The Day Before Christmas (With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)   'Twas the day before Christmas, when all down the street Not a single thing moved, no one made a peep; The snow had blanketed the entire neighbourhood, And we...

(See an update to this article in " It's nearly back to school time: here's info on buying a new PC ", Aug 14, 2009) As I Tweeted , This week, I received a popular question around this time of year, as people consider getting a new PC: "What...

(See an update to this article in " It's nearly back to school time: here's info on buying a new PC ", Aug 14, 2009) As per my previous Tweet , I recently updated my answer to a popular question around this time of year: " What kind of a computer should...

It's the day before the night before Christmas, and all through the home the boys are sledding after a downpour of snow. The schools were closed and the streets were all slick as many people awaited the jolly Saint Nick.  With no chains for my tires...

As I Tweeted today (no, really, I can stop any time) I saw a question today on the subject of the coming leap second , as noted in the MSN posted article, 2009 to arrive not a second too soon , from Space.com's Joe Rao: "Wait a second. "The...

I have entered the small notebook PC club, 'though I'm reminded of the infamous quotes by Groucho Marx on club membership. As I Tweeted, I use a number of different technologies at home and at the office: various types of computers, devices and gadgets...

A new site has hit Microsoft.com, in support of our customers: the new community on the Microsoft Answers Site , Microsoft’s first consumer-focused support community. Chris Kilbourn (the Lead Site Manager for TechNet) posted today about the launch......

As I Tweeted today (I can stop any time), Happy Boxing Day. I remember from my growing up in the great white north this as a holiday unto itself, usually associated with post-Christmas sales.  But ( according to the Wiki ) it's "based on the...

Yes, Virgina, there is Snow in Redmond, and surrounding cities as I Tweeted tonite .   Light Snow: 30°F, Feels Like 25°F (actually, it feels colder). On a warmer note, thanks to the tireless and well-read Paul Schottland for establishing my blog...

With snow comes shoveled driveways.  And with that extra snow, you have to do something… So we built a near six foot tall snowman. [Added 5:30PM 12/20/08: as noted on Twitter , and an update for my friend Kent in sunny & warm SVC, we found that...

To start my collection of random quotes, I offer this from one seven-year-old boy at the end of the new movie Iron Man just as the closing credits rolled. It's a testament to his proficiency on Guitar Hero and eclectic music library: "Is that Black...

As I posted previously on the December Updates to Daylight Saving Time and Time Zones , we have released a cumulative DST update for Windows operating systems, KB article 955839 , December 2008 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating...

First it was questions about whether or not we'd have to worry about the coming Leap Second , then today after our power came back on, customer questions about the Zune 30. As we have a couple of Zune 30s in our home going strong, I was surprised to see...

I've been accused (rightly so, I might add) of enjoying general vanilla, Everyman news purveyors such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, along with Wired, BusinessWeek and Fortune.  (I also read much more, much to my wife...

On my way to a meeting, but first: this top of the hat to Steve Clayton. As Steve posted and Tweeted today (you can see that for yourself here ), Hugh MacLeod is a Comic Genius. (More on his work briefly in a pastpost and on his blog/ site at http://www...

For the last post of 2008, I thought to reprise my post on being thankful , as I am fortunate enough to spend my holiday with my family. In that past post, Of interest: Being Thankful , I noted the Seattle P-I newspaper's slide show on " Words of...

Sad day.  According to news reports today, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry , the widow of television director/producer/writer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry , died today (December 18, 2008) as a result of complications from leukemia. You may remember...

When we discuss customer and partner satisfaction at the office, I often tell people to remember one thing: never forget what it is like to be a customer. Well, this week (as I posted previously when I'm returned an Xbox 360 for repair, on a Friday the...

As noted My life as a customer: this time, I'm repairing a Microsoft Zune .  To be specific, an 8GB model that my son relies upon for his daily dose of everything from Disney pop to grunge to classic rock (he's all atwitter about the rock opera Tommy...

It's been a busy few days, preparing for all sorts of stuff at the office… up too early and to bed too late.  But a quick post to share some of the items from my reading pile, in addition to cracking open again my copies of Eckhart Tolle's "New...

As I posted earlier, the new Microsoft Answers beta kicked off this week.  And it looks like folks are noticing the new site, as noted in the this Washington Post article from Rick Broida of PC World.  Broida noted the new site "aims to...

I just received this from my incomparable friend, JuliAnn: the Wisdom Book movie: it seemed appropriate to include it here: http://www.wisdombook.org/ Please watch this video. Then take a deep breath and a few glorious minutes to take it in. Ask yourself...

This weekend I took some time late last night after everyone went to bed and I had finished clearing up most of my mail backlog (apologies to those of you who rec'd a mail from me over the weekend with some new request or a belated reply).  As noted...

In today's Seattle Times is an article by Seattle Times reporter Erik Lacitis on the local Fund For The Needy, and how thousands line up for food, Christmas toys , with coverage today of The Salvation Army, one of the local agencies that receives assistance...

So the shopping and price matching sites you use don't always note the lowest price on that new thingamajig you're trying to track down for the kids for the holidays, or that new electronic office whatchamacallit. Technology writer Rick Broida (a CNET...