Revisit RSS

It has been a while since I visited the Lotus RSS feeds page. It seems as though it has a cleaner look than I remember. Follow the link to see for yourself.

Lotus Domino 7 Application Development - Draft

Looks like a redpaper I need to point out to our developers, even if it is only in draft.

Using reader on Live.com

Trying to subscribe to Atom Feed I get....


....this Error.


It was kind of odd, that I keep getting the Oops message when trying to access Notes based blogs...


...but I found out that if I click on another type of blog and then on the Notes based blog, it would load. Odd, or by design? :-)

OneNote

Starting to look at OneNote a bit.

MSDN Subscriptions

Finally got our subscriptions registered for our developers. It took a bit for the MS Rep to get me setup with the right access to add them, but it is done now.

SSN

Our state stopped using an individual's Social Security Number (SSN) as their Driver License Number on the 19th. You had the option of not using it in the past, but now there is no option, you will simply get an assigned number.

Ugh, one more number to remember. I don't have to worry about it for several years as I recently renewed mine. Prior to utilizing the SSN the state used a 16 digit driver license number.

Back to work

The class is over and so is Christmas break. Back to work today.

Project Management Training

I am in a project management training class for part of this week. It has been a good class. I went through a formal series of Project Management classes back in 2000, so some of this is a refresher. I also need the PDUs. Not that I am necessarily limited to anything, but it would be nice to have a consistent agency approach for Project Management. The speaker, Keith Mathis, is good and appears to found his niche. He seemed in his element teaching the class.

Merry Christmas

Saab Holiday

And a Happy Holiday to you as well Saab. You silly born from jets guys!

I'll leave a spot open in the driveway. A 9-7 would be fine.

GMail

Even though I should keep everything and just search through it (kind of the premise of GMail, right?), I do delete some mail that I don't want or know I won't need in my Gmail account. I believe since the last time I deleted an e-mail in GMail they changed the text on the selection. I think it use to say "Move to trash" and now it says "Delete".

One of those things that seems a bit weird when something you are use to changes like that.

Puggles

It is my understanding that Puggles are a rather popular new cross breed.

A couple of sites:

About Puggles

Official home of the puggle hybrid breed

Grandma Roles' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I got a copy of the recipe for my Grandma's famous chocolate chip cookies. The recipe was handed down to my younger sister. She was the only other one that had the recipe until now. As they are my sisters favorite cookie of all time, she also helped my Grandma make them many times, so she knows the steps. Whether all steps are required or not is up to you, but this is the way Grandma did it.

You want to have the oven preheated to 350 degrees, so you may want to go ahead and turn it on first.

In a large bowl add:

1 cup butter (2-sticks) that is at room temperature (Grandma would always put two sticks of unwrapped butter in a ceramic bowl on her kitchen table - a common sight as she often made the cookies.)
1 cup sugar
½ cup light brown (golden) sugar
Mix the ingredients together.

Add two eggs (both the white and yolk)
Mix the ingredients together.

Add:
2 tbl water
1 tsp baking soda
Mix the ingredients together.

Add:
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
Mix the ingredients together.

Add:
Add 2 cups all purpose flour
Mix the ingredients together.

Add:
12 oz bag of Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix the ingredients together.

Add:
1 more cup flour
Mix the ingredients together.

Put balls of dough on a greased air bake cookie sheet pan (my sister has updated to use Pam).
Push the dough into a cookie shape using a piece of wax paper.
Put in the pre-heated oven and bake @ 350 degrees for approx 15 minutes.
It makes approximately 18 depending on the size of cookie.

Grandma would package the cookies for taking places or simply keeping around the house by taking a rectangular cake pan and putting a layer of foil on the bottom of the pan, followed by a layer of wax paper. She would place cookies slightly seperated on the wax paper and once she has a single layer, add another layer of wax paper and add another layer of cookies. Once she had finished the number of layers she was wanted package she would end with another layer of foil. Keeps them good and warm when out of the oven and taken straight across town. If she had made more cookies than what the cake pan would hold she would simply pull out another cake pan and start the layer process over. Nothing like Grandma's Chocolate Chip cookies.

Recipe shared for personal use, not commercial use.

Active Directory - Part 2

I found several things pertaining to the error message in the event log regarding my Group Policy issue.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1058
Date: Date
Time: Time
User: User_Name
Computer: Computer_Name
Description: Windows cannot access the file gpt.ini for GPO CN={31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9},CN=Policies,CN=System,DC=domainname,DC=com . The file must be present at the location <\\domainname.com\sysvol\domainname.com\Policies\{31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984 F9}\gpt.ini>. (Error_Message). Group Policy processing aborted.


Step 3 of Article 887303 seemed to do the trick to fix my issue.

Simply set the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service to start automatically and went ahead and fired it up. After doing so, I went to a command prompt and did a gpupdate and all was well, the Group Policies came across.

Olympus Evolt E-500

I don't think this pacakage looks to bad for the price. There may be a few features that are not as robust as on some other cameras, but getting a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) body and two lenses (14mm-45mm and 40mm-150mm -- in this instance double it for 35mm equivalent) for $899.99, really doesn't seem so bad.

I think I read somewhere that one of the shortfalls of this camera is that the two lenses you get in the kit mentioned are the only two currently available.

Windows Live

This Windows Live stuff looks a bit Googley.

Mediacom

My Mediacom account doesn't appear to be working, thus the picture is not showing up on the blog and my schedules on the JC Sports blog are not available. I guess I'll have to give them a call.

Active Directory Migration Test

I let the Technical Group add my machines to the test migration. My test machine went fine. The machine account move on my production machine did not work through the automated process. It did recreate the profile with most things in tact. The machine account was moved manually. The only glitch afterwards is that the machine was not picking up group policies.

C++ Compiler

Looking for a C++ compiler.

Find more info on About.

Active Directory

Our Agency is working towards implementing Active Directory and the technical folks were testing moving machines from the old domains to the new Active Directory. It looks like we had better hang on. Hopefully the ride is not so bumpy.

Windows OneCare

Have you seen Windows OneCare?

They even have a blog for it. Of course it requires XP and when selecting Get the Beta, it points to the purchase directory, so I am wondering what it will cost after the Beta, or will they leave it in Beta like others.

Imagine that:

Antivirus and firewall programs known to conflict with Windows OneCare:

Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005
Symantec Norton Antivirus 2005
Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005
McAfee Internet Security Suite 2005
McAfee VirusScan 8.0/2004
Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2005

During Setup, Windows OneCare checks for the programs listed above and will notify you to uninstall any that are found. To avoid any potential problems, however, Windows OneCare recommends that you uninstall any other antivirus and firewall software (except for Windows Firewall, which is part of the Windows XP operating system and cannot be uninstalled) before beginning Windows OneCare installation.

I might be interested in the Beta, but do I want to remove my existing paid for firewall and anti-virus to try out the beta. I don't think so.

E-card from Mini

And a Happy Holidays to you to MINI. Thanks for the e-card. Next time you can just send the car (minus the chains).

Work and basketball

Work and my oldest son's basketball has been keeping me busy.

Next week I have a Mid-Management Institute class on the topic of Measurement and the following week a class on Project Integration Management and there are a couple of new projects that have been thrown into the mix. One which looks like it could end up being killed before going anywhere.

Leave Track

We are into the third paycycle piloting our leave tracking system and everything seems to be going fine. During the Pilot we have been running the paper process in parrellel. I can already tell that it will be such a timesaver over the paper process. Just waiting for our HR department to finish reconciling last months system with the paper. If everything looks okay we should be good to go without the old paper copy.

The Moving Wall

The moving wall made its way through Jefferson City recently.



















Upon seeing The Moving Wall, I figured it could not compare to the real thing, which I have not had the privilege to see. Even at half scale though it does take up a fair amount of real estate as you can see here on the Capitol lawn. My perspective of it quickly changed with this last photo. It does live up to up to the name and I don't mean "The Moving Wall" as in a traveling replica of the Vienam Veterans Memorial, but "The Moving Wall" a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that has just as much power to "Move" those that had a close personal connection in some way. In the photo above a volunteer veteran was wiping the wall as what appeared to be another veteran or possibly just a family member knelt down and in an emotional moment the veteran reached down and put his hand on the shoulder of the other man to comfort him. It is truly a "Moving Wall".

Articles in the local paper.

11/23/2005 Hundreds visit Moving Wall on first day at Capitol

11/27/2005 The Wall That Moves You

11/28/2005 Bidding farewell to The Wall

It's Basketball Season

It is definitely basketball season in full force. My son is on the "B" Team. Their season started last Thursday. They had their second game Saturday. Their schedule for this week has them playing Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and possibly Saturday.

Root Canal

I had a root canal today. I can't say it was enjoyable, but all things considered it wasn't that bad.

Our newest addition to the family.

Well Buster has a playmate again. His name is Copper.