ARCHIVE - MARCH, 2006

Last night was a former co-op's Stag & Doe. Dave Wilson & Angela Martin are tying the knot this summer! Their Stag & Doe was out in Ancaster, so I got to stay sober so I could drive us back. We were going to stay @ a hotel nearby, but that fell apart when I couldn't find one that would allow us to bring Trixie (our doggie). So, we figured we'd drive out & back. It was my first chance to drive the car for more then a couple KM. I really like it! Handles great on the highway, which was one of the criteria I had for getting a car. Dave & Angela had some pretty clever ideas last night. One was "fish insurance". They had a ton of door prizes and everyone was entered to get them. On top of that, there were a bunch of bigger items that were donated. You bougth raffle tickets and entered yourself into the appropriate draws, depending on the prizes you wanted to win. So what's the fish insurance? There was a bowl of goldfish on the table when you came in. At that time, before all the drawings, you could buy "Fish Insurance" for $2. Everytime you won a prize, you had the option of A) Presenting your Fish Insurance and collecting the prize. B) Paying $10 and getting the prize. C)Turn down the prize.... or the crowd favorite: D) Eat a goldfish and take your prize! A really clever idea and of course, all proceeds from the evening go toward the wedding. I played some poker and was chip leader when it was down to me and another guy. In 3 hands, he cleaned me out. Why? Not because I didn't have good cards, but because he was lucky and had better cards. You win some you lose some. Anyway.... that's all for now. I'm going to relax the rest of today, and then it's into work for another Sunday! Hopefully I only need to work tomorrow and next weekend, and then I can have my weekends back...for a while! Things have been super busy! I am interviewing on Monday to find a new staff member.... and although it will get even busier with a new body to train, it will eventually make it less busy. Short term pain for long term gain, as Tom would say :). I just need to hang in there a few more weeks, then Jen & I are off to Cuba! We've booked our trip to stay at Sandals... I can't wait! Best of all, diving's included! And I even picked up an underwater case for my camera! You're in for a real treat when I get those pics posted! OK... bye now!

----- 03.18.2006 --------
Happy [belated] St. Paddy's Day to everyone! Yesterday, keeping in tradition of St. Paddy's day, I drank a beer. And then another. And so on... :) I met up with a few buds I used to work with (Shore, Kniaz & Guathier.... Shields couldn't make it), as well as ADK (my cuz). I only worked a half day so I could meet up with the at "Grace O'Malley's" and beat the line. I got there around 1:30 or so and we drank guiness and listened to live music all afternoon. What a great way to celebrate St. Paddy's day! I left around 7:30 or 8 & headed home. It couldn't be a late night because today I was going with Jen to help out at the yorkie rescue booth at the Sportsman show. Was I hung over? Hell no! I love gettin' to bed early... heh heh heh :) The show was great and I got a lot of great pics, mostly of dogs. I also picked up a new GPS unit that I'm in the process of installing the software to load up some topo maps of Canada. Anyway... hopefully tomorrow I can put together a quick gallery to post. The rest of my post was actually an email I wrote to my buddy Shawn, but I figured it was the type of thing I'd write on my site anyway... so here goes. Be warned though... this is only for the geeks....

[GEEK ALERT].... I found my first bug!
OK, maybe not "my first bug", however, this is the first time I've gone to Microsoft for help on a problem. Not only that, but I was the first to report this problem to them. I was SOOOO stumped that I finally had to cave in. They set everything up in their lab and confirmed it's a bug that's deep-seeded inside the API's in windows that control identity impersonation via Kerberos using XMLA. I was having trouble passing credentials through an n-tier application and keep the original user's kerberos token intact so he is the one authenticating against the last server in the chain, in this case it's an OLAP server. If you want to define rights on your cubes in your analysis server via web apps, you need to know who's hitting them, right?

Anyway, Microsoft was surprised no one found this earlier. It's in the spec that it's supposed to do what we're trying to make it to do and there were a ton of dead ends on the Internet, but no real answers. They said we were the first to actually bring it to light.

Now we wait atleast a month for them to develop a hotfix. After that, they test it against all OS's and release it a few months down the road via Windows update or through an XMLA-specific patch.

I was so stumped with this one. I think it's the first computer problem I've faced where I couldn't find a workaround or provide a solution. I could get the app to work with a single account of my choice, but I couldn't get the user's credentials to flow. Picked apart kerberos packets, got heavy into dcom config and some wacky IIS stuff, got heavy into ServicePrincipalNames using ADSI, and LOTS of other cool areas of windows... but in the end, there was no way I would have gotten to the answer because the .dll in question was flawed.

Anyway... my rant is done....

----- 03.15.2006 --------
So, yesterday I took the plunge into the world of drivers :) Picked up the Monte last night.... and I love it! I haven't had much chance to take pics, but I did snap off a couple. I gotta post something, so I'll post them even though they are bad. The first one is a decent pic of the car, but it's too dark and the colour is off. The 2nd is blurry, but captures the colour well. So, imagine the 2 together :)

Anyway, I'm a very happy camper :) And Jen's warming up to it. OK, maybe that was just the heated seats talking... but it's a start ;)

And how did my VMWare Presentation go yesterday? It went pretty good! I was happy with the layout of the room... much wider then deep. What does that matter? Less people directly in front while I talk! There were 150 - 175 people in there. My first time speaking to an audience big enough that I actually needed a mic. Anyway, I feel SOOO much better now then it's done. And pretty proud of myself too, if I must add. The easy thing would be to say "No" when I was asked. It would have been really easy... they simply would have asked someone else. And that's when I ask myself: "What would Tony do?". That's right... I'm referring to Tony Robbins :) I was listening to Personal Power, as part of the "Get the Edge" collection we got. Really great stuff! Although I never finished it (yet)... his lessons are still ringing in my head. In fact, I think I'll start from scratch, this time without being behind the wheel of a car so I can actually write stuff down and do the exercises. What's stopping me? I'm stopping me! No excuses! Anyway... I have an excuse for you... bed time for me :) Hope you're all doing great! Cheers!

----- 03.13.2006 --------
Tonight is a very interesting night for me. FULL of mixed emotions. Partially excited, partially scared. A little nervous, yet confident. What's going on, you ask? Well, today is the day before a very big day in my life. For 2 reasons. First of all, I'm getting my first car! Secondly, I will be speaking in front of a large group for the first time. How large... large enough I need to wear a mic... which is new to me. 300 - 500 large!!!! I will be the Customer Key Note speaker tomorrow at the VMWare seminar at the Marriott, here in Toronto. I have 45 minutes up in front of my peers to talk about how our implementation is going at work. The slides are done, but the words still need to come out of my mouth! Nervous? Hell ya! Oh well.... if I weren't nervous, I think there'd be something wrong. More to follow... after I deliver my speech that is! And what am I doing this for? 2 things.... Experience... and a free T-Shirt! :)

Secondly, tomorrow I pick up a new car!!! It's a 2006 Monte Carlo SS. I am SUPER excited! I am in love with this car!!! Once I have it, I'll take some pics and post them. Until then, check out the Monte Carlo web site have have a gander. Well... that's all for now... I have some worrying to do about a big speech! Wish me luck :)

I almost forgot! The coolest thing happened tonight. When Jeff, the dealer, came to pick me up, he brought the dealership's limo! A full stretched limo! It was too funny! He jumped out & ran to the back to let me. What service! How many dealerships picked you up in a limo to buy one of their cars? It would not be fair NOT to give their site a plug: Somerset Chevrolet LTD.. These guys have treated me great, each time with Jeff picking me up because I had no other way to get there. Not for long though....

----- 03.10.2006 --------
Today I had the oportunity to have a peak at what the future beholds. We went out to one of Xerox's R & D Facilities today... their "neXus Center". I was introduced to a few of their new technologies... ones that are going to be very present in out future... and not to distant either! Of the technologies I was shown, the ones that really stuck out were Digital Ink, Data Glymphs, Printable Cirtuits, and part of a work flow piece called SMARTsend technology. Oh... and not to forgot Disappearing ink & reusable paper! That's right... print out a stack of your emails to read on your commute home. By the next day, the "ink" will have faded and the paper is ready to be fed back into your printer tray. Save the trees! :) Anyway, it was a great break from the regular grind at work. We're looking into a document management solution... something to enhance what we already have in out efforts to go paper-less. Yes... it is possible, but many things have to change! More then anything, peoples' entire thought process needs to be re-wired. Out business (Insurance) is one that heavily relies on paper-based work flows. Yes, there are ways to eliminate it, but some of the biggest challenges are those of the legal system, which has to be totally re-worked so we don't need a hand-written signature. SPeaking of which... what a joke!!!! We actually use a hand-written signature as an authentication piece to "prove" you authorized something! HA! And people are resistent to electronic documents for reason of forgery! Folks, our perception has to change... big time!!! My prediction... a "signature" as we know it... the kind where you write your name in your "very own unique script" will no longer stand up in a court of law as proof of your consent. My guess? As early as 2020. That's right... that MY prediction. Nothing I heard anywhere else... however you can't say the same... you heard (read) it hear first. K, that's all for now. Cheers!

----- 03.07.2006 --------
Well, I'm waiting here in the passport office so thought I'd be productive. And when that failed, I figured I'd write an update for my site :) As I mentioned, Sunday was Jen's birthday. A couple people came over on Saturday night to celebrate. It was a small group, but a fun one. We played a game called "would you rather...". Its a lot of fun for a group of people! Mixes well with booze too, as the rules are pretty simple. In fact, the creativity seems enhanced when sauce is added :). Earlier on Saturday, I went to the car dealership for a test drive and to check out the cars. I really wanted was some pricing since I get a discount and wanted to see how much it was. But no, that would be too easy. So the guy came to pick me up, late. I was already limited for time, so that didn't help. And then we had to stop at the beer store. That's right, I used it as an opportunity to return my empties! And that lead me on to a bigger idea! I think I'll buy a cube van! I'm really not too certain what kind, so I better test drive one... Right around the time I'll be moving again :) he he he

Wow... This sure is a long wait! 20 minutes in the prescreening line so you can wait a couple hours in the corall (sp?). Anyway, back to the test drive. In the end, I didn't even get to drive! They took their sweet time showing me this and that, but all I wanted was some pricing! So, I'll have to head back when I have more time. I have my eye on a few cars; Implala SS, Monte Carlo SS, Malibu MAXX SS, and cobalt SS. Why SS? Cause I want something a little sporty, yet big and practical. Make sense? I didn't think so... But that alright. Actually, I'm especially drawn to the impala and monte carlo. Same car pretty much... 2 vs 4 doors. Why those cars? Because they are comfortable, yet still affordable. I find the small cars cramp my legs when driving long distances. Since most our out driving will be short shop trips or long road truips back home (windsor & mtl), I figure I should go for something that handles the long trips. Anyway... Lots of time to decide. Well, the number here in the passport office is 219 and I'm 242. It was 164 after I finished the prescreen line, so I figure I have another 20 minutes. Well, hope you're all well... I'm signing off. Cheers!

----- 03.03.2006 --------
This weekend is Jen's birthday... Sunday to be exact. Anyway, just wanted to wish her a happy birthday on here in case I don't get a chance to later on this weekend. Anyway, tonight we went to go see a Rock game (Lacrosse) at the ACC. No, it wasn't her birthday present. I don't know too many woman who want to go a Lacrosse game for their birthday! Anyway, it just worked out well because there were a couple extra tickets at work. So, we went. And we had AWESOME seats! We were right on the glass, behind the net, to the side a bit. Wicked seats! Anyway, it was a really fun game. The Rock kicked the Minnesota Swarm's ass 13 - 8. I really should have brought my camera.... I don't know what I was thinking! Oh well... there will be more games... to forget to take pics at :) Anyway, hope all of you have a fantastic weekend! Cheers....

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