Michael Howard's Web Log : General

It's Official: Jeff Jones has WWAYYY Too Much Time on His Hands

michael_HOWARD — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:59:00 GMT

I think I'm a girl-elf in this, however!

Dev Tip: Opening Commonly-Accessed Files

michael_HOWARD — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:39:00 GMT

When I'm writing code, there's one file I need to access constantly - WinError.h, the file that lists all the Windows errors constants. SSSSoooo... I had to find a way to get to the file which is buried somewhere in the C:\Program Files\blah blah\Visual Studio blah blah\VC\something\include\lots-of files-starting-with-'W'-and-ending-in-'h' folder, often and quickly.

What I did was so simple, it's almost silly - I placed a link to the file Quick Launch toolbar! Simple as that!

I know this is not rocket-science, but this little tip has saved me a ton of time!

Privacy Tip o' the Day

michael_HOWARD — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:34:00 GMT

I'm stunned at how much private data the average citizen will divulge. I was buying some stuff yesterday, and the clerk at the checkout asked the customer in front of me for her phone #, which she was quite happy to give. Next, I was signing up for gym membership, and the guy in front of me wrote his social security number on the membership form! Why on earth does a gym need your sosh?

So here's what I do.

Check-out clerk: "Can I please have your phone number?"
Me: "It's unlisted"

I have never had a single issue with this line, and it's not as argumentative as, "no, drop dead."

As for SSN.

Gym Membership guy: "You didn't complete the form, I need your SSN."
Me: "How will my SSN be used?"
Gym Membership guy: "I don't know."
Me: "I bet it's not needed."
Gym Membership guy: "You're probably right"
Me: "Ok, let's leave it blank for the time being."

End of story. Again I'm being civil, and leaving it open ended, even though I have no intention of supplying my National Identity Number, oops, I mean social security number.

In the rare case where someone thinks they REALLY need my sosh and I don't think they do, I'll enter my SSN but flip a bunch of numbers around, I take advantage of the fact there's no checksum digit in a SSN! :)

The Bluetooth Keyboard Mystery: Solved.

michael_HOWARD — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:50:00 GMT

My wife's got a pretty spec'd out box at home with a 30inch widescreen LCD flat panel and a Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. She loves it. But every now and then the keyboard simply stops working. To make matters worse, I can't find my wired keyboard.

This has been going on for months...

Keyboard plays up (ie; you type furiously, and nothing appears onscreen, no matter how hard you whack the keys :)

I look for the wired keyboard (again) and can't find it.
I open the onscreen keyboard with the mouse, which, for some reason still works.
I go to Control Panel --> Hardware --> Bluetooth and see there is an association between the keyboard and computer and the mouse and computer.
I delete the associations and re-establish it.
Voila.

Yeterday was Monday.

My wife phoned me and said the keyboard was, yet again, not working. Then she said, "have you noticed it fails every monday afternoon?" I said, "No, but now you mention it, I think you're right!"

So here's where she solved the mystery.

Every monday we have Anna the cleaner come round to the house to give the place a spruce up. She cleans the office. She cleans the desk in the office. Anna is very thorough, she lifts up everything on the desk to clean it, and that includes the keyboard. Under the keyboard, dead center and toward the rear of the keyboard is a Bluetooth reset button. Have a guess what happens? When she lifts the keyboard to clean it, she resets the keyboard, and breaks the Bluetooth association!

Well, I never expected this. Take 2

michael_HOWARD — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:36:00 GMT

Yesterday, based on some negative feedback, I made a post stating I would keep my blog a tech blog rather than adding anything personal.

Oh-my-God did the floodgates open!

Basically, I got twenty times more email and comments saying, "No, post the personal stuff, we love it. And if we don't like it, we can hit Del."

So, with that in mind, here's what I'll do. I'll keep the blog technical, because it's a technical blog, but every once in a while I'll post something that's not technical and tag it with "Personal."

How's that for a compromise? Or is it a flip-flop? Perhaps I should enter policitics...

Well, I wasn't expecting that!

michael_HOWARD — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:59:00 GMT

Yesterday, I decided to add a more personal angle to my blog by posting about my kids. Well, I got a ton of email saying, "keep it technical."

OK! I listened. It's tech from now on :)