I haven't bothered to look, but I bet this is documented somewhere in a 'worst practices' list...

I recently logged in to my PC (on a SBS domain) and found that I was not connected to the server (or anything else, for that matter).  I tried troubleshooting the PC's connections, rebooting, etc., but got nowhere. 

I ended up logging on to the server itself to see what was up, and found the old "Invalid System disk or disk error..." message on the screen.  It turns out that Windows (SBS 2003) had updated itself and forced a reboot, but couldn't finish the process because a floppy disk was in the server's drive.  Removing the disk was all that had to be done to fix the problem. 

I'm assuming they didn't come up with this on their own, but I have to give credit for this one to the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP), from their January 2006 publication. 

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says......

"When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education, and corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

• Buying a stronger whip.
• Changing riders.
• Appointing a committee to study the horse.
• Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
• Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
• Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
• Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
• Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
• Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
• Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
• Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
• Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course....
• Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

I've been struggling with a seemingly simple problem in Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006...how to document a refund from a vendor where the money went from the vendor straight back into a checking account.  I can't find documentation of it anywhere...everything stops just after explaining how to create the 'vendor credit memo'. 

After a brutal stretch of trial-and-error (that will probably make my accountant stroke out), I think I have finally figured it out. 

1. Create the 'vendor credit memo' following the normal procedure
2. Go to 'Banking'
3. Choose 'Make Deposit'
4. Change the deposit date to match the original refund date
5. Select the financial account (i.e. checking) where the money was refunded
6. Enter something useful in the 'Memo' field (i.e. 'Refund from return of XYZ product')
7. Click 'New Deposit Line' in the title bar
8. Change the date to match the refund date
9. Under 'Deposit money from', choose, 'Vendor', then select your vendor from the list
10. Enter the amount of the refund (deposit) in the 'amount' field
11. Click 'Record'
12. Click 'Save and Close'

I hope this helps someone else out. 

I just checked the status of a Dell.com order which was placed yesterday (Jan. 31, 2006).  It's set for 3-5 day delivery, and it's a PDA requiring no special construction.  Imagine my surprise to see the delivery date (see below):

Here's hoping my 3-5 day delivery doesn't actually take another 28 days to happen. 

I recently had to move a Windows XP pc to a new domain, taking the user's settings with him to the new setup.  I found some great instructions here (Google Groups is becoming a fast favorite of mine for troubleshooting-type issues) for migrating the user account to the new domain...I would just make one extra suggestion.  Make sure, when you copy all the files from the old profile to the new one, that you have selected all the hidden and system files as well. 

The problem I ran into was in trying to get a Business Contact Manager database migrated to the new domain.  You can't just open the database with the new profile, because it's 'owned' by the first profile. 

It turns out you can just backup the database as the 'old' user, then log in as the same user in the new domain, and 'restore' the database with BCM. 

I couldn't find documentation that said this was a preferred method, butit worked for me! 

One of my customers sent me an email pointing out what appears to be the personal blog of Thomas Borchers, right here in Roscommon, Michigan.  Her reason for sending it was to let me know that Mr. Borchers had made some negative comments about me and my work.  I checked it out, and found that the majority of the blog is full of hate and discontent.  Overall, it was a pretty good laugh, because some of the comments/claims are SO outlandish.  I wasn't going to put a link to the site here, because I just hate the idea of helping him improve his search results...but it IS the giving season, and in the interest of 'fair and balanced' reporting, here you go.

Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to refute a few of the 'claims' he's made against me, so here goes:

From November 14, 2005:

BOWEN COMMUNICATION---------CRACKERJACK BOX CARD WEBMASTER CREDENTIALS.I WILL SHOW YOU TOMORROW HOW MANY ERRORS ARE ON HIS SITE. by Tom HLCA---A Fraud WEBSITE and WEBMASTER. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2005"

"Crackerjack box card webmaster credentials?"  Now, that's just mean, though it would be cool to actually have Crackerjack Box Credentials, don't you think?  Maybe they would come with the cool rub-on tattoos that used to be in those boxes.  I looked around at http://www.crackerjack.com, but didn't find any way to purchase credentials from them. 

"A Fraud WEBSITE and WEBMASTER."  It looks like Mr. Borchers may have a problem with the Higgins Lake Civic Association (that's the website he's referring to), though I'm not even sure what a 'fraud WEBSITE' is.  Is that a fake website, or a web site pretending to be something it really isn't?  I'm lost.  "Fraud...webmaster".  Now, that part I understand. Though, to be honest, I'm not the webmaster of the HLCA's site.  They manage it themselves, I just set it up for them, keep it running, and help when problems arise. 

One other thing-- BOWEN-WEBMASTER OF THE H.L.C.A. WEBSITE. YOU DON'T SEEM TO HOLD THE CORRECT CREDENTIALS FOR YOUR WEBSITE. I AM GLAD YOU DID NOT TAKE OUT A LLC (LIMITED LIABILITY CORPORATION). THAT LEAVES YOU OPEN FOR TOTAL LOSS A ALL PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
ASSETS. TERTIARY ASSETS (LET US JUST SAY YOU WORK AT THE D.N.R. ) WAGES, ETC. WOULD BE ATTACHED ALONG WITH FAMILY JOINTLY HELD ASSETS. THE TUMBLING OF THIS HOUSE OF CARDSCOULD IMPINGE GREATLY ON YOUR LIFESTYLE. BOWEN--AREYOU CONNECTED TO THE d.n. //

"BOWEN-WEBMASTER OF THE H.L.C.A. WEBSITE" - Again, I'm not the HLCA's webmaster. 

"YOU DON'T SEEM TO HOLD THE CORRECT CREDENTIALS FOR YOUR WEBSITE" - First, it's not my web site (sheesh, I'm getting tired of mentioning that already).  Second, what credentials should I hold?  Maybe that's a reference to the CrackerJack thing again? 

"I AM GLAD YOU DID NOT TAKE OUT A LLC..." - Well...I am glad that you are glad that I...aw, forget it.  Whatever. 

"TERTIARY ASSETS (LET US JUST SAY YOU WORK AT THE D.N.R. )" - Tertiary assets, D.N.R....what?  That will be fun, let's 'just say' I work at the D.N.R.  Now what happens?  I don't get it. 

"THE TUMBLING OF THIS HOUSE OF CARDS COULD IMPINGE GREATLY ON YOUR LIFESTYLE." - Mr. Borchers seems to know a lot about my 'house of cards', eh?  Yes, if if I experienced a total loss of all primary, secondary, and 'tertiary' assets, that "could impinge greatly" on my lifestyle.  Um, that's not really any different than anyone else, I would guess. 

"BOWEN--AREYOU CONNECTED TO THE d.n." - Despite the profound inability to master basic punctuation, I'm going to assume this is a question.  That being said, I'm not sure what the 'D.N.' is supposed to be, and a google search for 'D.N.' returns just over 17 million hits.  I guess there's a good chance, given the number of hits, that I'm associated with one of them in at least a 'tertiary' fashion. 

If you meant 'D.N.R.', then yes.  I'm a secret agent/super hero working for the DNR.  By night, I fly around in a cape and tights looking for poachers.  Now I have to move because everyone knows my secret identity.  Thanks a lot. 

From November 27, 2005

I CAN'T SUBSTANTIATE BOWEN AS A LICENSED WEBMASTER, NOT UNDER "ASSUMED NAMES", IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE HE RIPPED THE LAYOUT OFF FROM ANOTHER WEBMASTER SINCE I CANT LOCATE THE WEBMASTER PROGRAMMER'S I.D. OR AT LEAST 4 OTHER PIECES OF STATE LICENSE PAYOFFS. ( THOSE PROGRAMS ARE VERY COSTLY AN MUST BE BOUGHT AND REGISTERED BY A CERTIFIED LICENSEE. BETWEEN GRAND THEFT OR LARCENY BY CONVERSION.

"LICENSED WEBMASTER" - OK, for anyone reading this, get ready...There is no such thing as a webmaster license.  A webmaster is just the guy (or gal) that manages the content of a web site.  It's not dangerous, it doesn't take a double-PhD, it's just a bunch of letters and numbers on pages.  I wonder where Mr. Borchers' wemaster license is registered? 

"IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE HE RIPPED THE LAYOUT OFF FROM ANOTHER WEBMASTER" - Now I'm accused of "ripping off" the HLCA's layout from some other (presumably 'licensed') webmaster.  I guess, in a way, I'm flattered.  To think, an 'unlicensed' guy like me could create a layout that would look good enough to make a licensee like Mr. Borchers suspicious enough to throw that comment out there!  I'm blushing!

"I CANT LOCATE THE WEBMASTER PROGRAMMER'S I.D. OR AT LEAST 4 OTHER PIECES OF STATE LICENSE PAYOFFS" - Hee Hee, isn't fantasy fun?  The "webmaster progammer's I.D." must come with the do-it-yourself licensing kit.  As far as state payoffs go...ah, hell, I've got nothing.  I don't even know what he's talking about there (maybe it's in the licensing kit). 

"THOSE PROGRAMS ARE VERY COSTLY AN MUST BE BOUGHT AND REGISTERED BY A CERTIFIED LICENSEE" - Actually, the HLCA web site is built on the Rainbow Portal project, which is open source.  That means anyone with an interest can participate in helping to develop it, and it's FREE to use by anyone that wants it.  The layout and design of the site are, indeed, my own invention (at the request and specification of the HLCA board).  It sounds like a 'licensed webmaster' can somehow become a 'certified licensee'.  That would be very cool, I could put that kind of stuff on, like, a resume, if I had no real qualifications or skills. 

"BETWEEN GRAND THEFT OR LARCENY BY CONVERSION" - "Grand Theft" doesn't exist as a crime in Michigan...we just have 'larceny' in varying degrees.  Larceny by Conversion does exist, but it means something entirely different than the context mentioned here.  If you loan me a table saw, and I take it and move 4 counties away, THAT is larceny by conversion (I had permission to use the item, but I 'converted' it permanently to my own use, get it?).  Anyway, whatever I did is apparently somewhere between a crime that doesn't exist and a crime that has no application to this situation...very clever, indeed!

"HYPER TEXT-MARKUP LANGUAGE. (HTML) IS COMPUTER LANGUAGE. IT IS SO PRECISE THAT MISTAKES (ERRORS) CAN NOT BE MADE. "

Um, well, yeah, HTML is computer language, I guess...I mean, I don't know any people that speak HTML.  Really, though, it's a 'browser' language, because computers don't really read it either.  That's a pretty minute point, I know, but he started it.  

"IT IS SO PRECISE THAT MISTAKES (ERRORS) CAN NOT BE MADE." - Ooh boy, that's a good one.  I bet 90% of the web sites on the web are fraught with HTML mistakes.  Web browsers (like Internet Explorer) are very forgiving of those mistakes, so what we see is reasonably what the site designer intended.  Really, though, if HTML were so strict, the W3C would have a much easier time enforcing standards. 

This is a faked out table------IT HAS ALL THE BLANKS BUT IF YOU FILL IT OUT THERE IS NOT A WAY TO MOVE IT ONTO THE WEB. THIS IS DEAD END. NICE BLANKS BUT CAN'T BE SENT ANYWHERE. Tom

In this context, Mr. Borcher was maligning the design of a simple 'give us your feedback' form (link here to the actual form).  He apparently believes that the form is just for show and doesn't DO anything.  Wrong, wrong, wrong...you'd think a "licensed" webmaster would have a better understanding.  Instead of my spending time detailing his error, though, I challenge you to just go fill out and submit the form yourself.  Ask the HLCA something meaningful about their cause and see for yourself that the form goes somewhere. 

I'm getting bored with critiqueing his comments, but I'll sum up the remainder for you.  Essentially, Mr. Borchers believes obvious 'errors' exist on the HLCA's comment page.  In fact, he doesn't understand that what he's looking at are javascript functions that handle errors in the form's data.  Look it up, it's in the 'advanced topics' section of your HTML book. 

It's true that the HLCA's site (and any site running on the Rainbow Portal) is MUCH more complicated than any HTML-only static web site.  However, the site isn't part of some giant conspiracy to make you waste time filling out dead-end forms, and it's not pretending to be anything that it isn't.  It's an informational site for a group that believes strongly in a particular cause.  Having a different opinion doesn't give you the right to make wild accusations about people unrelated to the cause.  That's just pathetic, especially for someone who's supposed to be a retired educator. 

Well, that WAS fun.  Happy New Year, everybody!

So, 'Rainbow Portal 2006' was released just after the fall developer's meeting in Italy.  Since then, the development list has been extremely quiet...no news is good news?  Hopefully, others are just working independently or taking some time to catch up on other things. 

I've been deploying commercial Rainbow Portal powered sites for a few years, now, and I'm at least somewhat familiar with most aspects of 'how it works'.  At one point or another, I've been elbow-deep in almost every dll in the portal...and I've been pretty impressed with the effort put in by those that have contributed. 

My point is that at some point through all this, I forgot how 'cool' the whole concept of a self-managed portal/website really is.  On two separate occasions in the past 10 days, I ended up explaining/demonstrating the portal to good people that aren't programmers and for whom HTML, CSS, and C# are totally foreign.  It was fun (refreshing?) to hear them shaking their head in wonder and amazement...especially since they saw how they could easily maintain a website 'themselves'. 

That's cool, guys (ok, it's 'nerdy cool').  My point is that the Rainbow Portal project has done good things for a lot of people...in a number of ways.  Obviously, it has provided an easy, powerful, and inexpensive means for plenty of people to 'get a web site'.  I've customized it to extend the useful life of (and interact with) a 20-year old property/evidence management system, with results better than I could have imagined (and saving an ungrateful 'customer' thousands of dollars in recovered time).  Dozens (hundreds?) of commercial web sites are running strong with Rainbow in the backend.  Along the way (as in my case) it has also improved the skills of the programmers involved in it. 

Hopefully this post will draw enough attraction from Google to bring some of the core Rainbow developers out to view it...thanks again, guys, and Happy Holidays.

OK, this guy makes a pretty convincing argument that he and his 'team' found a giant creature frozen in the ice near the north pole earlier last month...

http://www.arkadysimkin.pl/infocus_eng.html#oct11

I don't know what to think of the whole thing...this guy thinks it's a hoax, but his commenters are split:

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/ice_giant_found_in_siberia/

[edit date="2005-11-13"]

Well, it would have been cool if something like this really was found, I guess...but it looks like it's all a publicity stunt. 

Interesting, though, that there really are guys that have dedicated 30 years to researching giants all over the world...some neat stuff there to look at. 

[/edit]

OK, everyone knows that spam (the email kind, not the canned meat product) is evil.  Here's a thought, though...spam may serve a purpose! 

For example, consider the following text, which is copied from the body of an unsolicited email I received recently: 

Dear Home Owner,

After resolving the canvas we are elated to put forward to you as we will specify,

Your current mortgage meets the criteria to get more than a 3.7 lessened tariff!

------------------------------------------------------------------

!! FINDING THE BEST RATES IN THE US IS OUR SPECIALITY !!

------------------------------------------------------------------

It followed up with a web site link that would presumably allow you to collect on this great deal.  Here's my thought, though.  If someone falls victim to a sales pitch like this, they might just have it coming.  It's 'natural selection' via email.

It seems that color laser printer manufacturers have built their devices with an extra feature: every printed document has tiny barely-visible dots that record the printer's serial number, along with the date and time of printing inside the document.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR2005101801663.html

I thought I might put my home-grown 'accounting' system to rest and give Microsoft's new Small Business Accounting 2006 a try.  I'll try to post back here with an opinion when I've had a chance to try it out. 

I ordered the free trial CD from Microsoft and installed it tonight.  If anyone else tries this, make sure you turn off your firewall software.  In my case, ZoneAlarm didn't allow the installation to finish correctly, even though I 'Allow'ed everything it asked about.  With ZoneAlarm shut down, the installation went smoothly. 

I recently found (and signed up for) Flickr, which provides a really nice way to upload, share, and manage photos on the Internet. Flickr even lets you create a Flash badge representing a 'set' of your photos - the one on the right is from our annual 'Camping with College Friends' trip this past summer. Hopefully, this will inspire me to get more pictures online for family and friends to view!

www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Friends' camping 2005. Make your own badge here.

A recent upgrade of the ZoneAlarm firewall software on a desktop PC knocked me off my Windows (2003) Domain.  I was (suddenly) unable to connect to File and Printer shares on the server, where before they had worked perfectly. 

After too much headache, it seems my server's IP somehow disappeared from ZoneAlarm's 'trusted' sites list when the update occurred...thus, ZoneAlarm was blocking File/Printer sharing with that machine.  Adding the server's IP as a trusted site (and clicking that obscure little 'Apply' button) did the trick.  If you use ZoneAlarm (or any other software firewall?) and suddenly lose access to network resources, you might consider checking for a 'trusted sites' or 'trusted zone' setting in the software...

Several weeks ago, my Windows XP installation started 'studdering' almost any time it played any audio; Windows start-up sounds, mouse clicks, pretty much any sound...would drag on for a second or two too long.  Playing media files was impossible because videos would pause while the audio studdered, then try to continue, then pause, etc. 

I just ran across this post where Matt Warren recommended to another guy that he reinstall the codecs from the Microsoft site.  It works!  Thanks Matt!

[edit date="2005 Sep 19"]

OK, the above solution only temporarily resolved the problem.  After several weeks of living with this, it finally seems to have resolved with, of all things, new drivers for the sound card, NIC, and flash for the motherboard.  The MoBo in this system is a Abit Duramax AA8, and it turns out the audio (chipset?) is "Realtek High Defnition Audio".  Somehow, a very recent Google search found this page, where the solution was waiting

[/edit]

Exactly 4 days after picking up our new travel trailer, we hauled it 2,000 miles to northern Florida to visit the mouse.  Except for the short trip home from the dealership, I'd never pulled a trailer that size before heading out on our maiden voyage. 

We were on the expressway about 3 minutes when we got passed by a tour bus doing Mach 1.5.  I saw him coming, and having thought this all out in my head, expected the rush of air from the front of the bus to push us off the right side of the roadway...so I braced for that. 

What actually happened, though, is that when the bus was about halfway past my trailer, an impressive PULL TO THE CENTER of the road hit our rig.  Not expecting that, I overcorrected (to avoid smacking into the side of the bus) and promptly drove way out onto the right side shoulder...

And so it is every time a larger vehicle passes our truck and trailer...and apparently every truck and trailer...after a few hundred miles, you don't even notice it much any more.  Still, that would be good stuff for the prep crew at dealerships to pass on to new RV owners. 

For three years, we've been trying to decide whether to buy a boat or camper...in April this year, we finally made a decision.  Here's how we've been spending most weekends this summer: 

[OOPS: Broken image link here, sorry.]

As always, we have exceptional timing.  This happens to be the year that gas/oil prices have tripled and continue to climb almost daily.  That makes towing hurt the wallet, but at least we're comfortable when we finally 'get there'. 

If I get the time, I'd like to blog some of the trips we've taken...we've learned a few lessons in a short time that might help someone else...

If anyone cares for details:  The camper is a Cougar 301 BHS Travel Trailer by Keystone Corporation (link). 

Josh pointed out a pretty fun online store that sells exactly one (1) item per day.  That item changes every night at midnight, the prices look to be pretty competitive, and shipping is always $5.  It's worth an occasional visit for the witty item write-ups. 

http://www.woot.com/

Sheesh.  I'm getting HUNDREDS of 'trackbacks' on this blog from spammers....Cialis, Viagra, and Texas Hold'em peddlers, mostly.  When the trackback service is enabled, my inbox dings every minute or two with a 'trackback notification' from some jerk-wad spammer. 

I just read through the comments on Anil John's blog entry on the same topic, and there's a note there from Scott Hanselman (one of the dasBlog programmers) that implies they may have solved this problem with a recent software update. 

I can't wait to get the new version up and running....Thanks Guys!!!