May 2006 - Posts
OK, so forget what I said about Squawkbox 3.0.5 being around the corner ;) That version is now going to be 3.1 instead.
Joel has listed all of the bug fixes here. I know that a lot of you have been waiting for some of the updates included, so be sure to keep an eye on www.squawkbox.ca
Niniane just posted
thisThanks for the laugh, I especially like the conversation you had with Adam :)
For one, this blog post is being written from Word 2007 with its new Blog Publishing system. Very cool indeed, but this feature does need work... CS Photo stores need to be supported as do post categories. If the category does not exist then it should create it.
That said, I have found the whole thing to be pretty stable as a product.
Right now, Outlook 2007 is looking very cool as it syncs up all of my IE7 RSS Feeds, no more requirement for Reachout or any other RSS Reader in outlook! More soon.
Yes... the little fellow on the right in the picture with me. Now and always a legend in Munster and an exceptionally nice bloke as well!
This is a video of his TRY in the Heineken Cup FinalClass!
...I found myself screaming & stressing so much at the Heineken Cup Final that the Biarritz supporter behind me thought it would be a good idea to give me a neck rub after I sat down for a break :)
I waited to post this as I wanted to see what the final game of the season would bring in the Celtic League... we just beat Cardiff 37 - 8 which was fitting for the end of the season. Whilst I did not make it down to this last game, Rachel did. The atmosphere sounds amazing... I am stuck watching the parade of the Heineken Cup on Setanta Sports. Ah well.
So, we have won... it makes all the European trips that we followed Munster to seem less expensive than they actually were... It means that if Leinster ever do win the Heineken cup, I won't feel quite so bad. It means that Limerick city will be a less dangerous place to walk the streets at night..... (Well actually no... but two out of three ain't bad).
So... I'll leave you with some pictures of Sean, Laura, Aiden, Fiona, Stephen, Aoifa, Rachel and I celebrating in Cardiff last week :)
Whilst completing the upgrade on the server here today, I pinged Arno to ask him if he would like a "MVP Blog" over here. The good news is he said yes, so expect him here soon....
http://msmvps.com/blogs/arnogerretsen/
Ms Bradley has been desperately waiting to get these blogs upgraded to Community Server 2.x
I gave in to the pressure and I am looking at doing this upgrade today. If the site is a little "off", blame me.
EDIT: Things seem to be moving along nicely. Had a few small issues, but they are being overcome. Please post on this thread if you spot anything.
Kevin the the community lead for Small Business Server. Check out his
blog.
Note: He will hassle you to fill out his community survey :)
My dear wife really is good at getting presents for me :) If you own a playstation you MUST get this game!
http://www.guitarherogame.com/
Endless hours of fun... it reminds me of a PC game I got years ago called Quest for Fame which starred Aerosmith.... but this is MUCH better. Go get it!
I have SO much to post about, but I have been away.... Just came back from the legendary Munster win in Cardiff and spent a few days getting drunk in Limerick. While you wait for that post,
here is a link to the E3 HiRes video of FSX.
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Cardiff is not that far from here.... just a ferry trip away. The problem is that I am going with the rest of the "gang" from Shannon Airport.
(I have not told them that I am bad luck in Airports)....
Anyway, it now turns out that munsterrugby.ie travel people did not charter their own plane, but went through Limerick Travel. It also turns out that we are not now going to Cardiff airport, but to Birmingham airport - a good 3 hours coach ride away.
Should be fun.... wish us luck for the
Final!
This time it isn't so amusing.... because it sucked. If the CEO of Continental was standing in front of me right now I would have to wonder what I would do...
They cancelled my flight from Norfolk to Newark. Ah yes "Act of God...." (Great if you believe in God). The fact of the matter is that all other flights seemed to be coming from Newark to Norfolk without issue. The staff were unhelpful and frankly rude, one even laughed in my face. Nightmare stuff... I wonder if I am just unlucky.
Not only was my flight cancelled, but my business seat from Newark to Dublin was moved to the 17th! Yes, you heard it... no more seats until the 17th, even if I could get out of Norfolk.
All I can say is thanks to Anthony and Nathan from the forum who could go and check at other carriers / make phone calls for me whilst I tried to find out what was going on. Nathan went to the Delta desk and they had a single seat left on a flight to Atlanta and then from there another single seat to Dublin. The only problem was this costed $1300.00, economy, one way.... but then again, I had no choice.
Maybe Continental will give me back some money on my usually non-refundable ticket... maybe they will pay for the Delta transfer..
Maybe...
Maybe.....
Maybe.........
I am just glad to be home to my wife.... nothing like a cooked roast dinner after I got some sleep.
I have just uploaded some unedited pictures to Flickr from the Minasi forum meeting 2006.
Click here
I and the other MR&D forum members that are at the first Minasi Forum Members conference (I made that name up as we don't have an official name yet) have just come back from Mark's house.
The food was fantastic and the banter was mighty. I even got to touch the mystical forum server! :)
During the walk around, I noticed a book on the shelf that I doubt many people know about. It is "Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe" by Mr Minasi himself! Now, for those that don't know, Wing Commander was "The PC Game of the 90's", I spent many an hour playing this... who would have known that back then (when I was like.... 12 and Mark was a mere 55 or something) that he was writing a book about a game that drove me to really move into PC's and understanding them. Now I admin his forums... freaky.
Just as I started to write this, my bags came through the door. The end of the story.... now back to the start.....
Dublin to Newark was great, and I knew things were going to well. I sat down in the business lounge in Newark airport and synced up the email (RPC over HTTPS really does rock). I spot an email from Continental onepass telling me that my flight to Norfolk is cancelled... Noooooooooooooooooooooo....
I run to the VERY helpful lady in the Continental lounge and she somehow finds me a flight to Washington DC and then on to Norfolk.... but it leaves in 45 minutes from another terminal. I sprint to the other terminal and I look the same as that guy from "Lost" (yeah, you know... the big one) when I arrive. I made the flight with seconds to spare.
Now I am on the plane, I look at my watch and realise that my connection in Washington is also 45 Minutes... should be fun :)
At this point I would like to comment on the approach to Washington DC airport. WOW! it is so cool. You come down the river over the National Monument and look up to Capital Building. Then, a late turn in and you drop onto the runway. Apart from the weather being bad, DC looks like a nice place. I must come back here.
I get off the plane and pounce on the nearest Continental representative to ask where the US Airways desk is so that I can get my boarding card. She points me in the right direction and I proceed to perform my "bounding elephant" impression to the desk. I handed the chap from US Airways my name and his face drops... "Urrr... sir, you are not even on standby on this flight". At this point I will try anything... I well up... I realise that I cannot be stuck in DC overnight! He puts me on standby and again I run to the departure gates.
Now, I get stuck in the longest EVER queue for security. I have no choice and push my way through the line. I get through after some high blood pressure moments as everything metal on my person decides to setoff the alarm on the scanner. (I even took off my wedding ring to get the damn thing to stop beeping).
I arrive at the gate and I am approached by another nice bloke from US Airways who says "are you Nick Whittome". I said "how did you know?". He said, "The guy rang from the desk upstairs and said that a guy that looks like he is going to have a heart attack will be coming down to you". Nice...
"I have a seat for you". YES!, the travel Gods are with me today.
I get on the flight, which is a short one and have a good laugh with the "Elvis like" Air steward who spoke quicker than anyone I have ever met, and another chap who is joining Marks Forum now to help with Linux stuff. They made the trip... thanks guys if you are reading this.
I did not even bother trying to find my bags at the airport. I reported them lost, grabbed a cab to the hotel and they turned up a minute ago.
So, everything has fallen into place and I was especially happy to open my hotel room window this morning and see this:
I am off to America tomorrow for the weekend for the MR&D inaugural forum meeting. However, before I go... a rant :)
Microsoft, if you are going to release patches via WSUS / Microsoft Update then please for the love of God restart the services even if the server is not rebooted!