Hey, That Was Fun!

As you probably know, I’m a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). As you may not know, MCTs are required to renew their certification each year, and the 2009 renewal period is currently underway. I got my MT 2009 welcome kit a week or so ago.

And with that welcome kit came a nice surprise – a voucher for one free Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) exam.

Now, if you’re like me, you probably like to think of yourself as being a geek. Someone who builds software that has never existed before, and who dominates the poor software that is unlucky enough to cross your path. (Or something like that anyway.) So although I had been aware of the MCAS certification for some time, I had never really considered trying to achieve it. But hey – free is free, right?

So last Friday I scheduled my exam (77-601: Using Microsoft Office Word 2007) for this morning. I was going to be out of the office for a dentist appointment anyway, and the test center is on the way home, so why not, right?

Well, to make a long story short, I passed the exam and had a great time doing it. The exam was delivered in Word 2007 – each question gave me a list of things to accomplish and I then used Word 2007 to achieve the required goals. It didn’t matter what steps you used (I’m a big keyboard shortcut user and don’t use the Ribbon too often) so long as you achieve the requirements as written.

The thing that struck me here was that this exam really tested my ability to use Word 2007 as a “power user.” Not just someone who typed documents, but someone who knows what features are there and who knows how to use them. I doubt that I’ll stop taking my technical certification exams any time soon, but I think that I may just need to try my hand at the Excel 2007 and PowerPoint 2007 exams too…

Loving Windows 7

I installed the public Windows 7 beta on one of my laptops early this week. This is a laptop that I use all the time when I’m at home (I love the keyboard, so I sit at this one and Remote Desktop into my other machines) but it’s been running Windows XP because Windows Vista never ran particularly well on its 2004-era hardware. And as is always the case when working with a pre-release operating system, there is both good news and bad news.

Let’s do the bad news first:

• I’m traveling this week and next, so I only had two days to play with new features before heading out on the road.
• I have a bunch of demos I need to do next week at the MCT Summit in Redmond, so I can’t blow away the Windows Server 2008 install on my demo laptop and replace it with Windows 7 until the Summit is over.
• That’s about it for the bad news…

The good news is much longer, so I’ll just hit on the highlights:

• Windows 7 runs faster and better than Windows XP ever did, even with the same software running. I’m vastly impressed by how well it runs, and I can’t wait to get it installed on more modern hardware.
• It looks and feels great, with all of the nice features of Windows Vista (I love Vista search and some of the Explorer enhancements that I miss so much when I go back to Windows XP or 2003) and is more usable (and just plain prettier) as well.
• Windows 7 automatically detected my Nvidia video card and downloaded drivers for it. This may sound trivial (and isn’t really something for which i can give credit to the Windows 7 team) but the new driver finally works. For all previous operating systems and driver versions, this video card has always displayed any video being played in full-screen mode on the secondary monitor. This meant that I could not work on one display while having a video (any video – not just Manowar videos) play on the other. With the new driver, this is no longer the case, and video finally works the way that it should.
• Did I mention it’s amazingly fast? ;-)

But the thing that prompted me to post this article is not my own experience. I found today a list of “Windows 7 Secrets” published by Tim Sneath here: http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2009/01/12/the-bumper-list-of-windows-7-secrets.aspx. This includes a ton of keyboard shortcuts (one of my favorite tools) and ways to work with the new OS features that you’d be unlikely to stumble across on your own. Definitely check it out the next time you sit down at your Windows 7 machine, or if you’re wondering whether you should make the move…

Math and Terror

My son just celebrated his eighth birthday. While he was eating his birthday breakfast before heading to school, he came out with this gem:

"I'm half of sixteen today!"

Now part of me is happy that he's thinking of mathematical relationships at the breakfast table. But another part of me is thinking how I am so incredibly not yet ready for sixteen. These first eight years have gone by so quickly, I can't begin to imagine how quickly the next will fly.

So the next time you're wondering if the glass is half empty or half full, just be glad that it isn't half of sixteen...

Better File Rename

This is just a random tool recommendation - I've been meaning to post it for months, but have never made the time. Well, a meeting just finished early, so the time made itself.

I've love this tool: Better File Rename

It's a Windows shell extension that gives you a ton (maybe more) of batch file renaming options. Right-click on a folder or a group of files and you can:

• Add characters to the beginning of a file
• Change the file extension
• Add sequence numbers to the file name
• Add date/time stamps to the file name
• Replace characters or string patterns in the file name
• A staggering number of other possibilities

I've been using this delightful little tool since 2002, and it works great on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and I assume Windows Server 2008 as well, although I've never personally tested it. If I ever rebuild my primary laptop to run Server 2008 then I'll know, because this app is one of the few 3rd party "must have" utilities that I install whenever I rebuild my main machine.

Ok, that's that. Check it out - download a trial version and see if it rocks your world too. Especially with all of the Christmas photos you'll soon be taking, you know you want it...

ThinkPad Keyboard Madness

I own lots of laptops. After being an independent software development and BI consultant for many years, I've assembled quite the collection. I have Dells and Toshibas[1] and have had Gateways and HPs as well. My little home office is filled with them[2].

I also have a Lenovo. It's a ThinkPad X300, and if I never needed to type on it, it would probably be one of my favorite computers. It's light, it's powerful, it's solid, and just about everything you could want a laptop to be.

But I do have to type on it. And because of this, I swear. A lot. In fact, I swear so much I just may need a new chart.

Why all the swearing, you ask? Well, before I answer, please take a look at your keyboard, down in the bottom left corner. Go on. I'll wait.

There.

You see, if you're typing on a ThinkPad, you'll probably[3] notice that the bottom left key is the control "Ctrl" key, and to the right of that (if you're using a laptop anyway) is the function "Fn" key.

Still with me? Good.

Now if you were horribly evil in a past life and are currently being punished by having to type on a ThinkPad, you'll instead notice that the Fn and Ctrl keys have been reversed. Swapped. Inverted.

And this is insane!

Ok, you ask - what's the big deal? Who cares?

First and foremost - me. I care a lot. You see, I'm a developer. And while I don't buy in with the whole developer stereotype[4] I definitely am a very keyboard-centric computer user. I prefer to use my keyboard whenever possible, and there are literally thousands of times each day when I perform some task that utilizes a Ctrl+Key keyboard shortcut. For example, you may be familiar with some of these well-loved productivity enhancers:

• Ctrl-C = Copy
• Ctrl-V = Paste
• Ctrl-Arrow (Left or right) = Jump one word in text
• Ctrl-Shift-Arrow (Left or right) = Jump and highlight one word in text
• Ctrl-F4 = Close current tab or child window

I could go on and on and on. A significant portion of the most common Windows keyboard shortcuts involve the Ctrl key.

Now at this point you're probably asking "But Matthew, since this incarnation of ultimate evil that Lenovo uses for a keyboard inverts the Ctrl and Fn keys, what do these keyboard shortcuts do if your finger, trained through decades of computer use, hits the Fn key instead?"

Funny you should ask. This is what happens:

• Fn-C = Nothing
• Fn-V = Nada
• Fn-Arrow (Left or right) = Zip
• Fn-Shift-Arrow (Left or right) = Zilch
• Fn-F4 = Puts the computer to sleep!!!!!

That's right. If you try to close out a child window and let your fingers follow the paths that are ingrained deep in their muscle memory, you have just effectively closed the lid on your accursed laptop and have shut it down. Even if you're in the middle of working. Even if you're in the middle of a giant download that then needs to be restarted. Even if you're connected remotely to the corporate network and you then need to dig out your smart card so you can re-connect. Even if you're hosting a LiveMeeting that your boss' boss' boss is attending. Yeah. Even then.

I could go on. I could rant about how there is no way to re-map these keys, because the Fn key isn't exposed to the standard Windows keyboard APIs. I could rave about how the Esc key is on its own row above the function keys (F1 through F12) so that when I try to hit F2 to rename a file I get F3 (search) and when I attempt to hit Esc I get F1 (help) instead. I could blow my top and go on and on about how when I use my other laptops (which outnumber my lone ThinkPad 7:1 at this point) the lessons that my poor fingers are being forced to learn are tripping me up when I use normal keyboards. I could go on and on and on...

But I won't. Because it's far too late for a rant like this to go on any further. Instead, I'm going to fill out a little survey that Lenovo has put together. And I encourage you to do the same. Please, please, please do the same.

I think it's great that Lenovo is conducting such a survey. But I think it is very frustrating that they're just getting around to asking. Take a few minutes and Live Search around on "ThinkPad" and "keyboard" and you'll see what I mean - dozens of other frustrated ThinkPad owners have poured their anguish into the ether as well. (My favorite one is here.)  And even more frustrating, the survey doesn't even mention the Fn and Ctrl key positions - it focuses on the Esc, Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys instead. Ugh...

But hopefully they're listening now. This is what I told them at the end of my survey, in response to the question "Of the keys that vary between different key layouts, for which keys are you most concerned about their location (e.g. Esc, Home, End, PgUp, PgDn, others, etc.)?":

"The Ctrl key MUST be in the bottom-left corner, immediately below the Shift key. If this is not the case in the hardware then there MUST be a way to re-map these keys in the OS or BIOS. Yes, you need to keep your historic users happy, but you also need to understand the basic mechanics of using keyboard shortcuts and the PAIN that users feel when attempting to adjust to the ThinkPad's non-standard layout. Until one of these solutions is implemented I will never buy or use another ThinkPad."

And I won't. It pains me that much. There are lots of small, light, powerful laptops out there just waiting for my hardware budget, and only the ThinkPad comes with a keyboard that makes my typing life miserable every day. It's a show-stopper for me, and I will never buy another laptop without looking at the keyboard first.

But now it's time for me to sleep. And hopefully to dream of non-ThinkPad keyboards...

[1] Which is another story, but probably not one I'll rant about just yet...

[2] And, in the winter, heated by them.

[3] I saw "probably" simply because I have not owned one of every type of computer ever made, but for my own personal sample "probably" means 100% of the time.

[4] For example, I dislike Red Bull, don't drink Mountain Dew, and I'm tall, good looking[5] and very comfortable around members of the opposite sex. ;-)

[5] Humble, too.

The IT Crowd - Series 3

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I love the delightful The IT Crowd show put out by Britain's Channel 4. There're aren't a lot of episodes yet, but today that is going to change. The first episode of the new 3rd series is going to air tonight. Those of us in the US will need to wait a while longer, but I'm excited nonetheless. If you're already a fan then you know there's more geek madness in store. And if you're not, you should track down series 1 and 2 and see what you're missing...

A Bad Week to Travel

I'm on the road this week, in Seattle for the PASS Community Summit conference and in Redmond for meetings and such. Normally I love this trip, because the food is great[1], it's a beautiful area and it's a chance for me to get face-to-face time with more members of my team.

But this week I really wish I were at home, and the reason may not be obvious. It's because I'm going to miss the rollout of the New Xbox Experience. Yeah, I know that's geeky[2] but I've been looking forward to this major overhaul of the Xbox platform ever since it was announced a few months back. Not only does the Xbox UI get a complete makeover, but I will also be able to stream Netflix content directly to my Xbox 360 for instant video gratification.

And it's going to be released this Wednesday, November 19th. And I'm going to miss it until I get home Friday night. And yes, I've been looking forward to it enough to resent those two days enough to blog about it.

Is it Friday yet?

[1] Yes, I'm going back to Elemental@Gasworks this week ;-)

[2] And not like "developer geek" but more like "end user geek" which is a lot less cool-sounding

Vote Early!

For those of us in the US, today is Election Day. After months of campaigning (I wanted to say "heated debate" but we didn't really get months of that, id we?) it's time to vote, and select a new president.

I live in a quiet little neighborhood, and typically get up early to vote as soon as the polls open. There have never been more than five or ten people in line in front of me, and it's always been a quick in-and-out[1] procedure.

But today was a little different.

Today, when I arrived a few minutes after the polls opened (6:00 AM, still dark outside) the parking lot was nearly full. There were 60 or 70 people already in line in front of me; it took me almost half an hour to get in, vote, and get back out again. And when I left the line was noticeably longer than it had been when I arrived.

Never before have I seen a voter turnout like this one. For some reason, people must feel that this particular election is very important.

So if you're thinking about waiting until after work today to vote, please let me urge you to not delay. If the massive[2] voter turnout that I experienced this morning is at all indicative of what the day will look like at polls around the nation, you will probably want to ensure that you take into account longer lines and longer delays at the polls.

So go vote!

[1] And if you now for some reason feel the urge to go watch A Clockwork Orange then my work here is done. ;-)

[2] Ok, so 60 or 70 people isn't "massive" on a global scale, but please work with me here...

Just One More Reason to Love SSIS

Alternate title for this post: "Is Sarah Palin BI?" But I didn't want to go there, and I'm sure you appreciate that.

But here in the US, the presidential election season is nearly over (just a few more days to go) and many people are getting sick and tired of listening to the candidates talk. But for the last few months (or years) they have been talking a lot, and people have been transcribing what they say for the press and for prosperity.

And someone (sadly I do not know who[1]) has taken those words, particularly the words of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and run them through the text mining features of SQL Server Integration Services. And the UK IT news web site The Register has the scoop.

What's not to love? Politics, plus killer BI tools, plus dry British humor[2] is a surefire recipe for holiday laughs.

Happy Halloween!

[1] Although if the author of the SSIS package reads this and wants to share the DTSX with me, I would love to have it ;-)

[2] Or does that need to be "humour?"

Holy VHDs Batman!

Ok, color me impressed. I'm watching today's PDC keynote and just saw that Windows 7 can natively:

• Mount VHD files as disks
• Create fixed size or dynamic VHDs
• Boot from Windows 7 VHDs

Holy crap. That last one totally blows me away - the ability to natively boot from a VHD file to test a virtual machine (and the software it runs) without a host OS sucking down resources. Oh yeah!

Now if they just expand the mounting support to also include standard ISO images, I'll be the happiest geek on the block.

it's not BI, but I'm darned excited!

iWindows 7 Surface Phone?

I'm not attending the PDC this year, and I must admit that I'm more than a little jealous of my friends and colleagues who are in Los Angeles at the conference this week.[1] I've been following some of the news from the pre-conference online. And one InfoWorld article had a quote that caught my eye. The article itself is about Microsoft opening up the Surface SDK, which is pretty cool in and of itself, but towards then end there was this quote from a Forrester researcher:

"What the iPhone, the Surface, and Windows 7 all have in common is that they are the vanguard of the next major wave of human/technology interaction."

Ok, I get the iPhone and Surface part here - they both have touch-driven interfaces that move beyond what we've seen before in consumer devices - but what about Windows 7? What features is Windows 7 going to include that justifies a market analyst including it in the same category as the Surface and the iPhone for human/technology interaction?

Microsoft has been playing Windows 7 pretty close to the vest, and this week's PDC is likely to be the first time that many people outside of Microsoft get to see it. I suppose that now that I am working for Microsoft[2] I could download and install it, but honestly I have too many other things to get done. So for now I'll just keep watching the press.

And now that this tidbit has piqued my interest, I will definitely be watching the PDC keynote in two hours. You should too.

[1] Although when I learned that it was Ozzie and not Ozzy delivering the keynote with Bob Muglia, I was a bit less disappointed to not be there. Ray just can't hit those high notes the same way...

[2] Three weeks today!

Fame! Fortune! Featured Blog!

I just received an email notifying me that my BI Polar blog has been featured in the "Bloggers Spotlight" section on the TechEd Bloggers web site. This site aggregates a bunch of technical blogs from bloggers who participated in Microsoft's TechEd conference. I've had a bunch of my posts (not the ones about fine dining and finer music, just the technical ones) show up there but it's a nice surprise to have the whole blog featured.

On a related note, I definitely do continue to blog on BI and SSIS topics (and all of the other random stuff that justifies the "BI Polar" title) after I join Microsoft next month. I'm sure my post frequency will continue to be erratic, or even if but the blog will continue to be hosted here on blogspot, but rest assured the madness will continue. I see several interesting places to apply BI technologies to the challenges waiting for me at Microsoft, and if I know me (this is not guaranteed, but it does seem likely) I'll find the time to blog about it here and there...

Losing My MVP

Since the beginning of the year I've had the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) logo on my blog. I've been delighted to be honored with the MVP award, because is is an acknowledgment of the effort I've made to give back to the Microsoft technical community. This is what Microsoft has to say about the MVP award:

"The Microsoft MVP Award Program recognizes and thanks outstanding members of technical communities for their community participation and willingness to help others. The MVP Award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who foster the free and objective exchange of knowledge by actively sharing their real-world expertise with technology users. The MVP Award celebrates the most active community members from around the world who provide invaluable online and offline expertise that enriches the community experience and makes a difference in technical communities that feature Microsoft products."

What a cool thing to have Microsoft say about you, right? But in another three weeks I will no longer be an MVP - Microsoft is taking the award away from me.

Why would they do that, you ask?

Well, since I haven't been violating any NDAs lately, that narrows down the field. Have you guessed yet?

That's right - I'm going to be joining Microsoft as a full time employee. MVPs are "independent experts" and Microsoft employees cannot be MVPs.

Starting October 6th I will be joining Microsoft Learning as a Senior Program Manager/Quality Architect. I will be working with Microsoft Learning's Courseware Development Group (CDG) to improve the quality of Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) courseware. This is a challenge that is very close and dear to my heart. I've been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 1996, and have taught many MOC courses over the years. The quality of the courseware is a big factor that affects trainers (and their students) around the world, and being in a position to make such a big difference to such a large audience is an opportunity I simply could not refuse.

And I get one of those cool blue badges - how cool is that? ;-)

My Interview With Chris Shaw

Chris Shaw is the conference director for the SSWUG vConferences that I have been blogging about for the past few months. Last week he sent out a set of interview questions to the various conference chairs[1] asking questions about careers and technology and such. I replied, and today Chris posted the interview on his blog, here:

Business Intelligence with Matthew Roche

Some of the questions[2] were quite interesting, so if you have a spare minute or two you should feel free to check it out.

 

[1] Not the things you sit in, but so far as I know this is the accepted gender-neutral form of "chairmen" as opposed to "chairpeople" or something...

[2] As opposed to the answers, of course

Elemental, My Dear Watson

This is a completely non-technical post, but since I know that quite a few people who read my blog also live in the Seattle area, so there is no way I could not post it. You see, I had the most amazing dinner last night...

My friends Ken and Susan had each independently recommended the restaurant, Elemental@Gasworks[1] to me and I'd been wanting to check it out for some months now. And since I was in Seattle and free last night, I had my chance. And let me tell you, my expectations were sky-high, and I was not disappointed.

I arrived around 4:15. I'd heard that the place was hard to find so I wanted to give myself some extra time, but between my GPS and the verbal instructions I'd received from Ken I did ok. I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Gasworks Park which is just south of the restaurant, and took my seat around 5:00 when the doors opened[2] for business. There was a cocktail hour from 5:00 to 6:00, but since I was driving I couldn't partake in the hard stuff, and instead sipped some iced wine and cucumber water[3] while snacking on my truffle popcorn.

Instead of ordering from the menu I took the prix fixe option. I'd heard enough good things about the chef to trust her judgment, and what followed was an exercise in culinary delight. Let's see...

• We started with stuffed calamari (the body of the squid was stuffed with rice and other goodness, and the tentacles were on the side) cooked in red wine,
• Which was followed by a blue cheese and pear bread pudding, which was savory and sweet at the same time,
• And then a dish of lamb tartare with a quail egg yolk on top, served with crispy salty cheese cracker triangles,
• Followed by a green salad with a truffle vinaigrette dressing,
• And a salmon filet cooked with bacon and served on some sort of wilted greens and pear tomatoes,
• And finished up with a roast quail stuffed with something delicious - by that point it was too dark for me to tell just what it was.
• Of course "finished up" is something of a misnomer, because I opted to get the cheese course as well, which included four types of amazing cheese, three varieties of wine, some bread, slices of apple, and a date stuffed with nuts and other goodness.
• And by then there was no way I could say no to the "sweets," which included three different desserts and a pair of dessert wines.

Oh my goodness - was the best meal I've had in months, and perhaps the best meal I've ever had in the US. Yes, it was that good.

I just wish I had a designated driver, so I could have done more than sip my wine. The wines were generous and paired perfectly with the courses, but since I was driving I had to limit my intake to just a taste here and a taste there.

And the last thing that blows my mind - the meal cost $87 in total. Now I know this is not a cheap meal, but this includes the prix fixe menu ($40) plus the wine pairings ($20) plus the cheese course ($12) plus desserts ($15) and includes taxes. And they don't accept tips, so when I say "total" that's exactly what I mean. I honestly don't know how they do it. I've paid twice as much for meals that were far inferior.

If you're in the Seattle area, definitely check out this restaurant. You need to show up early (doors open at 5:00 and every table was full by 5:15 or so, and at 9:00 I was the first one to leave) or show up late (to get a table when the first round of diners is done) but definitely show up. I know that I'll be back...

[1] As I write this the restaurant web site is down, so I'm linking to a Seattle Times review instead. Normally you can find them online here http://www.elementalatgasworks.com.

[2] Figuratively - the doors were physically open the whole time.

[3] That's right - there was a little slice of cucumber in the carafe of ice water on the table, and it gave the water a very subtle cucumber flavor. It was a little weird, but it worked.

Who Runs The Cloud?

Cloud Computing is a very popular phrase these days, and it's been creeping its way into SQL Server circles with the introduction of SQL Server Data Services and other service offerings from Microsoft and other companies. It seems to be what many IT managers and some IT professionals want to talk about.

But it's always struck me as being a little odd. After all, I've never met either:

A) Software that runs on water vapor and ice particles suspended in air,

or

B) A cloud that's made up of high-end computer hardware.

Yes, I know - that's not really fair. Everyone knows that the "cloud" in Cloud Computing refers to the Internet, which is usually drawn as a big fluffy cloud on whiteboards because it's too complex and dynamic in structure to be diagrammed accurately at more detailed levels of abstraction. But still, it seems to me that too many people fail to look deeper, to force the "cloud" abstraction to leak, as it were.

Until it leaks on them.

Obviously, having your software run "in the cloud" means that it's running in a well-connected data center, probably one that's managed by a 3rd party. But the cloud is still made up of hardware and software, and regardless of who owns and operates it, it still needs to be managed by someone. And what happens when that fails?

Well, bad things, right? I came across this article on The Register[1] today:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/28/flexiscale_outage/

Ouch.[2]

What's the moral of the story? I'm not going to claim that I know, but I'm sure that it is something related to "good for the goose, good for the gander" or the like. The same bad things that can happen to your own data center can happen to others' data centers as well, even when your applications and services are running there.

So is it time to look at your SLA again?

[1] My favorite source for bitter and sarcastic IT news

[2] Ouch and a half.

Working Around AT&T's "Help"

I own an AT&T Tilt smartphone. I use it for all sorts of things, including voice calls, web browsing and email, and it's very rare that I leave home without it. But one thing that I have not used it for before today was connecting to the Internet from my laptop. Earlier this month I upgraded my AT&T plan to include "tethering" to allow me to do just this. I spent half an hour or so on the phone with a very helpful young lady at AT&T tech support who walked me through what I would need to do to set up and use tethering, including this and this. Life was good.

Except for the fact that it didn't work.

Following AT&T's "help" allowed me to connect my laptop to my phone, but not actually to the Internet. And today, since I'm preparing to be at the Rochester Microsoft offices for tonight's WDUNY meeting, I figured the time was right to figure out what was going on. I was getting ready to call AT&T support again to see what they had to say when I realized that this might not be the best approach. So instead I fired up my favorite search engine and found this and this. And by following the instructions on the second page, I was up and running - connected to the Internet from my laptop via my phone, and connected to my VPN from there, and talking on the phone at the same time - within 10 minutes.

Thank goodness for the Internet. But why did it need to be this hard? Why is the "official" solution obtuse and backward and (to top it all off) non-functional?

I don't have an answer, but with a little luck the next time someone is trying to tether his Tilt, he'll have one more resource to help him get going. And hopefully this solution will keep working, since I'm going to be on the road a lot over the next three or four weeks...

Cake Wrecks

This has nothing to do with SSIS or SQL Server or technology at all, but I need to post it anyway. My friend Karla just shared this link with me:

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com

You probably know that I am an avid baker and a general wise-guy[1] but I never thought to bring the two of them together quite like this. The Cake Wrecks blog is dedicated to... let's just call them "unfortunate incidents" in the cake decorating world. Funny pictures, amusing commentary and fun - what's not to like?

[1] And that most people who know me generally spell "guy" with an "a" and a repeating "s"

Data Visualization Gone Wrong

Or perhaps gone horribly, horribly right.

http://graphjam.com

I must say "thank you" to Ken for sharing this URL. We all knew that charts and graphs could be staggeringly funny, but we never knew just how funny they could be. Until now.

Outlook and Time Zones

I travel quite a bit for work (and occasionally for pleasure) and I like to track my itineraries in Outlook so I don't lose track of things and miss my flights. This also allows me to have everything at my fingertips on my Windows Mobile phone, which makes my life so much simpler.

The problem with this is that most of my travel crosses multiple time zones - I will be departing from New York, but I may be landing in Seattle or Denver or Frankfurt. And that means that I need to "do the math" to ensure that the times I'm entering into my Outlook appointments are appropriately adjusted for the differences between my local time zone and the time zone for wherever I will be landing.

But not any more.

I've just discovered[1] the "Time Zone" button in Outlook 2007:

[2]

When you click on the Time Zones button, two drop-down lists appear, one for the time zone of the appointment start time, and one for the time zone of the appointment end time. How cool is that? This is going to save me so much time (and aggravation, because there few things more annoying than suffering because of your own mistakes) in the weeks and months ahead.

Now if I could just figure out how to make it so that these drop-down lists are always visible by default...

 

[1] Yes, this is the appropriate time to let me know that this has been there since Outlook 2000 or the like - I am often the last to know.

[2] I'm not going to show you one of my actual flight itineraries (you never know what stalkers are out there ;-) but I will show one of the highlights of the yeah - Manowar headlining the Magic Circle Festival next month in Germany. Will you be there too?