Who wants a little something extra on their B-day cake?

Saige turned 4 on on the 15th of December and rather than give out gift bags the kids that attended her little gathering, she decided to give something extra.

Ice, ice and more ice…

Overnight on the 18th Central Illinois received up to 3/4” of ice.  We ended up with about 1/2”.  Here are some pics…

 

Clean your plate!!

Mom always says clean your plate.

Then prove it!

Bet they won’t catch me.

During our dinner prayer…

After a quick peek to see if anyone is looking, I can sneak a quick bite.
They’ll never know…

Makin’ cookies is hard work

In a quest to make the cookies that Mommy has baked look their best, we’ve found that it is not a trivial task. 

We work hard, we play hard then we… well…

crash hard.

Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary!

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Originally uploaded by themillerexperience

Happy 60th wedding Anniversary GG and GG Fred!!

Too drunk to send email?

mail goggles
Originally uploaded by themillerexperience

Gmail has a new piece of functionality in their labs called Mail Goggles. Basically, during a pre-defined and customizable time frame, you are asked a series of math questions prior to sending an email. The defaults are Friday and Saturday nights from 10PM to 4AM.

The assumption here is that you may have had too many cocktails and are about to send an email that you may regret. So, to make sure you are of sound mind, when you hit send, a series of math questions are presented to you.

So, the question is: Are you too drunk to send email?

I ain't payin no $4.99 for punkins

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Originally uploaded by themillerexperience

Love to flirt

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Originally uploaded by themillerexperience

Look close (the reflection in his eye's) and you'll see the 5 girls he is flirting with.

Luggage Boy

My sisters got to go to the American Girl store and all I got to do is carry their luggage.

I love popping bubble wrap!

http://therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

Extreme basejumping

These guys are a bunch of wingnuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttz5oPpF1Js

IT Admin vs. End Users

I love this video, regardless of it's authenticity.

http://www.break.com/index/it-guy-vs-dumb-employees.html

Grayed out options in Windows? No problem.

Me too. There are some simple things I like to do when setting up a new machine. One of which is place a shortcut to the command prompt in my quick launch. I'm running Windows Vista and am a believer in UAC, so I keep it enabled. But, when I want to run a command prompt as an Admin, I don't want to right click and choose "Run as Admin." So, I wanted to change the compatibility mode to always prompt for elevation and run this app as an admin. Here is what I found on the compatibility mode tab for that shortcut:

All options are grayed out. Bummer. Wait, there is a fix for this. It is called Windows Enabler. Download and install the app, and you will see an icon in your task bar that looks like this:

Open the window you want to enable the options on and click on this icon, which turns the image to this:

Then, here is what you can do on the same window I showed above:

Great!! Accomplished my goal with a great tool! Happy enabling!

Pwn Vista when you have physical access

Wow... what a concept.  You can own a Vista box if you have physical access so says this article and video:

http://www.offensive-security.com/movies/vistahack/vistahack.html

The fact is, that when physical access is obtained, any computer will fall.  This is true with all Windows operating systems as well as *nix and is most certainly not limited to Vista. 

This is not a new concept.  One of the most important rules of computer security is protection from physical access is critical.  With the advent of pre-installed environments and Linux live CDs/DVDs, this rule becomes even more important. 

This appears to be information that is blown out of proportion as it applies to all operating systems, not just Vista.  Similar to the cold boot attacks that have been proven to work against disk encryption technologies like Windows BitLocker.  Again, this exploit is not limited to Windows BitLocker, but is certainly the most commonly attacked.

Tired of automated phone systems?

Well... get human!  This site lists tricks for bypassing the automated phone systems and getting an actual human on the phone.  What a novel idea... a human answering the phone.  Now you have the option.  Happy calling!!

www.gethuman.com

Macro Away!!

I got a really good test of the macro capabilities today with our new Nikon D60.  Here are the results (right before I smacked it with my shoe...).

Storm Damage

Although we did not see the level of severe weather that Iowa and Minnesota witnessed yesterday, we did have a little damage.  Our only casualty was my Weber grill as seen here:

And if you like those "Where is Waldo" books, then you'll love this.  Where is the grill lid:

Our neighbors have/had a trampoline which ended up as the new Christmas decorations on the neighboring trees:

All-in-all, we came out pretty good considering the damage that storm had left in it's wake.  Our prayers are with those that lost loved ones in Iowa and Minnesota.

Reducing the shutter speed

Here are some results of lowering the shutter speed on the Nikon D60.  This shot was taken about 8:45 PM, when the sun had already set.

Go ahead... make my day

You wanna try taking ice cream away from me... pack your lunch son... sompin bad gonna happen to you.

DSLR Jump

Well... we made the jump to a DSLR camera this weekend.  We've been playing around with this camera (Nikon D60) and have had absolutely, fantastic results.  Here are some examples:

You can see some more good pictures here.

Deal of the century! Well, last century anyway.

For only $8499.00 you can get your hands on a 1989 Tandy 5000.  What a sweet deal.  Look at the raw power in the 20 MHz Intel processor, VGA Graphics and the whopping 2 MB of RAM.  Notice, the add states that it is Tandy's most powerful computer ever! 

You know it rocks when the description of the 20 MHz process is "lightning-fast."  How could you pass it up when it includes mouse support.  That must be worth at least 7K of the $8500.

For those of you that don't know, most modern cell phones would blow this entire box out of the water :).

Exchange 2007 SSL Issues

So, I've been battling an Exchange 2007 install all night trying to get the SSL cert from GoDaddy working correctly.  After a whole bunch of work and digging into my apparently shallow memory, the Powershell commands started to flow a little.  Here are the steps that I followed to get this thing functional.  Hope this helps.

1. Make a bag of popcorn and grab a beer.
2. Get used to the cmdlets available in PowerShell :)
3. The first one that will be used is for the certificate request, New-ExchangeCertificate (everything in Bold and Italics is customizable).
4. You will take the output of the last command and complete your request with your SSL provider.
5. You will likely get a .crt or a .cer certificate from your SSL provider.
6. Jump back in to PowerShell and execute the Import-ExchangeCertificate cmdlet.  Make sure you copy the thumbprint that was displayed after the command was executed.
7. After you've imported the cert, you now need to enable it with the Enable-ExchangeCertificate cmdlet.  Using this command will update the cert mapping and replace the self-signed cert installed by default.  With the -services switch, just list the services you intend to offer.
8. You can validate the certificate is installed along with it's thumbprint with the Get-ExchangeCertificate cmdlet

New-ExchangeCertificate	New-ExchangeCertificate -DomainName mail.yourdomainname.com -GenerateRequest:$True -Keysize 1024 -path c:\mycertreq.req -privatekeyExportable:$true -subjectName "c=us, o=Your Name, CN=yourdomainname.com"
Import-ExchangeCertificate	Import-ExchangeCertificate -Path c:\mycert.crt
Enable-ExchangeCertificate	Enable-ExchangeCertificate -Thumbprint [copy and paste thumbprint] -services IIS, POP, IMAP, SMTP

Welcome to Illinois

It is said that if you live in Illinois and don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes - it'll change.  Today was a nice 78 degree day, but  a storm front was moving in very quickly.  Quickly enough that it produced this hail:

Then tonight, Kami and I went out to eat and had some quick stops in Bloomington.  We went to Sams Club and when we pulled in the parking lot it was still 74.  When we pulled out 45 minutes later it was 51 degrees and pouring down rain.

Gotta love it :P

Cleaning up the phone

I went to take a couple of pics today with my cell phone and noticed that I only had about 5% of the available storage free.  So, tonight I set out to get everything transferred via Bluetooth.  Found some pictures that I'd forgotten were on my phone, like the girls trying to stay awake during a Sams shopping trip.

As you can see, Saige didn't make it too long after this trip to Sams.

And some pictures while the floods that covered my basement were receding.

A pic of me and Saige that I currently have as my cell wallpaper.

 

And, of course, the grand finale.  My mother-in-law at her finest.

Sydnee's First Air Show

Sydnee and I attended the Peoria Air show today and despite the soggy conditions, had a blast. 

There were two big highlights to the show, which included a performance from the Blue Angels.

The other big highlight was the helicopter ride that we took.  It was Sydnee's first time flying and she loved it!!

Among the other performers were an acrobatic biplane, Shockwave (Jet engine powered big rig), an A10 Thunderbolt (Warthog), P51 Mustang, and the remaining aircraft on the ground.

Here is one of the aircraft on the ground (UH-60 Blackhawk).

Intuitive Error Messages

I just love specifics... especially when it comes to error messages on a computer.  Sorry for the quality of the photo, but it was with my camera phone on an LCD monitor.

As you'll notice, there is nothing in this error window but the OK button.  Love it!

Ready to make the DSLR jump

So, we've always had point and shoot cameras and thus far they have been great.  I have been a big Olympus fan since my first digital camera.  The onboard software is very intuitive and easy to operate. 

However, with Kami and I getting further into actual photography, it is time to make the jump to a Digital SLR camera.  I've been doing a bunch of research and have decided on the Nikon D60.  It fits our price range and exceeds the requirements that we have come up with. 

In a couple of weeks, we will be picking up the camera and a 55-200mm telephoto lens along with the standard 18-55mm lens that camera body comes with. 

Dog Sitting

We have been dog sitting for the weekend with this little fireball:

I know... right?  Looks like a vicious attack dog. 

On the contrary, Oliver is a really nice dog and really "loves" our 85 lb. yellow lab.  He does have a little problem with being in his kennel overnight.  He tends to whine and cry when he is in there.  Otherwise he is a really good lap dog.  Kami and the kids really like having a dog that doesn't crush the air from their lungs when pretending she is a lap dog.

Maisey, our lab, is still an awesome dog.  She is a miniature mule, but incredibly loyal and friendly.  We don't have to worry about leaving her inside all day long.  Although, I think she will definitely enjoy the weather and our new yard this spring and summer.

As for the Maisey and Oliver getting along, they somehow have the energy to play non-stop all day long.  It is hilarious to see this tiny little dog totally attack the 85 lb lab.

Oliver is  heading home today to Kami's sister's. 

Should a 30 year old have ear tubes?

Apparently the answer to that question is yes.  I had tubes put in my ears again today for the second time in 3 years.  I have chronic ear infections and this is the only treatment that has worked.  After having them put in it feels like I have an ear infection for the rest of the day, but I end up feeling great for about 18 months.  So, it is worth the day of being uncomfortable.

New laptop functioning correctly? I think not.

So, when I refreshed all of my hardware in January, I bought a monster of a desktop and a cheaper laptop.  I've always been a big fan of HP and because of the their assimilation of Compaq, I have become a fan. 

After working with this laptop for a couple of months, I've come to hate typing anything of length due to the performance of the keyboard.  I can be typing along and there is a significant delay, such that I end up with more errors as a result.  This laptop came loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium. 

Most of you that know me know that I'm a huge Vista fan and continue to be.  I'm also a fan of Ubuntu Linux.  So, I popped another drive in this laptop and installed Ubuntu.  No keyboard issues.  Interesting.

So, what does one do?  Switch to Ubuntu full time?  No.  Linux on the desktop is a pipe dream.  While Ubuntu made a huge step forward, corporate America is a long way off from using an open source OS on their desktops.  Based on that fact, I've still got to be on top of the game with the Windows OS, so I will continue with Vista.

I shipped that laptop off to HP for "repair" this week.  I suspect they will just replace the machine and send it back.  We'll see. 

House... one year old. Ben 0; Bathroom Sink 1

So, we have had a relatively steady leak in our bathroom sink, which may I remind you, is one year old. It is a nice Delta bathroom faucet and already has a leak.

So, I set out today to have a go at fixing this leak. I would normally consider myself a handy guy, but after some bloody knuckles, profanity laced tyrades and some googling, I still don't have a fix for this sink. I've replaced all seals that I can find and the stupid thing still leaks.

I may be stubborn, but I definitely know when it is time to call in the professionals. That time is sometime between now and when I break something trying one "last ditch effort" to make this think stop leaking. So, I will swallow my pride and call a plumber.

Inconvenient Truth

Tonight I watched a documentary called the Inconvenient Truth. I really wasn't a strong believer in global warming nor am I a huge supporter of Al Gore, but he does present some very persuasive evidence.

So first I see that our polar ice caps are melting at rates never before seen. There were claims in this film that if half of Greenland were to melt the sea level across the globe would raise 20 feet. That is quite a claim.

The US creates just a shade over 30% of the greenhouse gasses worldwide. This is more than all of South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia combined. What is more astounding is that if we (the US) make small changes like using energy star rated appliances we can drop the increase of greenhouse gasses by 1.6 percent. Aligning our automobile standards in the US to match those of China would also reduce the increase of the same gasses by 2.8 percent. Make our automobile manufacturers align with EU and we will see a reduction in the range of 5.6 percent.

So, in doing a little research on what I can do in the comfort of my own home to help is replace all of my incandescent light bulbs with CFL (Compact Florescent Light) light bulbs, it appears you will get a longer lasting bulb that consumes much less energy. These bulbs are considerably more expensive than the traditional incandescent but they last much longer. These bulbs can be purchased at your local home center or hardware store. A good resource for information on these types of bulbs can be found here: www.energyfederation.org.

My new digital digs…

This weekend, I upgraded my computer system to a quad-core machine with 8 GB of RAM. I also picked up (2) 22″ monitors for my desk. Thus far, I am stoked about it’s performance and looks.