Wednesday, May 19, 2004 - Posts
Taken out today: Unplugged
# of referenced posts by category: Blogging: 12; Development:
7; Other: 14; SQL: 9
Line of the day: It is my opinion that part of what makes blogs
so refreshing and exciting to many people is that their transparent, sharing,
honest nature. In a global society that is growing ever more cynical about the
motives and ethics of just about everyone and everything around them due to
countless corporate, government, religious, and organizational scandals of the
past 30 years, a little open, honest communication goes a long way.
Post of the day:
Alien Artifacts
Remember: the Take Outs FAQ is at:
http://sqljunkies.com/WebLog/ktegels/articles/1387.aspx
If you'll be in San Diego Saturday night (22 May 2004), please feel free to meet up with us at the W Hotel Lobby around 6:00 PM. We'll be heading out to the Yard House for dinner and beer. Or feel free to join us at the Yardhouse around 6:30 PM (or there after.)
An RSVP here or via email would be helpful so we can let the Yardhouse know how many to expect.
Maybe its because I didn't sleep well last night because I didn't really wind
down from work before going trying to sleep, but this morning, I'm suddenly very
pensive about TechEd. I seem to be wired towards having a plan, knowing what's
going to happen and executing it. My efforts to do so thus far for next week
haven't gone as well as I hoped, I suppose, and now I'm manifesting that. While
I appreciate chaos theory, chaos reality isn't as comfortable of a
fit.
I'm hoping that by confronting the feeling and doing something about it, I'll
get over it. That should help.
A couple of beers might too.
Yesterday I wanted to use a locally installed Virtual PC Windows 2003 Server
to test an MSI file that needed to be built for the Crystal Reports Merge
Module. We don't use the "shared folder" approach to deploying applications,
rather, we let the FrontPage Server Extensions do the heavy lifting. It just
works. My original problem was that the networking was terribly slow, though,
and the process would time out.
On reflection, that's easy to understand: both the OS (a Windows XP session)
and the Virtual PC program were in a race to utilize the network interface. My
fix?
- Power down and crack the case of the PC.
- Install a second NIC (I have a small cache of parts around for just such
cases)
- Patch second NIC into hub, switch or what-have-you.
- Boot up, log in.
- Access the property sheet for the original NIC and unbind "Virtual
Machine Network Services." Apply change.
- Access the property sheet for the new NIC and verify that the "Virtual
Machine Network Services" binding is made.
- Run Virtual PC console. Update Virtual Server as needed.
While I didn't actually measure the impact of this change, it felt like my
Virtual PC session was making at least a 500% improvement in total network
utilization.
One who seizes on a single idea or subject with a pathological obsession.
Traded a few instant messages with a friend of mine last night. They were groping for a word to describe some of their cohorts who, while both gifted and sharing, are so totally focused on their field of expertise that they forego any other social normalities. Kind of like the people in news groups who know more about a product than anybody else... and they make sure you know that.
That leads me to another resource I want to mention: acronymfinder.com. This looks rather helpful indeed. Thanks to Eric Penne on the OLUG mailing list for pointing it out.