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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Coming soon to a PC in front of you

More Microsoft 'goodies'....

This one in the form of WGA...you know, that annoying update that has been messing up everyone's pc's.

If they don't think your copy of Windows is 'genuine' they nag you with popups about it. Unfortunately too many with legal copies are being nagged...and worse. It has caused big problems with RAID arrays.

So far you have been able to 'opt out' of installing this, and still be able to get security updates.

But soon it will be mandatory to have this crap installed in order to get updates. And very soon it will be required if you want Windows to work at all. And what if it doesn't pass? Your copy of Windows may self destruct. Who knows what may happen to your personal data that isn't part of Windows.

Microsoft isn't denying any of this. My advice to you is to back up your important data now, just in case, or go back to using Windows 2000.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=84

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Demographics Predictions

Microsoft is rolling out a demographics predictor you can use to see what gender and age group your website is most likely to appeal to.

The demographics for this blog, according to Microsoft, is males under age 18.

So my writing is more likely to appeal to teenage boys? I don't know how true that is.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


Try it out on your own site/blog if you want. The results may surprise you.

http://adlab.microsoft.com/DPUI/DPUI.aspx

Sunday, June 25, 2006

What's in a name?

A lot more than you think!

After reading an article on Lifehacker, I decided to do a Google search for my full name. There seems to be many that share this name with me, tons of results, and not all of them good.

Then one result stood out from the rest. It was what seemed to be a copy of my brother's obituary.

I was curious, so I clicked the link.

What I found was a blog post made by a friend of his that had lost touch with him over the years and had just learned of his death, recently.

I was touched by his post. I was touched by my father's words. I felt as if I had been given back a part of something precious that was taken from me long ago.

I lost my brother long before he died. Unfortunate circumstances and not exactly being accepted by my mother as part of the family, made me a stranger to him. I didn't know where he lived, I didn't have a phone number, nor was my mother ever going to share that with me or share my contact info with him.

My brother was one of my favorite people in all this world. He always was. He had a profound effect on my life in many ways. I looked up to him. I wanted to be just like him.

I wish my daughter could have met him. I wish I had more to give her of him than just my memories. I wish they could have gotten to know each other. I know she would have loved her Uncle Steve as much as I did.

I don't have much to remind me of him. A bracelet he made for me when I was 9 years old, a goofy plastic Dracula ear ring I found in his desk drawer when I went to Florida for his funeral, a few very old pictures from when I was about 3 years old, a small clay pot I made in school for him when I was 14....and his ashes (but that's not how I want to remember him)

Finding this blog post was almost like finding him...or at least a part of what he was. The author of the post doesn't know how much of a gift that was...yet. As soon as I can pull myself together enough and think about what I want to say, I am going to email him and let him know how much I appreciated his words.

me (age 3) and Steve (age 7), hugging

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

From the desk of Elizabeth Dole

Today I decided to share some of my snail mail with you. Why? Because I received something today that was better than anything currently in my email inbox.

This is hilarious. The funniest thing I have read in years!

And that's right, it came from Elizabeth Dole...THE Elizabeth Dole, one & only wife of Bob Dole.

This was so funny it made me not mind the $62/per month rent increase notice I got today....almost.

Click the thumbnails and prepare to laugh your ass off.

 

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Friday, June 02, 2006

Surprise, surprise!

I just found out that donation credits at DonationCoder are worth more than I thought. Here I was thinking my 170 credits were worth $1.70 when they are really worth $17.00!!

WOW!!