If you are still reading this blog

I just wanted to let you know that I am not really updating this blog anymore. I started my new blog over at Port 16, and that is where I am doing all of my posting.

Why don't you come over and visit?

The Only Constant is Change

I was re-organizing the blog a little bit on Friday, so you may have noticed that I moved some things around. For the curious, here is what was accomplished.

Moved an Ad - First off, the large image add that was in the top right corner has been moved down under my "Some other Blogs" links and "Don't let Internet Radio be Crushed" banner. I put some text ads in their place, just for fun. (Art, you are going to have to scroll down now to see if the Helium ads have any new girls in it.)

The reason for this move was that although interesting, I wasn't getting any clicks on it. Even though it isn't that big of a deal, I figured I might as well try something new.

Added a Recent Posts Section - I get a good number of visits that end up deep in the archives. After that, they leave. I'm hoping that the "Recent Posts" section will provide some link bait.

Moved the Blog Archive - Since the "Recent Posts are in such a visible location, I moved the Blog Archive section because it seemed a little redundant. Between you and me (don't tell the Widgets), I think that the Technorati Widget is worthless, and I probably should get rid of it. I consider anything there or below to be in the "No one is ever going to see this stuff" zone of the sidebar.

Added some more Ads - Seems kind of pointless, but I keep getting this darn optimization report from AdSense stating that I should "Add more than one add unit on each page". I'm sick of seeing that, so I made the change and I hope they will shut up.

Maybe the next message will be "Post something that people will want to read" or maybe, "Find yourself a point, then get to it".

Asked my readers their opinion - Wait, I haven't done that yet.

What do you think? Feel free to let me know, you can email me (address is on my profile page), post a comment here, or ridicule my blog on your blog, and I'll see the link back. Heck, I may even give you a link back.

While you are at it, why not start a "5 things that Suck about The Bit Bucket" blog meme, tag your friends, and we could all have a good laugh. Some a little more maniacal than others.

June 2007's Most Popular Posts

Let me just say, I was shocked and amazed to see two entirely new posts make it into the top 5 last month. So, let us welcome them into the top 5. They are:

1. "Move over Nigerian email scams, make way for something meatier" - Which made it into third place. Posted on June 16th.

2. "Windows Live Writer Beta 2" - Which made it into fourth place. Pretty impressive, considering it was posted on June 24th.

It was nice to see some new posts make it here, and considering that they were both posted after the halfway mark in June, I was pretty excited.

Even though I numbered the two posts above, here is the official list, in order of popularity.

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - Our old friend, and particularly useful post.

2. Strange SharePoint Team Services 2 Restore Issue - What more can I say?

3. Move over Nigerian email scams, make way for something meatier - Do you grow weary of Nigerian email scams, well this scam was new to me, and it was from Kuwait.

4. Windows Live Writer Beta 2 - Not only is it new, but it works! I actually use it for all of my posting now.

5. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression - Couldn't be a most popular without this post on there.

The Bit Bucket is the Blog of the Day!

Well yesterday we were.

Jennifer made The Bit Bucket her blog of the day over at "The Life of a School Bus Driver".

Thanks a bunch Jennifer!

Happy 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!

I love the Fourth of July, we get a day off work, cookouts, fireworks, and the celebration of our Freedom. I know that most Americans might forget what today is really about, but I don't.

Way back in 1776, our founding fathers unanimously declared that we aren't going to put up with Britain's crap anymore, we can do this better, and we can take care of ourselves.

I know that our country today isn't perfect, and lord knows we have made some mistakes, but it is our country, and if you don't like it, then change it.

That's right, I didn't say leave, I said change it. Hello, it's called democracy, if you want a change, get out there and try to make it happen. If you don't like the system, get off your ass, get out there, and make a difference. Your changes may not happen, but you can try.

A friend of ours grew up in East Germany, before the wall came down, and one of the big differences she noticed about America was that over there, and in other countries, although your basic necessities were taken care of, you couldn't dream. You were stuck with your lot in life, and what you could do or become was very limited.

Here in the US, we have the ability to try and make a better life for ourselves, and for our children. It isn't guaranteed, after all, it is the "pursuit of happiness", not "the achievement of happiness", or just plain old "happiness".

Enjoy today, have fun, shoot off some fireworks (where permissible by law), take some time to think about that today, what we are celebrating, and why it is so important.

Also, remember the people who decided they wanted to make sure that we can celebrate this day every year, and they were willing to risk their life to make sure that happens.

To all of our Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors who aren't  home today to celebrate this day on American Soil, thank you, stay safe, and we hope you come back soon.

May 2007's Top Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP
2. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression
3. Strange SharePoint Team Services 2 Restore Issue - I actually change the title of this one because I wasn't specifying the Version of SharePoint, or that I was talking about SharePoint Team Services vs. SharePoint Portal Server.
4. Winamp Site Hacked?
5. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery

Some of these posts should be looking pretty familiar to you by now. Jeez, what is the problem with some nice fresh posts? I mean come on, these posts are mostly old. Here, let me suggest some posts for you to read:

For the Techies:

Folder Navigation in Vista - Happiness is a Hyperlinked Address Bar

5 Reasons to leave your Wireless Devices turned off at the RSA conference

For a little laughter:

Messing with the Idiots

Create your own warning labels

Mac Vs. PC Spoof

For the Civic Minded:

Help Save Internet Radio

For the nosey:

What have I been up to?

Mike has finally bought an IPod!?!?

Now, these are all perfectly good posts, that were created in May 2007 or earlier. Please read them, I don't think I can stand to hear the muffled sobbing of another poor post who feels neglected.

April 2007's Top Posts

I realized that I haven't listed the top posts for April yet, and here it is almost the end of May already. Jeez! Breath easy, your wait is over. Here they are:

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - An oldie but goodie. Lots of people have experienced this problem. There is hope though, from what I have seen so far, Vista's Offline Files behave much more reliably.
   
2. Strange SharePoint Restore Issue - When I was trying to restore a SharePoint backup, I ran into this weird error, and it turned out to have a silly cause. I'm glad to see that a bunch of people have found this post helpful.
   
3. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression - Yet another error (are we seeing a pattern here?) when I was writing some VBScript for Access.
   
4. User Submitted War Pigs Video Contest - I haven't actually looked to see what the results were for this contest, but I probably should...
   
5. Working with SharePoint Offline - Review of Revelation and Colligo for SharePoint - An old review I did for a handy application that lets you work with SharePoint offline.
   

   
   

   
   

What have I been up to?

Well, you probably can tell that I haven't been blogging, and I sure haven't been reading my RSS feeds either. So what have I been working on? Well:

Sleeping.

Last week I actually had 8 hours of sleep each night. It was crazy. I usually get about 6 hours, not counting what is taken away by interruptions such as:

- Whining dogs that need to go outside.

- A Meowing cat that also needs to go outside.

- Kids who have had nightmares.

- Carrying those kids to our bed, so they will stop being scared.

- Carrying those kids back to their bed, so they will stop kicking me in the back.

Trying to find something to organize my notes with.

I finally had enough when I was looking for a piece of information that I had just seen the other day, but it was able to hide from me in its deep dark file folder, beneath a nest of other file folders.

In looking for an application, I actually found some really neat stuff, and I settled on 1 really good application. I then spent some time migrating many of my notes over to the new application. Of course, then I found 1 really great program, and I had to migrate over to that. I think I'll stick with this one though, and I plan to post about what I found, eventually.

Watching Movies

I watched Sin City, Man of the Year, and Idiocracy, all very good.

Some other things I can't remember

Where does time go? I actually can't remember much of what else I was doing since my last post on the 1^st, or the span between that post and the one on the 27^th.

March 2007's Most Popular Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - This is one of my favorite articles, since I can never remember how to do it, and it is easier to come here then to search somewhere else. If you are receiving "incorrect function" errors when trying to sync, this is a handy trick to know. This makes 2 months in a row that this post has been in the Number 1 slot.

2. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery - Very handy to know how to use the outlook dumpster. This has been the second most popular post for 2 months now.

3. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression -Pesky problem which took a good deal of research, but ended up having a nice straightforward fix. This post has been in the top 5 for 2 months now.

4. How to Find your Google PageRank - This post points to a couple of tools that will tell you what your Google PageRank is.

5. User Submitted War Pigs Video Contest -I haven't actually gone looking for any of the videos that were submitted for the contest, and the free MP3 giveaway has ended now, but people still keep finding this post.

February 2007's Top 5 Posts

1. How to re-initialize the offline files cache and database in Windows XP - This is one of my favorite articles, since I can never remember how to do it, and it is easier to come here then to search somewhere else. If you are receiving "incorrect function" errors when trying to sync, this is a handy trick to know.

2. The Outlook Dumpster - Adventures in Deleted Item Recovery - Very handy to know how to use the outlook dumpster.

3. Winamp Site Hacked? -This was one event that my friend Art pointed out. I posted about it, and within 2 hours the site was fixed.

4. Microsoft Access error: Compile error . in query expression -Pesky problem which took a good deal of research, but ended up having a nice straightforward fix.

5. Remove a Service with the Command Prompt -Another post that I end up looking up more often then I care to admit. I'm glad that others have found it useful.

Happy New Year!

You know I have to post it, if I want to be a good blogger, so here goes.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Here is wishing that 2007 is going to be a terrific year. So get your resolutions in order, because they start tomorrow, or maybe the next day.

Personally I only have a few resolutions.

1. To Gain Control of the entire world.
2. To re-grow hair on my head.
3. To finally be able to fold the space time continuum.
4. To not mess up a single check by writing 2006 instead of 2007.

I know, almost the same resolutions as last year.

Enjoy 2007!

Merry Christmas Everyone

I just wanted to take a little bit of time here to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I have particularly enjoyed this Christmas, both of my kids are old enough to really appreciate the season, and this year we almost found a balance between giving too few and giving too many presents.

No, there weren't any Nintendo Wiis, Playstation 3s, or X-Box 360s under our tree this year. I was really happy that my wife and I were able to peg exactly what they wanted.

Merry Christmas!

Great Quote - Happy Holidays

I know the subject is a little misleading, but I ran across this quote on Google one day, thought it was terrific:

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

- Ellen Goodman

It doesn't have anything to do with the holidays, but I figured that since I haven't put anything else up on the blog, I might as well put something. I hope all of you are ready for the holidays, I know my brood is. Luckily we have all of the shopping done, well at least all of the shopping for the kids. I still have to get my wife something.

If I don't post anything else, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I'm still here

I haven't posted in a while, but I am still out here doing that
one thing. I saw a similar quote to the one below, but thought mine was
funnier.

Power Corrupts. Absolute power should have a UPS on it.
- Mike Scott

Guides for Midsize Businesses

Greetings All !

Well, I am back from Vacation, and am still in the process of wading through my inbox. Looking at the most recent TechNet Flash, they have a link to the Technet Midsize Business IT Center, It looks pretty neat, with guides for various guides and solutions based on how many computers you have.

More Vacation

Well, I am going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks again. So I think the already sparse postings will become even sparser. We are going to be visiting a bunch of stuff here in Colorado, so it should be a great deal of fun, and I sure can use the time off.

I'll try to post some things here and there.

General Update

1/31/2007 UPDATE: I posted a little more about this in "The Great Jeep Mishap", including pictures.
Well, I know, there haven't been any updates lately. I have been on vacation, and while camping the weekend of June 4th, we were doing some four wheeling, and I broke my Jeep.

What happened is that in the process of hopping mud puddles, I soaked my distributor, which is bad enough, but while messing around with things, I am pretty sure that I dropped the air filter's wing nut into the carburetor. I had my hand over the opening, and I dropped the wing nut and couldn't find it, but I didn't think it could have slipped through my fingers.

On the way home the next day, the jeep started clanking like crazy, and I thought for sure I had thrown a rod or something, so I got a tow home. The week of my vacation, I took the engine apart, and when I pulled the head, I found 2 pieces of metal in the cylinder. I can't really tell if they are the wing nut or not, they were stamped flat by the cylinder.

Anyway, the only thing left for me to do now is to clean the parts, and put everything back together, which I hope to do this weekend. Between the Jeep (which is a 84 CJ-7 btw) and my homework, I have been pretty busy. This week I came back to work, and am still sorting through all of the problems and catching up.

When I once again do something interesting, I'll make sure that I do an update.

The death of Blogging.

I just realized that I have made several posts all in one day, so I wonder if blogging will soon die. Usually, by the time I pick up on something, it isn't cool anymore. I guess we will see.

Good blog names

I know that I can title my blog whatever I wanted, but I can't get the cool URL. I wanted thenetworker, but This guy has already taken it.

The next choice was thebitbucket, but This guy took it. Oh well. The bit Bucket wasn't posted to since 2001, and thenetworker has not been posted to since August 04.

I guess I can't say anything, since I just started and all. For all I know in a year someone will be complaining about my blog not being updated, and how I have the name he wanted.