Right now you can get Presonus StudioOne artist for $20.11 during the NAMM show (1/16).

I purchased StudioOne Pro last summer, but this deal is great if you are looking for a DAW.

Here’s an overview video of StudioOne Artist from last year’s Namm show.

I don’t get any kickbacks or anything. Just wanted to help promote a great product!

I’ve since installed the ‘More’ Plugin for TwitterTools that allows you to only show a prescribed amount of tweets before autmagically inserting the more tag.

I found out about this plugin on this blog.

Basically you upload it to the twittertools plugin folder and then tell Twitter tools the threshold. You’ll have to manually edit any created before you install the tool.

Hope you find this helpful and useful.

12/01/2004!

I’ve been using the same email account for the last 7 years!

Love the next message I sent to my wife:

I also discovered that it was my best friend in high school, David Diers who hooked me up with the service. He and I were in a band called “Random ID” back in our teens. Thanks Dave!

When, if you do use Gmail, did you first sign up for Gmail account? Who ‘invited’ you to use it at the time? Do you still use it today?

Below are three resources I came across that were very helpful troubleshooting remote connections via TCP and UDP to SQL Server 2008 Express. I have installed this on Server 2008 Foundation edition.

http://www.linglom.com/2009/03/28/enable-remote-connection-on-sql-server-2008-express/

http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/58817-remote-access-sql-server-express-2008-windows-7-a.html

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sql_protocols/archive/2007/05/13/sql-network-interfaces-error-26-error-locating-server-instance-specified.aspx?PageIndex=2#comments

In a nutshell:

• Enable TCP/IP connections via SQL Configuration manager.
• Blank out the dynamic portion for IP1 (IP46), IP2 (IPV4), IP4 (127.0.0.1), and IPAll and set TCP Port 1433. This was critical for me to get the system working properly.
  
• Make sure inbound and outbound rules (outbound rules are new to Server 2008) are added to Windows Firewall TCP 1433 UDP 1434.
• If you are behind a router/firewall and using NAT, make sure to ‘Allow Edge Traversal’ within the advanced tab of the rules you’ve created to allow incoming/outgoing traffic on 1433, 1434
  
  This was also critical for me to get the system working properly.
• Add SQLBROWSER.exe which is located in the x86 directory under 64 bit windows 2008
• For troubleshooting purposes one can use tcp: or np: in front of the server name to specify connection method (TCP or Named Pipe)

I have verified remote connectivity via SQL Management Studio 2008 and Toad For Sql Server 5.0.444 (Freeware)

This one made me laugh out loud.

Always amazes me how relevant Dilbert can be.

Thought this was funny, though it reminds me of the back of my TV.

So after a few hours and a tech support call to Microsoft’s Sharepoint Designer HOTLINE (Sorry the word HOTLINE next to SharePoint Designer seems funny to me) I’ve got the skinny on how to perform such a riveting task

• First setup every last one of your Column Data fields. Measure twice, cut once as they say in the construction world
• Order all your Column Data fields appropriately. The same order you want them to show up on the the NewForm.aspx page.
• Open Up SharePoint Designer 2007, and open up your SharePoint site.
• Go to the Toolbox and open your ‘Data Source Library’
• Click ‘Create New Data Source’ under ‘Database Connections’
• Create your connection and query to the database following the wizard
• Create a copy of the NewForm.aspx form and rename it something wittly like NewForm1.aspx
• Double click on the Page to open it.
• Click on the existing web part and change the value between the (IsVisible)(/IsVisible) tags from True to False
  
• Make sure the preview window is the active window, and click the right arrow key to advance ever so slightly.
• Insert->SharePoint Controls->Custom List Form
  

They used Q&A to create separate information stores about customers, machines we have built and shipped, Technical Service/Field Service calls, etc. I am evaluating each database they currently have and seeing if:

• The information is already collected and we just need to do some database/report magic to extract the info.
• By altering a business process, our ERP system, CRM System, or Microsoft SharePoint becomes a better fit for the information they wish to collect.

That lead me to yesterdays quest * attempting * to find some helpful information on how to extract data and field definitions from ‘Symantec Questions and Answers’ or ‘Q&A’ in order to import the information into an access database so that I could first clean it up, and later import into the SharePoint Call Center template.

My quest seemed extremely unfruitful yielding no direct instructions, save a few ‘costly’ consulting services who, for the right price, would do it for me. But alas, I am the type of person who wants to the ‘how’ to do it, and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty in the process.

Since I had such a hard time finding this information freely on the internet, once I finally figured it out (my wife knows all about my inability to ‘let it go’), I was inspired to join the 21st century, create a blog and share with you my experience.

Below are the steps I tool to get the data out. Looking back it seems so easy, yet in the middle of the process it seems confusing. You may have to change certain variables in the formulae to achieve the desired results. You take full responsibility for your actions should you decide to follow my advice.

Phase 1 – Emotional Preparation

1. Get over the fact that you are a stubborn German man, and cannot export to a .csv file to achieve the results you want. This step is paramount, do not overlook this step.
2. Accept the fact that you have to export the Q&A database into a temporary Paradox database.
3. Brace yourself for the ramifications of bothering the sales quoting staff for 5 minutes so you can start the process.

Phase 2 – Get to Work

1. Through VNC remote into the sales staff’s desktop before she returns from lunch and fire up Q&A in Windowed mode so you can tell WTH you are doing.
2. Through Q&A export the data to a file. Choose Paradox
3. Name the file 8 characters or less with .db at the end – Q&A is a DOS based lifeform.
4. Make a copy of the export file so you always have a source file to open.
5. Open Microsoft Access 2007 (if you have it)
6. Create a new database
7. Go to the ‘External Data’ section of the Ribbon
8. Go to More -> Paradox File
   
9. Select ‘Import Source Data…’ and browse to the location of your copy of the data.db file you created
   
10. A table is now created with the name of your source file
11. If you go to Home->View->Design View you can see the field names/definitions
    
12. Now your data is in Access 2007 and you can clean it up and export it to any format you wish.

To quote the company computer Guy, "That wasn’t so hard…"

• I used Gadwin Software’s Gadwin PrintScreen free edition to create my limited screen shots.
• If you find this post helpful, please leave comments below.

I was reading an article that offered the following insight

“However, Basex proposed several steps to mitigate information overload. With e-mail as the biggest offender, Basex said users can save time by not e-mailing someone, and then following up with a phone call or an instant message two seconds later [Or, walk to your office 4 seconds later and ask “did you get my e-mail”] (a no-brainer perhaps, but a trap many of us fall into).

Basex also said users must not combine multiple topics or requests in a single e-mail; make sure the subject clearly reflects the topic and urgency of the message; read their e-mails before sending to make sure they make sense; and will not hit reply-all unless necessary or [not] reply with one-word e-mails such as "thanks."

This Dilbert comic seems to offer a similar conclusion.

Another company I’ve been looking at called ActionMethod offers similar insight:

Email can kill productivity, because the actions you must take get buried in regular communication. Tasks should have an ecosystem of their own.

It suffices to say that the issue warrants a deeper study which should result in proper workplace policy for the use of e-mail and collaborative tools (SharePoint, etc.).