a113n’s daily dose

It’s been a very informative and fun weekend so far, with the conference about half over. Right now I’m waiting for a much-anticipated talk by Steve Rambam.
(more…)

• Quote of the Day:
  (after some discussion regarding security and TSA, leading, of course, to Bruce Schneier)
  Guy with Question: Who's Schneier?
  Everyone Else: *gasp* *chuckle*
  Speaker: Wow. You actually had the guts to ask that. Google is your friend.*
  * (I paraphrased)
  
• Current Location: The Last HOPE (Hopper)
  
• Website: http://amd.hope.net
  
• Website Rating:
  
• Website Description: Atendee Meta-Data Project for The Last HOPE--a collection of registrant meta information during the conference
  

As a learning exercise and to develop a concise, simple site management tool, I have decided to create my own PowerShell script that interfaces with WMI classes to automate various tedious tasks I perform every time a new website is added to our Windows 2008 server. The general goal of the script is to create a website with standard functionality, including a username to own the website and connect via FTP to manage the site. This site will also receive it’s own application pool to isolate the website from all the other websites currently hosted on the server.
(more…)

• Current Location: Office
  
• Website: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx
  
• Website Rating:
  
• Website Description: MSDN Library, reference and resource material for Windows application development
  

So tonight I got some pizza from Mother Bear’s, bought pen styli to replace the one Mama Bear lost, and got a movie to watch, King of Kong. When I went to to pick up the movie, there were a couple of store clerks (and one of their friends) standing around discussing the movie and its taglines. Evidently we’re in for a good treat. Speaking of treats, I picked up some Starburst and Laffy Taffy. I LOVE Laffy Taffy. In the recent copy of MakeZine, I learned how to build a crude yet effective taffy pulling machine. This one I really want to follow through with, because it’s easy to build and a great way to make homemade taffy. The hard part is just picking my first recipe.

It’s funny how the really simple things make a difference between a boring night and a really fun night. Mama Bear & I don’t have to go out and spend lots of money to have a good time, we enjoy a cup of tea and a game of Tiger Woods at home. I think that’s one of the reasons I love being around her so much, I can really be the closest to the “real” me as it’s going to get. Speaking of which, great xkcd comic that is hilarious and so very true. That site is possibly the best comic on the net, nuff said.

This night is just what I need after a day like today. I spent 3 hours in a courtroom for my 30 seconds in front of the judge where I was told to return two months later. I get back to the office to deal with a crashing email issue on our server and then try to get various other websites and email clients migrated. It just seemed like one slap after another today where I try to get something productive done only to be held back by a single minute detail, derailing my whole plan. I do so much impromptu work, it just isn’t funny, but as a plus I really pushed myself to get on with the PowerShell stuff. I am currently uploading our copy of VS to the server for installation, then I can do some new, exciting code-work. Interesting enough, these VS templates I found for PowerShell require the Vista SDK, which is a multi-gigabyte download. If this SDK is needed on Vista/Server 2008, skip the DVD download and use the web-based install because its less of a network-hog & using that link you can bypass MS genuine crap. I have valid copies of my OSs, but the genuine validation process for Firefox users (of which you should be one) is far too complicated even with my tricks to shorten the process.

So come to me sweet relaxation, for this weekend is DTS catchup time (with some makeout time for Mama Bear and play time for Baby Bear thrown in).

• Current Location: Living Room
  
• Website: http://www.xkcd.com
  
• Website Rating:
  
• Website Description: Web comic of romance, satire, and nerd stuff
  

Someone please explain why
the “typical” installation of our HP all-in-one software is 550MB. That’s over half a GB of my precious precious space
that is precious to me. My precious bytes. The minimal (only drivers) is 75MB. I must’ve fell asleep for half a millenia
to see driver file size jump from the KB range (maybe ~1MB max) to 75MB! I find this even more ridiculous than having to
install HP software on my machine and using a HP printer combined.

alt="HP Sux" src="/images/HPsux.JPG" />Oh, and it gets better! I despise–absolutely
despise–installations that REQUIRE a reboot. Now, I’m not talking the Windows update
“Do you want to restart now or later” type of require, but I mean only one friggin’ button for Restart.
Of course, there is no red X to close the window (which wouldn’t work if there was!).

However,
there is still hope! CTRL+ALT+DELETE and End Task. The ever-trusting (most of the time),
never failing (usually), handy (though quite a few keystrokes) Windows task killer.

I am almost afraid to install the
software for the remaining printers…which are, of course, HP!

• Quote of the Day:
  
  My wife
  
  discussing films at the IMAX:
  
  "And they've had a lot of good films like "The Abyss" and the movie with Tom
  
  Hanks--"Apollo 9" or something"
  
  
• Current Location: Work
  
• Website: http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/
  " target="_blank">http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/
  
  
• Website Rating: " src="http://www.dagey.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/star.gif" width="15">" src="http://www.dagey.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/star.gif" width="15">" src="http://www.dagey.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/star.gif" width="15">" src="http://www.dagey.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/star.gif" width="15">" src="http://www.dagey.net/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/star.gif" width="15">
  
  
• Website Description: Gotta
  
  give props to this web-based editor (which is the new default for wordpress). Given a AJAX- and Wiki-enabled website,s
  
  there are many possibilities on how to incorporate a user-friendly HTML editor directly in websites, including a new style
  
  of web-based site management!