some reason it would not pipe anything out to my monitor.
I figured it was cabling – NOT– but as a result of playing with it I lost the signal from the server to the switch. – Reboot Required.
I noticed the monitor worked during startup but after the video driver started up I lost signal. Well….that meant T-Shooting the driver but it is kinda hard to do that with no display at all. — Reboot Required.
Got the monitor connected directly to the monitor and all was well. Updated the Driver. — Reboot Required.
Forgot to switch th cabling back into the Belkin. — Reboot required.
Everything is all nice and well now….AND I have a fancy schmancy new NVidia driver running on the server. Server is happy. I am happy.
Back to work….
Cheers!
I have been wondering about our (humans) dependence on technology a lot lately. Particularly electronic technology. Since these devices all rely on electricity, and solar power just isn’t up to snuff, what is going to happen when we do finally run out of petroleum and coal to generate electricity to power all of the electronics we have so blindly come to rely on? (I am sure we will come up with other power solutions…..but what if?)
While pondering this one day, it made me think back to the 1983 movie Wargames where the scientist that created the WOPR computer had gone into isolation and shunned technology (except for his radio controlled pterodactyl…) Personally, I think it is almost completely impossible (as an American) to eliminate all use of electronic gadgets and doo-dads. Even the simplest of items our lives have some electronic component…..I even have a pen with an LCD clock in it that I picked up at some trade show. I call that a waste of technology.
So I decided to do an experiment. This past weekend I made a promise to myself —
Don’t use ANY computers and avoid electronics whenever possible.
Here is some minor detail about what I had to work around…..
My kitchen stove has a computer that senses temperature – I used the grill. (I grilled BBQ Beef Ribs for the first time ever on Sunday night…...I used a Raspberry Chipotle BBQ sauce……phenomenal!)
My Jeep has computers that sense fuel consumption, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, etc – I drove my 1972 Citroen 2cv all weekend. (it has electrical components but there isn’t a circuit board to be found in the car) Problem is, the 2cv is in the garage – which has an opener and a remote – so I unplugged the opener and used the manual garage release….
My primary phone is an old Microsoft MP-900. It is connected to a Windows 98 box — So I let the fiancé answer/make all the calls over the weekend I just yelled at a distance…..(btw…..my cell phone has ZERO signal at the house….so that part was easy!)
My alarm clock……I just didn’t set it. I am a morning person….up at 6am Sat, 6:30a Sun and 4:50a Mon, and 4:30a today….can you say…..in-som-ni-ac?
I am a coffee drinker but the coffee maker has electronics. I think the coffee grinder probably does too. Jeanne made the coffee for me. But I would have cracked on that one anyway.
Even my ceiling fans are electronically controlled – but it was already on so I just didn’t touch it.
I didn’t blog over the weekend. For those of you that MUST BLOG EVERY 3 MINUTES……I survived without any withdrawal symptoms. BUT, I have only been blogging for a coupla weeks. I am hardly addicted……yet.
I live in Southern California, and I don’t regularly use the A/C anyway. Just open the doors and windows. 84 in the living room. It’s a dry heat.
I usually do most of the cooking, but that would have involved opening the electronically controlled fridge or the freezer…so, with the exception of the ribs, I got out of cooking over the weekend…..
The hot water heater is electronically controlled……checked that AFTER taking a shower…..decided I continue to indulge myself on that one.
Nose Hair trimmer…..electronic. Deal with it……..
I must admit one blatant computer usage – I have Windows Media Center that I use for ALL of my media storage. I ordered “The 4400: Season 1” from Netflix a week ago and spent Sunday night with a strong pitcher of margaritas (and the ribs!) catching up. That meant using the TV and the remote….all electronic….
I think you get the picture. It was interesting for a weekend. I would hardly want to go for a month or more unless it was part of a reality show and they allowed NORMAL looking people on.
Yeah…..that will happen.
Cheers!