Work

Our agency of approximately 1,500 had 19 employees celebrate 20+ years of service and 4 with 30+ years of service retire. That is for this month alone.

DmailerSync Version 5.0.016

It seems as though they are constantly updating. The new version has a new data format as well.

Windows SharePoint Services

I am hoping to have access to Windows SharePoint Services SP 2 in the not to distant future. We need to move away for the old SharePoint Team Services that we are still running on.

Are you looking for Windows SharePoint Services with Service Pack 2? You can find it here.

I have previously posted a Microsoft link where you can see some Applications for Windows SharePoint Services. It has listed the following scenarios available for download.

Absence and Vacation Schedule
Board of Directors
Case Work Management
Change Management
Classroom Management
Competitive Intelligence Resource Dashboard
Employee Activities Site
Employee Timesheet and Scheduling
Employee Training
Event Coordination
Expense Reimbursement
Help Desk
HR Programs and Services
IT Developer Team Site
Legal Document Review Workflow
Loan Initiation Management
Marketing Communications Campaign Site
Meeting Management
New Product Development
Performance Review
Professional Services Contract Management
Professional Services Site for Engagement Team Resourcing
Project Team Site
Public Official Activity and Issue Management
Public Relations Work Site
Publication Editorial Review
Recruiting Resource Center
Request for Proposal Management
Room and Equipment Reservation
Travel Request

I wish they had some screen shots on the site. I guess most of the Windows SharePoint Services sites do have the same look and feel, but it would still be nice to have an idea of what the apps are beyond the text and having to load them to see.

You can take an online 30 day test drive of Windows SharePoint Services, but I am not sure that it has the apps available to look at in this environment. Maybe I'll have to check it out.

Not only is there an online trial, you can check out the online Demo.

MS AntiSpyware Updates

The update published 11-21-2005 extends the expiration date of the Beta to 7-31-2006.

James Keown related link

Per my post referring to the story of a local man, James Keown, accused of killing his wife, I received an e-mail from his sister asking if I would link to her site. So here is the link.

I have not followed the story, but did somewhat wonder what would bring someone from Boston to Jefferson City, but as his sister lives in the area, I would speculate the reasoning for the move is the same as it is for so many, simply having family in the area or having grown up in the area.

I don't know enough about the case to even try to speculate or pick sides, but as with most incidents involving the death of an individual, I feel sorry for the innocent parties, whoever that may be on both sides, and for those suffering the loss of a loved one.

On a somewhat related note I heard a story on the news this morning that stated that murder by use of antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is on the rise.

Doctor Appointment

Someone from the doctor's office called asking if I could reschedule my appointment from this afternoon to this morning. Hey, I am hoping to get the cast off at this appointment, so of course I was willing to switch times.

Update: The cast is off, now four weeks in a soft splint. That is much more bearable than the hard cast which he said he would have put me back in for 3 weeks if it still hurt.

Flash that may be of interest to those doing IM in the Notes environment

Abstract

This document is recommended for Sametime server administrators in larger enterprises deploying Notes Integrated Instant Messaging. The Sametime Instant Messaging server load driven by Notes Instant Messaging is not only distinct, but different in nature than the load driven by the Sametime Connect client.

Cattle Rustling - The Old West Lives On

One of those crimes you associate with old Western movies, cattle rustling is still taking place today, although a bit easier with modern transportation . I know there was some cattle recently stolen a county over from my father-in-law. Just one more reason to check and count the cattle each day.

Warning

I would definitely suggest if you have an IBM HS20 Blade Server with Toshiba 40GB drives that you keep a close eye on them. I mentioned our hard drive failure, but know that there have been several hard drive failures in the shared blade server environment within the past few weeks. I believe all of the drives having problems were Toshiba. I am not sure if it was limited to 40GB drives or not. Just a heads up.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am headed northward for the holiday.
Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Blog Aware Business

I find it interesting that there are some companies becoming more blog aware. As in the case with IceRocket, Adorama, and a couple of others. I have received feedback directly from companies based on posts I have made without specifically contacting the company directly. I would think other businesses might want to follow what people are posting about their experiences with their company. We'll see if this trend expands.

Adorama Follow-up

Per my first post I received an e-mail from Abraham Steinberg, the Director of Online Marketing at Adorama.

Bonj,

We had much more then a holiday. We turned our warehouse and inventory upside-down because if the immense growing pains we're experiencing. It came to the point where we just had to overhaul and expand our warehouses. It needed to get done in advance of the holiday rush hence the timing. We were working around the clock --literally-- to get it done flawlessly. Much as we desired to make it a headache free transition, it was just impossible. I apologize on behalf of the company if we caused you inconvenience as a result. Once this transition settles we look forward serving our customers with more modern facilities that will enable us to fill orders more expeditiously. We appreciate you patience and hope you have everything by now.

I appreciate the e-mail and explanation and would have been more understanding of the situation if I would have received a response informing me of their situation earlier. I am not unreasonable. I may not have been happy about it, but it would have at least been a reasonable and timely explanation. I tried Adorama per good comments on a photo forum. I tried to see if they could give me a ballpark figure via e-mail without having to send everything in. I spoke with a rep on the phone that said go ahead and send it in that as the equipment was older 35mm (not digital) that they would most likely be able to do better than anyone else. Well I went ahead and gave it a shot after getting bids from a couple of local pawn shops. The figure I finally got back from Adorama was equal to the lower bid I got from the two pawn shops which did not please me. I stated this to the rep and he siad he would go ahead and meet the higher bid I had received from the pawn shop since it had taken so long. If I would have had an idea that it wouldn't be much different then I wouldn't have bothered sending it in. To save the time and effort of getting the equipment back and having to make another trip to the pawn shop I took the second price. I did have the check in a timely manner.

I hope any future experiences will be better.

Ford Service Part 15

I took the car in on Wednesday last week. The key was to the point that I almost couldn't get it to line up to turn. They had a new tumbler on hand and replaced it. They had to order a motor ot fix my lock problem and supposedly ordered a latch to fix my problem with the trunk popping when you turn on the rear wiper. They put the motor and latch on Thursday and the latch still popped when turning on the rear wiper so they kept it another day to try to figure it out. Friday they said that there was a short that caused the problem and that they had to order a module for the latch and I could bring the car back Monday to have it fixed.

I questioned the replacement of the latch as they replaced the latch about a year ago and one would think that they wouldn't go out that quickly. He stated that as they were trying to diagnose the latch problem that the actuator was sticking, which required that it be replaced. Which also doesn't make since as that was not mentioned when they said they had to order the latch in the first place. As the latch didn't fix the other problem the service rep now says that it went out while the tech was trying to diagnose the problem and they had to replace it or they would not be able to continue diagnosing the problem. Seems like a bunch of double talk to me. The rep had also stated that the cost of the extra module along with the extra time to diagnose bumped my co-pay up, but when questioned about that as well, he stated it was just the cost of the additional module itself and that he miscommunicated earlier as the extra time to diagnose had nothing to do with it. Ugh!

1 more week

Well, if all goes well, I'll get my cast off a week from Monday. Yeah. I am ready. It is definitely an inconvenience, although looking on the bright side it does get one out of doing dishes. :-)

Sunny 1989-2005

Rest in Peace Sunny Girl.

Jefferson City Radio Host James Keown

Our little City of Jefferson has made it into the national spotlight. Unfortunately it is because a local radio talk show host has been accused of murdering his wife when they lived in the Boston area.

News Sources

KLIK
KRCG
CBS

Server Crash

Our Blade server hosting our production Domino environment crashed yesterday. Not fun.

It ended up being a hard drive failure. Once that was figured out it only took about two hours to completely have a new blade up and running. Unfortunately we had to go back to the backup from the night before, but everyone was able to work with the systems again.

Teamstudio Upgrade

Teamstudio Edition 22 is now available.

Did you know that they also have some WebEx tutorials.

Mitsubishi Outlander

I think the redesinged Mitsubishi Outlander ought to do better than the outgoing model if they don't raise the price to much. The 250hp V6 is a nice option. It looks like it will be some time before it makes it to our shores though.

The Small-Block Blog Retires

The Small-Block Blog Retires. It isn't to surprising as the posts have grown further and further between.

Time for the fall colors.

Lotus Posted Tutorials

Using NSLookup to Troubleshoot DNS and SMTP Mail Issues

Using Telnet to Troubleshoot SMTP Mail Issues

Lotus Notes 6.x Client Installation

IBM Lotus Domino Web Access Support and Troubleshooting

Personality

Andrew mentioned this personality test. It says I am a realist. What are you?

Adorama

Come on Adorama. You got my stuff back on the October 10th and now you don't answer my e-mails or my phone calls. Yes I know you had a holiday, but come on.

Limited posting

My posting is definitely limited now that I am one handed for now.

I went back to the doctor yesterday as it appeared to be hurting more than I would suspect after a week. I seemed to hurt more up at the wrist area on both sides. The x-ray tech said that is about where it is broken.

Oh well, the doctor came in and basically said what do you expect, YOUR ARM IS BROKEN. He said there appears to be enough room in the cast and if he made it looser anywhere then it would not be providing the support it needs and as far as the rubbing on the thumb, he said it is going to rub. Great, thanks doc. He said not to do anything with the hand, before he said use the fingers as much as I could. I was basically using the index finger for typing on the left side of the keyboard as turning the wrist to use all fingers hurt to much. He now says don't use it at all, even the index finger, so typing is extremely slow. Oh well, not much I can do except wait five more weeks.