This is for those of you who visit my site regularly. I’ve noticed a few instances of people posting off-topic replies to blog entries…and while this is okay, it is inefficient for discussions. Therefore, I’ve put up a forum for you all to post random things on. You can use it to ask questions, make comments, tell us your life story, etc. You can reach it at www.jbctech.com/forum. I had this up before, and pulled it down when I redesigned the site, but I do think it is important..if you all use it. If you want any categories/forums added, just let me know in the forums, and I’d be happy to add it. So, I encourage you all to create a quick account on there and make a quick post. Even if it’s just to say “Hi, I read your blog.”
Take me to the forums
When I got into work this morning, I checked my RSS aggregator to see what new posts were out there in blog/news land. I found this article on Neowin.net called “Million Dollar Man (Almost At A Million).” It’s about a student who sells advertising on a website. Sounds pretty basic, huh? Well, not this site. Alex Tew sells advertising by the pixel…all on one page. Here is an exerpt from the Neowin post:
Run by 21 year-old Alex Tew, a university student from the UK, the homepage offers viewers the chance to purchase a pixel for $1. The site’s relative novelty appears to be the main cause of its success – quantified at a staggering 25,000 hits per hour – and highlights yet another unique advertising / marketing mechanism found online. Alex told Reuters news agency that he’d not done much with the money, but had treated himself to a new car. ” I’ve only just passed my driving test so I’ve bought myself a little black mini”.
View: The Million Dollar Homepage – Own a piece of internet history!
So, today we were scheduled to fly back to Raleigh. Our flight from Lubbock to Houston was delayed due to “mechanical” problems. The story isn’t so funny. First, we were rushed because there was only 1 person working at ticketing for Continental at Lubbock. By the time we got to the front, informed them we had a pet and got the docs checked, we (thought we) had 25 minutes before the plane departed. After we got through security, there was only 15 minutes left until the scheduled departure. Well, when we get to gate 3, we discover there is no plane there…apparently it was delayed for 30 minutes. Well, that 30 minutes becomes about 45 minutes…then, we’re all on the plane and we find out there are “mechanical” problems. They said that the power that connects to the plane when it’s at the gate failed and they had to reset the computer systems. To make a long story short, we arrived in Houston 5 minutes after the flight to Raleigh departed…of course it was on time. So, Continental is paying for our hotel and dinner tonight. But, that still doesn’t make the fact that we have a traveling pet, and both have to be at work tomorrow any easier. I don’t think I’ll be flying Continental any time soon. I know that this kind of thing happens…but it’s just the combination of slow service, grumpy service, delays and “mechanical” problems that forms my decision. Even more reason for me to choose American Airlines…
While I was out of town, WordPress 2.0 was released (December 26). Looking at the WordPress Trac timeline, it appears as if Changeset 3362 included the version bump. For those of you who run WordPress for your blog, go grab a copy of v2.0 at www.wordpress.org.
I updated the blog to the full 2.0 version today.
This is a little late, but I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you all had a great time with family and friends. Mine wasn’t so great. My grandmother on my dad’s side passed away on December 22. That’s the second grandparent to pass away within a month. It always seems to happen around the holidays – my other grandmother (mom’s side) passed away December 27, 2001. But…she’s definitely in a better place now…the last few months were absolutely miserable for her, and I’m glad that I got to see her a few weeks ago when I was here for my grandfather’s funeral.
On a positive note, I got to see a lot of family for the holidays. I met so many new relatives that I had no idea who they were…apparently I met them when I was younger. This sparked an interest in a family reunion for my dad’s side. I always knew most of my mom’s side of the family because of the reunions…but they stopped doing reunions on my dad’s side when I was about 10.
Found this on Activewin: My Tucson friends will appreciate me posting this one…apparently Channing Frye will be playing on Xbox Live tonight. For those of you who don’t know, Frye played for the University of Arizona basketball team, and is now in the NBA playing for the New York Knicks. Here is an exerpt from the article:
Rookie center for the New York Knicks, Channing Frye, is stepping off the hardwood to bring his talents to Xbox Live®. Fans that are interested in going one-on-one with Frye will need to keep an eye out for the Xbox Live gamertag ‘ChanFryeGWF’ on Thursday, December 22 from 6:15 PM to 7:15 PM ET to challenge him in NBA Live 06® for Xbox®. “It has always been my dream to play in the NBA and now that I have my name and likeness in a video game it is a little overwhelming,” said Frye. “The Knick fans have been great and we are really building something special, so I can’t wait to grab the Xbox Live headset and get to know some of the fans. They just better take it strong to the hole, because I’ll be waiting to reject any weak stuff. ”
Link: ChanningFrye.com
Since I got so many responses (ZERO), I’ve decided to go ahead and switch over to Flickr for the photo management. Flickr provides a lot of really cool features and I should have used it a long time ago. I’ve had an account for quite a while, but sorta said “Eh…” when I saw that it cost money for an account with any sort of capability/storage. But, now I think it’s well worth the $24/year. Anyway, I have integrated the Flickr album into WordPress using FAlbum, but unfortunately, it is displaying things out of alignment. I’ll be working on that…if it bugs you too much, feel free to just visit my Flickr page.
View photos, same link: http://www.jbctech.com/photos
View photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbctech/
This morning, changeset 3332 for WordPress included a version bump to WordPress 2.0-RC3. Changes are still flying in…I know I’ve said this before, but it does appear that the full version 2.0 should be released soon. On Matt’s blog at boren.nu, he says:
The third and possibly final release candidate for WordPress 2.0 is now available for testing. The differences between this release candidate and 2.0 final will be limited to fixes for any high impact bugs that crop up. We’re getting very close.
Check the WordPress development timeline for the list of bug fixes.
Developers: Ryan on WordPress, Matt on WordPress
Today, Microsoft released the December Customer Technology Preview (CTP) of their next operating system, Windows Vista. This new CTP is tagged build 5270.
Greetings Windows Beta Testers! The Windows beta team is pleased to announce the availability of Windows Vista and Longhorn Server build 5270. This release is the December Customer Technology Preview (CTP). This build is not beta quality but is offered as a preview or our progress towards Beta 2. It will allow you to confirm bugs that have been fixed and begin testing features that have been added since build 5231. Please obtain a new product key for build 5270 from the Microsoft Connect website (http://connect.microsoft.com) and download this release as soon as possible. No media will be sent; this release is available as a download only. You will need a new version of the Microsoft Beta Client to report issues. Release notes are available which call attention to some of the issues we are already aware of. Please take a moment to read them then join us in the newsgroups to discuss your experience with Windows Vista. Important notes: Please use the link above to obtain a new product key This build must be clean installed. Upgrades are not supported but will be enabled in later builds. Download images are DVD only. No CD images will be made available for this build. Both Vista and Longhorn Server are available in the same image you only need a separate image if you wish to test Longhorn Server Core. The initial release is English only, German and Japanese are planned to follow within 2 weeks The following are available with this release: Windows Vista (x86 and x64) Windows Longhorn Server (x86 and x64) Windows Longhorn Server Core (x86 and x64) Windows Platform SDK (Available Shortly) Windows Driver Development Kit We look forward to your feedback on this new build!
Related Link: Microsoft Windows Vista Build 5270 (December CTP) Feature List
NetApp RTP Engineering has a tradition called the “Name Game.” Every new employee to Engineering has to pass the “Name Game” as part of what seems like an initiation. At the end of the Engineering all-hands every other Thursday you have to go around the room and say everyone’s first name. At the end, everyone will vote to see if you pass or not. Well, I am happy to say I got a perfect 100% today. How many Engineers are there? Last count was 112. Yes, 112 RTP Engineers. Of course, not all of them make it to the meeting, but hey….I still got 100%. I got a nifty NetApp license plate holder thing, and various other items as part of passing. I’m happy it’s over…but it was fun.
