Ed Buford - Just Another Geek

Windows Live Writer

I've been using Windows Live Writer Beta, for a couple of months now. I've come to love the simplicity of it. Still, it's very powerful and has a lot of 3rd party plugins that are available to make your blogging experience even better.

I use typepad for my blog, and have found myself very frustrated when trying to insert a picture from the typepad editor. With Live Writer I can insert a picture and size it the way I like, and it's very easy.

There is a great plugin for dropping video straight into your blog from YouTube or Google Video, or a number of other video sites. Without this tool I refused to try to embed video... it was just too much of a pain, now it's easy.

Another great feature is the hyperlink tool, it gives you some great options, that you would need to rip into the html code to get in most editors. For instance, there's a simple checkbox for opening link in a new window, there's also a place to insert alt tag text.

I'm also impressed by the by the ping server feature, which notifies servers when you post an entry on your blog. To use this feature, go to Tools -> Preferences -> Ping Servers. Here is the list of known servers I ping:

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://api.feedster.com/pinghttp://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

Once you've finished with your post press the Publish button and you're done. It will pop up your updated webpage when you finish, it couldn't be easier. All in all I think Live Writer Rocks!

A Safe Place

I'm happy to belong to a church where the main message is that people matter, that you matter, to us and to God.

Check out this video clip and you'll see a story about someone who has found a safe place learn that he matters to God.

Outlook '07 vs Feedburner

I've recently switched over to Outlook '07, and if you ask me it rocks. But the romance wore off quickly when I discovered I couldn't use Feedburner's Headline Animator as an Outlook signature. I searched all over and yet everyone says it can't be done... everyone but Dustin that is. Yes, Dustin knew the answer and showed it to me... so I'm showing you.

Assuming you already have the feedburner code for your headline animator (if not go to the publicize tab of your feedburner feed and choose Headline Animator- come back here when you get your code), let's get started.

The first thing we need to do is set some options in Windows Explorer so you can get to the files you need. So right click on the Start Button and choose Explore. Now go to the Tools drop down menu and choose Folder Options

Select Show hidden files and folders.

Also clear the checkbox labeled Hide Extensions for known file types.

Click OK and minimize Windows Explorer.

Now we're ready to do some real work.

Open Outlook '07 and go into the Signature window.
Click New and name it feedburner.

Now depending what you're plan for your signature is, what you do next is up to you. If all you want is Headline Animator then you're done here- just click ok, but for me I wanted to add some text to go along with the Headline Animator. Since Feedburner uses Verdana as a font I selected that and size 8 for my text.

Now save and close.

If you just want the headline animator and nothing else in your signature the open the Windows Explorer window again and navigate to this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures

Where the username in red is your username.

Now you should see a file called feedburner.htm, right click on it and select "open with" and choose notepad. You'll find there is an incredible about of stuff in here. Highlight it all and hit delete. Now cut and paste your feedburner code into notepad and save.

Since I wanted to add some text to it, I opened my favorite html editor and navigated to the path above and opened the feedburner.htm file. I went to the bottom of the file and right below the </DIV> tag I pasted my feedburner code and saved the file.

Outlook will do a rather flaky thing now, if you have more than one Signature, set this one as your default, and change to the other, also make certain that you close Outlook and comeback in or else you'll find that it will squash your feedburner animator, like the one on the left.

 

Book Review - Soul Cravings

Soul Cravings by Erwin Raphael McManus.

If you've ever questioned intimacy, destiny, meaning, relationships, or God, this book is for you. It won't answer your questions but it will help you reformulate your questions so you can seek the answers on your own.

For me this book is a bit of a departure from the Tech Manuals I usually read, but I found myself drawn in... into my own life, and into my own questions.

Buy it - read it.

 

FYI

Today from 10:00am to 12:00PM Starbucks is giving away free coffee (not Frappuccinos) see for yourself here.

Laptop users step up.

Trace Pupke has taken my cool computer challenge and it seems that his dell has stood toe to toe or at least foot to foot with my ex-Lenovo and come out with respectable results.

 

Although no Mac user seemed eager to rise to the challenge of stepping up on their laptops, Dave Mast did send me this simulation that made me laugh.

Although I've yet to turn my Lenovo over to an Anxiously awaiting end user, I've solely moved to my new MacBook Pro. So at this point I must concede that Trace wins, he currently has the best laptop. Not only do I have great respect for this brave man, but I must admit that I feel a slight envy for his laptop.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

People all over our country, are pushing clock hands forward, while geeks have been patching servers, desktops, and mobile devices, to meet the new daylight savings time, shift.

As I sit here this morning wondering where that hour went; I'm reminded that time is more than seconds clicking away on some atomic clock. If there is more to life than counting the seconds till we die, then it's later than you think.

Amazing Editing

I came across this again today and it is so amazing I just had to post it. I can't imagine the hours it took to cut this all together. Props go to Corey who linked to it earlier.

Enjoy

 

Name Upgrade

After almost two years of blogging I decided to give the name an upgrade, from what I've read this shouldn't negatively impact feeds and permalinks.... but who knows. It took me some time of staring at the active checkbox before clicking it.

The new name is: ebuford.com Hopefully it will be easier to remember!

Jason... King of Tag Lines ...Powell

My boss, Jason Powell, is a very funny guy. He is always looking to inject some levity into most every situation. One such place is in All Staff emails where he sometimes has to address hard issues or problems we're experiencing with our network. At the end of his All Staff emails he often adds a tag line to it, to lighten the mood.

Below are the ones I've collected over the past 3 years. I'm not posting the subjects of the email on purpose... I figure it's better to let you try to guess what the email was about. They are listed in no particular order.

Jason ... your friendly techno sorta control freak geek ... Powell

Jason … just another typically Tuesday night … Powell

Jason … auto-fill is handy except in these situations … Powell

Jason ... Tuesday Boy ... Powell

Jason ... 8 weeks is just too short ... Powell

Jason ... the Spaminator ... Powell

Jason ... why does this always happen on a workshop day? ... Powell

Jason ... me likey internet go faster ... Powell

Jason ... drowning in alert emails ... Powell

Jason ... space is your friend ... Powell

Jason ... who would have thought our old phone system had such a groovy feature? ... Powell

Jason ... Happy End of Prohibition Day ... Powell

Jason ... no, the do-not-disturb function is not yet setup ... Powell

Jason ... 17hour days rock! ... Powell

Jason ... did you know the new phones have 30 ring tones to choose from! ... Powell

Jason ... time to put on the snow tires! ... Powell

Jason ... Viva La Communication! ... Powell

The next one is my favorite; it came out right after we were all reminded that All Staff email should not be used for personal reasons; highlight the text and find the secret message.

Jason ...  anyone want a kitten?  ... Powell

Jason ... have I mentioned how much I enjoy this old system ... Powell

Jason ... at least the phones are working today ... Powell

Jason ... your password is YOUR PASSWORD ... Powell

Jason ... having to buy Premium gas bites ... Powell

Jason ... trying to make your life easier one step at a time ... Powell

Jason ... pull the plug ... Powell

Jason ... figured it most appropriate to share this news via email like the true geek I am ... Powell

Jason ... phones R phun ... Powell

Jason ... can you feel the love? ... Powell

Jason ... itchin' to return to India .. Powell

Jason ... at least I got to watch the football players jump and run when they "heard" a wild boar :-) ... Powell

Jason ... space saver ... Powell

Jason ... wishing I had a Segway to ride ... Powell

Jason ... space is your friend ... Powell

Jason ... let the good times roll ... Powell

Jason ... one less button to push ... Powell

Jason ... man I really hope SBC sucks less than ChoiceNone did ... Powell

Jason … forget $$ for more parking, we need an elevator up to the Production Mezz! … Powell

Jason ... the YES man ... Powell

Jason ... 7 days to go! ... Powell

Jason … hey, I hear birds chirping! … Powell

Jason ... I love ChoiceOne ... Powell

Jason ... diese Anzeige hat keinen Zweck ... Powell

Jason ... time zones are your friend ... Powell

Jason ... happy Oklahoma Land Rush Day! ... Powell

Jason … Simply Strategic Signatures … Powell

Jason ... strike one for Postini ... Powell

Jason … hmm, perhaps Jack is a covert digital ninja seeking to take down Postini for their lame corporate name … Powell

Jason … … Powell

Jason … what marketing “genius” thought Postini would be a “cool” name? … Powell

Jason ... anti-spyware power to the people! ... Powell

Jason … you may now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast … Powell

Jason – it’s kinda late so I’ll just type some filler stuff here – Powell

Jason ... so much glee to be spam free ... Powell

Jason ... golly, I just love that square salty "meat" ... Powell

Jason ... hmm, I think I need to travel to the Bahamas to double check that this wireless sync works well ... Powell

Jason ... could I have anymore screenshots? ... Powell

Jason...no internet for you!...Powell

Jason...I bought my first computer in '94 and it cost me $3,406!...Powell

Jason...critical patches must be installed NOW...Powell

Jason ... bring on the automation ... Powell

Jason...sorry, nothing witty I can think of to put here today...Powell

Jason ... the CDW enforcer ... Powell :-)

Jason ... keep your computer happy ... Powell

Jason ... keep your computer happy ... Powell

Jason ... email rocks until there's a problem ... Powell

Jason ... keep your home PC happy ... Powell

Jason ... sorry if I mislead you thinking it was a real baby, well, ok I'm not sorry :-) ... Powell

Jason ... looking forward to reacquainting myself with my family ... Powell

Jason … give space a chance … Powell

Jason … at home waiting on the sprinkler dude … Powell

Jason ... bring on the automation ... Powell

Jason ... makin' copies ... Powell

Jason ... one of the many gone next week ... Powell

Jason ... please resist the urge to freak when email is unavailable ... Powell :-)