CPU Utilization

I like the fact that the R6 Administrator Client now has CPU utilization showing when looking at the server tasks.

Sametime 3.1

I had previously downloaded it via Passport Advantage, but received our actual CD copy today. The CD still says Sametime.

Sanyo 8100

I got my Sanyo 8100 yesterday. It is pretty straight forward as most phones are these days.

Curious as to how good or bad pics are from a phone. Here are a couple of quick examples, just to give an idea if you grab it and take quick pics.

I didn't think about it until they were down the street, but they were spraying the trees outside my office window and thought it would be something I could take a pic of. Grabbed the phone, snapped, presto. Not that great as it has no zoom either, but with a description you can get an idea of what they were doing.

Okay, guess what time I took this picture?

Posts

Something I find handy about blogging is that when I find something interesting I can post it to share with others, but I can also use it as a reference myself to go back to. For instance, I just saw a link to a Java Text Editor that looked interesting and now I am posting the link in my blog, so that I can remember where to find it.

R6 Testing

Quick little update. Other than cosmetic issues (fonts, buttons, etc..) testing is going well on R6.

A Favorite

I have always like the Mazda RX cars. Well the RX8 is no exception. I prefer the 250hp with the 6 speed manual transmission. This was the 210hp with the Automatic, but still nice looking. I also prefer the car in Red with Black Leather and Red Leather inserts.

R6 Testing

We are testing out our applications on R6 and if all goes well hopefully we will start moving to R6.02CF1, unless R6.02CF2 or R6.03 are out by the time we get there (which is a possibility). It isn't always easy getting all players (agencies) lined up to upgrade to a newer version on the mainframe. In fact we are still on 5.08 at this writing. It was suppose to go to 5.0.10 back in October 2002, but that didn't happen.

The shared approach works nice for some things though as we don't have to worry about backups, etc.. It is handled by the agency manning the mainframe. They do the upgrades and much of the adminstration.

Sprint PCS

I have a wonderful wife. I kind of like the techie stuff, but the bad thing about that is that it always cost money. Funny how that works, huh?

Anyway, she just ordered me a new phone. She was going to surprise me, but decided that it might be best to let me know in case she picked something I wouldn't like. She picked the Sanyo 8100, which I think is a good choice. I have seen good reviews and many of the user comments on CNET commented it was better than the Samsung A500, which I would have probably considered. The camera was not a big factor but could be fun for quick little (yes little) pics.

Once I get it and get to play with it a bit I'll probably let you know what I think.

More info on Sanyo's site.

User guide in .pdf format on Sprint's site.

Did I happen to mention, I have a wonderful wife!!! In fact I would have to say that I have a pretty wonderful life and wonderful family all together.

How fitting

How utterly fitting. I was looking at an IBM Lotus Workplace webcast via the link on Ben Langhinrichs blog and upon the second or third slide popping up, my W2K SP4 gave the blue screen of death (BSOD) and a second later my PC shut down. Hmm. MS and IBM play so well together. ;-)

Notes Tips

The Learning Continuum Company offers Training on Lotus Notes and now IBM WebSphere, but did you know that they also posts some developer tips on their site as well. I have had mixed reviews on their courseware, but I think it has more to do with individuals personal preference on how they learn. Most staffers indicate that they prefer an actual classroom setting with an instructor that they can interact with and ask questions. With limited budgets though, it can be a good alternative.

Lotus Tutorials

Looks like some Lotus Tutorials possibly worth checking out on IBM's DeveloperWorks. See the tutorial titles below. Once registered, one can take it online or simply download them in a choice of two .pdf formats or zipped html.

Build custom portlets for Domino
Domino 6 password and ID management
What's new with forms and views in Domino 6
Domino 6 monitoring and statistics
Using policies in Lotus Domino 6
Lotus Enterprise Integrator 6: Creating an Advanced RealTime Solution
Build Lotus Web services into a portal
Going Mobile with Domino Everyplace
Managing your inbound spam mail in a Lotus Domino 6 environment
XML-enabling your Lotus Notes application
Creating and using the certificate authority in Lotus Domino 6
Building Web services using Lotus Domino 6
Introduction to Domino 6 setup and administration
Add awareness and instant collaboration to your applications with Sametime
Using third-party LDAP servers with Lotus QuickPlace 3.0
Create and enable Sametime bots
Publishing XML data using Notes/Domino 6
Simplified JSP page development for Lotus Domino
Turn your Lotus applications into Web services
Building a J2EE application with Domino and WebSphere
Using LotusXSL and VisualAge for Java

A Good Thing IBM!

I must say that since R6 it appears that Lotus (IBM) has done a much better job releasing the z/OS version of Domino in a timely manner. We were always given the official word with Release 5 was that the mainframe version would follow the other platforms within 90 days. HA, that was usually not the case. Of course, as is the case with most software companies, that can be the official word, their official goal, etc.., but nothing happens when they don't meet it. Well anyway, Kudos to IBM with Release 6, as we have not seen this to be the issue it was before. Hopefully we can get our environment upgraded to R6 in the near future.

Sametime 3.1 (aka Lotus Web Conferencing and Lotus Instant Messaging)

Have been wanting to look at Sametime. Have licenses for the group to test with. Got an R6 server up in a test environment and upon trying to load Sametime 3.0, it refused. Poor organizations in the world that have upgraded and found this out the hard way. (I am not saying that it isn't documented somewhere, etc.., I didn't really look.). I have been waiting for a version to come out that will run in our test environment (R6). I ran across a site today that mentioned the 3.1 was out and that it would run on R6, but that you have to be at 6.02. It would be nice if Lotus would work on the synchronization of their product launches and availabilities. I wonder how many organizations made the move to R6 and had to break their Sametime off to another server simply dedicated to running R5 for their Sametime environment.

I am not saying that Lotus is the only one, another easy target is Microsoft, with Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. Hmm, how many companies had expected that they would upgrade to Windows Server 2003 just to find out that the only Exchange Server that will run on Exchange Server 2003, which isn't out yet.

I got the 3.1 that showed it was posted 7/3/03 downloaded. Hopefully we can get to that next week.

Notes R6 Record Locking - Eliminate Save/Replication Conflicts

Notes R6 has record locking that works pretty slick. We were actually looking at creating something ourselves within R5. We basically did a proof of concept and got it working and then looked at R6 closer and tried the record locking in it. Once you have converted your database to R6 (ODS 43) format all you have to do to enable it is simply check it on the Database Properties.

It only works between R6 clients. In other words if I am on 5.0.12 and open a document and put it in Edit mode (yes the R5 client can open an R6 database on an R6 server - not sure what problems that might introduce and I would not recommend it, but it is possible), then another user with R6.02CF1 opens the document and tries to edit it, it will let them in and vice versa. If it is accessed and put in edit mode by an individual using an R6 client and then another R6 client tries to do the same it gives a dialog pop-up stating that it is in use, by userid xxxx and does not allow you to put it in edit mode, but you are still able to view it. If the other R6 client changes something and saves and closes out of the document and you hit Edit again, then it will popup stating that something has changed that you will need to go back and open from the view. Once going back to the view and opening again you are ready to edit.

Shh! Hushmail

Hushmail is a secure web-based email and document storage system, featuring transparent, end-to-end 2048 bit encryption!

You can upgrade to a pay plan and as is the case with most they try to remind you that all the time. There big selling point is that it's total communications security, allowing users to enjoy a service with mobility, ease of use, and end-to-end encryption. Interesting.

Speaking of Boats

Check out this story in the Kansas City Star about boating at Lake of the Ozarks.

Nice Little Boat by Baja for Polaris

>

Buster Pics

Here he is.

Consolidation

Well it finally looks like something could be in the process of happening that should have happened before I even started here 16 years ago. They are looking at consolidating PC/Network Support. Of course, the usual rumor mill has started churning, and people are worried about what they'll do, will they even have a job, etc... Just the usual unrest that happens during a time of change. We'll see how it pans out.

Buster

Found out at 4:03pm yesterday that our adoption of Buster went through. Yeah! The family is excited. I'll try to post a pick of him at some point. I am off this afternoon to go pick him up. Hopefully it works out as well for him as it does us.

Leaving

There is a guy leaving and it was decided that it might be worthwhile to have him show someone some of the stuff that he does. The piece that they want us to look at is a tiny piece, but none the less for reporting, which can be of significant importance when the right person(s) is requesting information. Spoke with him yesterday. He said he would be available all day today and the morning tomorrow, just add it to his calendar. Yesterday after lunch I added an appointment for first thing this morning. He never accepted. Followed up this morning about 30 minutes before the start of the meeting and find out that he won't be in the office at all today. Oh well.

Picking Up the Pieces

I am a sucker for animals and we are quickly trying to heal the wounds and move on to making new memories. We put in an application to adopt a much smaller dog today. The shelter said that there has not been a single person look at adopting the little dog in the 4 months that he has been there. In looking, the whole family was somehow drawn to him. He may be just what the family needs. He has a lot more character than his pint size frame should be able to hold. They say it can take up to a week before they get back with individuals after checking references, etc.. Hopefully all will work out.

Sad Day

Had a really bad day last Wednesday. Had to make one of those heart wrenching decisions. I had to have our dog put to sleep. She was a beautiful dog. Everyone that saw her loved her. She was one of those dogs that has a tongue as long as a cow (believe me they are long) and would lick you to death. She was 6 years old. The last 3 years we have been struggling to keep her as part of our family. We have three other pets (2 cats, and another dog). She would decide to snack on the other animals. Upon experiencing several attack and subsequent vet bills, such as surgery on one the cats to put his intestines back inside his stomach wall and several dealing with the other dog, we had gotten to the point that she was kept separate from the other animals unless leashed with an adult. This was a big pain, but one that we were willing to deal with as we loved our Emily. We talked to vets, specialist, dog trainers, etc.. We took her to dog training classes, which she did pretty good at. We looked at options of animal shelters after each attack, but didn't have the heart to remove her from the family. She crossed the line on Wednesday by attacking my youngest son. He is no worse for wear for the most part at this point and the skin was not broken, but at that point she lost our trust and any chance of being an adoptable pet, etc... With this unprovoked incident she sealed her fate. If she were to have a vicious episode with one of the children, her 75 lbs would leave them defenseless. The choice of my childrens safety or having a dog that may turn on them at any point left me with an unfair choice. I had to have her put to sleep.

I know that it was the right choice, but it still pains me as I loved her so. Emily Lucy rest in peace. We love you!

Blog Search

Technorati is a site that allows one to see who is linking to whom in the blog world. It also allows one to do a keyword search (in Beta) across 360,000 blogs. Check it out.

Sad website - Lotus

I was just looking for some info on Lotus Notes and must say that it is official. Lotus can officially be called IBM. The Lotus web presense has gotten worse and worse. Moving to the IBM domain naming didn't help. Companies get to big to know what information they have and what information people want. Trying to get some simple info on a Lotus product has gotten to be just like finding info for an IBM product (ADSM was always a fun one). It can lead you down a long, long, did I happen to mention LONG, path. Given that the nugget you are looking for may be on the Redbooks site, the Lotus site or possibly Notes.Net or should I say http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd, yeah that is easier, more in tune with the product and a better idea (HELLO!).

Hey IBM, why don't you try collaborating with Lotus and see if you can get your stuff in order.

Court backs thumbnail image linking - no word yet on full size images.

Check out the article on news.com.

Interesting MP3s - Also said, better have broadband

I was reading someone else's blog that pointed to some Interesting MP3s. It is called the OYEZ Project. It has some archived Supreme Court arguments in MP3 format.

See the most popular cases they have here.

Related info on Creative Commons Licensing.

Lincense (metadata embedding) explained here.

As mentioned better have broadband. Just an example, New York Times vs. United States, 2hr 14m 4s, 65.2MB.

More on the Focus

2001 Ford Focus Owner's Manual