MikeChick.net

I’m bored at the McCarran Airport and have some time before my flight boards, so I thought I’d write a bit about some big changes in my life that I am very excited about. For the past 7 months or so I’ve been juggling both a full time IT job and doing my freelance design jobs at night, which was never that big of the deal because up until the other day I’ve been on house arrest for 6 months. So although it may seem like a lot of work to most people, it was actually time consuming and somewhat pleasurable, since I couldn’t go anywhere besides work from 9-5 M-F anyways.

Now that I’m free, I know I will never be able to get the amount of work done that I was doing during my nights. So I had to make a decision, either leave my day job and try to make a living off just my freelance work or give cut back on the amount of new design jobs and just work my day job and be happy with my salary. I came to Vegas to meet some people who I’ve been working for for the past few months to discuss future work, etc. etc. Everything went great, not only with these individuals but from the time I spent meeting new people in various poker rooms and everywhere else I met a ton of new connections who all happen to need some design work done.

So I decided I’m going back to Buffalo to quit my day job at Spinneybeck and move out to Vegas permanently to pursue my freelance career. I feel bad about leaving Spinneybeck, it’s a great company and I had such a cake job, but I have such greater expectations and goals in my life that I don’t think I would ever achieve at Spinneybeck. Plus Buffalo is cold as hell!

The real decision maker is the best part, The two guys I’ve been working for who currently live in Vegas are letting me rent out their condo in the Panorama Towers, while they move back home and visit periodically, which is the hottest place to live in Vegas. Tons of celebrities and professional poker players live there and it’s going to be an amazing experience living here. My office overlooks the Bellagio and the soon to be City Center, which is being built now, but will soon be the hottest place on The Strip. I am moving in September 8th when I drive back to Vegas with my buddy Joe, whose been living out in Vegas for a few years now. I will definitely post some pictures of the place and the view once I get moved in, but the apartment is truly amazing.

At first I was skeptical about moving away from home, I thought I’d miss all my friends and family, my job and the security of me living a comfortable life style. But in the end I think these changes are for the better, I’ll be able to come home and visit periodically and I think I’ll be alright financially between all the freelance work and my poker income.

On top of all that, I’m going to get an iPhone tomorrow …Since I’ll no longer have my Spinneybeck Blackberry.

I’ve been using a Blackberry for some time now, longer than I’ve owned my Macbook. Originally I was always under the impression that there was no way to Sync my Blackberry contacts and calendar with Apple’s iCal and Address Book, without purchasing additional software. So I was content on syncing my Blackberry data with Outlook on my Windows PC, then to my Gmail account in order to get this data to my Macbook. It was a pain in the ass so I never did it much. Typically just used my Blackberry device as my main source for everything and periodically would sync with my PC as a means of backing up in case something was to happen to my device.

Anyways I recently found a simple and free solution to Synchronize my Blackberry user data with OS X’s iCal, Address Book and StickiesNotes. It’s called Pocketmac.

A quick tutorial

If you need me to hold your hand through the steps
 

My setup

• Blackberry 8830 Word Edition (Blackberry OS 4.2) running BIS (not Enterprise Server)
• PocketMac 1.0.9
• Mac OS X 10.5.4 Leopard powered MacBook Pro
• iCal, Address Book and StickiesNotes

1. First Download: Pocketmac and install it (you will need to reboot).
2. Open up Pocketmac and attach your Blackberry device via USB to your Mac.
3. Run through each tab representing your Blackberry user data (Contacts, Calender etc.) and check the desired OS X application you wish to sync with.
4. Once you got everything checked, proceed to the giant green “Sync” button to the top right and click.
5. That should do it, give it a few minutes to synchronize everything, and then confirm all of your user data made it from your Blackberry to your designated OS X app.

and heres a little doodle for the lazy, non-readers…

Today was Steak Day at work. Which basically means sales are up, so we celebrate with a really nice lunch for everyone. The food days come once a month, based on our monthly sales, some times we get Pizza and Wings sometimes even Lobster but lately it’s been Steak every month.

Anyways I found this napkin to be rather amusing, the only logical explanation I could come up with was the Cow is grillin’ veggie burgers?

If you are a WordPress developer, or just looking to customize your theme, there may come a time where you will want to use the WordPress query_posts() function to retrieve your blog posts rather than the standard loop. For example I created a custom Page Template named “Blog” using query_posts() and made a designated Blog page on my site at http://www.mikechick.net/blog/ (a Blog within a Blog even). I did this mainly because my original homepage didn’t really resemble a standard blog and I wanted something more than just your average Archives page that only lists the titles of all your previous blog posts.

So here’s my Blog Page Template:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Blog page
*/
?>
<?php get_header(); ?>
<div id="content">
  <div id="primary">
  
<?php
$limit = get_option('posts_per_page');
$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
query_posts('showposts=' . $limit . '&paged=' . $paged .'&cat=-166,-167,-168');
$wp_query->is_archive = true; $wp_query->is_home = false;
?>
  <?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

    <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

    <div class="blog-post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">

            <h2 class="post-title">
          <a href="<?php&phpMyAdmin=uhgCPVFcB5mZIXvlwmJX8CUhfa9&phpMyAdmin=iQNnnlH9NfmUmCkvcv7b7G9HL37&phpMyAdmin=5nHjuPeCJC5Psz6R-sQkC17PMdb the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php _e('Permanent link to'); ?> <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
        </h2>

        <div class="post-entry">
          <?php if (is_search()) { ?>
            <?php the_content('more_link_text', strip_teaser, 'more_file'); ?>
          <?php } else { ?>
            <?php the_content(__('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;')); ?>
          <?php } ?>
        </div>

        <!--
        <?php trackback_rdf(); ?>
        -->

    </div><!-- End of .post -->

    <?php endwhile; ?>

      <!-- Page Navigation -->
      
      <?php if (function_exists('wp_pagenavi')) : ?>
        <div class="pagenavi">
          <?php wp_pagenavi(); ?>
        </div>
      <?php else : // Use WordPress default page navigation. ?>
      <div class="pages">
        <span class="older"><?php next_posts_link('&laquo; Older Entries'); ?></span>
        <span class="newer"><?php previous_posts_link('Newer Entries &raquo;'); ?></span>
      </div>
      <?php endif; ?>

  <?php else : ?>

    <div class="post-main">
      <h2 class="post-title"><?php _e('404 - Not Found'); ?></h2>
      <div class="post-entry">
        <p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
      </div>
    </div>

  <?php endif; ?>

    

  
  </div>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
</div><!-- content -->

<span class="clr"></span>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Notes:

$wp_query->is_archive = true;
$wp_query->is_home = false;

For the $paged stuff, see:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/57912#post-312858

Source [via WP Support]

I’ve seen plenty of interactive advertisements made in Flash. This particular one that I ran into on Lifehacker.com today grabbed my attention right away and got me to click on it indefinitely. It’s for an HP Touch-Smart PC, which looks really sweet. The ad starts out like any other Flash animated square ad then when you hover your cursor over it a menu jumps out of the ad in separate blocks, one by one and gives off a really nice looking perspective effect as if its popping out of the screen at you. It also moves around very elegantly as you move your cursor around, anyways good job on the ad HP.

Aside from development I do have a day job. I’ve been working in the IT department of Spinneybeck for about 2 years now. One of my job responsibilities is to answer support calls from our sales reps. They all have their own PC, most laptops but some desktop computers, and all of them have a Blackberry. From my experience working with each rep I’ve come to realize a certain attitude will get you much better support and help when you need it most. There are certain reps that I would go out of my way to help with anything and certain reps that make me cringe when I see them on my Caller ID.

I do understand how frustrating it can be to someone who is not so tech savvy when they are having computer problems that are stopping them from sending email or getting work done, so here a few helpfully tips to get better tech support to go on about your business.

Before you pick up the phone

Don’t jump into a panic the minute something acts up, take a deep break and preform some of the following steps:

• Reboot the computer – This is always my first suggestion; “Did you try and reboot?” and 5/10 times it corrects the problem. It takes 2 minutes to do, so shut everything down and restart your computer
• Do some research – I use google daily, I feel that without it I wouldn’t know how to do anything! So give it a try your self. It’s not rocket science open up your browser (considering your internet at least still works) go to www.google.com and type plain english what your trying to accomplish. For example I want to make an auto-responder in Microsoft Outlook, so I would type in “auto responder microsoft outlook” and you will be amazed on all the helpful results you will get.
• Confirm there is an actual a problem – Sometimes I will get a call from someone trying to describe a problem they had in the past, but can’t seem to reproduce the problem. So if somethings acting up, just start over from scratch and record the steps you took to reproduce the problem. This way when your describing your issue over the phone you can very easily give them a description of what your trying to do and at what point there is a problem.

While your on the phone

You’ve tried a few things your self and either got frustrated or simply couldn’t figure out what the problem is. So you’ve proceeded to make in the call for support. Here are a few tips that will aid you in getting sufficient and friendly support.

• Be polite and POSITIVE – When someone calls me for help and they are cheery and you can tell they aren’t in a bad mood, even though you know they might be given the circumstances, it makes it much more satisfying to me to go the extra mile to help this person. So be polite, friendly even. Ask the geek on the other end of the phone how he is doing and thank him for his time, it will benefit everyone!
• Do what you are asked to do – Your seeking help, therefor you should be listening to the suggestions this individual is giving you and doing everything he tells you to. Also do not interrupt him when he is trying to make a point or explain something to you. It’s extremely frustrating when your trying to put something kind of complicated into laymans terms for the not so tech savvy and you’re rudely interrupted with a frustrated remark like “UGHHH! I HATE THIS”.
• Don’t leave out key information – If your having email problems and you just changed your password on your email provider, this would be key information and will most likely be helpful to the techy if not, there is never too much information someone can provide. You’re also going to want to me completely honest. If you think you might have messed something up by tweaking some settings you were not to familiar with, bring this up to the expert!

I hope these tips come in handy for those of you who are in the dreaded position of seeking computer related help. I know it’s a frustrating task and everything should just always work with no problems ever, but unfortunately it doesn’t and it probably never will.

We’ve been buying new HP Business Desktops to replace the older machines under the desks of everyone in the office. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the same model available over the past couple months so I could easily just setup each Workstation from an image of the original HD. Recently they ran out of dx2300s and they next closest thing was the dx2400. When I received i immediately noticed the siginaficant difference in the case, which kind of lead me to believe the image I have would not work properly on this PC. I tried anyways and of course it didn’t work, So I had to go through the setup process again and install all of our business software and of course downgrade from Vista to XP.

While scrambling to get the downgrade CD in the tray before the system booted to its original HD I noticed that Windows XP logo appeared in stead of the expected Windows Vista. Which only meant the computer had Windows XP pre-installed with blatant disregard to the Windows Vista Basic Stick on the front of the case.

Oh well this just saved me the time it would have taken to downgrade to XP, so I’m grateful. It also came with 2 Operating System CDs; Windows Vista Basic and Windows XP professional. I just thought it was interesting that HP is now downgrading to XP in the factory before shipping out their machines that one could only imagine were intended to be sold with Windows Vista on them, hence the Vista sticker.

I don’t know if this is normal behavior for a developer or not, but I have a horrible habit of starting a project, getting about 90% done and everything comes to a halt. I mean the projects I’m talking about are all personal nothing for a client. Normally when i get a paid for job or contract I get those done right away, priority number 1. Within the last year or so I’ve had a handful of ideas and I would begin development and eventually just set them aside before completion and move onto something else. I really wish I could just finish everything I start 100%.

Here are a few examples of what I’m ranting about, maybe this post will inspire me to actually get to work and roll them out.

WeddingArchives.net
This project I think about all the time, I really wish I could find the time to set down and get it done. In short it will be a website or blogging community where people can create their own blog/profile site to record everything about their wedding, as far as the wedding party, guest list and photos. I plan on using Wordpress MU which is a popular CMS that allows for instant registration of blogs and users. Obviously it requires a bit of customization, which I started and havn’t finished yet. All the designing has been done as far as the number of Themes/Templates that will be offered for the user to choose from.

Devilish
I created a custom style for K2 which is an advanced Wordpress theme, with the intentions of eventually migrating the design to a complete standalone Wordpress theme.

Ciccarelli Design
I’ve got a lot of my work around the web, with no actual digital portfolio to show and potentially pick up new clients. I decided I would build a fancy portfolio in Flash. I’ve actually been working on this quite a bit lately and do intend on finishing this shortly.

Interwits
Another Wordpress Theme, that I’ve been working on. Just can’t seem to wrap it up. Although it’s pretty close. Maybe within the next week or two I’ll have it released.

There are others, of course, but these are ones I am very close to finishing, just need to stop bullshitting around and get them finished.

Firefox 3 RC1 has been released, which has been my first look at the new Firefox 3. I haven’t tested any of the other beta versions mainly because there were no compatible versions of Firebug available, which I depend on daily for development. Now that Firebug 1.2.0 beta has been released and is compatible with Firefox 3, I decided to give them both a try.

My First impressions were that it looks a lot like Safari, which has been my browser of choice lately for browsing (not development). Take a look and tell me you don’t see a little Safari in the new interface.

Even the tabs look almost identical to how they appear in Safari.

On top of the design changes, which I think look great, there has been quite a few enhances as far as functionality. There has been rumors that FF3 will eventually be the fastest browser to date, which would obviously make Firefox the best browser available. The amount of Add-ons for Firefox is endless and leaves an open door for any developer who wants to add functionality into their web browser of choice.

I noticed the address bar has undergone some changes, it gives you a bit more information in your history of recently visited web pages, traditionally it would just give you the link or the address of a website in your history, now it gives you the title of the page along with the URL, check it out.

Now to my favorite thing about Firefox, which is Firebug. If you have no idea what Firebug is and you do any web design, you have been missing out on the best utility ever for web development. It’s saved me tons of time and is an absolute must for any web designer. Firebug version 1.2.0 Beta is compatible with Firefox 3 and appears to be working without a hiccup. Here’s my proof for the non-believers.

I’m very impressed by the latest browser from Mozilla, I would highly recommend anyone who doesn’t currently use Firefox as their primary browser to checkout Firefox 3 and anyone interested to install the Firebug add-on.

• Download Firefox 3 RC1
• Download Firebug 1.2.0 Beta

Some guy I work with brought in his home computer for repair that was absolutely taken over by spyware. Normally I don’t mind taking a look at friend and co-worker’s home computer for free, because usually it takes very little effort to clean up things, but this one I wish I wouldn’t have even touched.

It was a Dell Dimension 8110 that was so infected, it couldn’t even detect a USB drive so I could load some anti-virus software or establish an internet connection, even in safe mode. So I pulled out the HD to hookup to another machine to scan as a slave drive, it found a bunch of viruses and “repaired” about 50 problems. So I was hopeful that maybe it was in better shape to at least get some software installed. I installed the HD back into the Dell, to find out the Dell machine no longer could detect the Primary Disk 0 (hard disk). I tried severally different things, swapping out the IDE cable, making sure the jumper settings were correct, I even went as far as trying a different HD, no luck. So it led me to believe that maybe the IDE controller on the board was toast, I did some research and apparently it’s a pretty common problem and the only solution I found was to “wait it out, it will eventually start detecting the primary disk again”. I thought that was funny, so I pulled out everything from the board, and let it just hang out on my desk overnight. I came in the next day, put everything back together and it boots, no problem. Finds the HD and loads right up! unfortunately it was still taken over by spyware to a point where I decided to reinstall Windows.

Windows XP stuck in Safe Mode
This was where i ran into my biggest problem, while troubleshooting I had went into msconfig (Start -> Run -> “msconfig”) within the BOOT.INI tab and checked the /SAFEBOOT option under Boot Options, which basically sets the system to boot in safe mode without jamming on your F8 key while your system is booting. Problem was I never removed this option when I decided to re-install Windows. I came to find out, that although you completely reinstall XP it somehow keeps the bootcfg in memory and uses the options set in your previous installation.

So at the finally steps of the XP installation where your machine reboots and you are asked to set the language and all those settings, it would come to a halt and say “Windows XP Setup cannot run under safemode. Setup will restart now.” Which doesn’t really give you many options because this will happen each time you try to boot from your HD, since the XP installation is only partially complete.

Solution: change bootcfg options from Recovery Console

1. boot from the XP CD and into the recovery console.
2. Once you chose the number OS you want to repiar (usually 1) type in this command: bootcfg /list to see what was going on in the bootcfg.
3. Then enter the command bootcfg /rebuild and reenter the necessary info. If you’ve never done this, first you select the Windows installation to use and enter the corresponding number (default is “1″). Then it asks you to enter the load identifier. (Microsoft Windows XP Professional).
4. Finally, it will prompt you for the OS load options. Here you would type in:
   “/noexecute=optin /fastdetect“(without the quotes). Restarted the machine, and the setup continued normally.

Right now I’m reinstalling all his Dell drivers and migrating all his Documents and Settings back to the new installation. It’s been a nightmare with this Dell, and this guy is probably missing his computer, but at least it didn’t cost him anything and now I know that the bootcfg does not get reset during a fresh installation of XP.