http://megadrivel.com/2009/05/31/online-social-sabbatical/

“My priorities are where I spend my time.  I need to adjust.  As of June 1, 2009, I am taking an online social sabbatical.  For a while, I will not be doing any online social networking, blogging, tweeting, commenting, replying, etc.  I will still do emails and text messages.  So, if you want or need to connect with me, my contact information is still very easy to find.  I am not hiding.  I am changing my priorities.  If you want to know more, feel free to contact me via email, phone or text.”

Here’s a nice article about getSTEM, a project that my employer and a number of my coworkers are supporting.  There is talk of this having a much broader reach.  I think the whole concept is really exciting, to bring together needs with resources that can help.  I’m also pretty proud of my teammates who do a lot of the work supporting the site.

HT: Eric Raarup via link w/ Yammer.com, which is gaining traction at work.

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3kyNGVK-hI

(best viewed in High Quality by clicking on the HQ button in the bottom right)

I’ve recently had quite a few issues with virtual pc’s and copy/paste – and further complete lock ups of the virtual machines.  These issues have also happened to Remote Desktop systems, but there was also a VPC instance running.  Needless to say, losing work is never a joyous occasion and losing work more than once is not a hoot.

To help with this situation, I’ve discovered a couple work arounds.

Fix: Virtual PC, clipboard stops working on Host PC
http://wpfwonderland.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/fix-virtual-pc-clipboard-stops-working-on-host-pc/

Fixing Copy/Paste for Remote Desktop Sessions
http://brennan.offwhite.net/blog/2007/01/18/fixing-copypaste-for-remote-desktop-sessions/

Although these help the copy/paste situation, they don’t solve the complete lock ups.  I’m still working on that (and making frequent backups).  And, just don’t ask about the recent external hard drive failure that rendered my last weekend and most of Monday as “virtually” useless.  I’m just glad I don’t define my self-worth by the success or failure of technology!

Side Note: A coworker and I have noticed this copy/paste issue coming around times that Microsoft Updates were being run on one of the virtual machines.

If anyone has had similar issues or found any other fixes, I have open ears!

Check it out…

WhiteHouse 2.0

In the President’s last Weekly Address, he called on government to “recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking.” He added that “we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative,” and pledged to “reach beyond the halls of government” to engage the public. Today the White House is taking steps to expand how the Administration is communicating with the public, including the latest information and guidance about the H1N1 virus. In addition to WhiteHouse.gov, you can now find us in a number of other spots on the web:

• Facebook.com/WhiteHouse
• MySpace.com/WhiteHouse
• Twitter.com/WhiteHouse

The WhiteHouse blog (RSS) will power a lot of the content in these networks, but we’re looking forward to hearing from our fans, friends and followers. Don’t forget these sites as well:

• Flickr.com/WhiteHouse
• Vimeo.com/WhiteHouse
• YouTube.com/WhiteHouse
• iTunes (videos & podcasts)

Technology has profoundly impacted how – and where – we all consume information and communicate with one another. WhiteHouse.gov is an important part of the Administration’s effort to use the internet to reach the public quickly and effectively – but it isn’t the only place.

There’s a lot to talk about right now. From an economic crisis to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President and his Administration have a full plate – not the least of which is making sure the public stays up-to-date and involved in our efforts.

Here’s an important thing you can do right now. The Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services, supported by the Center for Disease Control, have been working around the clock to make sure that the public has the latest facts about the H1N1 virus. This is a serious situation that demands serious precautions. No precaution is more essential than having the most accurate information, so head over to the CDC page to get the latest news, prevention tips – and tools you can use to promote public health efforts around the web.

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

Service Pack 2 for the 2007 Microsoft Office System due to ship April 28th

…from Office Sustained Engineering… has info about some of the improvements and impacts of SP2 for the whole Office family, including SharePoint.

It’s not a surprise. It’s faster for me. I like.
http://www.apple.com/safari/whats-new.html

Right now, from my checking several computers on different networks, http://www.microsoft.com is not responding.  Could be some April 1st shenanigans…

There are a number of skills that help make a consultant be good.  Technical skills rank very high.  People skills are extremely important.  Communication is a must have.

I just read this post by Liam Cleary, a Microsoft SharePoint MVP.  He mentions some of the skills needed to support SharePoint and further mentions/estimates that about 70% of the support calls are not related to the actual SharePoint product.  I’ll second that estimation.

Here is a something that I’ll also second.  There are plenty of other skills needed to support SharePoint, one big one being SQL…

“…to make sure that your support team can actually support it. So what skills do you need to support SharePoint?

1. SQL, SQL and SQL – Key Skill, SharePoint is an SQL Application
2. SharePoint – Obvious
3. Windows Server
4. IIS – Configuration and Authentication
5. DNS
6. Active Directory
7. Networking
8. Backup and Restore Technology
9. Windows Clients (200, XP, Vista)
10. Firewall(s)
11. Diagnosing Faults across platforms

You may look at this and think, that is a lot of skills, and yes it is!! Everyone seems to forget that SharePoint is a web application that requires this core infrastructure. One of the top issues that I saw on news groups, forums or seen emails about has been to do with Alternate Access Mappings!! This is not really a SharePoint issue, it is about Firewall Rules (potentially) and DNS, nothing else. If you DNS is incorrect then you AAM’s won’t work. Make sure your team can actually fix the system, or at least have the knowhow to diagnose the issue and not just stop at SharePoint. I have to say about 70% or support calls I am involved in for SharePoint do not relate to the actual product itself. For me what makes a great consultant is not someone who can not only build your system, design taxonomy, brand etc, but the key for me is someone who can actually figure out the issues. This is a hard skill as you have to be very pragmatic and understand the application stack. If you look at the development for SharePoint the stack talks nothing about Windows Server, DNS, AD or even that much about IIS, yet these are the core skills that are needed.”

Welcome to a day in the life of a SharePoint Consultant!

In the past week as I’ve been using my iPhone, 3 people who are in their 60’s or older have asked me…

“Can you explain text messages to me?”

“Can you look up things on the Internet with that?”

“What is Twitter?”

The cool part is that all three people got excited about using technology to help their lives.

Here are a couple pingbacks to previous posts that I updated today.

UPDATE 3/10/2009: Removed old links to the pieces that were not truly “cumulative”…

From the SharePoint Team Blog: <– Read the post before applying these updates.

Download Information

February Cumulative Update Uber Package for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Version: 12.0.6341.5000)

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=961755 

February Cumulative Update Uber Package for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Version: 12.0.6341.5002)

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=961756

Sounds like another delay…

HT: Todd Klindt