Trying out "ecto"

I just downloaded a Mac blogger client called "ecto." Setup was pretty easy, I just pointed it to my account and it made the connection without any problem. I'm typing this with the "rich text" option--looks like I have options for alignment, tabs, bullets, numbering, italics, underline, bold, strikethrough, colors, and background color.

Looks like a nice little gizmo. Here's a nice capability--it interfaces with iPhoto, iTunes, and Amazon.com. Hm but I selected iPhoto and then a photo and then clicked "import" but it didn't... After looking at the help, I don't think my blogger account is the right kind to allow it.

Well sometime I will set up a directory on my server and show you some of my fractal screenshots that I use as wallpaper on my iBook desktop.

--Steve

Information Flow

Talk about swimming every day--my life is a constant swim in information. I can't even begin to tell all the times today I have interacted with information. Email. Web. Paper. Phone. Network files. Spreadsheets. PowerPoint. Digital video. Let's see:

1. I transferred our entire Intranet to my PowerBook so I could burn a DVD for backup. We had a bad experience with a power outage and email, so I'm playing it safe.
2. I exported several of my students' iMovie projects to Quicktime so I could show them in class.
3. I interacted with Ray regarding why Entourage won't/can't access the LDAP email server.
4. I checked my bank balance online and scheduled a couple of payments.
5. I searched for a photo of the new Mercury Milan.
6. I searched online for a photo of an iPod shuffle for my class presentation.
7. I looked up the FEMA website that offers the book Taking Shelter From the Storm for free for a friend.
8. I received a payment on account for my server business via PayPal.
9. I interacted with the fellow who does my DNS for all my domains about the proper way to set up my backup mx.
10. I went online to the ***.com website on my server to delete the stupid gambling posts that someone keeps putting on the guestbook there.
11. I went to the IMC to help one of my students who was having trouble getting her iMovie project to record her voice properly using the eMac; and another was having trouble with the volume on a clip on her movie.
12. Gotta debug why when I connect to the net with the wireless connection, why I can't access the web or email.

See you in the EAIC (East Australian Information Current) (hat tip to Finding Nemo)

A Day in the Life of...Me

Well here I am, sorry to say, weeks and weeks overdue. The systems portfolio project has just eaten up all of my spare time since November. But it's finally done, and I'm glad.

Today's work, wow:

1. Added asp code to our Intranet page so the course evaluation percents would show.
2. Loaded the new building pictures into iPhoto, produced web pages, uploaded them to the Intranet, and linked them to the What's New section.
3. Added the link to Shadow of the Cross web pages to What's New.
4. Picked out a nice photo of Shadow of the Cross play, exported from iMovie to 640x480, used Photoshop Elements to oil pastel it and then create strokes frame. Finally exported to web and put it on home page.
5. Fixed the Systems Portfolio spreadsheet with the correct figures, copied the pie graph to the Systems Portfolio, and then did the magic to make it fit nicely on the page.
6. Modified the OIR home page, uploaded it to the server.
7. Found a page of ASP that will display a directory of files, installed it in the old Intranet front page images folder. Then added a link from the Intranet front page image to that page. That way people can browse the old front page images.
8. Worked with a student to figure out why her video was coming out so dark when she imported it into iMovie.
9. Worked on the AAT Liaison assignments for non-instructional departments.
10. Worked with Financial Aid manager on FAFSA survey. Printed 50 bubble forms.
    
11. Worked with Guest Relations manager on survey of dorm students who house campus visitors.
12. Performed emergency recovery on the Intranet front page--who knows why it went AWOL for 10 minutes. I couldn't connect via FTP on the computer lab subnet, so I mailed a copy of it to myself and then restored the file.
13. Talked on the phone with one of my customers to resolve a couple of issues with their web forms.
14. Worked with one of my students in Web Design class who was working on rollover buttons for her MenuMachine web site menu.
15. Sprayed my fruit trees. Watered my flowers.
16. Drank a few cups of coffee. "8 O'Clock" is my favorite so far. Not sure if I'm going to become a dedicated coffee fan, but I'm getting so I an enjoy a good cup. Not black, though.
    
17. Composed and sent an email to IT folks regarding specific incompatibility of Macs w/our Intranet (we have some files that are linked from the Intranet to shared files via the file:/// protocol; this does not work with Mac). Posed three possible solutions, hopefully one might ring a bell and get this last incompatibility resolved.
    
18. Spouted off to my boss about the school calendar that keeps changing without notice of any kind.
19. Wrote a note to my sister asking if the new cordless drill is working out for her.
20. Read some more of the second Left Behind book called Tribulation Force.
21. Tried about 4 times to get through to CSC Credit Services (division of Equifax) to ask about my credit report.

That's about it, and that's enough for one day.

Life goes on

I realized today that my wife and I have celebrated a 25th, and we didn't even realize it--our 25th Christmas together. And this Valentines Day is our 25th one together. That's romantic, eh?

I ordered her a nice necklace and earring set from Novica.com. They have nice stuff from overseas artisans. I bought a mitten/scarf/hat set for my sister-in-law for Christmas last year. The necklace and earrings are from Mexico. Good prices, good service, nice stuff. Somehow affiliated with National Geographic, not sure how.

Finally got my new server up and running. It's doing well, but there is a glitch somewhere, not sure where, to track down. Such is the life of a small-time web site services provider.

Great what's happening in Iraq, huh? Encouraging.

Server Woes

I run a small web hosting company, single server, 15 or so customers, mostly businesses and churches. Server is colocated, some 30 miles away from where I live. That little server has been humming since late 1997, busily serving pages. I probably visited it 10 times physically--the rest of the time I administered it remotely using Timbuktu.

Well, my little server is no more. On Tuesday morning, everything was fine at 6 am, then at 7 am, nothing. Come to find out there was a major water leakage in the building housing my server, and of course the server is in the basement......fortunately, only my power supply got fried because the server box was off the floor, thank you Lord!

Anyway, it wouldn't reboot because when the power supply fried it messed my hard drives. But with a little help from Norton (Norton Utilities, that is), I was able to get them running again. It was flaky, though, and for 24 hours we just sort of limped along on a wing and a prayer.

About 4 months ago I started building a new faster server (the old one runs a 500 mHz G3, this one runs a 1.2 mHz G4) with some very fast hard drives. That was all put together and basically ready to go. So last night I copied the critical files (web sites and email), took the old server down one last time, and fired up the new one.

It's great, working well, no problems so far. It has taken some hours of work to restore settings, connections, etc. I still have a few things to go but basically we're online again. Could have been MUCH worse. And boy is the new one zippier!

Time flies like an arrow

What can I say? It's been a month and a half. In that time I have closed my teaching semester, took some time off for Christmas vacation, and gotten the new semester up and running. Gotta get back to blogging. I have some things to say. Stay tuned.

Very cool site

Amazing. Now here's an idea for entrepreneurs: cafepress.com. Basically it's an outfit that produces custom products (caps, mugs, frisbees, t-shirts, etc.) and does everything except market them for you: you upload your logo, and the handle the orders & fulfillment, all at nominal cost. The interesting thing for me is books: 3 cents a page plus binding, makes a 500 page book sell for $22 plus markup.

Makes me think about the college textbook I've been considering writing.

--Steve