blog.stuco.me

That word doesn't mean what this post is about, but it bears a resemblance. My blogging pal Jim Walton recently get me interested in Twitter ; a service that allows you to follow the play-by-play of people's lives whom you want to "follow" by reading their posted "updates". Gather a few (or a few hundred) people along with your updates on your Twitter page and it almost feels like you're communicating with each other without actually engaging in a conversation. This week, a group of Church IT folks gathered in Oklahoma City for a 3-day conference. Through Twitter, I was able instantly reconnect with them in a huge way. Thanks Twitter! By the way, my Twitter ID is '@stuco' if you're interested in tagging along.

I've come to the point in Systems Administration where doing point-and-click operations for 50 or so servers is wasting more and more of my time. Starting today, I'm going to force myself to find and build scripts for almost everything I do. That way, I can begin automating the mindless tasks that need to be done every day and for the things that require widespread implementation, I can can affect more servers at one time rather than having to manually login to each machine. Looking into VBscript with WMI and ADSI objects. Sounds impressive huh?

This week, my Number One priority is to prepare for a 2 day/2 night campout with my oldest son at a Boy Scout ranch in Runaway Bay, Texas. Many of us City Slickers might prouounce it "n-o-w-h-e-r-e", but it's really a charming place "where the buffalo roam" and all that.

I hope you had a good day celebrating Jesus' resurrection. Our family was blessed to sit in the Overflow Venue which meant that at least one of the four services was packed to capacity.  The boys had a blast at both sets of grandparents' planned festivities and Lisa and I just enjoyed seeing our family celebrate Easter another year.

Two weeks ago, I powered down my life as a PC user and got a MacBook Pro. I've used a PC for my entire computing existence and I work in the Windows world. Whenever I've tried to use or give support for a Mac, it always felt as if I'd never used a computer before - it seemed that different - and so I resisted. Not long after the Intel Macs hit the scene, my business partner bought a MacBook and showed me how well Windows ran with BootCamp and Parallels. That day, I admitted that the Mac could well be the most perfect computing device because of its ability to run both operating systems. Still, I saw no need to switch. Since working remotely from home, we've been looking for a decent video chat system, but everything we'd tested for the PC seemed to come up short. Recently, we added another member to the team who is a full-on Mac user and when we saw iChat do video, all of us were astounded. It just worked and worked good. Off to the neighborhood Apple Store w...

... clean off its swivel pedestal thing. I'm sure it would have been hilarious had anyone been around to witness the spectacle - luckily for me, nobody was present. I was on the phone with a client and leaned back in the chair to close the office door. The seat part tipped and I supported myself with one arm on the floor and the rest of me suspended in mid-air, still in the chair that was clinging to the thread of metal hopelessly attached to the base. I can only describe my situation as a bad Break-Dance move captured with special effects of The Matrix.   The amazing part - I was able to continue the conversation without the other party suspecting anything. Still, I think I'll try the salad for lunch today.

I'm putting this out there to see if anyone can help me with this very puzzling issue... I installed SQL Server 2005 Express SP2: it went very smoothly, no errors, rebooted, perfect. I uninstall SQL Server and all of the supporting programs: again no errors, rebooted, fine. The problem is that the SQL Server service is still installed and running (???). Also, all of the program groups and utilities are still installed and working. I know I have to manually uninstall (rip out) SQL Server, but am unable to easily find the "How-To" for it. Thanks to anyone who can help.

Their sound reminds me of dreary, wintry days in Lancashire. It's actually a good memory as I was raised to look forward to coming home from school and enjoying and good meal. Now that I think of it, the sound of French Horns reminds me of those old Ready Brek commercials .

The entire Cowen Household is sick today. It's the usual "warm-one-day, cold-the-next" winter that we experience every year in Texas and our bodies have had enough. We're not quite at the stage where we need the heavy meds (accompanied by the pain of even getting a doctor's appointment), so we're trying several over-the-counter and homeopathic remedies. You know, Tylenol, Alka-Seltzer, Zinc-up-the-nose and tea... lovely hot mugs of Ty-Phoo with plenty of milk.