DIY Zoning

DIY Zoning

I gotta look into this as well as upgraded insulation for my home after a >$400 utility bill this winter.

FAFSA completed

Better late than never - this afternoon we completed our FAFSA application for 2004-2005 for Sarah. Its really impressive how the Fed's have embraced the web with well design, robust applications that are used by millions (well, everyone going to college in the US).

HOW-TO - Ethernet Cables

HOW-TO - Ethernet Cables

This is a very good reference and tutorial on how to terminate Ethernet (capital letter, please) cables.

I don't agree with the chart regarding the use of CAT 3 cable. CAT 3 cable is crap and you should only use cable certified for CAT 5 as a minimum. Also, use the best quality crimping tool and RJ-45 connectors you can afford. The time you waste debugging flaky cables more than makes up for the additional component costs.

Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide

Download details: Exchange Server 2003 Security Hardening Guide

Quote of the day

From InformationWeek Daily

''The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an
important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every
fear you can imagine. When you have collected all the facts and
fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go
ahead.'' - Gen. George S. Patton

Northern Ireland Building Database

:: Environment and Heritage Service - Built Heritage :: Buildings Database

Database of historic buildings in Northern Ireland - look up Limavaddy and check with Liam about buildings near his home.

From Ben Hammersley's Dangerous Precedent

Joyce grandson threatens to ban readings at festival

Scotsman.com News - Entertainment - Arts - Joyce grandson threatens to ban readings at festival

I hope this doesn't impact Bloomsday. Finnegans Wake is set on June 16, 1904. Every June 16th, various groups perform public readings of Finnegans Wake, including readings in Philadelphia and Dublin (where the story is set).

Joyce's grandson is in his 70's. He is well off, having made millions from royalties on James Joyce published works. The EU extended copyrights, so his grandson is threatening lawsuits against anyone who celebrates the centennial with public readings.

Bastard! I hope they continue the public reading in Philly this summer, I have never attended, but would like to spend lunch there.

Site updates and Sunday reading

I'm just experimenting with Sitemeter and I setup a Technorati Profile, adding links to my site.

I am nagging my daughters to develop a better logo for the site. I'm just bored with the current collage and all the pictures are over a year old at this point. Sarah is really sick and I have to add the drawing tablet to the PC in the basement. Maybe next week.

The New York Times had a great article on longevity. Its an inspiration to us all, but it also seems to indicate your still a slave to your genes.

We went church, Best Buy, Starbucks and the library, in that order. We too the leap and bought hardware for DirecTV and a TiVo. Not sure when it will be installed, but I will post a review.

PuTTY Download Page

PuTTY Download Page

New release of Putty. Must have for ssh/telnet users.

What I'm listening to

Artist: Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer,Mark O'Connor
Album: Appalachian Journey

Yo-Yo Ma is awesome. Not only was he on Sesame Street, he has recorded with a very broad spectrum of artists. Appalachian Journey is American Folk music and the combination of Ma, Meyer and O'Connor is haunting.

Blogger - love it, hate it

OK, there are lots of things I like about Blogger. I can click on a link and publish stuff that interests me, I can post thoughts before they get bored and go away.

The thing that drives me nuts is when my tools turn against me.

I use the BlogIt! tool on the Google Toolbar (how I love the google toolbar...), but when I try to post to my Tech Log, it keeps getting posted to *this* log.

Damn.

I will look into this later, but its maddening.

Ten Technical Communication Myths

Employment Articles: First Day on the Job

Technical writing/communication information. I learned something useful reading this.

Visio 2003 Resource Kit Tools

Download details: Visio 2003 Resource Kit Tools

Visio 2003 Resource Kit Tools download page.

The SecurityFocus Home User's Security Checklist for Windows

SecurityFocus HOME Columnists: A Home User's Security Checklist for Windows: "The SecurityFocus Home User's Security Checklist for Windows"

The checklist is located on the bottom half of the web page. I don't agree 100% with his list (personal firewalls cause an enormous amount of confustion for home users), its a good start.

Security Guidance Center

Security Guidance Center

You can download tools as well as sign-up for security notifications. I have not found MS notifications to be very timely, but maybe they are better now.

Security Guidance Center

Security Guidance Center

You can download tools as well as sign-up for security notifications. I have not found MS notifications to be very timely, but maybe they are better now.

Microsoft Exchange Server: Exchange Intelligent Message Filter

Microsoft Exchange Server: Exchange Intelligent Message Filter

This is available to MS customers with Software Assurance. Look into pricing and general availability. Also, is this available via MSDN?

The New York Times: Times on the Trail

The New York Times: Times on the Trail

NYT Election Year web log. Adding to my News bookmarks.

Gaggia Factory Lever Machine

CoffeeGeek - Gaggia Factory Lever Machine - Kevin .'s Review

Espresso Madness. I'm just looking, but it would be really neat to have an espresso machine at home. We need to re-organize (refurbish?) our kitchen before we had a place to put it. Also, it would only get used on the weekends, but one can dream...

American BMI Calculator

Calculate your BMI - American BMI Calculator

BMI - Body Mass Index.

I'm overweight now, but if I stay on track, I will be at the upper limit of 'normal' (whatever that is).

Just for grins, I calculated my BMI from when I was 22 and running 60-80 miles a week. I was just under 6'3" and 155-160 lbs - this puts my BMI at w19.5 - still in the 'normal' range! Yikes! I will never be 155 lbs again.

The 10 Most Degrading Reality TV Shows (So Far)

Blogcritics.org: The 10 Most Degrading Reality TV Shows (So Far)

I hate reality TV and I'm proud to say that the only show on this list I have ever watched is The Osbournes, and that was out of morbid curiosity.

Blog search feature

Given Blogger is now owned by Google, it didn't surprise me to find a code snippet to add search capability to my web log.

I have to test it, but I wacked it in while I took a mental break at work.

publishing all technical content to TechLog

I will publish all my technical information, reminders and downloads to TechLog and keep this web log for personal observations and editorial content.

I also need to add a Search so I can find what I published. I have already found one item I posted twice. Geez!

Blogger Pro supports publication of RSS feeds. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. This means you can use an RSS reader to collect new web posts from lots of different sites into a single location.

I use NewsGator from within Outlook. Stand alone RSS readers include

Compare the SSL Providers side by side

Compare the SSL Providers side by side

SSL comparison - GeoTrust is the vendor we found to be both inexpensive and they generate a certificate in under one hour.

WYSIWYG Web Site Editor Comparison Chart

WYSIWYG Editor Comparison Chart

This is the only side-by-side feature comparision of Web WYSIGYG editors I have seen. It was put together by a Macromedia guy.

Granta: Home

Granta: Home

Granta is a very good literary magazine published in the UK. I read it first in Ireland and subscribed for a year after we returned to the US. I don't make enough time to read good fiction, but its on my list of things to do.

I took 1919 and Thurber Carnival out of the library last weekend. I don't think I can finish 1919, but read several Thurber stories. Its a start.

Local Weather summary

Current Values and Day Highs/Lows

This is pretty neat. Its a local guy with a weather station who posts the results online. Looks like its updated on a regular (hourly?) basis.

SMS 2003 Admin Pack

This Administration Feature Pack includes these 3 Administration Tools:

Manage Site Accounts Tool
Elevated Rights Deployment Tool (Runonce)
Transfer Site Settings Wizard

Web page:
http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/2003/adminpack.asp

Direct Download Link:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/0/b/d0ba8c4d-fddf-44d6-a381-3a621bc1243f/SMS2003AdminFP_ENU.exe


Whitepapers

The first is a new Whitepaper that assists with Windows Installer usage and
the second whitepaper had a minor editing change and deals with AD Schema
Modifications.

Windows Installer Source Location Manager
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=32F40DB4-6706-4E62-B867-AA1D332B6403&displaylang=en

Active Directory Schema Modification and Publishing for Systems Management
Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D1DE764C-8E26-455F-BEE5-34FB1CA9F2C4&displaylang=en

Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off

Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off

Basically, its time for everyone to step up to the plate and figure out how to use a computer or turn it off.

18 Steps to a TCP/IP Boot Disk

18 Steps to a TCP/IP Boot Disk

Just what it says. I have had various problems creating network boot disks when using Ghost, but this is a good starting point.

thinking about writing and the future

Pilot G2 0.5mm pen - nice, cheap pen for writing. Writes better in the cold than ball point pens. Its cheap enough that I won't lose my mind if I leave it some where. The new gel pens are considered 'archival' quality ink as well - they won't run if the paper gets wet.

Moleskine,

The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use

The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use - Table of Contents

Looks like a good reference for people interested in, or starting to use Linux as a desktop OS.

I have always liked the ability to index documents in UNIX and its obvious the person who put this together knows UNIX text tools.

Home Insulation tips

TOH | Print This

I like the idea of sealing the attic. This applies to our house.

Virtual PC 2004 vs. VMWare 4.0 Performance Review

HDP Tools - Virtual PC 2004 vs. VMWare 4.0 Performance Review

Simple benchmark of the two products. VMWare is faster, particularly for memory operations. Also, the test machine only had 256 Meg of RAM. I would like to see the same tests run with 1 Gig of RAM.

October-December 2003 FreeBSD Status Report

bsdforums.org

Just what it says. I'm running 4.9 and 5.1 releases. I will probably keep my DNS at 4.9 and upgrade to the 5.2.1 release on my second server.

820272 - Backup Operation Fails When You Back Up Exchange Server 2003 Databases and System State Information at the Same Time

820272 - Backup Operation Fails When You Back Up Exchange Server 2003 Databases and System State Information at the Same Time

You can't backup Windows 2003 System State and Exchange 2003 when Exchange database is located on the System drive (C:).