... because we were watching Mark's band play until 1 AM, then it was decided to go to Happy Chef for breakfast. I ate nothing - I think my 39 years of age were catching up to me. I got to bed @ 3 AM and by 8:30, we were up running around. I'm actually sitting in the data center of the hotel at which my kids are swimming. No, they are not unattended - Karen, Mark and his wife, and Karen's folks are all there. It is ungodly hot in the pool area and I don't want to get sick so I'm sitting in some nice air conditioning for a few moments.
In other news, DailyVault.com published my Queensryche review so that is cool.
Mark asked me how his band played. I like them. I think they sound good. I like that the drummer has electronic drums (Yamaha) that mix into the band's total sound. I also liked the bassist's dexterity. I noticed he doesn't play with a pick so his fingers move fast sometimes.
Among the other tidbits from last night, I played pool. There were two tables. I played next to a "Paul" and "Karen" that had been married 18 years. They have two daughters so we were able to exchange notes re: daughters.
Also, one of my best friends, JR came down to watch the band as well. I like talking to JR. We go back to 2nd grade and have shared many, many, experiences over the years. He is a trusted friend and confidant. We even have our taboo subjects and names we aren't allowed to even say to each other, though.
Tonight is Anthony's bachelor party. I am the designated driver. I did that with Travis' wedding a few years ago. I really don't mind that. I think tonight will be fun.
I'd better return to the ungodly hot pool area before I am missed.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Almost there...
I got home @ 5:15 and started to mow my yard. At 6:15, I was almost done with my yard and Megan had softball practice @ 6:30. I dropped her off at practice, then returned home to finish my yard. I finished my yard about 6:40. That meant I had just over an hour to finish the neighbor's yard - the ones that moved to OK - before picking up Megan from practice @ 8.
I finished mowing the neighbor's yard @ 7:50 and bolted over to practice. Practice didn't get over until 8:15.
Alex's team, the Rays, lost by 1 run last night.
Tonight is Megan's double-header and Alex has a game too. I also have to figure out how to get the season finale of "Lost" taped so I can watch it. We don't have a DVR so I rely on VHS tapes. I know I will be home by 9 so I can put in a fresh tape for the last hour but it's making sure the first hour is taped that is the issue. Plus, they're having some sort of special from 7-8.
Work was really good yesterday. I got a lot of stuff done. I am almost ready to finish a couple of projects I was working on concurrently so that is good.
I finished mowing the neighbor's yard @ 7:50 and bolted over to practice. Practice didn't get over until 8:15.
Alex's team, the Rays, lost by 1 run last night.
Tonight is Megan's double-header and Alex has a game too. I also have to figure out how to get the season finale of "Lost" taped so I can watch it. We don't have a DVR so I rely on VHS tapes. I know I will be home by 9 so I can put in a fresh tape for the last hour but it's making sure the first hour is taped that is the issue. Plus, they're having some sort of special from 7-8.
Work was really good yesterday. I got a lot of stuff done. I am almost ready to finish a couple of projects I was working on concurrently so that is good.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Published, Weekend, and the Future
First, the cool news. Two big pieces posted today @ Dailyvault.com & a hint re: my next review.
Third, this week is busy but it doesn't start until Wednesday.
Tomorrow night, unless it's raining, I'll be mowing. It's hard to believe that is the only scheduled activity.
Wednesday, though, is when the fun begins. Alex has a baseball game in Coralville and Megan has 6:30 practice.
Thursday, Megan has a double-header, starting the first game @ 5:30 and Alex has a game as well.
Friday, we leave Cedar Rapids when I get off work @ 5 for Cedar Falls to see my brother-in-law's band play at the Hub. His band is the The HooDads and my brother-in-law is the one with the Fender shirt. Guess what he plays?!?
Saturday AM, we are going to the hotel that my mother-in-law and her sister are staying at so that the kids can go swimming. Then we are leaving for CR to drop off the kids at my parents' house to spend the night. Then we are going to get ready. Ready for what? I am the designated driver for the father of the bride for his future son-in-law's bachelor party. Karen is going out with the girls.
Sunday, I'll grab the kids from CR and prepare for another week of work, baseball games, and who knows what else.
- Death Cab for Cutie review
- Rush in Moline, IL, concert review
- My review of Queensryche's CD of cover songs is coming later this week!
Third, this week is busy but it doesn't start until Wednesday.
Tomorrow night, unless it's raining, I'll be mowing. It's hard to believe that is the only scheduled activity.
Wednesday, though, is when the fun begins. Alex has a baseball game in Coralville and Megan has 6:30 practice.
Thursday, Megan has a double-header, starting the first game @ 5:30 and Alex has a game as well.
Friday, we leave Cedar Rapids when I get off work @ 5 for Cedar Falls to see my brother-in-law's band play at the Hub. His band is the The HooDads and my brother-in-law is the one with the Fender shirt. Guess what he plays?!?
Saturday AM, we are going to the hotel that my mother-in-law and her sister are staying at so that the kids can go swimming. Then we are leaving for CR to drop off the kids at my parents' house to spend the night. Then we are going to get ready. Ready for what? I am the designated driver for the father of the bride for his future son-in-law's bachelor party. Karen is going out with the girls.
Sunday, I'll grab the kids from CR and prepare for another week of work, baseball games, and who knows what else.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Weekend & Raymond... again
As it gets closer to 8 AM, I haven't really solved any problems. I did just find out that there are two houses near where my parents live. House A is my folks and Houses B & C are for sale.
It should be a time for solving things, though. It is, after all, finally the weekend but it doesn't allow me a chance to slow down. Alex's coach added practice this AM @ 10 and that's fine. Alex's team has lost its last 3 games. In his league, it's not really a life or death. I think the coaches want the boys to be successful and to learn the game. There are times when, I'll admit, it is frustrating to see a player struggle, whether it's throwing a ball when the count is full or when a ball that is going directly to a kid doesn't go in the glove. There's nothing, in those situations, a coach can do. The helplessness feeling is what is discouraging. Yet, at the same time, the boys seem to be having fun, which is the number one priority. Practice today will consist of a lot of batting practice as we, as a team, haven't been hitting the ball when we are up to bat. There is a lot second-guessing.
"No."
Well, we now have plants along the fence. We laid down mulch last year but it seems to have not been thick enough. I know we need to put down more and to put it down heavier. Yet, starting June 13-July 13, we won't really be home at all. Between baseball/softball games up until shortly before the first of July and camping all five weekends in Elkader, we won't really be able to enjoy the work we would do. I'm leaning towards putting it down this fall. Yet, I don't want it to look bad so maybe within a week or so, we'll tackle that project.
Another project that I'm sure will get tackled sooner than later is the storage room. When we load the camper, all the camping stuff in that room must come out. You'd think after all these years there would be a system and you'd be wrong. For the most part, things are organized. We ultimately have too much stuff. Ideally, I'd be able to leave my drums set up all the time in this storage room but... there's no way right now. We have never really come up with a system for keeping the room organized. When we purchase something, I ask "where should we keep this?" "Down in the storage room." Hence, we accumulate and accumulate. I used to think that some shelves would make things better, but I'm not convinced of that any more. We need a warehouse like in the final scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The obvious answer, if you don't want to go the warehouse construction route, is to ditch stuff. Believe me, we've had our 'I'm ready to ditch stuff we don't need" cleaning days. I don't know if one is on the horizon. It'll really depend upon whether I can find the things from the camping season that need to be found.
Okay, enough about the messiness of my storage room. How boring.
Work? Oh yes, I went to work yesterday. I think work is really going well. I have a lot to do - which is a recurring theme in this blog - and that is good. I have been converting from a table-based layout to a CSS-based layout. My table-based layout uses qdshelp.css and my non-table layout uses qdshelp_new.css. When all of my files point to qdshelp_new.css, I am going to rename qdshelp.css to qdshelp_tables.css, rename qdshelp_new.css to qdshelp.css, and then do a find qdshelp_new.css and replace it with qdshelp.css in all of my HTML files. Then... I will start the process all over again of deciding what to change in the HTML files. I'm not sure, exactly, what I will change. The awesome thing is that with CSS, I can make a change to a single file and have the changes ripple through to all the HTML files. CSS is very powerful and I don't even understand all of its capabilities. I am learning, though, and that's good.
Outside of a pet project like that, there is a long list of projects that are going to require doc changes to the system. The system has grown very complex over the last 9.5 years and, as I approach a decade of working there, I think it will get even more complex in the next decade. I am one of those fools that don't exist much anymore that really thinks I will spend the rest of my career at a single job. I have no desire to go elsewhere. My (cool) manager is awesome, I like my work, and I enjoy the people with whom I work. It's a good environment for me.
It should be a time for solving things, though. It is, after all, finally the weekend but it doesn't allow me a chance to slow down. Alex's coach added practice this AM @ 10 and that's fine. Alex's team has lost its last 3 games. In his league, it's not really a life or death. I think the coaches want the boys to be successful and to learn the game. There are times when, I'll admit, it is frustrating to see a player struggle, whether it's throwing a ball when the count is full or when a ball that is going directly to a kid doesn't go in the glove. There's nothing, in those situations, a coach can do. The helplessness feeling is what is discouraging. Yet, at the same time, the boys seem to be having fun, which is the number one priority. Practice today will consist of a lot of batting practice as we, as a team, haven't been hitting the ball when we are up to bat. There is a lot second-guessing.
The other major event that is happening this weekend is the printer. I replaced 2 of the 6 cartridges last night and now it still won't print b/c it claims the other 4 are empty. I should have just bought all 6 last night at Best Buy. Now I need to make a stop on the way home from Mass. Of course, Alex has a paper he has to turn in on Tuesday and it has to be typed.
I wrote a review of the new Death Cab for Cutie. I wrote about how I must be living under a rock b/c the buzz on this band is huge and, well, I had never listened to them before. I think the review is running on Monday.
Karen's aunt's funeral is on Monday as well. We are missing graduation party tomorrow to go up to the wake in Dubuque. We'll leave @ 1 and be to Dubuque by 3, stay for the vigil, and then go to Balltown for the night. The next morning, I'll pack the van so that when we leave to attend the funeral, we'll be able to leave from Dubuque to NL. Alex has tutor @ 3:15.
When I went to pick up some vegetables in our former neighborhood, when my former neighbor's mom saw me, she said, "You look like that guy on TV." After some further discussion, she was thinking of Raymond on Everybody Loves Raymond. What's funny is that when I first started dating my wife, my wife's cousin's wife thought I looked like Tom Cruise. I'm no Tom Cruise. I actually am closer to a hybrid of Robert and Raymond. Take Robert's height, not being the favorite child, and not having a good relationship with his mother and melt it with Raymond's love for golf, his desire to be a good father, and the way in which what he does is not exactly what everyone else thinks he should do. My brother-in-law in Cedar Falls thinks I look & act like Raymond as well.
Speaking of jerks... no really, I really like my brothers-in-law. We are going to see Mark's band play next Friday night. We are going to be leaving CR @ 5-ish, u pto Cedar Falls by 6:15-ish, drop the kids off, and then go downtown to The Hub to see the Who-Dads. The Who-Dads used to be called "Drop Everything" but went through a name change. I saw them play before and they are good. They have an insane lead guitarist and a killer rhythm guitarist (Mark). The drummer uses electronic drums so that is good as well. On top of all that, their set list is very good. My personal favorite is when they launched into the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun." Ah... college. One last note, tentatively, one of my best friends and his wife that live in Cedar Falls may be coming down to check it out too. I hope they do.
So while we were going to get the camper loaded for the beginning of our camping season on Friday, June 13, it doesn't look like that will happen. Additionally, we were going to lay down some mulch in our backyard and it's doubtful that will happen either. The mulch project is kind of interesting. About a year ago, our neighbors down the street rented a sod ripper upper because they were expanding their patio. Karen says to me, "Don't you think we should use it so we can plant some plants along the fence in the backyard?"
"No."
Well, we now have plants along the fence. We laid down mulch last year but it seems to have not been thick enough. I know we need to put down more and to put it down heavier. Yet, starting June 13-July 13, we won't really be home at all. Between baseball/softball games up until shortly before the first of July and camping all five weekends in Elkader, we won't really be able to enjoy the work we would do. I'm leaning towards putting it down this fall. Yet, I don't want it to look bad so maybe within a week or so, we'll tackle that project.
Another project that I'm sure will get tackled sooner than later is the storage room. When we load the camper, all the camping stuff in that room must come out. You'd think after all these years there would be a system and you'd be wrong. For the most part, things are organized. We ultimately have too much stuff. Ideally, I'd be able to leave my drums set up all the time in this storage room but... there's no way right now. We have never really come up with a system for keeping the room organized. When we purchase something, I ask "where should we keep this?" "Down in the storage room." Hence, we accumulate and accumulate. I used to think that some shelves would make things better, but I'm not convinced of that any more. We need a warehouse like in the final scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The obvious answer, if you don't want to go the warehouse construction route, is to ditch stuff. Believe me, we've had our 'I'm ready to ditch stuff we don't need" cleaning days. I don't know if one is on the horizon. It'll really depend upon whether I can find the things from the camping season that need to be found.
Okay, enough about the messiness of my storage room. How boring.
Work? Oh yes, I went to work yesterday. I think work is really going well. I have a lot to do - which is a recurring theme in this blog - and that is good. I have been converting from a table-based layout to a CSS-based layout. My table-based layout uses qdshelp.css and my non-table layout uses qdshelp_new.css. When all of my files point to qdshelp_new.css, I am going to rename qdshelp.css to qdshelp_tables.css, rename qdshelp_new.css to qdshelp.css, and then do a find qdshelp_new.css and replace it with qdshelp.css in all of my HTML files. Then... I will start the process all over again of deciding what to change in the HTML files. I'm not sure, exactly, what I will change. The awesome thing is that with CSS, I can make a change to a single file and have the changes ripple through to all the HTML files. CSS is very powerful and I don't even understand all of its capabilities. I am learning, though, and that's good.
Outside of a pet project like that, there is a long list of projects that are going to require doc changes to the system. The system has grown very complex over the last 9.5 years and, as I approach a decade of working there, I think it will get even more complex in the next decade. I am one of those fools that don't exist much anymore that really thinks I will spend the rest of my career at a single job. I have no desire to go elsewhere. My (cool) manager is awesome, I like my work, and I enjoy the people with whom I work. It's a good environment for me.
Alex just came downstairs and needs help with his tutor homework so maybe I'll write later. He asked if I got the printer working and I said no, it needs more ink. He said that they're just trying to get me to pay more money at Best Buy. Smart kid.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Mission Metallica
I have to say I have a weakness. I have had this weakness since 1989 when I saw Metallica play in concert for the first time, a weakness that has continued to seeing them in November 1991 during Student Teaching when I looked around the arena and wondered why all these kids weren't home doing their schoolwork, and then in January 1993, when bassist Jason Newsted told the Carver Hawkeye Arena that they needed to have a good time even though basketball player Chris Street had died shortly before the concert (like a week earlier) and then... August 2004 when they played "Frantic" and "Dirty Window" from St. Anger. That gig was so good I bought it in MP3 format from http://www.livemetallica.com.
Metallica are the band that I adore. My kids know "Enter Sandman," "Sad But True," and maybe a couple others. I am listening to "Ride the Lightening" now and will probably spin a different Metallica release tomorrow.
I am so stoked to hear new riffs, new ideas, and new images of the band I really like. I find myself feeling like a teeny-bopper getting all giddy and excited. I wish there was a release date for Metallica's next release because I have a Javascript that will count down the number of days until a specific date. I would somehow post that on this blog so that the people that look at this page would immediately know how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds until it is released.
I am so excited. I've sat at this PC, looking at the different videos on Youtube and on http://www.missionmetallica.com/. I am stoked!
Dang!
Please hurry time. This Metallica fan wants to hear the new release yesterday, not tomorrow!
YYZ and more Peart
I don't know why, but the animated Neil Peart playing YYZ is now back up on YouTube so if you haven't checked it out, here it is:
video removed="removed"
I can safely tell you that Peart *is* as mechanical and precise as the video. I also found this video that I found interesting:
video removed="removed"
And finally, if you're really bored, watch this. The only redeeming value is the way he looks in the camera is really freaky.
video removed="removed"
One more than I leave you...
video removed="removed
I guess I got all of that out of my system - I don't really want my blog to be a bunch of links to Youtube videos.
Editor's Note: It is totally ironic that these words, in this order, actually exists on this blog: "I don't really want my blog to be a bunch of links to Youtube videos."
video removed="removed"
I can safely tell you that Peart *is* as mechanical and precise as the video. I also found this video that I found interesting:
video removed="removed"
And finally, if you're really bored, watch this. The only redeeming value is the way he looks in the camera is really freaky.
video removed="removed"
One more than I leave you...
video removed="removed
I guess I got all of that out of my system - I don't really want my blog to be a bunch of links to Youtube videos.
Editor's Note: It is totally ironic that these words, in this order, actually exists on this blog: "I don't really want my blog to be a bunch of links to Youtube videos."
Seeing Hurry in Moline, IL, and Memorial Day Weekend Plans
I left Cedar Rapids on Tuesday afternoon @ 4:30. I was eating a #3, no pickles/onions, in the McDonald's in West Branch @ 5:10. I was back on the road @ 5:20. I was at the Walcott exit 20 minutes later and at my brother-in-law's house at 6. I was sitting in my seat in the iWireless Center @ 7. The show was amazing. Excellent musicianship, of course, from Hurry. I submitted my review to Dailyvault.com and will link to it from my blog when it is posted.
This holiday weekend doesn't seem like it will be much of a holiday. Megan is having a friend of hers sleepover on Friday night. On Saturday, I heard a rumor about putting down some mulch in the backyard and cleaning the garage. I am also playing @ 5:15 Mass and Karen is singing. On Sunday, we are either going to a wake in Dubuque on Sunday afternoon and spending the night in Balltown *or* we are going to a former neighbor's graduation party because Karen had told the mother of the graduate that she would help her.
Either way, on Memorial Day, we have Karen's aunt's funeral. Dorothy was a great person. She was filled by the Holy Spirit and lived as a servant of the Lord. She was my father-in-law's sister and very special in the family. She will be missed.
This holiday weekend doesn't seem like it will be much of a holiday. Megan is having a friend of hers sleepover on Friday night. On Saturday, I heard a rumor about putting down some mulch in the backyard and cleaning the garage. I am also playing @ 5:15 Mass and Karen is singing. On Sunday, we are either going to a wake in Dubuque on Sunday afternoon and spending the night in Balltown *or* we are going to a former neighbor's graduation party because Karen had told the mother of the graduate that she would help her.
Either way, on Memorial Day, we have Karen's aunt's funeral. Dorothy was a great person. She was filled by the Holy Spirit and lived as a servant of the Lord. She was my father-in-law's sister and very special in the family. She will be missed.
Monday, May 19, 2008
MASH
I got sucked into watching *again* the MASH 30th Anniversary special that I have seen before from 10-12 last night. Some comments:
- Harry Morgan (Potter) looks old and he looked really old in the series!
- I think it is very touching how the cast came together to do a show no one had ever done before
- Alan Alda sounds like he was as funny off camera as he was on camera
- Frank Burns is dead
- Winchester doesn't have his Boston snobbery accent.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Return to NL
We are home safe and sound in North Liberty. The camper safely rests next to the garage, the F-150 is emptied, the 2 hour season finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is on. Alex is playing his baseball Playstation game and Megan is practically begging me to get off the PC so that she can do "webkinz" and "buy stuff," whatever that means.
Eager to please, I'll check in later.
Eager to please, I'll check in later.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
So much too few moments
Where did this week go?
Baseball, softball, ER season finale (just who really was in the ambulance that blew - Pratt or Sam?), Lost, Grey's Anatomy, baseball, softball... where does the time go?
Big news is that I bought tickets for Rush for Tuesday night. I didn't know this, but they have a new live 2 CD release. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_&_Arrows_Tour
In other news, Lamb of God's drummer Chris Adler is going to be writing a monthly column for Modern Drummer. I used to subscribe to MD but it has been years since I bought an issue cover to cover - at least 15 years, closer to 20.
At work, I have been working hard. There is a lot of work to do and I am trying my best to put my head above water. One reason that makes my life difficult is the virtual machine I have been using since late March. It is not working for me. I wrote this email to my cool manager that summarizes my issues and removed references to my company:
The problem is that the Virtual Machine session of my old PC doesn't perform adequately. I discovered yet another issue today: the inability to paste formatted text when it is copied in Internet Explorer (IE) and pasted into Word.
My workflow has been to always write documentation in Dreamweaver (DW), preview the text in Internet Explorer (IE) and then paste into Word. I have used this workflow for nearly 2 years on my Windows 2000 (W2K) PC. This workflow worked without any issues when I was using a non-virtual PC. I developed this workflow because it is faster to work DW ==> IE ==> Word than it is to work Word --> DW. I experimented with both workflows while developing the most efficient way in which to write documentation.
Here's a specific example:
I write this text in my HTML file:TheWord_01 Word_02 system option is available.
I preview the page in IE. I select the above text and press Ctrl+C to copy the text.
I navigate to Word 2003and press Ctrl+V. I get this: The Word_01 Word_02 system option is available.
In other words, my bolded text doesn't carry the formatting from the IE text.
The impact of this issue is that I then have to manually highlight text and format it as bold. There is no macro or automated way to do this. This adds time. For lengthy passages, it might make sense to copy a sentence at a time but this is not a long-term - definitely NOT permanent - solution. It is a [...] standard to bold names of menu options, system options & system values so that they stand out. Not bolding these items would make the documentation confusing to read as all the names would be title case but they wouldn't stand out. Bolding these items is a common and accepted practice among most technical writers.
I tested to see if this could be reproduced on my Vista machine. No, it cannot. I can select formatted text in IE 7, copy it to my clipboard and then paste it into Word 2007. The text will be copied as formatted text, working as I expect.
In conclusion, the inability to paste formatted text is yet another issue with using a virtual machine. This issue joins the list with 1) general slowness of the virtual machine, 2) the inability to scroll in any applications, and 3) the unstable PDF creation. I know that these issues did not exist on my non-virtual PC session. I am confident that they will not exist on my Vista PC. These issues would be resolved if [we] obtained the new versions of the software - RoboHelp, Dreamweaver, SnagIT, Adobe Acrobat - so that I can migrate from the Virtual PC to my non-virtual Vista PC.
To my manager's credit, she is working very very hard to get this squared away so that I can move along.
And... if you got through all that, you should be rewarded so here you go. Def Leppard, Everclear, Night Ranger, Cinderella, Warrant, and 38 Special are playing at the Iowa State Fair this year: http://www.iowastatefair.com/entertainment/mediaPlayer/grandstand.php
I just learned that Disarray is still around and kicking. They are one of my favorite bands. I am hoping to get a review copy of their latest CD to review for DV.
We are going out of town this weekend so don't bother checking this site again until Sunday PM - and even then, it'll depend upon how tired I am. We are going to pick up our camper tomorrow night, then driving to Balltown. On Saturday, we're going to 4 PM Mass and then to the casino in Dubuque. On Sunday is a birthday party for my niece and nephew. Then we return home to North Liberty and park the camper next to the house - hopefully before the finale of Extreme Makeover and Desperate Housewives!
Take it easy or any way you can get it.
Baseball, softball, ER season finale (just who really was in the ambulance that blew - Pratt or Sam?), Lost, Grey's Anatomy, baseball, softball... where does the time go?
Big news is that I bought tickets for Rush for Tuesday night. I didn't know this, but they have a new live 2 CD release. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_&_Arrows_Tour
In other news, Lamb of God's drummer Chris Adler is going to be writing a monthly column for Modern Drummer. I used to subscribe to MD but it has been years since I bought an issue cover to cover - at least 15 years, closer to 20.
At work, I have been working hard. There is a lot of work to do and I am trying my best to put my head above water. One reason that makes my life difficult is the virtual machine I have been using since late March. It is not working for me. I wrote this email to my cool manager that summarizes my issues and removed references to my company:
The problem is that the Virtual Machine session of my old PC doesn't perform adequately. I discovered yet another issue today: the inability to paste formatted text when it is copied in Internet Explorer (IE) and pasted into Word.
My workflow has been to always write documentation in Dreamweaver (DW), preview the text in Internet Explorer (IE) and then paste into Word. I have used this workflow for nearly 2 years on my Windows 2000 (W2K) PC. This workflow worked without any issues when I was using a non-virtual PC. I developed this workflow because it is faster to work DW ==> IE ==> Word than it is to work Word --> DW. I experimented with both workflows while developing the most efficient way in which to write documentation.
Here's a specific example:
I write this text in my HTML file:The
I preview the page in IE. I select the above text and press Ctrl+C to copy the text.
I navigate to Word 2003
In other words, my bolded text doesn't carry the formatting from the IE text.
The impact of this issue is that I then have to manually highlight text and format it as bold. There is no macro or automated way to do this. This adds time. For lengthy passages, it might make sense to copy a sentence at a time but this is not a long-term - definitely NOT permanent - solution. It is a [...] standard to bold names of menu options, system options & system values so that they stand out. Not bolding these items would make the documentation confusing to read as all the names would be title case but they wouldn't stand out. Bolding these items is a common and accepted practice among most technical writers.
I tested to see if this could be reproduced on my Vista machine. No, it cannot. I can select formatted text in IE 7, copy it to my clipboard and then paste it into Word 2007. The text will be copied as formatted text, working as I expect.
In conclusion, the inability to paste formatted text is yet another issue with using a virtual machine. This issue joins the list with 1) general slowness of the virtual machine, 2) the inability to scroll in any applications, and 3) the unstable PDF creation. I know that these issues did not exist on my non-virtual PC session. I am confident that they will not exist on my Vista PC. These issues would be resolved if [we] obtained the new versions of the software - RoboHelp, Dreamweaver, SnagIT, Adobe Acrobat - so that I can migrate from the Virtual PC to my non-virtual Vista PC.
To my manager's credit, she is working very very hard to get this squared away so that I can move along.
And... if you got through all that, you should be rewarded so here you go. Def Leppard, Everclear, Night Ranger, Cinderella, Warrant, and 38 Special are playing at the Iowa State Fair this year: http://www.iowastatefair.com/entertainment/mediaPlayer/grandstand.php
I just learned that Disarray is still around and kicking. They are one of my favorite bands. I am hoping to get a review copy of their latest CD to review for DV.
We are going out of town this weekend so don't bother checking this site again until Sunday PM - and even then, it'll depend upon how tired I am. We are going to pick up our camper tomorrow night, then driving to Balltown. On Saturday, we're going to 4 PM Mass and then to the casino in Dubuque. On Sunday is a birthday party for my niece and nephew. Then we return home to North Liberty and park the camper next to the house - hopefully before the finale of Extreme Makeover and Desperate Housewives!
Take it easy or any way you can get it.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Rushing to Get there
I talked to my brother-in-law tonight and we decided we are going to go see Rush @ the iWireless Center in Moline, IL, next Tuesday night. I am going to pick up our tickets tomorrow.
I saw Rush in Ames in 2002. They were amazing. Without looking at each other, they picked up the different changes in the songs they were playing. It was phenomenal to watch a band as polished as Rush play. Of course, Neil Peart nailed all of his fills and sounded perfect. I am looking forward to the concert. I haven't been to a concert since the Temptations and that was in the ballroom in the Riverside Casino. Before that, was Memphis in May 2007. This is going to be awesome. I am spending the night at my brother-in-law's house in Blue Grass and then driving straight to Cedar Rapids to work on Wednesday AM.
I saw Rush in Ames in 2002. They were amazing. Without looking at each other, they picked up the different changes in the songs they were playing. It was phenomenal to watch a band as polished as Rush play. Of course, Neil Peart nailed all of his fills and sounded perfect. I am looking forward to the concert. I haven't been to a concert since the Temptations and that was in the ballroom in the Riverside Casino. Before that, was Memphis in May 2007. This is going to be awesome. I am spending the night at my brother-in-law's house in Blue Grass and then driving straight to Cedar Rapids to work on Wednesday AM.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Growing Up
My daughter is growing up in front of my eyes. It is going fast and as a friend of mine told me today, "Pretty soon it'll be prom." He said that in context of talking about how his daughter wanted to stay up and make breakfast after prom.
Prom. What a joke. I have faint memories of what prom was really like. I like to romanticize it and say that it was fun and that I had a good time. I remember that my date and I went as friends. I remember that I didn't get home until 3-ish AM, which was a big deal for me. I also remember that I had to work the next morning at the restaurant. I didn't drink in high school so it wasn't being hung over that made that Sunday difficult - it was, authentically, getting up after only 3 hours of sleep.
Back to Megan. We left around 6:30 AM and went to McDonald's to have an Egg McMuffin. I think that was a time I won't forget. After breakfast, I drove her to school so that she could go on the school's bands' bus trip to Adventureland, in Des Moines. The parking lot was full of kids, 5th grade through 12th grade. I think that next year, if possible, I'd like to chaperone on this trip. I think it'd be fun.
It's now 9:40 AM and because my in-laws are in town, I doubt I will see this PC until Monday AM. That's okay - I really, authentically, like being around my in-laws. My father-in-law and I get along well and I like being around my favorite mother-in-law.
One last note: I think work is going to be very fun over the next months. There is a lot of initiatives I want to work on and even more that I probably don't know about.
Prom. What a joke. I have faint memories of what prom was really like. I like to romanticize it and say that it was fun and that I had a good time. I remember that my date and I went as friends. I remember that I didn't get home until 3-ish AM, which was a big deal for me. I also remember that I had to work the next morning at the restaurant. I didn't drink in high school so it wasn't being hung over that made that Sunday difficult - it was, authentically, getting up after only 3 hours of sleep.
Back to Megan. We left around 6:30 AM and went to McDonald's to have an Egg McMuffin. I think that was a time I won't forget. After breakfast, I drove her to school so that she could go on the school's bands' bus trip to Adventureland, in Des Moines. The parking lot was full of kids, 5th grade through 12th grade. I think that next year, if possible, I'd like to chaperone on this trip. I think it'd be fun.
It's now 9:40 AM and because my in-laws are in town, I doubt I will see this PC until Monday AM. That's okay - I really, authentically, like being around my in-laws. My father-in-law and I get along well and I like being around my favorite mother-in-law.
One last note: I think work is going to be very fun over the next months. There is a lot of initiatives I want to work on and even more that I probably don't know about.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Not Hard Enough
I heard about my 20 year high school reunion in the paper. They're having a dinner/dance on a Saturday night in August. I don't plan to go because I will be on our annual college campout with 4 other couples and a bunch of kids. I don't have anything but regrets about high school. I didn't work hard enough academically. I got decent grades but I didn't attempt AP English even though I knew in high school I wanted to be an English teacher. I didn't work hard enough socially. I didn't have a lot of friends and I pretty much only dated one girl. I didn't work hard enough when I was out for the swim team. I improved year-to-year but I never, ever, gave myself the authority to go the next step. I never went more than 100% in practice. I didn't give when I had nothing to give. And, perhaps the one area I regret the most is that I didn't work hard enough to get into my high school's music scene. There was a guitarist and a bassist and a singer who needed me to play drums with them, but I never approached them. The guitarist and bassist eventually went out to form an original band I liked in 1993, but because I had never approached either of them with the idea of jamming or had never approached the school paper about writing for them, people didn't really know I was about music, which has become a lot of what I'm about these days.
So hearing about a high school reunion doesn't really trip my trigger. I'm not harboring animosity towards anyone I went to high school with. It's, well, I have grown since high school. I have, hopefully, matured into the father and husband I was meant to be. I mean, why do I want to go back and see people that still think of me as I was 20 years ago when I am so not that person? It doesn't make sense to me, when I think about it, to go back and surround myself with people - even if it is only for one night - that haven't really made an effort to stay in touch with me. I can count on two fingers - and these two know who they are - the number of friends that I have remained close with over the last 20 years. These two were in my wedding ~15 years ago and I know that I can call them anytime I need them and, hopefully, they know the inverse is true as well. So for the other 440 people in my class...I hope you all have a great time.
So hearing about a high school reunion doesn't really trip my trigger. I'm not harboring animosity towards anyone I went to high school with. It's, well, I have grown since high school. I have, hopefully, matured into the father and husband I was meant to be. I mean, why do I want to go back and see people that still think of me as I was 20 years ago when I am so not that person? It doesn't make sense to me, when I think about it, to go back and surround myself with people - even if it is only for one night - that haven't really made an effort to stay in touch with me. I can count on two fingers - and these two know who they are - the number of friends that I have remained close with over the last 20 years. These two were in my wedding ~15 years ago and I know that I can call them anytime I need them and, hopefully, they know the inverse is true as well. So for the other 440 people in my class...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Sick
I have been fighting a cold and it sucks. I hate feeling under the weather. I have a tickle in the back of my throat and I constantly blow my nose like a faucet. My stomach is in knots and I just don't feel good. I am tired and disgusted and sick. Period. I am turning off the PC, despite the fact that I should be writing reviews tonight as my wife's birthday is tomorrow and I will not be on the PC @ night. I would like to wake up tomorrow to a brighter day and a better day so I'm not even going to turn on the TV to watch a rerun of Justice League Unlimited - a show for which I have a weakness. I'm not going to even look for a MASH rerun or an episode of Home Improvement. Even Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor is not getting my attention tonight.
I am going to bed.
I am going to bed.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Slave to the Grind or Grinding to the Slave
I'm looking at my S CDs and I see Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind." I really wish that band would have stuck around longer in that SttG mentality. SttG is not hair metal - it is heavy metal. It is authoritative and mind-blowing, even today. There's the radio hit "Monkey Business" but that's probably the least best track. The best track is the ballad "Wasted Time" - the lyrics are potent. I will need to address this CD on http://www.dailyvault.com in the near future.
In other news, the Confirmation Mass was yesterday. Not to be egotistical, but I received many compliments on my drums. Every one thought the music sounded great. I played conservatively in the first few songs and then played more adventurous during the last song. The music ministry person gave me $20 so I guess I'm a pro. I am going to buy a new pair of "Hot Rod" brush/sticks because the ones I've been using for years have been whittled to useless.
Alex was my roadie and helped carry drums out to the car. I have a 4 door Achieva and I fit my 24" bass drum, 16" floor tom, 13" mounted tom, 14" snare, 18" ride, 14" crash, 14" hihats, a snare stand, two cymbal stands, and a hihat stand in my car, plus Alex. I used to have a 4 door Honda Accord and all of that equipment fit in that car as well. I like fitting all of my drums in a small car - it's my thing.
It's back to work. I have 26 projects that I think are going to be on the next update. It is going to be crazy at work until... well, probably September 1. There are many initiatives my manager and I have set up (that I won't discuss here in any great depth - too specific to the company to be relevant) that are in the works. Some are really exciting - like the conversion of 1200+ HTML files to a new CSS file - and some are not so much. I do love my job. I think that I was meant to be a Technical Writer. I have been with my employer since 10/1/98 and sometimes it's like I was born to be working at this company. The people are fantastic, the work is always challenging, and I have the audacity to think I can make a difference. Not bad for someone who begged their college professor to not fail my Student Teaching experience in the fall of 1991.
It's 7:10 AM and I need to progress.
In other news, the Confirmation Mass was yesterday. Not to be egotistical, but I received many compliments on my drums. Every one thought the music sounded great. I played conservatively in the first few songs and then played more adventurous during the last song. The music ministry person gave me $20 so I guess I'm a pro. I am going to buy a new pair of "Hot Rod" brush/sticks because the ones I've been using for years have been whittled to useless.
Alex was my roadie and helped carry drums out to the car. I have a 4 door Achieva and I fit my 24" bass drum, 16" floor tom, 13" mounted tom, 14" snare, 18" ride, 14" crash, 14" hihats, a snare stand, two cymbal stands, and a hihat stand in my car, plus Alex. I used to have a 4 door Honda Accord and all of that equipment fit in that car as well. I like fitting all of my drums in a small car - it's my thing.
It's back to work. I have 26 projects that I think are going to be on the next update. It is going to be crazy at work until... well, probably September 1. There are many initiatives my manager and I have set up (that I won't discuss here in any great depth - too specific to the company to be relevant) that are in the works. Some are really exciting - like the conversion of 1200+ HTML files to a new CSS file - and some are not so much. I do love my job. I think that I was meant to be a Technical Writer. I have been with my employer since 10/1/98 and sometimes it's like I was born to be working at this company. The people are fantastic, the work is always challenging, and I have the audacity to think I can make a difference. Not bad for someone who begged their college professor to not fail my Student Teaching experience in the fall of 1991.
It's 7:10 AM and I need to progress.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Can't we catch the Sun ... just once?
With each Saturday baseball practice, it seems like the weather never cooperates. Last week, it was cold and windy. Today is no different. It doesn't feel like baseball season. Yet, in about 15 minutes, I'll go up to Alex's room, wake him up, we'll get in the car and go.
It also rained in Memphis. I talked to my friend Phi ~11 PM last night. He said they got drenched. That's par for the Memphis in May course - it has to rain at least once. The forecast is better for today through Sunday but I'd imagine the mud people will emerge on the grounds. They're the crazy ones who frolic in the mud that is caused by the rain. Hair, clothes, & shoes all become caked in mud when the Mud People emerge. They are entertaining to watch.
Alex's coach just called. No practice today. Instead, we're getting together @ 2. That's for the better, I think, so that the kids don't get sick. Don't need sick kids going into the season.
It also rained in Memphis. I talked to my friend Phi ~11 PM last night. He said they got drenched. That's par for the Memphis in May course - it has to rain at least once. The forecast is better for today through Sunday but I'd imagine the mud people will emerge on the grounds. They're the crazy ones who frolic in the mud that is caused by the rain. Hair, clothes, & shoes all become caked in mud when the Mud People emerge. They are entertaining to watch.
Alex's coach just called. No practice today. Instead, we're getting together @ 2. That's for the better, I think, so that the kids don't get sick. Don't need sick kids going into the season.
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Rainy Friday Superstition [was:Tired]
Both my wife and I are tired. Our kids are tired. Everyone walks around in a constant fluid state, consistently wondering, "When can I go back to sleep?"
It's been a busy week. On Wednesday, I mowed our neighbor's yard. They moved to Oklahoma and my wife volunteered me. It was the first cut of the spring and the grass was long. Normally, I can whip through cutting grass. Wednesday, because it was so long, it took 2 hours to do his yard. I still had our yard to mow and it was ~8 PM!
I started in on our yard and did maybe 3/4ths of the front when the mower let out its last gasp and died. I couldn't pull the string to restart it. I had just filled the gas tank so that couldn't be the issue.
The next AM, I went to the local repair guy. The first thing he did was look in the place where oil is supposed to go. Had I put oil in the mower? Not for a couple of years. He says, "Lots of sludge, not much oil. I think it's dead" I left it there in his cemetery of mowers that don't work.
So, yesterday was a lot of calling around to find a replacement. Found one. Another Lawn Boy. Sharp. After $391.14, it's in our garage. My wife finished the front yard and then did the back. I'm confident the novelty of 'new lawn mower' will wear off by the time it's time to mow next week.
I had rehearsal for Confirmation Mass last night. Alex was my roadie and helped me carry my drums in. I admit we sounded pretty good. I've always been able to just start playing with someone and I didn't really mess up.
We returned home in time to see my Main Man Erik win immunity on Survivor - I have Natalie and Erik in our office pool so it's looking pretty good of winning if Erik can consistently win challenges! - before I left to go pick up Megan from softball practice. Got the kids into bed, watched Lost, taped ER, saw a little bit of TNA Wrestling, then went to bed. Tired. But I couldn't sleep.
Maybe tonight. It's rainy and dreary, http://www.kcrg.com/weather probably doesn't show a lot of sunshine today, 7:07 AM on Friday, 5/2/8, so maybe that's a good thing.
Want to read something weird? For as long as I can remember, I've been superstitious about rainy Fridays. In junior high, maybe even elementary, something 'great' happened on a rainy Friday. I believe great things happen on a rainy Friday. Sometimes it's getting a project completed at work, sometimes it's been doing well in student teaching, back in 1991. Sometimes it's being able to finish a coherent thought.
It's been a busy week. On Wednesday, I mowed our neighbor's yard. They moved to Oklahoma and my wife volunteered me. It was the first cut of the spring and the grass was long. Normally, I can whip through cutting grass. Wednesday, because it was so long, it took 2 hours to do his yard. I still had our yard to mow and it was ~8 PM!
I started in on our yard and did maybe 3/4ths of the front when the mower let out its last gasp and died. I couldn't pull the string to restart it. I had just filled the gas tank so that couldn't be the issue.
The next AM, I went to the local repair guy. The first thing he did was look in the place where oil is supposed to go. Had I put oil in the mower? Not for a couple of years. He says, "Lots of sludge, not much oil. I think it's dead" I left it there in his cemetery of mowers that don't work.
So, yesterday was a lot of calling around to find a replacement. Found one. Another Lawn Boy. Sharp. After $391.14, it's in our garage. My wife finished the front yard and then did the back. I'm confident the novelty of 'new lawn mower' will wear off by the time it's time to mow next week.
I had rehearsal for Confirmation Mass last night. Alex was my roadie and helped me carry my drums in. I admit we sounded pretty good. I've always been able to just start playing with someone and I didn't really mess up.
We returned home in time to see my Main Man Erik win immunity on Survivor - I have Natalie and Erik in our office pool so it's looking pretty good of winning if Erik can consistently win challenges! - before I left to go pick up Megan from softball practice. Got the kids into bed, watched Lost, taped ER, saw a little bit of TNA Wrestling, then went to bed. Tired. But I couldn't sleep.
Maybe tonight. It's rainy and dreary, http://www.kcrg.com/weather probably doesn't show a lot of sunshine today, 7:07 AM on Friday, 5/2/8, so maybe that's a good thing.
Want to read something weird? For as long as I can remember, I've been superstitious about rainy Fridays. In junior high, maybe even elementary, something 'great' happened on a rainy Friday. I believe great things happen on a rainy Friday. Sometimes it's getting a project completed at work, sometimes it's been doing well in student teaching, back in 1991. Sometimes it's being able to finish a coherent thought.
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