Whistle While You Work

Work is going pretty well (I guess) I am definitely getting the opportunity to work on a variety of new things that I wasn't before. My job is alot more intense than before but I think that will eventually equalize out and I should be good. They sent me to the Dayton Information Security Conference which started today and lasts till tomorrow, going to that has definitely opened my eyes on some stuff and that's just from talking with people there. Things are a little busy right now but I'll add more later.

Development

Well the first week and a half of work have been going pretty well with a lot of work to keep me busy. I now seem to be doing a lot of R&D work so I do a lot of searching for products or solutions to problems a customer may have and they all seem to vary widely with custom needs. So I think for all of those things I'm definitely looking into open source solutions just because I feel I could get very specialized solutions from them without alot of financial burden.

One of the first things I was looking for was a Crystal Reports type application, I found JasperReports which seems to be what I was looking for but they don't have any freakin installation information so I'll have to see whats gonna happen with that. I'm also going to a customer site to recommend NetOffice, since they were looking at a project management type solution.

So that's my time at work in a very brief nutshell, I'm gonna end this and try to find some more stuff on installing JasperReports.

First Week

Well I can definitely say that wherever I see my career going in the future, I can definitely start out in the right direction from where I'm at now. My revised title for my new job is now Network Cosultant / Developer. I pretty much handle in-house network administration, Web design/development, Application development, Linux consulting, and pretty much whatever I need to do to get the job done at a customer site.

I currently have a Error 721 issue with a VPN that needs to be resolved. I just got done with correcting a half done setup with Exchange & Outlook Web Access. That's just a little bit of what went on during this busy week. I'll post more technical stuff later on the Tech Life side.

Bookmarks Synchronizer

I've been using the Bookmarks Synchronizer for Firefox for about a week now and I have to say that I really like it. I have a bunch of different sets of bookmarks and this pretty much helped me to condense them to just one list at work and at home. So if you have Firefox you should grab it, if you don't have Firefox you should get it.... You'll more than likely like it.

Spread Firefox

Burning Bridges

My current employer didn't really take too kindly to the short notice of 2 weeks notice. I guess technically it was only a few days notice since I was gonna be on vacation during the majority of my last 2 weeks. So now things aren't so hot in the office place. On the good side of things I did go to my new job today and do some work. They told me I was gonna go with them to do an initial talk with a customer on terminal services. When I got there I found out that they were actually trying to secure the contract to do the work, which kind of suprised me. I went along with it and wasn't too nervous about it all because everything we talked about I was looking forward to doing. So hopefully we'll get this client because from the start I'll be the lead on that site, so that's cool.

DIY Home Theater Projector

A DIY Projector is definitely in my near future, this is as good as link as any to start with.

Sub $300 Home Theater Projector
Sub $300 Home Theater Projector II

Free Ringtones

For those of you that love putting ringtones on your phone, this is definitely a site for you. Downloading ringtones is cool.... downloading free ringtones is better. smashTheTONES

Cellphone Carriers Available:
AT&T
Cingular
Verizon
Nextel
T-mobile
Sprint
Alltel
HickoryTech
Qwest
SureWest
Telus
Rogers Wireless
Bell Mobility
Fido

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but with the promise of free ringtones I'll give it a shot.

Crack Open The Books

Well I start my new job on the 21st and its pretty much the job that I've always wanted. Just about everything I've ever been interested in relationg to computers and technology I'll more than likely be doing it at my new job. On top of that they're paying me to learn, as well as upgrades in pay for every time I upgrade my knowledge (Certifications). So it really is a good deal and I'm so very pleased that it has come along.

Now as for what I'll need to brush up on:
Macromedia Studio MX (Web design as a whole)
Visual Basic .Net / 6
Perl / Other scripting languages
Linux
EDI (What I do now)
System / Network Administration
Cisco
Oracle

For the administration stuff, I know alot about the systems and networks in themselves but I haven't had that workplace experience doing it. So I'll start seeing more problems typical of regular office type problems. Like I said its a great opportunity, great learning experience, and a definite change for the better. So like I said before I'll probably have alot more tech posts relating to alot of the stuff I'm working on. I know starting off I'll have to figure out why one of their servers scsi hard drives keep crashing. I'll also have to work on a new website for the company and figure out some network problems that one of their clients is having. :D Good Fun

Toolbars

I don't really use any of the toolbars/desktop utilities that are out right now, I usually just google everything from the main page and all my popups are blocked thanks to Firefox. Now with everyone fighting for a place on your desktop and web browser with a search bar I may just have to try them out to see if any are of any use.

Microsoft
MSN Toolbar - I'm definitely not a windows guy but I'll still try this out to what it offers.
Microsoft Desktop - Oh wait.... that's built in, Let's see how it compares :)

Yahoo
Yahoo Toolbar - I think I've used this one before but I'll install it again
Yahoo Desktop - "Requires Windows XP or Windows 2000 SP 3+" .... yea, ok

Google
Google Toolbar - Just Google it
Google Desktop - Haven't tried this but I'll give it a shot

Network Administrator/Developer

That boy is in there!!!! :D

Network Administrator....... We'll see.....

Well I had an interview today that I can honestly say was pretty damn good, the job itself should be one great learning experience. Everything I could as for technically in a job is in this one, I was supposed to have a 2nd interview next week but the called me and asked me to come back tomorrow. So I hope all goes well :D If I get this job I'll definitely have more tech to talk about.

On the technology front I just started working with a guy on an EDI module for perl. Pretty much you'll be able to translate your documents from EDI to XML. That in itself may not seem like a big deal but it can become one when you start incorporating that functionality into open source translating software. Now there are some open source EDI translators out there that I would like to try out, with BIE being number one on my list and probably followed by OBOE or MEC Eagle.

Do it myself

With the recent layoffs on my job it kind of shook things into perspective for me. I was trying to leave my job for "better" opportunities working for an IT Staffing company as a consultant. The problem with that being that what I work on and how much I get paid for doing it is pretty much limited to the stuff that the recruiter finds. Seeing as the recruiter is being flaky already I've decided not to take my chances. I personally know that my skill level far exceeds my previous jobs or even my current job, I know that and alot of other people know that too. So why not just do it myself, I think it is something that should have been done and taken seriously awhile ago. There are so many things that are happening right now that are telling me that is the smart way to go.
Of course with all the ideas I have running around in my head things have to become more focused. Computer and Network consulting will definitely be the main focus, I'm trying to study constantly to get as many certifications under my belt. Along with that the real estate ventures will become a bigger player now because that's gonna be my retirement right there and how things are gonna get done in my life in the future. There are so many things that are going to branch off from both of those that I can't wait to see.

A New Year

Since I was questioned on the lack of content on my page :) I figured I should at least write something about what's going on with me and some techy stuff if I can think of anything.
I've resumed my CCNA studying pretty hard now and I hope to be 100% ready for the INTRO exam at least by Feb. 1st. There is a definite need for me to get all my skills in order because the helpdesk scene is not really my thing anymore. Don't get me wrong though because it sure pays the bills but I'm just not feeling it like I did when I first started. I hooked up with Robert Half so hopefully they'll locate some good stuff for me.
Still got some other projects going on the side, so we'll see what comes of those as well.

On the P2P front I haven't really been downloading anything lately but if I was I don't think Exeem is something I would be using. It was pretty much being touted as the new version of Suprnova.org pretty much with better everything wrapped into a nice gui package. It really seams as if they're just trying to make a buck with the inclusion of some known spyware into their app. I'll be getting back into the download mood again but I think I'll find another way to get my fix.

Vivitar Vivicam 3746

My girlfriend has a Vivitar Vivicam 3746 digital camera that I wasn't sure would work under Linux. I found out that it was a fairly simple process.

load the modules: modprobe modprobe usb-storage and modprobe sd_mod
mount the camera: mkdir /mnt/camera and mount -t msdos /dev/sda1 /mnt/camera

And that was pretty much it, I use Redhat 8 so I also created an icon and stuck it on the panel. So when she uses it she can just plug up the camera and hit an icon so she can access the pictures.

Something odd I just noticed is that her camera has the words in different places than the ones in the pictures that I have found. hmmm

Free Credit Reports (For Real)

Most people need to see to believe so let's get that out the way first. HERE

Well it seems under a new law we will be allowed 1 credit report from each of the 3 credit bureaus every year. It started Dec. 1st in the western states and the rollout across the country will begin on various dates. I check my credit report fairly regularly so this is great news.

Find out what your dog really thinks of you

Snatch up a dog translator and find out, it seems like something pretty cool to have but unfortunately my dog doesn't seem to want to bark.

Coming Along Nicely

Of course me being the person that I am I have various sites spread across multiple domains with many many different email addresses to my name. They all reflect a specific idea I had in my head at one time or another. Now I've finally managed to actually begin to develop something with a few of those ideas.
I've been interested in real estate investing for a few years now, but I've been reading so much books, acquiring so much information, and doing so much "stuff" that I haven't really really got started doing anything. I created The Creative Birddog in hopes of creating a community of people wanting to learn the ropes of birddogging and investing like The Creative Investor. Since I wanted to start with a community from the start I kind of got stalled in the development of it all.
I think I'm gonna go with a simpler idea for it all, I'm not experienced enough to create a community behind my knowledge of birddogging and real estate. I will say though that I have enough experience to share what I know, see , and will possibly deal with when doing it. If it can grow into a community from that then that's good and I would have the resources in the background to be able to expand. Here is a demo of what is to come DEMO SITE

'Brainwave' cap controls computer

I don't even know what to say about this, I've read the stories about the brain controlling the robotic arm but I guess I didn't really expect to see something like this right now. For the simple fact that it is just a cap that you can put on your head without any special implants or surgery is amazing. I think this has surpassed the feelings I had when I saw the story about Human Pacman. :)

Rasterize some images

I've always found those rasterized images pretty cool but I never got past the pretty cool feeling to actually find a way to do them myself. Well I stumbled upon The Rasterbator over at The Sect of Homokaasu and I'm very eager to try it out when I get home. The images that people have used to create their works look pretty good. I even know who I'm gonna rasterize first. :D

New Look

Well I'm trying to customize things a little bit, I figured I would learn a little bit of CSS and change things up. Everything is not totally valid CSS yet but I'm getting there, I looked at a lot of different things people have done with CSS and I was pretty impressed. I would definitely recommend CSS Zen Garden for ideas on what you can do.