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This is the main blog for Mike McBride Online, where you can keep track of everything I'm in to in one place.

Friday, April 11, 2003
 
Much learning to be done

I just finished up my order of the Microsoft Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003. All I had to do was pay for the shipping and I get a ton of stuff to play with and learn for the next few months. That will most definitely keep me busy, but it will also keep me learning and being challenged. I've got a feeling that if I'm still working at my current job this summer, I'm going to need a new challenge!

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Finishing up

Finally a bit of time to breathe! I've been busting my butt most of the afternoon. Had a bunch of database projects get thrown at me at the last minute and have been trying to get all of my "pending" file cleared away so I don't have to think about any of it this weekend. I'm finally caught up and can come in Monday with a clean slate! Of course Monday will manage to have it's own problems I'm sure, but I can worry about those then. :)

Have a good weekend!

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Interesting tidbits

Couple of interesting things I saw over at Chris' Blog this morning that I think need to be shared. First, the good folks at Lockergnome have started up FileofTheDay.com. That might be something to keep handy when you're in the mood for some good freeware or shareware.

Secondly, the Barenaked Ladies have a blog. If you're a fan of the band I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it, although, like Chris, I'm a tad disappointed that they don't have a way for fans to leave comments.

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Thursday, April 10, 2003
 
News story

What Windows Server 2003 Will Mean for IT

Interesting stuff. I don't have any first hand knowledge of 2003 Server so I'll leave the link without any comment from me. :)

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Going to be a busy one

Of course I knew today was going to be a day I hit the ground running when I got the call around 8 last night because one of our people was having a hard time with his laptop. The really sad thing is, it was my fault. I made a configuration change so that he could accomplish something yesterday and didn't take the time to check out all of the consequences of that change. Everything was working fine until he took the laptop home last night and blam, he couldn't get in.

I got him in last night over the phone so he could work on some things but I need to undo that change and get things setup the way they used to be for him.

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Wednesday, April 09, 2003
 
New business

Ah I see where Jim is launching his new business, MindStorm Hosting. He's even going to be a sponser at Gnomedex and bringing some stuff for the attendees. Man, I'm really gonna be missing out if I can't go, aren't I? *L*

Actually getting to go to Gnomedex might be a nice consolation prize. If I don't have a new job by July, going shoudn't be any problem at all. So, while I'd really, really like to have a new job, if I don't, at least I've got Gnomedex to look forward to this summer. :)

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Random Notes

Beth is back blogging at a new locale. Those of you who were at Gnomedex last year know who Beth is, since she spoke. The rest of you will just have to go this year and meet her. (Thanks to Doc for the pointer.)

Speaking of Gnomedex 3, I also see where Scoble's going to be there this year. He's been stirring up a bunch of really interesting techie/business stuff over on his blog lately, you should be reading it. I'm still holding out some hope that I'll make it to Iowa this year, and I'll get to sit and talk to Robert about some of his ideas. :)

Karlin Lillington agrees with me:

"Hmmmm, well, whatever about Google News, it seems to me that a lot of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations also routinely publish/broadcast items that are basically just rewritten, unquestioned press releases and government statements, which also aren't clearly distinguished from 'actual' news articles..."

Exactly! (link snagged from Dave Winer)

Ok, gotta run, lots of things on my plate today, so I better get to it!

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Tuesday, April 08, 2003
 
Must read later

Note to self:

Later, read through all the responses to this slashdot thread about what you would include in an IT toolkit. Looks like there are some pretty good tools and ideas running around in there, but I need to do some work and can't really look at them all right now. (link via nf0)

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Zooropa

Angela put up an album of pics from our Columbus Zoo trip this weekend.

I have a follow up question to the daylight savings thing. Why do they then air the NCAA Men's Championship game so late on a Monday night right after we've switched to DST? I realize that to those of you on the West Coast this is a good thing, but I'm on Eastern Time and it means I had to stay up to almost midnight to see the Syracuse win after already being tired from adusting to the new time. Not that I'm complaining, I've been a 'Cuse fan since I was little and my uncle was in school there, so I was quite happy to stay up and see Jim Boeheim finally get his national championship! Yay Orange!

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Monday, April 07, 2003
 
Much ado about nothing..

Much is being made, and said, about this news item. Seems that Google is going to start including press releases from corporations or lobbying groups in it's Google News searches. My response? They always have been, indirectly.

I work for an organization that puts out quite a few press releases during the course of the year, and we have a number of member organizations that also put out their own press releases throughout the year. If you ever have access to both the original press release and the "news" articles that are put out based on the press releases, you'd be amazed at the amount of copy/pasting that goes into those "news" articles directly from the press releases.

For my money, if Google News wants to add press releases to their search results, it actually makes the news MORE transparent because if you get a search result that takes you to a company's press release you know it's a press release as opposed to some "legitimate news source" that simply copied the press release and passed it off as "news"

Of course there's always the possibility that news search results will get lost in a sea of press releases, but I have my doubts about that happening.

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Why?

Why do we still do this "daylight savings" thing anyway? I'm tired...

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