http://feeds.feedburner.com/pragmaticprose/dSES

So I had a project where I need to have pretty good uptime (.99999) or something like that.  My first thought was to write a Window's Service to house my code.  I had built the prototype as a Console Application and it wouldn't be that hard to move the logic into a Service.  I was planning on using the customizable failure handlers in Windows (right click any service in the services manager MMC and then click on the Recovery Tab to see what I am referring to) to restart the service and possible do some other stuff.  Window's services also have built in support for writing to the event log.

However, I had already added log4net logging and used the email logging to send notifications on failures, all I really needed was the restart-ability that services provide.  Then I had a flash back to my Tech Services days when I used to supported many automated batch type applications that were managed with the Window's Task Scheduler.  I decided to rely on one not so known feature which I will describe in a moment.   Most tasks are scheduled once a day or week,  month, etc.  I scheduled my tasks to run starting now and then repeat every one minute ad infinitum (forever, basically).  Here's the magic: the Window's task schedule won't start a task that is already running!  So now if my task fails it will restart in <= a minute without any of the pains of a Window's Service (installation and configuration, etc).

One day I will find a reason to write a Window's Service but every time I think I need to, I find some way around it.

I've been using the backup software that came with my external USB Hard Drive to backup my work, outlook, etc but I've noticed some limitations.  I am currently using Dantz Retrospect Express Version 6.5 and it does a good job as far as it goes.

Good:

• Easy to use
• Reliable - it has been running well for several months
• Conserves disk space by using incremental backup solution to only grab updated files.
  

Bad:

• Can't handle open files (The notorius *.pst problem, where Outlook has it's .pst files locked when it's running.)
• No remote support (ftp, webdav, etc)
• Closed format - one of the good points is also a weakness.  Consider needing to get information of a backup device but not having the software to get it.  What happens when I don't use Retrospect any more but I need to grab something off one of these backups?  The closed nature of the system means I always have to use this software. 
  
• To upgrade to 7.5 professional the cost is $45.00, not bad but this license only covers one machine. 
  

The problem is I don't want to be on the upgrade treadmill, constantly tied to one vendor.  So the search for backup solutions begins...

Foxmarks is a Firefox extension that allows you to keep your Firefox bookmarks in sync.  It works by keeping a copy of your bookmarks out on the Foxcloud server at http://www.foxcloud.com.  Every minute it checks for any changes and then synchronizes your local copy to the copy on the server.  This is very handy if, like me, you use firefox on multiple machines (I have 4 I use frequently) and have a large number of bookmarks.  Because you information is stored on the Foxcloud server you can access your bookmarks from any place you have internet access.

Just one more reason to love Firefox.

Download the extension here: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2410/

Homepage:  http://www.foxcloud.com/wiki/Main_Page

Personal Bookmarks page:  http://my.foxcloud.com/

Yet another Greasemonkey script.  This one is for navigating the My Yahoo page with the keyboard.  Press H once you install it to get the key mappings.

myyahoonavigator.user.js (3.9 KB)

A Greasemonky script( http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/ ) to allow keyboard navigation of google pages including the search results.  Press the H button once the script is installed for more help.

googlenavigator.user.js (8.07 KB)

Fear is the mind killer.
 
Many people live in a state of fear.  The media doesn’t help this situation.  Everyday gloom and doom spew out of TV’s, newspapers, radios, web pages, etc, etc. 

I believe fear is also a function of age.  Mathematicians do great things when they are young.  Start-ups are founded by young men and sometimes women. 

I believe that fear is also a function of sex.  Women (on the average) need security more then men.  Men who are married to women need security more then single men.  Men who are married and have kids need security more then any of the previous examples.  Old people in general are scared, scared of falling, afraid of Republicans taking their social security checks and afraid of robots that eat old people’s medicine.

You can not live your life in fear and you cannot start or run a business in a state of fear. 

Money is the water of life for a small business.

This is so obvious as to almost not need mentioning.  The point I want to make is that many people want to start businesses yet have no control over their personal finances.  I strongly believe that the two (business and personal finances) are linked very closely and furthermore that you money handling is a reflection on you in general.  I believe if you don't handle money well you also don't handle your life well; i.e. you don't exercise, you don't eat right etc. 

You lack discipline and if you lack discipline all is lost…

Shortcut key	Description
ALT+PAGE UP	Switches between programs from left to right.
ALT+PAGE DOWN	Switches between programs from right to left.
ALT+INSERT	Cycles through the programs in the order they were started.
ALT+HOME	Displays the Start menu.
CTRL+ALT+BREAK	Switches the client between a window and full screen.
CTRL+ALT+END	Brings up the Windows Security dialog box.
ALT+DELETE	Displays the Windows menu.
CTRL+ALT+Minus (-) symbol on the numeric keypad	Places a shadow copy of the active window within the client, on the Terminal server clipboard, which provides the same functionality as pressing PrintScrn on a local computer.
CTRL+ALT+Plus (+) symbol on the numeric keypad	Places a shadow copy of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard, which provides the same functionality as pressing ALT+PrintScrn on a local computer.

 

Source: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/Library/cb97dc74-f62c-4ccc-ae52-1caf5a09a9b01033.mspx

 

Open up regedit.

Browse to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor

Change the value of this key:

CompletionChar

to 9.

Now pressing tab on the command line does an autocomplete.

I believe this comes from Ruby or that's where I got it anyway.  What it means is that something should do what you think it should. 

• Don't get too fancy on web pages, meaning not too much AJAX
• Don't get too complicated on a web page
• Keep it simple, somehow

http://www-abc.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/shtmus/

I need to check out this book.  Haven't purchased anything from Amazaon lately.

I blogged before about a great text editor named pspad.  This editor is great for heavy lifting and it's full of features.  Those features come at a price and that price is start up time.  When I just want a quick no frills editor notepad is king.  However, I've come across metapad and it seems to be a great notepad replacement.

It's number one feature?  Hyperlinking in plain text files.  I have been using Outlook notes as a catchall note storage for sites, user names etc b/c of the hyperlinking that built into the Outlook notes.  Now I can put my links in a plain text file and enjoy hyperlinked freedom.  It also compares favorably to the popular Notepad2 but the hyperlinking feature makes metapad the king.

Don't forget to get the registry files so you can make it the default editor for html, reg, txt and the text viewer for Internet Explorer's view source command.

I've decided to attempt a paperless revolution. 

I'm going to scan most of my paper doc's and store them on my pc and then shred the originals.  Of course I will keep the originals where necessary.  I then plan on archiving to CD or even DVD on a regular basis and storing a copy off site, maybe in my desk at work.

The Equipment:

HP Officejet 6210 All-in-One

This seems to be working ok but I still need to figure out how to scan multiple documents and then split the scan into multiple files.

The Files:

Searchable PDF's created with the OCR features of the HP 6210 and the HP Director software. 

The System:

Sort the files into folders as appropriate and use Google desktop to search for relevant information.  This is the big benefit.  I can search through all of the text of my documents with the power of Google.