Roomful of Geeks.... - [4:03 PM]

Visalia Times Delta: "'We're a roomful of geeks. What did you expect?' 19-year-old Mike Varner of Bakersfield said with his face illuminated by his monitor and headphones pulled over his ears." - Congratulations to Daved and his gang of merry helpers at Gigafrag.Net. The local paper has picked up on the excitement around his LAN parites. Good job guys!

The dog days of summer... - [4:35 PM]

The San Joaquin Valley is a wonderful place to live but the summers can be a real killer. All week we've been 100+ and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. The forecast calls for the temperature to be between 102 and 104 over the next seven days. Normally I'd say that's only kinda bad because we are a fairly dry region. Today has been an exception to the rule. We have cloud cover and I'm sticking to everything in my office because all I have in here is a swamp cooler. I just tried to print some envelopes and the process sealed them. That's right, it's so hot and muggy the envelope glue was damp which caused it to seal when it ran through the nice warm lazer printer.

Good thing I remember how to use a pen.

UPDATE: How Ben stays cool during days like these. That's not a bad idea now is it? Note to self: Get out your stinkin' wireless cards and work from Borders or one of the local coffee shops during hot days. I love how he compares Borders' temperature to 'movie theatre levels'. If you live in the valley you'll understand what he means.

Great quote - [3:22 PM]

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!
Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words.
And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
-- Professor Albus Dumbledore

GameCube on the net? - [2:20 PM]

Slashdot: "The Warp Pipe Project, an open source project to bring LAN-based GameCube games online, recently released a specification detailing how GameCubes communicate over a network." - I wonder if my current employer would allow me to work on this project. We have a GameCube at home as well as an XBox.

I guess it wouldn't matter anyway since we still don't have good broadband choices.

The RSS Zag - [1:56 PM]

Scripting News: "There's lots of movement with RSS to announce today." - Dave Zag's RSS to the nEcho Zig. Nice strategy Dave.

And just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water? Remember: "It's even worse than it appears". (wink, wink)

Movie line of the week answer - [10:44 AM]

I must apologize for the lateness of yesterday's movie line. I'll try my best not to let that happen again.

Yesterday's winner is none other than, my brother, Jay. Congratulations!

The correct answer is...

X-Men

Thanks to everyone that played.

Softball sponsorship? - [10:29 AM]

I'm an admitted Softball Junkie. Our Exeter men's league team is looking for one, or more, good sponsors for the new season. Our entry fee is $380.00 and we'll happily wear your company name and logo all over us.

Heck, if you're a tattoo shop we'll even tattoo it to our bodies.

Contact me if you're willing to help. Thanks.

Movie line of the week - [4:43 PM]

WOW! Talk about embarrassing! I forgot it was Thursday! DOH!

Better late than never I guess, right?

Well, what would you prefer? Yellow spandex?

Ok, quick, what movie! Send your guesses here.

Similar inspiration? - [4:33 PM]

Just noticed the logo on Redmonk.net...

Which looks strangely familiar...

I think I know where he got his inspiration, the same place I did...

But I'm not tellin'.

Big Daddy RC - [2:59 PM]

Richard's about to be a daddy for the second time, thought you'd like his new pictures on his sites.

Good luck RC, two children == three times more work!

Summer safety tip - [2:15 PM]

MSNBC: "Tip: The best way to avoid getting an “ice cream headache” is to keep the ice cream on the side of your mouth, away from the roof of your mouth. " - It's that time of year. We all need to come together to prevent the much dreaded Brain Freeze.

Random reads to enjoy with your morning coffee - [11:18 AM]

Steven Vore: "It was ok, I guess, but that's about as far as I'll go with it." - I took my youngest daughter to see The Hulk on Tuesday night, Steven sums it up pretty well.

Joel on Software: "It seems like the answer to my sweet and innocent question about backwards compatibility is that they're actually going to install Linux, but on many machines (as many as 80%?) there will be VMWare running a licensed copy of Windows inside." - More info on Munich choice to install Linux.

Zeldman: "Let’s see what the government might have chosen in its effort to protect American lives from ruthless, technologically sophisticated terrorists" - Mr. Zeldman's view of Homeland Security's choice to use Microsoft products. Your mileage may vary.

General question: Does anyone keep track of how many times Microsoft's Corporate network has been hacked? We use Windows, often dogfood versions, to run everything as far as I know. I know Windows Sever 2003 was in use LONG before it ever saw the light of day.

The best security in the world: Disconnect your computers from the internet, better yet, turn the box off. That should slow hackers down for a while.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. -- Romans 12:2

Point taken - [4:51 PM]

Joel on Software: "What about all the people who need to run software that doesn't run on Linux?" - So did anyone ask that question?

Homeland security fun... - [11:01 AM]

Slashdot: "Microsoft Wins Homeland Security Contract" - I love reading stuff like this on Slashdot. Why? Because it's a real kick to watch all the teenie-boppers come out and pound on us in the comments section. Go read 'em, they're always worth a hearty laugh. Remember, all that security embarrassment has made us a better company and it's helped us improve our products.

Not my Microsoft... - [9:23 AM]

Scoble: "At Microsoft I have already -- in my first two months -- witnessed employees who came up with an idea for a product, designed a prototype and a PowerPoint deck, and pitched it to execs and got it approved." - I wish I could say the same thing about my experience. I think if the Visio group were in Redmond, which is for some weird reason considered the center of the universe, it might be a bit different. We've tried to fit in as a group but we've never really been accepted. That's the struggle of being an acquired product. We'll get there eventually, I know it, but it's been a real struggle.

AOL and weblogs? - [11:43 AM]

CNet News: "America Online will integrate Web log software into the next version of its service this summer, giving its 34 million subscribers a way into the increasingly popular medium." - It was only a matter of time before one of the biggies jumped in, right? Weblogs are 'growing up' so to speak. You can no longer ignore them. Does this validate weblogs as a valuable medium? No. It just means AOL needs to generate a new stream of revenue and this idea must fit the bill, a competitive advantage. I'm sure MSN, NetZero, or some other bit ISP will be next. The writing is on the wall, embrace 'the blog' now!

In related news (CNet News), "Microsoft announced Monday that beta versions of two of its upcoming Office 2003 applications have been integrated to make it easier to design corporate portals, internal Web sites companies use to disseminate information to employees."

Blogs are but a step away...

Thanks guys - [9:41 AM]

Got a couple of replies to my questions yesterday about the new site look. I just wanted to say thanks to Bill and Steven for giving it a try! Bill you were right about the Blogger archiving, it appears to be because my week started on Sunday. I'm not going to try to correct the missing archives because I don't want to republish everything with the new site look. I want the old stuff to remain in it's current form.

Steven recommended something for my background problem so I applied the change and agree that it does make it easier to read. His recommendation was to breakup the background tag into separate elements so it's easier to deal with. Good call.

Funny - [9:35 AM]

Mark Pilgrim: "Have you seen my website?" - It's a visual thing, so if you would be so kind as to follow the link.