Jarred Fehr Blog: Blog

Vista Certification and iPhones

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:26:00 GMT

Vista Certified

This week I attained my Vista Certification. I think the official title is Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Configuring Microsoft Windows Vista Client. I’m not sure how I feel about the whole “Technology Specialist” part. They have changed it from the old 2000/2003 Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). ‘Professional’ sounds much better than ‘Technology Specialist’ in my opinion. I think it has something to do with the fact that many people in my company have the word ‘Specialist’ in their title, and they are anything but. Overall, I’m pretty sure the last year I spent working with and deploying Vista at work has given me more experience than most with Microsoft’s latest and greatest. It is just too bad that Vista has such a bad rep in the press. I’m hoping Microsoft will be able to turn that perception around so I don’t have to bury my latest certification at the very bottom of my resume in small print.

iPhone

Alas… I think I am the only person in my immediate group of friends who does not have an iPhone. I’m sure there are a couple of them that don’t have one, but I feel like the only one who doesn’t. I must say congrats to Steve Jobs for inventing such a nice phone. It really has set the bar in regards to most other phones out there. That is kind of sad actually. It is not that Apple has set the bar so high, but more that the rest of the cell phone industry let the bar stay so low for so long (Microsoft included). Microsoft tried to shoehorn Windows into a mobile device for years when they should have trashed what they had and started over from scratch. Granted they were trying to compete with Palm initially and the whole stylus thing (which was never cool). But Windows Mobile 5 and 6 never did much to really up the bar. They work alright, but have been in need of a UI overhaul for awhile.

One of the Windows Mobile Phone makers from Taiwan (HTC) has done more to experiment and develop new UI’s than MS has. Pretty sad actually. My T-Mobile Shadow phone had a pretty neat interface that T-mo made, and perhaps that is part of the problem. Microsoft wanted to make the foundation OS and let the phone makers customize it. I recently updated my Shadow to WM 6.1 which includes a really neat sliding panels UI made by one of the MS devs. But it is clear this is just a stopgap until they can come up with something truly new (i.e. copy the iPhone). I won’t go into all the reasons why I refuse to go iPhone since plenty of people have covered all of its inadequacies (go here). What I am glad to see is that Apple has forced the rest of the industry to stop releasing such crappy hardware/software for mobile devices. It is apparent that Apple is not going to let up on The Shiny®, so the rest of the industry will be playing catchup for awhile. But this time, instead of a race to the bottom, it is a race to the top.

Sit Down and Shut Up

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:56:46 GMT

Judge Milian Tears Dude A New Asshole - Watch more free videos

Ahhh… this is sweet.

Flash Trash

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:52:48 GMT

Adobe’s Flash player is almost a requirement to view most web sites today. My rant today is how much Adobe sucks. For a long while now, some of us have been waiting for them to release a 64 bit compatible version for 64 bit browsers (i.e. Internet Explorer 64 bit). When Flash 9 came out, they said they were working on it and it would be released when it was done. Well, Adobe has begun releasing betas of the new Flash Player 10. Yes! Flash 10 for 2008. Yea 64 bit!

Wrong!

Not only do they still not have a 64 bit version, I read that one of the developers said they aren’t releasing a 64 bit version AND, "we will evaluate that requirement, which has been requested before, for inclusion in possible future releases based on customer demand."

Based on customer demand?!?!?!? I read an article on Slashdot from 2005 of people petitioning Macromedia (the original Flash developers) to release a 64 bit version of Flash. 3 years ago! GAH! WTF Adobe? It’s not like this is some small developer. This is Adobe. Owners of fricken Photoshop, surely one of the biggest/complicated programs that exists. How hard can this be? Seriously. I don’t code. How hard is this?

I’m guessing it is hard. Microsoft has their Flash competitor, Silverlight. I was fully prepared to demand that all web developers switch to using Silverlight so we can move into the 64 bit age. But upon checking… there is no 64 bit Silverlight support. GAH!

Why does the Internet hate 64 bit? :-(

DIAF: July Update

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:03:55 GMT

Last week the FISA update bill passed Congress that grants immunity to the Telecom companies for any wrong doing their part for warrantless wiretapping. I initially wanted to add Barrack Obama for voting for this bill after he specifically said he would not. Then I wanted to add ‘Democrats’ because of how many of them voted for it. But I thought it would be unfair to leave out the Republicans who really pushed for this in the first place at the behest of the Bush administration. So to make things nice and simple, I’ll just add ‘Congress’ to the DIAF list.

Carl Rove will also be added this week. He was subpoenaed before Congress to testify on the firing of Justice Department employees for purely political reasons. He didn’t show up. His lawyer did and told Congress that Rove will not be speaking to them. WTF? If this was you or me, our asses would be in jail. But not only is Bush and his cronies above the law, apparently they can get away with ignoring it. Continually. Without consequence.

Last week was the last week of summer semester. I’m so glad to be done with school for awhile. The last project I had was group based and I was assigned two of the Chinese girls as my teammates. The last few times I’ve had Chinese girls in my group, I ended up doing all the work. I told them both this and that I just would not have time to do the entire project myself. They assured me I would not have to. To make a long story short, they completely dropped the ball. In the end, I turned in the project without their names on it and then proceeded to throw them under the bus to the professor. He completely understood. I felt a bit bad for them, but I did all I could to help them.

I’m also reading daily stuff about the upcoming summer Olympic games. China is having all sorts of issues ranging from bad air to limiting what can be said, etc. It is all very un-Olympic in nature. So I was going to add ‘Chinese girls’ to my DIAF list, but to make things fair, I think I’ll just add all of them. The ‘Chinese’.

Ben Hurl

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:24:04 GMT

I haven’t been posting much the last few weeks because of all the writing I’ve been doing for school. I know for awhile there it appeared this had turned into “Jarred Fehr’s Video Blog”. Alas… it has not. Now for the topic at hand.

Last night I went to see Ben Hur at the Fox. Originally I had been invited by Robert who ended up not going due to being out of town. After watching the movie, I can see now this was his insidious plan the entire time. I didn't know anything about Ben Hur other than it was an older movie. I think I knew there was something about a chariot race, but not much more. Imagine my horror when the actuall title of the movie was posted on the screen:

Ben Hur: A tale of Jesus Christ.

Curses! Foiled again! Just when you think you can trust someone, they go and trick you into large screen Christian indoctrination. By the end of the movie, I was perplexed by the movie title. It didn’t have much to do with Jesus at all. He was in a few scenes, but didn’t say anything at all. He was even faceless. I thought the credits were funny.

Jueda Ben Hur:…… Charleston Heston

Water boy:…………… Jesus Christ

If I had to pick a better water boy performance, I think I’d go with Adam Sandler.

My favorite part was just being the in the Fox Theater. I go there a few times a year to watch movies, shows and other performances. It is really a great venue. The crowds that attend tend to be much more behaved than at regular theaters. However, last night the family behind us kept asking stupid questions during the movie. “What’s a leper? Huh? What’s Leprosy?” Dolts.

Super Duper Friends

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:06:27 GMT

Wow… double geek find today. This one is courtesy of Don. There’s even a website!

http://www.challengeofthesuperduperfriends.com/

Dancing Wars

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:53:32 GMT

Oh yes. I have died and gone to heaven.

George Carlin

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:07:17 GMT

George Carlin died. What can I say? I liked him. A lot. Here’s some of his death material. It goes without saying it is NSFW.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:10:32 GMT

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

www.wherethehellismatt.com

My Life

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:49:17 GMT

I sometimes reflect on how my life could have turned out differently that what it is now. I found this video which accurately describes one version that I can say I’m happy didn’t (and won’t) happen.

Cabin Trip/Whitewater Rafting

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:56:17 GMT

A couple weekends ago I went up to Blue Ridge, Ga. with the guys (Ben, Robert, Courtney, Jayson and Brian). We had rented a great log cabin in the mountains. This is my second log cabin stay this year and I’m thinking it is going to turn into a regular thing. It is so quiet up there and there are plenty of relaxing activities.

The food during the trip was most excellent. On the first night, Brian baked a lasagna that he brought. To go with it, I made my Onii-chan salad. We hung out in the hot tub the entire time the lasagna was baking. By the time it was done, we were famished and gobbled it down. Yumminess. The next night we went to some restaurant located off the side of the road all by its lonesome. We tried our best to ignore the huge flag of the Confederate States of America. The waitress was kind and informed us that they had an awesome salad bar. Wait, let me quote her directly. “Have you seen our salad bar? It is AWESOME.” I did not take this comment lightly. I felt that if you are at server and are going to indicate that a salad bar is “awesome”, it had darn well better be. Well, it was pretty good. But not Fogo de Chao good. I judged that in the future, she should say, “Our salad bar is ADEQUATE.” I ordered the crab stuffed mushrooms and crab stuffed trout. Mushrooms were great, trout was ok. Robert’s pecan encrusted trout was much better, IMO. The last night, Robert grilled steak. I can’t remember how much red meat I ate that night, but I loved every bite.

We had a few activities planned besides hanging out at the cabin. The main event was Whitewater rafting. All the other guys had all done it last year, but on much calmer waters. This year we went down the Ocoee River which is rated at level 3 and 4 rapids (aka. exciting). I was pretty nervous up until we got in the water. I never felt in danger. We had what had to be the best guide on the river. It was apparent that there were a lot of trainee guides based on how many people we saw stuck at various points on the river. Our guide also helped us perform a lot of cool maneuvers. If you ever get to go, try to get a good guide. It really helps to make for a better experience. We even did this one maneuver where we had the whole boat full of water and somehow got it resurfaced. I took a few shots with a waterproof disposable camera I bought, but most of the shots were grainy. We were also lucky enough to catch a lady that fell out of her raft. Her boat was performing a maneuver and she got flushed out. We chased her down and got her back in. After seeing her adventure, I was party sad it wasn’t meet. Seemed a better (albeit more dangerous) way to experience the river. Maybe next year?

On Saturday night we went to the local drive in theater to watch a double feature. I’m pretty sure the whole town was there. I didn’t know people really did the drive in thing anymore. Courtney’s van was pretty useful for this. I was laying in the back with Robert and Jayson. I think I had had a few too many coconut rums and pineapple so I didn’t remember much about the movies. The first one was Kung Fu panda. The parts I remember were pretty cool. Especially this one fight scene between five different animals and a tiger. The other movie was Indiana Jones 4 which I had already scene. The best part I remember is listening to Jayson. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he kills me with his comments. I remember laughing more than the first time I watched it.

I also went on my first geocaching adventure. Courtney got a new GPS device which we used to get to the cabin. But he also looked up a geocache site for us to find. I had heard about these be never done one before. Essentially, someone hides a box with some stuff in it out in the middle of nowhere but lists the coordinates on a website. You then use your handy dandy GPS device to find it. We got close to where it was but it wasn't directly on the trail. I ventured off into the woods a bit and found this big dead tree that had fallen over and it trunk. Sure enough in the trunk was an army box full of little trinkets and a log of all the people that had been there and what they left. I left my unused Marta card with two rides on it. Eh... it's something. Afterwards, we drove into town to get some fudge and candies. However, Courtney and Jayson ended up buying this kickass wine decanter. It has this glass ball filled with water and a spout and... well, it is hard to explain. But it did a good job on the wine we tried with it. (There are pics of the action along with everything else posted in the photo gallery.)

I had a lot of bonding time with the guys and learned a lot more about my friends. I feel lucky to have fallen into such a great group. I can only hope to get invited on any future trips. ;-)

WDS Driver Injection

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:34:13 GMT

For my Windows Vista deployment at work, I’ve been using Windows Deployment Services on Server 2003. Overall it has been going pretty well. The server allows for entire disk images to be uploaded and then sent back down to the clients. Once the initial setup is done, it makes the work go pretty fast. I did however run into an issue last week. I had created an image of one of our developer’s machines that I wanted to use in the future. They have so many programs it takes a few hours to setup. The problem I ran into is that they use Adaptec SCSI controllers which is not supported by the default Win PE environment.

I found a method of injecting a driver into the image so that Win PE could see the drives (this could also be done for NIC, video, or pretty much anything else). First I had to install the Windows Automated Installion Kit (WAIK) in order to get access to the imagex.exe program. This allows you to mount the .wim image file and manipulate the files inside. The command is

imagex /mountrw c:\path_to_image\imagename.wim X c:\temp\mount\

where X = the image number you want to manipulate in your .wim (you can store more than one image in a .wim). The “c:\temp\mount” is the directory will the files will be mounted, so make sure that is already created. I also recommend copying the image locally as well.

Next I need to inject the driver. The command is

peimg.exe /inf:c:\drivers\*.inf /image=c:\temp\mount\

where c:\drivers\ is where your (hopefully Vista compliant) drivers are located. You can point directly to a specific .inf or if you use the *.inf wildcard it will inject all of what you have in that folder. You will get a successful/unsuccessful message. So if it doesn’t work check for what you did wrong. So now I need to unmount the image using

imagex /unmount /commit c:\temp\mount

The /commit one is pretty important otherwise any changes made will not be saved to the .wim. I then copied my updated .wim to the WDS server and proceeded to PXE boot the image… only to find that it still didn’t detect the SCSI controller. I found out that simply overwriting the image doesn’t update WDS. I still needed to go into the WDS console, right click the image and choose “Replace Image” and then choose my new image. Voila! Worked like a charm. Now I need to figure out any other drivers I need to add.

Next step: Get the Windows SIM answer file to work.

Nvidia Crapiness

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:42:00 GMT

So I’ve noticed that the newest drivers from Nvidia now install a shortcut to some Valve/Steam games on your desktop when installed. I’m sure this is some other way for them to make some money, but it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I had icons on my desktop. I like ones that I didn’t specifically put there myself even less. I don’t even see an option during driver install to not add the shortcut. So for now on, it appears that I will have to manually delete this stupid thing every time I update my drivers (or until I get a card from a different manufacturer).

Bad move Nvidia. This won’t be forgotten.

Sex

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:37:40 GMT

The other night I went out with JenFly to watch the new Sex and the City movie. Overall I really enjoyed it. It had the girls, clothes, shoes, sex, relationships, etc. The one thing I was disappointed in was the ending. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but I thought they had an opportunity to deliver an excellent message, but they went with the safe and predictable ending. Oh wells.

I did find it humorous that the movie was completely sold out and I was one of three guys in the theater. The other two were with their wives. I was hoping that more of the girls would bring a token gay, but alas I was the only one. Many of the women were dressed in their best Sex and the City garb. I saw one good lookalike for Charlette (but I think that JenFly disagreed).

If you were a fan of series, I recommend seeing it. It'll be more of what you loved.

Damn

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:17:39 GMT

Just... damn.

New Building

Tue, 27 May 2008 22:07:17 GMT

Today I noticed that the construction guys have started to erect the walls for our new building. They are HUGE! It resembles the scene from Return of the Jedi where the deathstar is in its construction phase. I think I may start referring to our new building as "Fortress Peachtree". Excitement is mounting. More later...

Memorial Weekend

Tue, 27 May 2008 03:18:30 GMT

I was going to post the details about my Memorial day weekend, but decided not to. I will say I had an excellent time with both family and friends. Yummy food, good laughs and a couple movies. There was some work; I helped 1.0 move into his new place.

But this Monday evening I find myself confunded (not a real word, I know). In all, the part that sucks is that some of the stuff that is bothering me I don't feel comfortable discussing with anyone. I feel like I should be sharing this stuff with my family or my friends, but I just feel so guarded. Even alcohol isn't enough to break down the barriers. I would like to say that I don't know why I am being this way, but I do.

Perhaps I'm afraid of what they'll think of me. How they'll judge me. See that I'm not the rock that I sometimes project I am. Maybe everyone sees through that? It isn't that I'm not solid about where I am in my life, but I keep a lot to myself these days. Back in the day I used to confide in a friend every stupid thought I had. I put it out there. But he moved away and e-mail isn't really the best method to pour out your guts. I had a girlfriend that I replaced him with, but then she moved away as well. Maybe I'm growing tired of opening up my soul and then having that person move away. Maybe there is a pattern here? lol

This weekend I think I've come to the conclusion that I need to vent. I'm hoping whomever I spill my guts to is able to provide some tidbit of help. I need to have my code examined and for someone to go, "A-ha! Here it is. This algorithm is all wrong." Then they can set the correct variables and send me on my way. I just feel broke. I know what I need to do and what I should be doing, but I'm not. I need to be told, "Dude, it isn't going to happen! Get over it and move on!" or something of that sort. I don't think anyone has any answers for me. Life isn't like that. I've been around long enough to know how complicated life can be (is). I see so many others who are having difficulties and I'm not able to provide they answers they need. And when I do, I know it is an answer that they don't want. A lot of problems are created by ourselves. What is that despair.com picture I saw one time? "The only consistent feature in all of your failed relationships is you." OK... I'm rambling much more than I wanted to now.

I have this blog. I could just put it all out there and then let anyone and everyone add their two cents. I could become a community (open source?) project.

Nah.

Tomorrow starts a new work/school week. The best part is that I'll be too busy to think personal thoughts. It'll be nice to get away from me for a bit. I can be this other guy who is focused and knows what the hell is going on. I like him. He just needs to take over this other area of my life. How much can one guy do?

TechMentor Day 4

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:48:04 GMT

Wireless Security

Presented by Todd Lammle. He is becoming one of my favorite presenters. Todd demonstrated how easy it is to hack wireless networks and even provided a few tools. He stressed that he is a big fan of Vista and Server 2008. He agreed that the interface isn't the best and there are program compatibility issues, but the networking stacks in both are far superior to previous MS network stacks.

He also spoke about a feature in Vista that I wasn't aware of. It is called Compound TCP. Essentially, Microsoft Research developed some methods of increasing performance in high latency networks. Compound TCP is in both Vista and Server 2008, but it is not on by default in Vista. To turn it on, open a command prompt and enter:

netsh interface tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

Since I've turned it on, I've noticed my network performance has been much improved. So if you have a Vista laptop and use wireless, I suggest giving it a try. I think I'll experiment later to see how it affects wired connections, if at all.

Todd had a great wireless security design tip. He of course recommends setting up your real corporate wireless network and turning off SSID broadcasting. But he also has several old Linksys WAPs around the building all broadcasting SSIDs, but not connected to the network. He has a couple with no security, a couple more with WEP, and then a couple more with WPA (your real corporate network uses WPA-2). He said it gives something for weak crackers to play with. Even if they do get "hacked", no big deal since they don't go anywhere. Fun!

Vista Tips

Presented by J. Peter Bruzzese. I felt pretty good that I already knew most of the tips from this presentation. Peter interviewed 50 different Vista developers and compiled all of their best tips into a book. I still think I'll end up buying it. With all the bad press, the more benefits for Vista I can find, the better.

One that I wasn't familiar with was disabling hibernation. This is a feature that is great for laptops, but not much use for desktops. When you hibernate, an image of you system RAM is copied on your hard drive. If you have a lot of RAM (ie 2GB+), this can be a good chunk of drive space. To disable hibernation, run the command:

powercfg -h off

But then you need to run the disk cleanup utility to remove the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys). I'm not sure if hibernation is on by default on all Vista installs, but I think it is.

Vista UAC

Another on by Mark Minasi. Why have I never heard of this guy? He's so motivating and inspiring. And he knows his stuff. I have become pretty familiar with UAC during the last year, but this session really broke it down even further. I think Mark wrote a whole book on it. This is another feature that has received bad press, but it is actually pretty sweet. I'm sure it'll only get better in the future. He also covered another level of Vista security that I didn't even know was there. After years of implementing some poor security decisions, it is clear that Microsoft really tried to nail it down with Vista. Perhaps this is one of the reasons most users are poo-pooing it? Security isn't sexy, but it is important. It has taken them awhile to get where they are, but now that they have it I suppose they can focus on more "fun" features for Windows 7.

TechMentor Day 3

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:13 GMT

Keynote

The keynote speech today was given by Mark Minasi (www.minasi.com). He covered what Microsoft got right and wrong with Vista/Server 2008. He covered many of the points that I make to people, but more eloquently. Great speaker.

Smart Card Show

After the keynote, I ran over to another trade show that is in town: the smart card alliance. I only had access to the exhibitors hall. Most of what I saw were people selling these huge machines to manufacture thousands of smart cards a day. There were also a bunch of products for using a smart card (or your phone!) to make purchases at stores and kiosks. I know it is already big in Japan, but I'm not sure I'm ready to pay for stuff using my phone. But I suppose we better get used to it. I came across this one company that sells printers that will put the UV/holographic images on your smart cards. I've always wondered what I look like in UV.

Vista/Server 2008 Group Policy

Presented by Derek Melber. Not too much exciting here. Microsoft has added about million more policies. There is a new preferences policy that allows you to set user desktop settings, but they users can make changes if they want. The other big thing is that Microsoft has allowed you to add your own comments to the policies you set. That way future administrators can see why you turned a particular setting on. They even support hyperlinks so you can link to knowledge base articles. Sweet.

Hardening Windows Security

This session was given my Mark Minasi. Mark didn't spend a lot of time covering technical security as I thought he would. Instead, he spent more time covering the real security problem: users. He stated more than once, "I believe that security is more of a carbon based problem than a silicon based one." His main point is that if you have even one weak account or even one user who gives away their password, your entire security can be shot down. We're pretty hard on our users, but I think there is even more we could do.

He also pointed out about creating written security policies. We have those, but he failed to mention the political aspect of that. If a higher up wants something his way, security policies be damned. I think it is important to have a strong CTO who has blackmail information on the CEO. That should fix most problems. The rest will take care of itself.

"Wild Wednesday"

Last night they had a geek social event. There were some contests and humorous question and answer sessions. Oh... and free alcohol. I didn't drink anything, but I laughed a lot. But it was a stifled laugh. All of the jokes were of a pretty technical nature. If you weren't an IT nerd, you probably wouldn't get most of them. Every time I laughed, I realized what a huge nerd I am.

TechMentor Day 2

Wed, 14 May 2008 03:39:11 GMT

Hacking and Countermeasures

This session was ran by Todd Lammle, CEO GlobalNet Training/Cisco Author. It was a bit rough since he didn't have his PowerPoint slides due to his laptop being stolen. Not too much technical info was covered as I had hoped. The one idea he brought up that I thought was great is IP blocking on the router. A lot of hacks originate from China, India, Hong Kong, Russia and North Korea. If your business doesn't do any business with those countries, he said you can just block all the assigned IP address ranges for each one. Quite a genius idea in my opinion.

Windows Firewall

By Greg Shields, MSCE: Security/Editor Redmond Magazine. Short version: XP SP2 Firewall = Not great. Vista Firewall = Good.

He spent most of the time covering SDI (Server/Domain Isolation). It is possible with Windows Firewall and GPOs to setup Server Isolation, Domain Isolation or both Server and Domain Isolation. It adds another layer of security to the network. Important aspects he pointed out were to make sure that DNS was exempt as well as looking at DHCP and DCs. There is a fair amount of planning needed, but once implemented it makes setting up NAP much easier.

Preventing an Active Directory Failure

Also by Greg Shields. He began by demonstrating the gpotool.exe from the Resources kit. It checks all DCs and verifies that GPOs are set correctly. Or more accurately, it resolves broken GPT/GPC linkages. I can only guess how many we have.

DNS aging and scavenging: This is something I haven't come across before. Granted, I haven't had to deal much with DNS problems. It is one of those things that when setup correctly "just works". When problems occur, then you have to be aware of where to start looking. I'm not sure if we using aging and scavenging, but it is an interesting topic. I'll look into it later.

Remove lingering objects from AD using repadmin.exe from the support tools:

Find the GUID of a DC:

- repadmin.exe /showrepl

Check for lingering objects before actually removing anything:

- repadmin.exe /removelingeringobjects * <DC GUID> dc={mydomain},dc={com} /advisory_mode

Remove lingering objects by running the above command without /advisory_mode. Fun! He covered several other topics, but I think I've bored with enough details.

Final note about the presenter, Greg. He admitted that he loved Vista. I was shocked. I saw him later in the evening on the receiving end of a super wedgy from a roving band of Mac users. I could have helped him, but I'm in Vista stealth mode. All ports are closed. I'm not returning ping requests. Good day!

Lunch

So there was a group lunch thing today. I sat at a table with a few other sys admins. What an odd group. There wasn't much conversation. I can't say I helped at all. I just kind of sat back and kept looking at each of them. Sure I could have began questioning them about what they do, where they work, blah, blah, blah. But I just wanted to go back to my room and rest for a bit. So yeah... I get an F for networking today (of the social variety).

Oh! Speaking of grades... I got A's in all four of my classes for Spring semester. Yea me! lol It was a difficult semester to say the least, but I stayed focused and it payed off in the end. I will definitely be taking a lighter load for summer semester... which starts next week even. Blimey!

TechMentor Day 1

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:13:07 GMT

This week I'm in Orlando for the Microsoft TechMentor conference. My flight here was pretty uneventful. However, the drive from the car rental place to the hotel deserves some comment. What is it with the tolls here? I don't think I could go even 5 miles without hitting another toll. I realize that Florida prefers to tax out of staters as much as possible, but can you let me go at least 20 miles before a stop? I feel a bit sorry for the residents here. Not only do they have high gas prices, but they also have to pay $10 in tolls whenever they want to go any where. The madness!

Windows PowerShell

The first session I went to was in introduction to Windows PowerShell. Before I get into it, I want to comment on the presenter, Don Jones. Don does not work for Microsoft. He is the lead trainer for another company. He definitely knows his material and is an excellent speaker. However, more than once he bad mouthed Windows Vista. He even had the gall to do his presentation on a MacBook running an XP VM. At one point I was ready to jump over the table and smash his beloved MacBook over his head. I was hoping to go one week without having to hear someone say something negative about Vista. Thanks Don for ruining that and setting the tone for the rest of my week here.

Regarding PowerShell: It appears that Microsoft is really pushing this to all of its product groups. Exchange 2007 is already pretty integrated with PowerShell. According to Don, in the past the GUI for all of Microsoft's products was designed first with the command line added in later. Now, all future products have to be able to be administered by PowerShell 100%. GUI is second. (This is me looking at my future self as a command line guru. Should I have just cut the chase and become a Unix admin years ago?) In the end, I'm pretty impressed with the direction they are going. I think it is the right thing.

Windows Deployment Services

I attended the last half of the WDS session. I am pretty familiar with it since I have been using it to push out Windows Vista/XP to the clients at work. There was only one thing that I learned that I wish I knew beforehand. Not anything that will make a major difference in what I've done, but it would have been a bit more efficient. I did learn that I didn't have the multicast option on. This will be one of the first things I do when I get back to PBP. It should speed up the deployment to multiple clients even more so. (I only wish I had done it before our CS rollout.)

The one thing I have had a problem with is the Windows answer file for WDS. I found the tool pretty complicated, but I was able to generate an answer file. However, I was never able to get it to work. And I wasn't sure why. The presenter said that everyone hates the new answer file tool and Microsoft is aware of it and working on something better. Granted, most 1.0 products from MS are never great. They usually get much better with 2.0 stuff and nail it with 3.0. I felt good that I wasn't the only one having problems with it. I was able to learn how to troubleshoot it and I have the website of the presenter. It is a bit late now, but this is something I certainly want to get working for the future.

CityWalk

For dinner tonight I went over to Universal CityWalk. This is the shopping/entertainment district of Universal Studios. I ended up eating at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The coconut shrimp was most excellent. I treated myself to dessert as well. They had something called "That Chocolate Thing". Yeah... that's what it is called. It was awesome. I couldn't finish it though. That made me a bit depressed. I can always finish dessert. WTF? Or at least I used to be able to. I wonder if my cutting back on sweets the last few months has weakened me?

Do-wop

Sun, 11 May 2008 05:33:06 GMT

My neighbor stopped by tonight and offered up some extra tickets she had to a "do-wop" concert playing at the Fox. All I had really planned was to take Greg and a few friends out to dinner. Even though she gave us about 5 minutes notice before the show started, we were able to get dressed in record time and make it not long after the show had started (living in-town rocks!).

The show was really fun. It was several groups from the 50's performing the hits of their times. Not all the groups had all original members, but there was at least one or two in each one. I was impressed how well many of them had held up. The Flamingos had only one of the original members, but he owned the stage. Great singer as well. There was also one member of the Crystals present. I'm sure she had sung "The Do-run-run" a million times, but it was still fun. The show ended with the Drifters. I have always been a fan of "Under the Boardwalk". I used to sing it all the time in high school for some reason. There were many other bands present and it was cute how they had the matching outfits and dance moves.

I look forward to them all coming back to the Fox next year. My friends and I were the youngest people there, but we all enjoyed it. I hope to bring my parents next time. I'm sure they'd have had an even better time seeing all these artists they grew up with. Do-wop, do-wop! ;-)

DragonCon is On

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:27:06 GMT

It is way past due, but I finally ordered my pass for DragonCon '08 today. So now it is official that I'll be attending this year. The question that still remains is what to wear. Last year I tried putting something together, but some of the stuff I ordered never came in. Granted I could order something from a costume shop, but I think the really in thing to do is to assemble it yourself. Mr. Mcabee did an awesome job last year with his Dr. Who outfit. Speaking of which, thanks to him I've been watching the new Dr. Who series.

Well!

Let me say that is fantastic! My new objective is to finish the first three seasons and Torchwood before DC. I can feel my nerd powers swelling. . .

LDS Reality

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:49:59 GMT

JenFly just sent me the link below. Anyone who knows my very good friend, Mormon Boy (aka Dylan Boy), should get a good chuckle at the headline. I wish him luck in his future endevour.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135758?GT1=43002

More on healthcare

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:32:59 GMT

Frontline is doing a story about healthcare systems around the world. Charlie Rose interviewed the head journalist doing the story. It is short... but very educational.

Elephant Painting

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:28:53 GMT

You must watch this video. I am just blown away by this. This elephant paints a picture of itself. Not only that, it paints far better than I could ever hope to.

Wow... just wow.

Quote

Elephant Paints Self-Portrait

An elephant puts non-artist humans to shame by effortlessly painting a self-portrait.

Mythbusters: Chicken?

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:01:27 GMT

I love watching the Mythbusters. It's a great show where two guys try to prove whether widely known "myths" are true or not. Granted their methods don't always conform to established science, it is fun to watch and I usually learn a thing or two. For awhile they picked on really common myths and later episodes have been themed on classes of myths. I find it interesting the myths they keep turning up and always wonder, "What myth are they going to tackle now?" There are a lot of myths out there, but it is a finite amount and some of them are just outright stupid. I was trying to think of a myth they haven't done yet when it hit me what they've been avoiding.

The Bible.

I mean... come on! If they started proving/disproving bible myths they could easily squeeze out another 5 or 6 thousand episodes. So here are a few of my Mythbuster bible myths to be tested:

A guy was swallowed by a fish/whale and lived inside him for three days.
The entire earth was flooded.
A boat built to hold two of every animal on the planet and stored food for their entire stay.
Water turned into wine.
Talking snakes.
Human female become spontaneously pregnant- asexually.
Burning bushes that talk.
p is equal to 3.
The sun moves around the Earth.
A man is killed and then comes back to life three days later and then goes... ummm... up.

That's just a few off the top of my head. I think these would make for really good episodes. What I'm not sure of is why they haven't done this yet. Is it because it would destroy their ratings? Is it because this stuff is so preposterous that to try to prove it would just be laughable? Is it that they just accept this stuff if patently false and don't even qualify as "myth"? Or do they believe this is all true and find no need to test it out? (If they did do this episode and I just missed it, please send me the link.)

I'm Naked

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:06:50 GMT

I have had cable Internet from Comcast for a long while now. A couple weeks ago, I turned it off. You read that right. For the past two weeks I have not had Internet at home. I did this for several reasons.

1. Thru Comcast, you can get Internet and TV for $100 a month. To me this is a stupid amount to pay, especially since I don't really watch much TV. The plan I was on said that the TV was about $50 a month and Internet was $40. I tried calling a few months ago to go down to just Internet. The lady on the phone told me that that was OK, but then my Internet would go up to $60. I was confused. She told me to read the disclaimer more closely. It says that the Internet at $40/month is a discounted rate. Ugh. So I told her to just leave everything as it was.

2. Since I started school this semester, I'm hardly home at all any more. The $100 a month was getting on my nerves like never before so I said... to heck with it.

3. I read on another friend's blog about Internet addiction. I wanted to test myself to see if I could go without Internet at home. I did pretty well actually. But it isn't a great test because I have Internet at work and at school. So it wasn't like I couldn't do what I needed to do during the day.

4. I get pretty pissed about the state of Internet availibiltiy and cost here in the States every other week. Most American's don't know this, but in other countries that don't have Cable and Telco monolpolies, Internet is way, way faster AND cheaper than here. For example, Comcast charges $60/month for 6Mbit (Megabit) service. In Korea, they get something like 100 Mbit for $5/month. I read yesterday that Japan is working on rolling out 250Mbit service to their cell phones. CELL PHONES!!! By 2009 they expect to have 5Gb (Gigabit) on the cell network. WTF???

After adding up those reason's and a few others, I just couldn't justify the expense any more. Out the door Comcast went. It felt good. I just want to send a big "F--- Y--" to Comcast and the other Telco's. I did look at ATT and other DSL providers, but they require you have pay for in home phone service. Forget that.

Or so I thought. I was talking to Nicole last week and she was telling me that she had DSL sans the phone line (aka Naked DSL). As a part of the approval for ATT to merge with BellSouth, the FCC required ATT to start offering Naked DSL (which they did last November). The thing is... they are not advertising it. Doing some research I found there is a special number you have to call and then use some magic words. Or you could go to one of the ATT wireless stores and ask a rep there directly. The catch is they only offer a slightly-better-than-dial-up speed for $10/month or 3Mbit for $37 a month. No 6Mbit or faster. 3Mbit? I'll take it.

On Monday I went to my local ATT store and inquired about "Naked DSL". The lady replied, "Sure, I'd love to help you with that. We have a great package deal that includes phone, DSL, etc, etc, for $100/month." Uh-oh. I knew I should have remembered to bring the FCC's number with me. Clearly, I'm going to have to take down ATT single handedly.

Me: "THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID. I SAID NAKED DSL. NA-KED!"

She rushed me over to a corner away from earshot of the other customers. She pulled out a dusty book from the bottom of a drawer in the back of the store and processed my order. A few short minutes later, I was out the door with order in hand. My welcome kit arrived last night and I was surfing along at 3Mbit in no time. It doesn't seem that much slower from what I can tell. But I haven't really started downloading big time yet.

Search Statistics

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:44:16 GMT

Live Spaces provides a statistics page so you can see where your traffic is coming from. I'm always amazed by some of the stuff that lands people on my blog from Google searches. And I don't mean buried on page 10. This is page 1 stuff here folks. Here are some of what I find:

when do i need more memory in windows

Based on the search query and my post, I'm guessing this user got exactly what they needed to know.

tonsillitus

I think I posted about this one before. If you can't spell 'tonsillitis' correctly... you'll end up on my page.

The Green Latern Oath

I never would have guessed that my blog would be one of THE places to find out the words to the Green Latern oath on the Internet. I take this as confirmation that I am indeed a huge nerd.

uncut circumcision men photo

No comment!

"swinging richards"

Seriously? How is that possible? Am I the only homo that has ever blogged about Swinging J's??? WTF?

"You will tell me what I want to know"

Woot! I'm the number one hit for Jack Bauer quotes. Bam!

Jarred is gay

OK. Who searched for this? If you didn't already know, then you don't know me. If you do know me... WTF?

wonder twins dumb

Think the Wonder Twins aren't too bright? I'll show you why.

I think that's enough for today. Not sure if anyone else will find this interesting, but I did.

St. Pat Day Photos

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:57:57 GMT

I have posted photos from the St. Pat's Day party at Ben and Roberts.

Enjoy.

Highlights

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:55:27 GMT

A few weeks ago it was time to get my hair cut and I was in the mood to try a new stylist. I'm getting more hesitant about walking into a barber shop blindly as I get older. It is just too risky. So I did a survey of my friends' hair with the objective of finding someone worthy of cutting my locks. Robert is one of these people who always has great looking hair. Sure it is cut well, but I think a large part of it is he is endowed with "great hair" genes. Imagine my shock and awe after I probed him when he revealed he goes to a guy at a Hair Cuttery.

I've always put Hair Cuttery in the same category with Great Clips and Fantastic Sams (places I haven't been to in years). I have staunchly insisted on going to finer salons in the Atlanta area. I really enjoy the niceties that salons provide besides the cut (massage, paraffin wax, etc.). But I trust him (although the more I learn about him I wonder if I should), so off to Hair Cuttery I went.

I called ahead to make an appointment with Thomas. As a stylist, he was quite imposing. He's nearly as tall as I am and has a long scruff of gray hair on his chin. For such a hefty guy, he was very soft spoken. When I sat down in the chair, he spent a good five minutes looking at my head and asking me questions about my life. This was the most thorough pre-cut interview I've ever had. At the end of it, he asked, "So what can I do?" I get asked this by most stylists and gave him my usual reply, "Whatever you want." Usually, I leave with a different but safe cut. Thomas on the other had isn't most stylists.

Thomas disappeared into a back room for a bit. I usually close my eyes and try to catch a quick nap during my cuts. I find it a better use of down time than making idle hair stylist chat. I opened my eyes to find him applying a white past to my hair. I was seriously confused, but kept quiet. I didn't understand what was happening, but I love a good hair adventure. By the end of the night, he had put a cornucopia of chemicals in my hair. At one point I was subjected to the old lady hair dryer helmet thing. When all was said and done, he had made my hair less thick and lightened it a bit. I guess it is kind of a reddish brown. I had always been hesitant to color my hair. It is one of things that once you start, you really need to keep up with it. But what was done was done. Reaction from workmates and friends has been mostly positive.

I went to see him again this past Friday because I was feeling a little shaggy. My plan was to skate in and out with a cut in about 15 min. Not long after taking my seat, Thomas starts whipping out the chemicals again. I pleaded that I just wanted a cut this go around. He merely chortled at me. "I told you last time that we were going to do more the next time you came in."

Me, "You did?"

Thomas, "Yes... this is a PROCESS. You can't stop the PROCESS."

Me, "..."

So more chemicals were applied with the added benefit of aluminum foil. When he was done weaving his mysterious ways, I now had highlights in the front of my hair. I was confounded at first, but the more I see it the more I like it. Damn him! Damn him to hell! Why oh why does the 'mo in me love having highlights so much? Curses!

All I ask is that you to stop me before I start wearing True Religion jeans and Prada shoes. KTHNKSBAI!

The Dash

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:26:57 GMT

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end
He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?
-By Linda Ellis

New List: DIAF!

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:10:03 GMT

I am adding a new list to my blog. I'm calling it my Die In A Fire list and it can be found on the right side of the blog. --->

The premise is I will add things and people who I think should Die In A Fire. I will detail what got them on the DIAF list and remove them after the problem is resolved. K? Fun, right? On to the first list!

Michigan and Florida

This is a long one, so I'll try to make it brief. Michigan and Florida used to hold their primaries late in the election season which meant that their votes didn't really count since the winner was decided by previous states. There are all kinds of politics and rules at play here, but it was understood by all that any state could move their primary as early as Super Tuesday and everything would be kosher (this is what California did). But the legislators in Michigan and Florida were greedy and scheduled their primaries before Super Tuesday even though they were told their votes wouldn't count. I think they were trying to get more advertising dollars from the politicians. Florida moved their primary so early that Iowa had to move theirs even earlier, hence the January 3rd primary there.

So now here we are in mid-March and the Clinton/Obama race is really, really close. So of course Michigan and Florida want their votes counted. To make matters even worse, neither state wants to pay for the primaries. The want it to be paid by the Democratic National Committee (which of course has declined). Michigan is in a budget crisis and already spent $7 million on the first primary which didn't even count. Idiots. And Florida? OMG... how many elections are they going to screw up? After the entire "hanging chad"/Bush incident back in 2000, you would think their legislators would be on their best behavior. But no. It appears that Florida is trying to screw up the election process of the whole country all over again. I think the other 49 states should hold an election on whether Florida should be allowed to hold elections any more. Clearly, they don't know what they're doing down there. Needless to say, if these states would have just moved up to Super Tuesday or stay at their regular voting days, they would be swimming in advertising dollars from both canidates. DIAF!

Obama and Clinton

Speaking of the canidates. I want to go ahead and thank them for handing another four years to the Republicans. Hillary and Baradk are equally to blame here in my opinion. After this much time and this many votes, it is clear that the Democratic votership is split between these two canidates. I've said it before that I'd be happy with either one of them. I'm sure most other Democratic voters feel the same. It is so obvious that if they would just form on a single ticket together, they would be like Voltron (aka unstoppable). But both of them are being a couple of big headed dweebs. FORM A JOINT TICKET ALREADY! Personally, I think a Hillary/Obama ticket would go better, but I would be fine with Obama/Clinton, too.

I think that Barack is exhibiting a bit more of the big head syndrome. Yes, he is slightly leading in delegates at the moment but there's a really good chance he'll get slaughtered by McCain. Barack is a Junior Senator and is the spritely age of 47. He could serve for two terms under Hillary and be PRIMED for a Presidential run. He would gangbusters. They same can't be said for Hillary. Two terms as VP and she is going to be a bit on the old side. But it really doesn't matter becuase it appears they they are both going to duke it out til the end and they'll be so bloodied up that McCain will roll over the "victor". DIAF!

Sally Kern

A state representative from Oklahoma is generating a lot news based on a huge gay hate speach she gave. I really don't see what the big deal is about. Isn't this what all conservative right-wing Christian politicians believe anyway? Is the big shock that we are getting to hear what they actually think? I guess it is less of shock to me because I grew up listening to this kind of talk my whole life. Yes, it is repulsive. Yes, it is hurtful. Yes, it is maddening. But new? Not at all. I say for all of them to say what they really feel. Gays are bad. Start loading us in the furnaces and set them to FLAMING! Yes, we want to convert your children. Yes, we want to steal your husband. At the very least, we want to fix your hair. And for that we should die.

She rambles on and on about the 'Gay Agenda'. Today she said she wouldn't apoogize because she didn't say she hated gay people. She hates the gay agenda. But the gay agenda IS giving people equal treatment. It is about people. So of course she hates gay people. How can you listen to all that crap she said and not learn otherwise. What you might not learn is the reason she hates gay people. Apparently... her son is gay. Shocker. I know. DIAF!

Note: I don't really want anyone to die in a actual fire. It is a figure of speach. KTHNKSBAI!

HRC Bowling

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:22:53 GMT

The Human Rights Campaign is having a bowling event March 29 at noon. I am going even though I suck at bowling. It is $15 per person, but there is a discount if I can form a team of 6. Anyone interested? The fee includes a one year membership to the HRC.

More info here: http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/actioncenter/events/AtlantaBowling2008/details.tcl

The Golden Rule

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:40:57 GMT

Bonus Video! I really don't understand how you can watch this and then take the Bable seriously.

Courtesy of the IPU.

Disturbing Mice

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:54:22 GMT

Do you have a Microsoft mouse? Have you looked at it lately? I mean REALLY looked at it?

What do you see? Are you as disturbed as I am? ;-) (Bonus points if you can correctly label all the parts.)

Killer Bunny/Birthday Photos

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:40:08 GMT

I have added the photos for the Killer Bunny night and Courtney's Birthday. Courtney ended the party right! lol

WorldWide Telescope

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:03:40 GMT

"Science educator Roy Gould and Microsoft's Curtis Wong give an astonishing sneak preview of Microsoft's new WorldWide Telescope -- a technology that combines feeds from satellites and telescopes all over the world and the heavens, and weaves them together holistically to build a comprehensive view of our universe."

This is awesome. Thank science!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/224

Why People Believe Weird Things

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:04:27 GMT

Michael Shermer is the founder of Skeptic Magazine. This is a brief presentation he gave in February of 2006. He hits on a lot of topics in a short amount of time. Enjoy this entertaining clip.

I'm old school

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:21:05 GMT

I learned to type by way of a typing class in high school. Even though our school had a couple computer labs, the typing class was taught on actual electric typewriters. I'll never forget the noise in the room when the whole class was typing away. I'm sure if there were any WWII vets in the class, they would have had flashbacks of Normandy.

I remember being taught to type two spaces after a period and before the start of a new sentence. I still do it to this day. However, I have learned that in the age of word processing and online media that this is no longer appropriate. Now you are supposed to use one space. After thinking about it I feel that it makes sense. But I'm really unclear when this happened. Several of the younger students in my classes use one space after a period. So at some point the memo was sent out and I missed it.

The worst part is... I can't stop. I'm doing it even now. I will change, but it is going to take A LOT of practice. My main fear is that I'll write something that will have some periods followed by two spaces and other periods followed by one space. I would rather look old and consistent than appear confused and crazy.

Is anyone else having this problem? When did this happen?

I got your mama...

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:54:22 GMT

Little Carol came into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner. Her birthday was coming up and she thought this was a good time to tell her mother what she wanted. 'Mom, I want a bike for my birthday! Now, Little Carol was a bit of a troublemaker. She had gotten into trouble at school and at home. Carol's mother asked her if she thought she deserved to get a bike for her birthday. Little Carol, of course, thought she did.

Carol's mother, being a Christian woman, wanted her to reflect on her behavior over the last year, and write a letter to God and tell him why she deserved a bike for her birthday. Little Carol stomped up the steps to her room and sat down to write God a letter.

LETTER 1:
Dear God:
I have been a very good girl this year and I would like a bike for my
birthday. I want a red one.
Your friend, Carol

Carol knew this wasn't true. She had not been a very good girl this year, so she tore up the letter and started over.

LETTER 2:
Dear God:
This is your friend Carol. I have been a pretty good girl this year, and I
would like a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you,
Carol

Carol knew this wasn't true either. She tore up the letter and started again.

LETTER 3:
Dear God:
I know I haven't been a good girl this year. I am very sorry. I will be a
good girl if you just send me a red bike for my birthday.
Thank you,
Carol

Carol knew, even if it was true, this letter was not going to get her a bike. By now, she was very upset. She went downstairs and told her mother she wanted to go to church. Carol's mother thought her plan had worked because Carol looked very sad. "Just be home in time for dinner," her mother said.

Carol walked down the street to the church and up to the altar. She looked around to see if anyone was there. She picked up a statue of the Virgin Mary, slipped it under her jacket and ran out of the church, down the street, into her house and up to her room. She shut the door and sat down and wrote her letter to God.

LETTER 4:
I GOT YOUR MAMA.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN, SEND THE BIKE.
Signed,
YOU KNOW WHO

-Courtesy of the IPU!

Star Trek Online

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:36:24 GMT

CBS has published the original Star Trek series online for your view pleasure. The quality isn't too bad. I think it would have been nice if they had put the new re-mastered versions up, but I never heard if they even finished those. This should hold me over until the new movie comes out, which by the way has been delayed again. Ugh.

http://www.cbs.com/classics/star_trek/video/video.php

PS There are also episodes of MacGyver, The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-0 and Melrose Place.

DragonCon '08 Registration

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:32:53 GMT

DragonCon

Who wants to join me for DragonCon '08? You have 10 more days to buy the full weekend pass for $60 before the rates go up. Per the site:

Pricing for the Memberships to Dragon*Con 2008 is as follows:

$60 until 2/29/2008
$65 until 5/15/2008
$75 until 7/15/2008
$90 after 7/15/2008 and at the door

So if you want to go for the enitre weekend, buy your tickets soon. More info here: http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_members.php

Ben Birthday

Ben had a dinner get-together last night for his 26th birthday. Robert made excellent food (as always) and I had a great (albiet brief) time hanging out with the boys. It made for an excellent Monday evening. There was a massive effort to get Ben to take a shot of something, but he was resolute. It is ok, we'll have plenty of chances to get him drunk at Courtney's party this weekend. }:-) I wish I could have stayed longer, but work/school days are long and I need my rest.