# Wednesday, 02 November 2005

I know many of you know Scott from his very popular blog. What you may not realize is that he is a, "self-declared "Energy Star" person." Hey... I know Scott and he's a likable guy and provides a wealth of knowledge for the local .NET community. I never knew what a risk he was taking until reading The Raw Feed this evening:

Hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius are great for saving money on gas. But when you drive one into a tree and need to be extracted with emergency "Jaws of Life," your car can fry a fireman with its 500-volt electrical system. So Hale Products has come up with a special "Jaws of Life" that protect rescuers from being BARBECUED.

I'm sure glad Scott hasn't parked his Prius into a tree yet or he may have already had his funeral pyre.

Wednesday, 02 November 2005 23:42:39 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Thursday, 27 October 2005

Thanks to Mr. Sells' Entry*:

You Passed 8th Grade Math
Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

*Don't worry Chris, I'll tutor you.

Thursday, 27 October 2005 08:13:18 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [2]
# Friday, 14 October 2005

The Nigerian government and Microsoft Corp. signed an agreement Friday calling for the software company to help law enforcement break up crime rings that use the Internet for fraud and theft. [1]

Not well publicized is how this came to be. Unknown to most, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates, received the following (condensed) email from the government of Nigeria soliciting his and his company's assistance.

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIIMUM CONFIDENCE.

WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN CRACK DOWN OF SCAMS INTO YOUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR CRACK DOWN.

...

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

DR CLEMENT OKON

The rest will be history!

[1] Computerworld, October 14, 2005 (link)

Friday, 14 October 2005 15:08:09 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Wednesday, 07 September 2005

I've been using the 'natural' keyboards for several years now and find them absolutely wonderful. One thing that has disappointed me, though, is the lack of 'reverse slope' on the most recent versions of these keyboards. That problem has been solved!

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

Me wanna!

I'm hoping that Costco will have this soon. Heck, maybe they already do. I knew I needed to go over there for something this week.

Wednesday, 07 September 2005 22:42:07 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Tuesday, 06 September 2005

I had an incredible nerd week last week.

Tuesday, we had the monthly Portland Nerd Dinner. Turn out was great and the conversation just kept going until the Mall was closing. Chris wasn't able to join us as one of the Sells Brothers was celebrating his birthday, but those that were there couldn't get enough.

Oh, and Portland finally has a LEGO store :-)! I got my souvenier block!

Wednesday brought the PADNUG meeting. I was looking forward to seeing Ted present again after Code Camp, but it ended up being particularly fun. Scott made an appearance and the banter between he, Ted, ChrisT[avares], and Rick was fabulous.

What really impressed me is that Ryan Williams blogged his notes on the meeting. The next best thing to being there!

If you missed out, don't forget to watch for future meeting of both Nerd Dinners and .NET User Group here or on their respective sites. This next month, the Indigo Roadshow will be visiting Portland at the Intel Jones Farm Auditorium. Registration is required for this one, so sign up now.

Tuesday, 06 September 2005 23:10:56 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [1]
Help Victims of Katrina - Red Cross

It seems like just yesterday that we were called upon to help our fellow persons in South Asia. Well folks, it's time to help out here at home.

Our southern states are in dire need. Especially the good folks in New Orleans and the surrounding area. All hell broke on them and it's well worth the time to do something to help them out.

If you have a preferred target for donations of time, goods, or money, please go to them. Otherwise, you might just want to click this link and give a little bit (or a lot) to the Red Cross. You know they are there helping out.

If you are looking for updates on the situtation down that way, you may want to check out this blog or Sara's for more information. As Greg mentions, TextAmerica and NBC have teamed up to bring a site dedicated to reconnecting people in the aftermath called MissingKatrina.com.

Heck, even Rory has jumped in and done his part... in his way, of course.

Tuesday, 06 September 2005 22:15:09 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Tuesday, 23 August 2005

From the local CBS station's website:

What were the chances?

[via Aaron Hockley]

Tuesday, 23 August 2005 18:05:17 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Friday, 19 August 2005

I recently had a problem with my copy of Microsoft Money 2005. Somehow, it was completely uninstalled from my PC - probably because of a strange incident on the MSN Money pages, but that's not what this story is about.

It worried me a bit at first. I was connected to a call center that appeared to be offshore. I don't get so worked up about the 'where' support happens, but please, make sure the people speak clear and understandable english if they are supposed to be helping english speakers. It was a painful 45 minutes - and that was just to get directed to the actual support person.

But, once I got there, Nicole in Nova Scotia did a fabulous job of getting me up and running again. It turned out that I simply needed to do an upgrade, but the process took two hours! She stuck it out and was a pleasure to deal with. It turned out that she even had to stay an hour over her shift to complete this call. Big Kudos!

Of course, I worry about her not knowing about Second City TV, but that's another story - she's probably just a bit too young :-).

One thing I've noted over the years on the rare occasion that I've called MS Support: they must not beat their reps up over call time. I've always found that they are very willing to stick it out to make sure that the issue is resolved. Thanks for that and thanks to Nicole!

Friday, 19 August 2005 11:30:13 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Wednesday, 17 August 2005

I know that I've seen this somewhere before, but I was reminded again this evening. I like being able to have a visual cue when I'm approaching the (likely arbitrary) right edge of my coding page. Sure, you can keep one of your eyes on the column number along the bottom status bar, but then, who watches the code?

Well, thanks to Roy Osherove, I now have the tip and the time at the same moment and have added the vertical rules to my Visual Studio sessions at 80 and 120 columns.

It looks something like this:

If you want to save some time, just click here to get the .reg file (download and check it first to be safe and backup the registry! :-)).

Wednesday, 17 August 2005 23:01:37 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]

This isn't a high traffic site by any stretch of the imagination so you can guess how crazy it was to see 15 times the traffic that I might normally expect today on this blog. It was all based on the MSN Search bot: "+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm".

Sure enough, I chatted Greg up and his seeing the same kind of crazy activity!

Is it a rogue Bot? Or is MSN getting ready for some new bit of technology?

Wednesday, 17 August 2005 22:32:25 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [1]
# Thursday, 11 August 2005

I can now combine my favorite Third Place with my love of technology and a good, stiff drink :-).

Nonna Emilia Ristoranté now has WiFi! Congratulations to my friends at Nonna's for the great new toy! As if I needed another reason to go there.

Thursday, 11 August 2005 18:57:23 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Monday, 08 August 2005

As mentioned several days ago, we had our Dish Network DVR Dish 508 break down again. I suspected that I would give it one more try and contact the so-called 'Executive Office' to see if there was some flexibility possible.

As I had been told by 'Joan', I didn't have a chance.

Not only am I unimpressed and disappointed with their service on this issue, I think I've realized an other point: They don't seem to have a clue about their market!

Harsh, I know, but I got that impression when the representative said that I should, "...be sure of the deal I was getting." There was an implication that I was getting some 'special' deal from DIRECTV that I was trying to get Dish to compete with. I pointed out to him that this is the deal ($99 for the DVR and a $50 rebate) that is posted on the DIRECTV website; he seemed surprised.

Mind you, it didn't get me anywhere. Plus, DIRECTV is now offering a $100 rebate - the DVR is now free!

I happened on a good article that relates on CPR tonight. I'm sure that there were employees at Dish that wanted to make things right with me. But, instead, the company policies have given the competition a new customer.

Monday, 08 August 2005 23:14:35 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [4]
# Saturday, 30 July 2005

About a week ago, we had our fifth Dish Network DVR fail in a little over a year and a half. I know how technology can be, but I'm sorely disappointed with the results - in short, I'm looking into DIRECTV.

We have the Dish 508 and have been satisfied with it's capability. Oh sure, I've heard how much better the Guides are on other systems, but this has accomodated most of our needs. The trouble comes in that we've only averaged about six months lifespan with them.

I checked on the deal with DIRECTV and it would cost a bit more per month, but for less than <$100 (after rebate), we could have two dual-tuner DVR systems in place. In addition, they use TiVo for programming and I've heard nothing but good reviews on them.

The best that Dish could offer was either:

  1. A barely upgraded DVR (Dish510) that has no extra features except larger hard drive (we've never used ours up) for more money per month.
  2. A dual-tuner (Dish522) for $200.

I can't see it. As I said to 'Joan' at Dish, changing brands is just a lot more compelling. It makes me sad to have to do that. I want to think that they would try harder to keep a customer - heck, I offered to sign up for a year, too - but it just wasn't an option.

I may give them one last chance on Monday, but from what Joan said, the offer isn't going to change. How very disappointing.

Saturday, 30 July 2005 19:22:49 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]

The release candidate for version 1.8 of dasBlog just came along today and I'm pleased to see that it didn't break :)!

Hey, what can I say? I've been very happy with this blogging software since I started this version of my blog approaching two years ago. It had all the right features and allowed me just enough control. When Scott got involved, it substantially sealed the deal... always want to support the local folks.

Now, I just need to take some time to update the theme... it's a project that has begun, but I let it slide.

Saturday, 30 July 2005 00:17:50 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Sunday, 17 July 2005

I would be remiss in not noting the passing of another year in the life of the Blizzard. Happy Freakin' Birthday to the father of the Portland Nerd Dinner! We sure miss you up here!

Hope you all had a great Code Camp and we'll be posting the results from ours really soon.

We're still waiting for the pictures from Dennis. I fully expected you to be out there in the middle of it all bringing us live coverage of the storm as it passed the Tampa area.

Have a great 20th (?) birthday, Jim and come see us someday.

Sunday, 17 July 2005 10:06:52 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Wednesday, 13 July 2005

Greg was seems pleased with his new Tablet PC. So much so that he did some ink blogging this evening.

I was so impressed with his handwriting, I had to suggest he create a font out of it. He did :-)! Using the winning tool from the first Think in Ink contest, MyFontTool, he has allowed all of us to be a bit more like him.

If you are looking for alternative fonts, there are several sites out there that can accomodate. Some of the ones I've found are:

  1. divide by zero
  2. 1001 Fonts.com
  3. dafont.com
  4. Fonts & Things
  5. acidfonts.com
  6. Chank!
  7. MyFonts
  8. Abstract Fonts

Oh, and don't forget for your developer needs to check out Scott's blog.

Have a good time with these!

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 22:54:00 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]
# Sunday, 10 July 2005

Oh thank heaven! I'm very pleased with the result, but I'm sure that there are plenty of people that would debate it - especially the 'not annoying' part :-).

I am 15% Idiot.
Friggin Genius
I am not annoying at all. In fact most people come to me for advice. Of course they annoy the hell out of me. But what can I do? I am smarter than most people.

Thanks, Greg, for pointing me to this.

Sunday, 10 July 2005 01:16:17 (Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-07:00)  #    Comments [0]