Homebrewing - My Spiced Winter Ale

My Spiced Winter Ale has also been in primary fermentation for about two weeks now. It started with an OG (original gravity) of 1.032 (again, lower than what the target was supposed to be... 1.040) It's down to about 1.010 right now (about 2.9% abv.)

I'm just not sure about this beer. The spices used (a mulling spice blend) are a little strong for my taste. A lot of cinnamon smell and taste. I'm supposed to put about a half an ounce in the secondary fermentation, but I think I will leave it out, hoping the smell and taste mellows out in secondary.

I'll be transferring it to secondary today.

Homebrewing - My Schwarzbier

Well, it's been about two weeks since I made my first beer in about two and half years. My Schwarzbier (Black Lager) has been fermenting in the fridge. It started with an original gravity of 1.042 and is currently at 1.020. I missed the target gravity of 1.052, which has always been a problem in my brewing. My OG has always been lower than what it should be and I'm not really sure what I may be doing wrong. It could be as simple of not boiling it long enough, as I only do it for about an hour.

I took a sample last night, to get the 1.020 gravity reading, and the beer tastes pretty good. If you will remember, the kit I used was about a year old. I'm pleased with the taste so far. I may try to swirl the carboy a little bit, being careful not to get too much oxygen into the beer, as it will cause problems. I just need to the gravity to drop some more before transferring it to secondary fermentation.

So far so good, though.

Your Guide to Lotusphere

For those of you who are going to Lotusphere for the first time, I would strongly suggest that you check out Andy Donaldson's blog post. My first trip to Lotusphere was greatly enhanced by reading and following the links on Andy's post from last year. I don't think I would have had as much fun or knew what to expect had I not found his blog and the helpful information he has in that post.

I would also suggest listening to the Taking Notes Podcasts. I listened to a lot of good information in the podcasts that also helped me prior to going to Lotusphere.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this year. If I could offer any little bit of information or helpful advice, it would be this... if you are new to the world of Lotus and Lotusphere, and read a lot of the blogs, don't be afraid to approach and talk to the bloggers. They are a great bunch of people and are just like you and me. I tend to shy away from talking to people who do a lot of Lotus blogging, thinking that they are unapproachable. This is not the case. They are welcoming and very approachable... and a lot of fun to be with.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to attend Lotusphere, have fun, talk to the bloggers, make some new friends.

Man... I wish I was going...

Advanced Notice: Woot Off begins tonight

I just received the following email from Woot:

Welcome to Woot's first official recession-era newsletter! For the next 12 to 24 months, all citizens are expected to fret over, worry about, or even directly experience the nadir of a consumerist society - OMG! What will we do when we stop buying stuff? Economists now agree that we're headed through a prolonged period of decreased consumer spending (you really need an advanced degree to come up with insights like that). Beyond that, it's anybody guess. Will the only growth sectors in the economy be shoe repair, pipe salvage, and roadside apple sales? Or will we bring on a quick recovery by doing patriotic things like buying stuff we can't afford and spending more money than we make?

As a retailer, it'd make sense for us to fall in with the BUY STUFF, AMERICA conga line. But by now, you know that we at Woot never do things the "normal", "sensible", "rational", "intelligent" way. We're not about to follow the herd over a cliff. When we go over a cliff, it's because of our own poor judgment, not someone else's. That's been our credo since about five minutes ago, when we first thought of it. And we've stayed true to it ever since.

That's why we're encouraging you and your fellow wooters to save this holiday season. Save your money! Save until you pull a saving muscle. Horde your money until you are literally choking on it. Save until maybe, like, mid-February or so, when the market will be a-glut with great deals for the taking every day. You'll avoid the crowds, take advantage of desperate retailers, and not have to hear "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time" even once.

Sure, maybe you'll disappoint some of your loved ones. But if they really love you, they can wait a couple of months, especially if your finances are at stake. Besides, if your so-called loved ones wanted you to set yourself on fire, would you? Of course you wouldn't. And that's the kind of independent thinking that will one day break the mindless conformity of our consumerist holiday ways.

But be warned: you'll want to stay far away from Woot.com this week. The breadth and scope of bargains we'll be offering - especially starting Tuesday morning at midnight - will be powerfully tempting. They could even lead you back down the spend-spend-spend path with the rest of the sheep. And that would make us sad enough to cry while we're taking your money.

See you in February!

Woot.com

Woot is located in Texas, so at Midnight CST, 1:00 a.m. EST, the Woot Off will begin. It's the last Woot Off before Christmas. There's bound to be some great deals going on, and this Woot Off will probably last a few days... possibly until Friday.

My first Beer post...

Since my blog title is Brews and Notes, and I haven't posted any brew stuff yet (at least I don't believe I have), I figured the time is right...

I haven't brewed a beer in almost two and a half years, and I am sick about it. In May of 2006, I brewed an Oktoberfest beer and fortunately, I still have a few bottles left... well I did until Thanksgiving weekend.

The week before Thanksgiving, I found two gift certificates that were given to me... one was a Christmas present from 2006, and the other a birthday present from May of 2007. The certificates were from Norther Brewer. I called them up and asked them if they were still valid. Fortunately for me, they were. I now had $100 to spend on beer stuff.

I've got three kits to make, that were given to me at Christmas 2007. I knew that the yeast, which had been properly stored in the brewery fridge, were probably not viable, so I used the "free money" to buy new yeast. There were some other things that I needed/wanted, so I ordered enough to use up the $100 and then some.

Now, the three kits, being they were almost a year old, had been stored in my basement brewery, which keeps a constant 62-64 degrees year round. The crushed grains and malt extract were not stored in the fridge, but on a shelf. I figured that even if things were stale and the beers didn't come out good, I wasn't really going to care, as it would allow me to get back into the swing of things again, and start this hobby up again in full force.

On Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), I did go shopping, like the millions of other people that day. I woke up at my leisure, and got things around to make the first beer of the weekend... a Schwarzbier (Black Lager). I love the dark beers. I'll pick a dark beer over anything else, other than maybe a good, hoppy IPA. Surprisingly, the crushed grains did not smell stale, and there was no mold in the non-vacuumed sealed bag. No mold or other nasty stuff in the malt extract, so I felt I was good to go. About three hours later, I had my black lager in my 7 gallon glass carboy, tossed my Bavarian yeast starter into the carboy, gave it a few good shakes, and put the carboy into my brewery fridge at around 46-48 degrees... a good lagering temp. Got everything cleaned up and ready for the next day. Oh... and those Oktoberfest beers I mentioned at the beginning of this post... I now have fewer of them.

On Saturday, I started a little earlier in my brewing. This day, I would make a Spiced Winter Ale. The kit came with a little 1 ounce vacuumed sealed bag of Mulling Spice. As with the black lager, the crushed grains and malt extract, as well as the spices all smelled and looked ok, so I began my second day of brewing. After another three hours or so, the beer was in the other 7 gallon glass carboy, and I tossed in my Scotch Ale yeast starter, gave things a good shaking, and then covered the carboy with a black plastic garbage bag (light is not a beer's best friend, you know.)

After cleaning everything up and putting most everything away, including the rest of the empty Oktoberfest bottles that were consumed during this brewing day, I checked on my black lager. Things were percolating away nicely already, after only about 24 hours. It was a good start of things to come.

On Sunday, I checked on my Spiced Winter Ale, and the yeast had already begun it's wonderful work. The krausen was getting high in the carboy. I knew I should have put a blow-off hose in, but I didn't do it. Late Sunday evening, I went down to the brewery to check on my beers, and the Spiced Winter Ale was pushing the krausen into the airlock. I took it out, cleaned it up, and put it back into its place. Did the same thing on Monday morning, and then again at Noon on Monday afternoon. By Monday night, things slowed down and I didn't have to do anymore clean up.

It's now Wednesday, and things are still fermenting away. This weekend, I'll probably be ready to transfer my Spiced Winter Ale to a seconday fermenter (a 5 gallon glass carboy), but the black lager will need a few more days to fully ferment. I'll let the Winter Ale sit in secondary until I'm ready to bottle it. I'm not a kegger, so all my beers go into bottles, of which I have quite a collection. I'm thinking the Winter Ale may be ready to consume around Christmas, or shortly after New Year's Day. The black lager will be ready sometime late in January, early February.

The third and final beer kit that I have is a Rauchbier (Smoked Beer), which I have yet to make. I need to order some additional items for my yeast starter (dry malt extract), but I haven't done that yet. I must not procrastinate on this one...

I guess I should post the recipes, in case anyone is interested...

Spiced Winter Ale (courtesy of Northern Brewer)
O.G: 1047 / Ready: 6 weeks

We started with a malty, medium-bodied Scottish-style ale. We added a hand-mixed blend of mulling spices: Ceylon cloves, cracked cinnamon, allspice, cardamom and mace. The result is a pleasant, festive holiday ale, perfect to share with friends and family.

Specialty Grains
* 1 lbs. Simpsons Dark Crystal

Fermentables
* 6.3 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup

Boil Additions
* 1 oz. Argentina Cascade (60 min)
* 0.25 oz. Mulling Spices (60 min)
* 0.5 oz. Mulling Spices (0 min)

Special Ingredients
* 1/4 oz. Mulling Spices (add to secondary)

If you choose dry yeast
* Safale S-04. Optimum temperature: 64-75° F.

If you choose liquid yeast
* Wyeast #1728 Scottish Ale Yeast. Optimum temperature: 55-70° F.

Schwarzbier (courtesy of Northern Brewer)
O.G: 1052 / Ready: 2 months

The lager world's answer to porter and stout, this black beer from German is roasty, malty, and crisp. Debittered black malt gives a sharp, clean dryness, underscored by a rich, malty sweetness from Munich and German crystal malts. Since Schwarzbiers are more assertively hopped than many dark lagers, our kit loads up on hops. Not too bitter, not too sweet, Schwarzbier is very drinkable and forgiving to brew.

Specialty Grains
* 0.5 lbs. German Dark Crystal
* 0.5 lbs. Dingemans Debittered Black

Fermentables
* 6 lbs. Dark Malt Syrup
* 1 lbs. Dark Dry Malt Extract

Boil Additions
* 1 oz. Argentina Cascade (60 min)
* 1 oz. Argentina Cascade (30 min)

If you choose dry yeast
* Saflager S-23. Optimum temperature: 60-72° F.

If you choose liquid yeast
* Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager Yeast. Optimum temperature: 46-56° F.

Rauchbier (courtesy of Northern Brewer)
O.G: 1055 / Ready: 2 months

German for "smoke beer", this lager style is a specialty of the Bavarian city of Bamberg. They're often based on an Oktoberfest recipe, but brewed with a proportion of beechwood-smoked malt to create a rich, warm smoke aroma and flavor. Our Rauchbier kit yields an amber-red beer with an off-white head, substantial maltiness, and woodsy smokiness (the secret is authentic German beechwood-smoked rauchmalt from the heart of Rauchbier country). Enjoy this one in front of a blazing fire.

Specialty Grains
* 1.5 lbs. Rauchmalt
* 0.5 lbs. Weyermann CaraMunich I

Fermentables
* 6 lbs. Amber Malt Syrup
* 1 lb. Amber DME

Boil Additions
* 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
* 0.5 oz. Argentina Cascade (60 min)
* 0.5 oz. Argentina Cascade (30 min)

If you choose dry yeast
* Saflager W-34/70. Optimum temperature: 48-59° F.

If you choose liquid yeast
* Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager Yeast. Optimum temperature: 46-56° F.

It's another Woot OFF!

Get on over to Woot! and wait for that Christmas present you've always been looking for. Once an item is sold out, another one gets put up.

School Days Nostalgia

As one does from time to time, especially as we get a little older, I browse the obituaries from where I grew up and went to school (sounds like a song, doesn't it.) It's a little morbid, I know. I'm not really sure why I do it, other than to see if people I know in my hometown have passed away.

Anyway, as I was browsing the obits today, I saw that a young man (39) had passed away, and the pastor in charge of the mass was an elementary school teacher of mine. Mr. Stein, now Father Stein, was my third grade teacher. I remember him being one of my favorite teachers at the time, and during the school year, he left teaching to become a catholic priest. I was sad that he was leaving us, but knew he was going onto something more important in life.

Being that the obit mentioned the church he was serving at, I looked up the church, and although he didn't have an email address himself, there was a general church email address. So, I sent an email to the church's email address, hoping it sees its way to him. I really hope to hear back from him, as, while I don't remember a whole lot from the 3rd grade, I do remember him being a kind and gentle soul to his students. I don't know if he did this for all his students, but I remember him making a visit to my home to tell me and my parents that he was leaving for the priesthood. That left an impression on me to this day.

I've had a lot of teachers that left an impact on me later in life. While I never recognized it back then, as I've grown older and wiser, I think back to those teachers and remember (most) of them fondly. At times, I will contact them via email, if I have an email address for them, and check up on them, and catch up with them to see what they are up to these days, as most of them have since retired.

My youngest sister is a teacher, and I hope that, when the time comes, one or more of her students will look back to the times when they had my sister as a teacher and remember all the things she taught them, not only school lessons, but life lessons as well.

If you are a teacher, God bless you. If you had a teacher that left an impact on you, let them know, if they are still around. I'm sure they will appreciate it.

Peoplesoft and the iSeries (AS/400)

I don't know how many of my readers (ha ha) use Peoplesoft (EnterpriseOne 8.10) and/or the iSeries (AS/400 - V5R3), but I just found something out that just made my year...

For the past year or so, I've notice that our free disk space on our iSeries has been decreasing at an alarming rate. A little over a year ago, we were close to 90% of capacity on our iSeries. Since we were still over a year away from replacing the current box (we have a 3 year lease), we decided to add disk to the machine. That took us down to about 50% capacity, and also maxing out the total disks we could put in. Over the next year, I noticed that, for some unknown reason, our disk space still kept disappearing. Since we've added disk, we've gone from about 55% to 85% disk utilization. I just thought, since business has been fairly decent, we've just added a lot more records to our Peoplesoft EnterpriseOne (8.10) files. I found out today that I was wrong about that assumption.

Peoplesoft uses a lot of SQL packages. From what I understand, standard installation procedure is to use the library QRECOVERY to store some of the *SQLPGK's. Well, if you don't delete these *SQLPKG's on a regular basis, it begins to consume your available free disk space. Due to some Peoplesoft upgrades we are doing, I needed to delete some Peoplesoft created *SQLPKG's. The consultant I was working with noticed all the *SQLPKG's in the QRECOVERY library, and told me that I could delete those as well. I was told, or so I thought, that you can delete any *SQLPKG files, as long as they didn't start with a Q or were in a library that started with a Q (usually IBM specific libraries.) Well, that's not the case, evidently. Peoplesoft, by default, uses the QRECOVERY library to store some of the *SQLPKG files. These files begin with OW, R, and T as the file name.

Late this afternoon or early evening, I began deleting these *SQLPKG's. I did a wrksyssts to see where we were at, as far as disk space. We were at around 85.6% full. I deleted all the *SQLPKG's that began with OW. That deleted about 12,000 files. It took me down to about 75%. I then deleted all the *SQLPKG's that began with an R. There were only about 15 or so files, so it didn't decrease my disk space noticeably. I then began to delete all the *SQLFILE's that began with a T. I knew there were a ton of files that began with a T. When the delete was done, it had deleted about 62,000 files. It took my disk utilization from 75% down to 38%!!! (I should note here that I did end the Peoplesoft services on the iSeries, prior to deleting the *SQLPKG's)

The unfortunate thing for me is that I've already got my new iSeries system, waiting for IBM to install it. Since I ordered it with almost double the disk capacity that I currently had, it's too late to reduce the amount of disk I really needed. I know that disk is cheap, but it could have saved my company a little more money, had I not ordered as much disk. Disk is cheap, I know...

Talking with the consultant, I found out that this kind of stuff is either not documented, or if it is, it's very well hidden by JDE/Peoplesoft/Oracle. Knowing what I know now, I will be vigilant in deleting these *SQLPKG's on a monthly basis, so I don't panic about free disk space disappearing without explanation.

If just one person, who uses an iSeries and Peoplesoft, learns something new from reading this blog, it's worth it. I'm sure I'm not the only person who didn't know this and wondered where all that disk space went to.

Penny, you'll be missed...

This is a few days late, but I just heard that a teacher I had in high school recently passed away. Penny (Penelope) Heid was a great teacher and a great person. She had a lot of enthusiasm, which she was able to use to reach everyone she had in her class.

I had her for Geometry (I & II) in high school. She made it fun. She took a few of us, after school was done for the day, to The University of Akron, to sit in a cafeteria (can't quite remember where exactly), to continue our studies for another hour or two. She always had a smile on her face, and always genuinely glad to see you in her class each day.

Your students, past, present, and future, will miss you, Penny. Thank you!

Lotusphere 2009 - It's final... I'm out

I know you all were holding your breath, hoping that I would be going to Orlando this year. Alas, it's just not to be this year.

With the economy the way it is, we've been asked to cut as much as possible for the 1st quarter of 2009. I know I could charge the registration to the 2008 budget, but the expenses (hotel, airfare, etc.) would go on the 2009 budget, and therein lies the problem.

It was a tough decision, and it was ultimately me, who made the decision, not to go. I'm disappointed in the decision, but I think it is for the best, at least for now. I'll explain in another blog post later.

For now, I will wish those of you whom I met and know, a good time at Lotusphere 2009. I wish I could be there, but there will always be Lotusphere '10 to look forward to.

Lotusphere 2009... now a possibility

Thanks to Gregg Eldred's post, I'm now trying to get the approval to get registered and get a room booked.

Keep your fingers crossed...

I am in need...

I just thought I would throw this out here to see if I could get any kind of assistance.

I work at a chemical manufacturer. All of our plant personnel have to go through a lot of training for various processes, safety, man lifts, fork trucks, etc. In some cases, there are prerequisites training classes they have to take before taking another specific training class.

Here's a portion of the email that I received from our HR department on some of the requirements for the database:

1. At this point we are tracking approximately 30 different categories for all of our employees. There could be more categories as time goes by.
2. Depending on the type of training it is required
3. Depending on the type of position it is required
4. Some of our training is set up that they can't complete "x" until they have completed another segment
5. A volume of our training is "renewable". Section "x" is good for ___ time frame
6. We have trackable license renewals as well (edit: I'm not sure what this is all about yet)

I'm going to meet with HR to discuss this more, and get more information about their needs and wants.

I do have a local Lotus Notes business partner that could create this database for me, but I'd hate to reinvent the wheel if there is a product already out there that could handle most, if not all, of our needs.

If you know of a Notes based product that I could take a look at, I would appreciate a link.

It's a WOOT! OFF - Get your Christmas shopping started

Head on over to Woot! for the sale... once the item up for sale sells out, another item takes its place.

Lotusphere 09 - Probably not going to happen for me this year...

As much as I enjoyed going to my first Lotusphere back in January, 2008, the chances for me going in January, 2009 are slim and none.

We've got too much going on here at work, and I'll probably be going to Orlando in May for the Oracle/Peoplesoft/JD Edward User Conference.

I'm a little more than disappointed, but seeing that the Swan and Dolphin rooms are pretty much booked and I'd have to stay at one of the other properties (not that there's anything wrong with the other properties), I'm kind of glad. I really like staying at the "host" hotels for a conference, as it is easier to be able to get back to your room to drop things off, if you are right there, rather than to have to take a shuttle back to the one of the other properties.

Hopefully, I will be able to attend Lotusphere in 2010.

I hope you all have a good time, and have a drink or two for me.

Vegas Vacation Report

My wife and I just got back from a free trip to Las Vegas on Monday night. I won the trip at our company golf outing (one of our vendors gives this trip as a prize for our employees.) It's a 4 day/3 night trip. This is the second time in four years I've been the one to win it. The first trip didn't turn out so well, as I ended up getting some kind of virus while there and spent the last full day there at the medical care center waiting to see a doctor. Not a fun time.

Since it's been four years since we've been to Vegas, I was really looking forward to the trip. I love Vegas. We aren't huge gamblers and don't have a lot of "throw away" money to gamble with, so our gambling budget is quite small. I usually don't put more than $20 into a machine. If it doesn't pay out when I'm down to about $10, I cash out and move along to another machine. I'm not much of a table gamer either, but I have tried my luck at roulette a few times in the past.

With that as a preface, let me tell you about our free trip...

First of all, we were presented with four choices of hotels... Harrah's, Luxor, NYNY, and the Flamingo. We stayed at the Flamingo the last time we were there, and since I got sick there, we opted not to stay there again this trip. We chose Harrah's, as it is in the middle of The Strip and centrally located to most of the other casinos.

Our flight was with Spirit. We didn't have a choice of airlines, as we weren't paying for anything, so I wasn't going to complain about too much. I've never flown Spirit before and didn't know what to expect. The last trip I took was to Lotusphere08, and I flew with AirTran. I have to tell you, I'm not a big fan of Spirit. It had nothing to do with the flight, as we arrived in Vegas about 40 minutes early. It had to do with all the "extra" stuff.

Evidently, purchasing a ticket with Spirit only guarantees you a spot on the plane. If you wait to check in 24 hours in advance, you take your chances on where you sit (pretty much par for the course with any airline, I guess.) However, Spirit gives you the opportunity to PURCHASE your seats well before the 24 hour check-in window. Aisle and window seats are $10 per flight and the middle seat is $5 per flight ($30 total for the flight out and back.) I suppose I could have waited to choose my seat during the check-in window, but that would not have guaranteed that my wife and I could have had seats next to each other. Spirit also charges for the checked bags. It's $15 for the first checked bag (per person) in advance, or $25 when you get to the airport. Again, that's per flight, so that was another $30 for the checked bag (we only took one checked bag.) So, our "free" flight cost us $60, with guarantees seat assignments and a checked bag... I guess that's not so bad, considering we didn't have to pay for the flight itself, but that is a little ridiculous, if you ask me.

The problem I have with charging for checked bags is that now, people who are flying are trying to cram as much stuff into the largest carry-on bag they can find, to avoid having to pay the checked bag fees. This causes a lot of problems for people trying to find a spot to put the carry-on bags in the overhead compartments. I saw some bags that were very close, if not more, to being over the size limit for a carry-on. It's crazy.

The check in at Harrah's went fine. As the woman checked us in, she went over some of the paperwork for the room. Our room had a mini bar. She explained to us that the mini bar had weight sensors in them, and if you as much as lifted a bottle of something in the mini bar, you were charged for it, whether you opened it up or not. We were also told that we could not store our own stuff in the mini bar (like bottles of water.) If we did, there would be a charge for that. We found out once we got to the room, that we would be charged $50 if we were to put something in the mini bar. Incredible. I can understand the weight sensor thing in the mini bar, as I have heard of people opening a bottle of liquor (like vodka, rum, or gin), drinking it, and then refilling the bottle with water, to make it look like nothing was consumed. But explain to me the reason for not allowing me to put a bottle of water I purchased elsewhere into the mini bar to keep cold? I don't get that part of the puzzle.

As for Vegas itself, a lot has changed in four years. The Aladdin is no longer the Aladdin, but Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino. There's a few new casinos being built. Trump now has a hotel in Vegas. There's the Miracle Mile Mall attached to Planet Hollywood that wasn't there the last time we were there. You couldn't tell the economy was in the tank, looking around at all the construction and new things going on in Vegas.

As for the gambling... we were losers. I'm a video poker player. The best I could manage was a full house on any machine. I never hit four of a kind or straight flush, and only sniffed at a royal flush, only to miss that and a flush at all. The machines are a lot different too. Sure, they have penny and nickel machines, but to play these machines at max credits, you have to play anywhere from a buck to $3 per spin/hand. They aren't really penny machines if you have to play a buck a spin. They are dollar machines disguised as penny machines, and people were playing them like they were penny machines. Hell, some of the machines wouldn't even let you play just one penny (not that I would have done that, but still...)

I cannot believe the number of people who bring their little children to Vegas and think it is a family vacation spot. I'm not talking families with young teenagers, but families with babies and children under 10 years old. There are things in Vegas these kids do not need to see at that age, and I'm not talking about inside the casinos. I know the saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" and that's all well and good, and people really do play the part. People dress differently out there and a lot of the women wear very revealing clothes (not that I'm complaining), but these little kids don't need to see that. Not to mention the guys (and women) standing on the sidewalk handing out the little cards for escort services. These cards are nearly X-rated pictures of naked women with "stars" on their naughty parts. You don't have to take on from the people handing them out, as they little the sidewalks. I'm just amazed at the people who thing Vegas is the kind of place to take their little one's on vacation. I have two children, 9 and 6, and there is no way in hell I would even consider taking them to Vegas before they were 30 (ha ha).

We did see Wayne Brady at the Venetian, while we were there. Very good show. He's an amazing improv performer and a good singer as well. We got tickets a week before we left and had 3rd row seats at stage right. He performed for about an hour and half or so, and had us in stitches. He did several things he's done on "Who's Line Is It Anyway?", brought people up on stage to have them participate, and it was all good fun. I would suggest checking him out, if you have the chance. My wife wanted to see Cher, but we couldn't get tickets prior to getting out there, and it was a good thing. As we were walking through Caesar's Palace on Saturday afternoon, we walked by where she was performing and say a notice that her show was canceled that night and it was not going to be rescheduled. I'm glad we didn't have tickets to the show.

All in all, even with the complaining I did above, we had a great time. We did a lot of walking, we went downtown to see the older casinos, but didn't stay to see the Fremont Experience, as we had seen that the last time we were there. We went through almost all of the casinos, new and old, that we wanted to. I was a little disappointed in the Monte Carlo. They have a brewery there. Well... hey used to. The restaurant was still there, but they no longer make their own beer. It was the only reason we visited the Monte Carlo.

We we were there four years ago, and even though I was violently ill on my last day there, I would have gone back the following weekend. This time, I'm not as excited to go back. I'm not sure if it was because I was four years older and my view of life is that much different than it was then, but, I'm just not as excited to go back as I used to be. Sure, I'd go again, but I can wait to go back. I didn't feel that way four years ago. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Viva Las Vegas...

Fantasy Football - Week 2

Well, it's been a good start to the season. I'm currently 1-0 after the first week, and am winning my second week's matchup, going into tonight's Monday Night Football game.

Won my first week's game, thanks to a fine performance by Jay Cutler (QB - Denver) on Monday night. Finished with the most points for the week, which will net me some waiver wire money.

As for Week 2, Michael Turner (RB - Atlanta) was a letdown this week after last week's performance, but, again, Jay Cutler didn't disappoint me, throwing for over 350 yards and 4 TD's and one 2 point conversion pass. Of course, he should have had only 3 TD's, but thanks to a blown call by the refs, he had 4. I've got a slim 20 point lead going into tonight's game, with Terrell Owen (WR - Dallas) starting for me, and Jason Witten (TE - Dallas) and the Cowboys D going for my opponent. I'm hoping that TO will do what is necessary to secure my win.

I may not finish 1st in total points this week, but I will definitely finish in the Top 3, which will still net me some more waiver wire money.

As for my team, I did lose Nate Burleson (WR - Seattle) for the year, but replaced him with Courtney Taylor (WR - Seattle.) It's not that Taylor was high on my list of players to get, but that I was last in the waiver wire order and Taylor was the only one on my list of players I wanted to pick up. I tried for Eddie Royal (WR - Denver), Devery Henderson (WR - New Orleans), and a few others, but it was not to be.

I forgot to mention in my first Fantasy Football post, I do subscribe to a fantasy football website (FootballGuys.com.) I've been with them for about 8 or 9 years now, and since finding them, I've been doing a lot better in my league than I did without them. If you are looking for fantasy football information, FootballGuys.com are tough to beat with the information and tools they give all year round.

We'll see how tonight goes...

Richard Wright - Former Pink Floyd Founder and Keyboardist Dead at 65

"The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer," a spokesman for the Wright family said.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

RIP Richard

Golf - The end is near...

Well, unfortunately, my golf league season has come to an end this year. Time really flies. We finished up our league with a four person scramble (A, B, C, and D players on a team.) I was the A player. We finished 3 under for 9 holes, with a lot of "woulda, shoulda, coulda's" thrown in there.) We should have finished at least 5 under, as we had two putts stop on the lip of the cup, and we had an eagle putt just lip out (which would have been icing on the cake.) We finished 3rd out of 5 groups. We lost in a scorecard playoff with the eventual 2nd place team.

It was fun while it lasted, but darkness was coming quicker and quicker each week, and we were running out of daylight if we were in the last group.

I finished the year with a 2 or 3 league handicap (for 9 holes), which is where I should be. I never made friends with my 3 wood as the season wore on, which is fine. I can always replace the 3 wood with another wedge, I suppose. It won't be missed.

I was able to get out to play, outside of the league, a little more than I thought I would, which was nice. I started tracking my scores online (mobilegolfstats.com) and it tells me that I am a 9 handicap for 18 holes. I'm happy about that.

I did play in our local Ryder Cup style tournament back in August. What fun that was. Sixteen guys, all with a variety of golf skills, split into two teams, Ohio and Michigan. Of course, being a Buckeye, I was on the Ohio team. We played 36 holes on Thursday (Alternate shot - Demor Hills in Morenci, MI, 4 ball - Ironwood in Wauseon, OH), 36 holes on Friday (4 ball - Riverby Hills in Waterville, OH, 2 man scramble - White Pines in Swanton, OH), and then the singles matches at The Legacy in Ottawa Lake, Michigan. We were all tied up going into the singles matches, which is the way you wanted it to be, and the Ohio team came out victorious after all the matches were complete. I played some of the best golf I've played this year in this tournament. It was a great time.

As it is now September, and the sun is setting earlier and earlier as time goes by, my time on the course is getting less and less. I'll have to take some nice fall afternoons off work to get out and play before the snow falls. I'm hoping to get out a few more times before that happens.

Golf... it's a love/hate relationship. Right now, I'm loving it.

Fantasy Football - A new year, a new season

I've seen a couple of blog posts about fantasy football on PlanetLotus.com and thought I'd throw my team out there as well.

I've been involved in my local fantasy football league for close to 20 years now. I took a year off during this stretch, but couldn't give it up. I've been the commissioner of the league for close to 10 years now. It's been fun, but as any commissioner will tell you, it's a thankless job. One of the best moves I've made as a commissioner (patting myself on the back), was moving us to an online league management website many years ago. We started out at NFL.com (free at the time), then switched to sportsline.com (again, free), but when they started charging close to $150 for a league, I looked elsewhere. I found MyFantasyLeague.com and it was only $70-80 per year, and it was fully customizable (both in league setup and web design.) We've been there for 6 years now and everyone seems to like it.

Our league a 10 team, redraft league. We have 16 rounds, but 18 roster positions. Here is the my team:

Player
Cutler, Jay DEN QB
Delhomme, Jake CAR QB
Forte, Matt CHI RB (R)
Lewis, Jamal CLE RB
Perry, Chris CIN RB
Peterson, Adrian MIN RB
Turner, Michael ATL RB
Washington, Leon NYJ RB
Burleson, Nate SEA WR
Evans, Lee BUF WR
Johnson, Chad CIN WR
Owens, Terrell DAL WR
White, Roddy ATL WR
Gonzalez, Tony KCC TE
Miller, Zach OAK TE
Scobee, Josh JAC PK
Eagles, Philadelphia PHI Def
Redskins, Washington WAS Def

I'm pretty happy with the team, but with the injuries to Jamal Lewis (on my home team Cleveland Browns) and Chad Ocho Cinco, I am a little worried right now. We'll see how things go this weekend.

Three months??? Really...

Yes, I know... I've been neglecting my blog. I have no excuse.

I shall try to correct this oversight in the near future.

Will probably post pad here in a day or so.

I am fine and well... just not posting anything, good or bad.

Happy Anniversary, Gorgeous...

Saturday, May 31st was our 11th wedding anniversary. We spent the weekend at my folks house in Akron, OH, so we didn't really do all that much celebrating. My wife is a saint to have to put up with her geek of a husband for all these years. She means the world to me, and I would definitely be lost without her.

I love you, Connie!

Little League - Game 6

Last Thursday was Game 6. Good game again by all. The good guys win. My son had a couple of hits, scored a run, and, I think, had an RBI. He did real well, playing both left center field and third base, stopping everything that came to him. He's really getting the hang of things. We've been practicing when we can, in the yard. I pitch to him and he hits the ball really well. I hit some balls to him, to give him practice in fielding the ball, where he needs the most help. It's working out well, as he isn't as afraid of the ball hitting him in the legs or chest and thinking it's going to kill him.

There was one scare during the game, as one of the kids from the other team took a ball to the face, on a bad hop off the dirt infield. The ball must have hit a rock or something, as the ball just jumped off the field and hit the poor kid in the cheek. I heard one of the kids say he chipped his tooth, but you know how kids like to expand the truth sometimes. There was a little blood, but nothing too serious. I'm sure he'll be ok.

The next game won't be until this coming Saturday. That's a long week off for these kids. Hopefully they won't forget how to play.

Golf League - Week 6

Played the back nine last night. For once, the weather was just about perfect! Temps in the upper 60's, not a cloud in the sky, no wind to speak of... just beautiful.

Started off in a tough spot on #10... drove my tee shot into the pond. Took a drop and chipped up to the right of the green. Chipped in for my par. Good finish to what could have been a bad start to the round. Bogied the next hole because I bladed my pitching wedge over the green and didn't chip close enough to the hole. Parred #12, a par 3. Hit a good drive and second shot on #13, a par 5, and was sitting about 20 yards from the hole. Hit a great chip shot to within about two feet. Putt breaks a little to the right. I pulled the putt and missed the birdie. Next is the second par 3, and I missed the green and chipped up to within about three feet. Again, I missed the par putt. My putting left me last night, for some unknown reason. Still, I'm two over after four holes, so I'm not doing too bad. Good tee shot on #15, but was a little short on my approach shot. Chipped up to about five feet and missed the par putt again. Three over now. Pull-hooked my tee shot on #16 and have to hit over some trees, up hill to the green. Hit a solid 8 iron to the front of the green. The pin was back. Long birdie putt came up just a little short, but it was a gimme putt... par. Hole 17 is a long par 5. I hit, what I felt was a good drive, but no one saw it after it left the tee. My partner said he thought he saw it start off right, but was drawing back into the fairway. We couldn't see the ball anywhere, due to the sun and shade in the fairway. Finally found it on the left side of the fairway. Hit a decent second shot and had about 110 yards to the green. Hit a good pitching wedge to the green, but was about 20 feet from the hole. Hit a good putt, but came up a little short and settled for a par. Still three over after 8 holes. I'm in good shape... I can still break 40 for this round if I don't have my blowup hole, as I have each week so far. The 18th hole is a straight away par 4. Hit a good drive even though my right foot slipped from under me as I was coming through the ball. I had about 115 yards to the green and the hole was cut in the back of the green, which slopes severely towards the front of the green. My hope was to hit below the hole to have an up hill putt. I hit a good 10 iron (I love this club), but put the ball above the hole. I had a down hill putt, with a break to the right. It's a speed putt. I looked at it from both sides, had my partner read it as well. We didn't have the same opinion as to how much the putt was going to break. I went with what my partner was telling me. Fortunately, I hit the putt well, and the ball found the bottom of the cup for a birdie. Finished with a 38. Should have been a lot better because of my putting problems, but I was happy with the score. I won a couple of skins with the birdie at 18 and a par on 17.

The one thing that I can point to in making this round what it was is the fact that I did not use my 3 wood at all. When I had a chance to use it (on both par 5's), I opted to use my 3 iron instead. I'm sure I could have been on the green, or at least closer to the hole that I ended up on these holes, but with having no confidence in my 3 wood, I chose to use the 3 iron. I really need to get to the range and hit my 3 wood, and get the confidence back with that club. I know I've said it before, but I just haven't been able to find the time. Some day...

What a long weekend...

Well, I did end up getting sick, but not bad enough to not get things done around the house...

First things first, though... golf on Wednesday night... Shot a 41. Didn't hit my goal, but all in all it was a good night. It was really windy and cool last Wednesday, not a great night for golf. Started off bogey, bogey, bogey, and then settled down. I parred the next two holes, and then came up just short (about 6 inches) of getting a hole in one on the #6 Par 3 hole. I hit a great shot... a little draw into a left to right wind and the ball hit the upslope of the two tiered green and stopped just short of the hole. Finished par, double bogey, par. I won two skins and the closest to the pin contest (on #6) and won about $26 in total. It was a good night.

I woke up Thursday morning not feeling much better. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to work. I did have a lot on my schedule at home, but didn't feel much like doing anything. I sat around until about 9:30 a.m. and then started getting things around. I needed to empty the garage, so I could begin my painting chores. It's amazing the amount of crap one keeps for one reason or another, to later realize that there was no reason to keep it in the first place. Once the garage was empty, I swept it out, and then began priming the shelves.

A couple of years ago, my father in law, God bless him, built me some shelves in my garage when we were out of town visiting my folks. We had discussed it, and he was going to help me put them up, but being the kind of person he is, he didn't want to wait for me. So, he did it himself. They looked nice and were definitely what was needed, for storage purposes.

Once the shelves were primed, I took a time out to get some lunch and visit with my daughter, who just came home from kindergarten. After lunch, I got back at the painting. Fortunately for me, I was painting the walls and the ceiling all the same color, so there was no being careful with the paint near the ceiling. I absolutely hate painting, mostly because of the trim work. Since there wasn't any to be done in the garage, I didn't mind painting all that much.

I finally finished up painting the whole garage, the walls and the ceiling, but left the door and window trim for my wife, who said she would do that. I was done about 4:30 p.m. or so, and had to get everything cleaned up, including myself, as my son had a baseball game that night.

My son had a great game Thursday night. He played left center and third base. Caught a pop fly, while playing third, and could have gotten a double play if he wasn't so confused about where to throw the ball. There was a runner at first and second at the time, and both runners took off when the ball was hit. Caleb caught the ball and everyone, from the spectators to the coaches were hollering at him to throw the ball to second base, or first base, or anywhere. He just held onto the ball. Poor kid. He was so excited about catching the ball that he didn't know what to do next and with all the excitement, he didn't know who to listen to or where to throw the ball. He had three really good hits, one of which was a double, had an RBI or two, and scored a run. His team lost by one run, but my son had a good game and was really proud of himself that he caught that pop fly (as was his dad!)

Friday morning came, again, I didn't have to go into work, but still wasn't feeling good. With the garage work still needing to be done, I still wasn't up to getting an early start on things. Again, I sat around until about 9:30 a.m. again before getting started. Again, I swept the floor, as on today's agenda, was painting the floor of the garage. As I mentioned in a earlier post, our garage floor, when wet, becomes as slick as ice, and the kids have slipped and fallen in the past. It was time to rectify this dangerous situation once and for all.

After sweeping the floor, I opened the Quikrete Bond Lok I got at our local Lowes store and began the process of cleaning the garage floor. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I had never used this stuff before. I had to wet the floor first, and then put this Bond Lok stuff down and it bubbles/foams up on the wet surface. Using a stiff bristled broom, you scrub the floor with the broom and then rinse it away. It took me about an hour or so to clean the floor, and then I had to wait for the floor to dry. Unfortunately, the floor didn't dry before the day was over, so I had to wait until Saturday to paint the floor.

On Saturday, I swept the floor once more, and then got out the Quikrete One Step Epoxy paint and began the process of painting the floor. I added, what looked to be fine white sand or silica, to the paint, to add to the non-skid surface of the floor. After about an hour and a half, the floor was completely painted and looked great. Now we had to wait about 24 hours before we could walk on it and begin the process of putting everything back into the garage.

And that's what we did on Sunday. The floor was dry and looked good, but it could have used a second coat of paint, but I didn't feel like waiting any longer to get things back into the garage. It looked like we were having a yard sale, with all the stuff sitting outside the garage, and it was supposed to rain Sunday night. Everything is back in it's places now, and things are getting back to normal. Tonight, we can finally park our cars in the garage for the first time since last Wednesday.

All in all, it was a good, productive weekend. I'm still not 100% healthy, but getting there. I suppose if I hadn't worked all weekend, I would feel better, but I wouldn't have felt good about not getting the garage finished.

I can't be getting sick...

Not much has been going on this week. Got golf league tonight. Playing the front this week. Would really like to put a complete round together today. I'm thinking like a 36 or 37 for the night.

I feel like I'm coming down with something. It started yesterday with sneezing. I just thought it was some tickle in my nose that wouldn't go away. Well, the tickle finally went away, but the sneezing and runny nose is sticking around. Took some meds last night and this morning, and hopefully will begin to feel better as the day goes by.

Got a whole weekend planned of things to do around the house. Today is my last day of work this week. I'm taking Thursday off (we get Friday and Monday off for the Memorial Day holiday... we've got four floating holidays... Friday is one of them.) I will be painting the inside of my garage on Thursday, and then painting the garage floor on Friday. Our garage floor, when wet, is like an ice skating arena. When the kids play with their squirt guns during the summer, and the garage floor gets wet, it becomes dangerous. I'm hoping that this stuff I bought from Lowe's will help resolve this problem.

My son has a baseball game on Thursday night, so hopefully the painting of the garage walls and ceiling will go quickly and I'll have time to get cleaned up to go to the game.

I can't be getting sick. I've got too much to do this weekend!

Little League Baseball - Game 5

Another loss for the good guys again. Fell behind around the 3rd inning and then tied it up, but then had another bad last inning. Unfortunately, the weakest part of the lineup came in the bottom half of the 6th and final inning and had three strike outs to finish the game. My boy did well, with two hits and an RBI (I think.) He got tagged out trying to "steal" home. I say "steal" because he heard everyone in the stands yell "GO!" or "RUN!" when the ball was hit, but didn't know he didn't have to run, and didn't hear his coach calling for him to stay. All of us in the stands (sitting on the 3rd base side) were yelling to the kid who hit the ball. Poor kid... he wasn't sure who to listen to (but knows he's supposed to listen to the coach first ;-) )

No game until next Thursday, but there might be a practice this weekend.

Golf League - Week 4

Well... there was a thought that we would be rained out again tonight, but the rain moved East and it cleared up a little bit. Cool, windy, and wet... not great golf weather, but it was better than not playing at all.

I started out good. We played the back nine this week. I parred the first five holes, but should have had a birdie or two in there. On the 10th hole, I was pin high off the green, and chipped on and hit the pin, but the ball didn't fall into the hole. I should have straightened up the pin before hitting my shot, as the pin was leaning towards me. Starting with the 15th hole, I bogied, double bogied, double bogied, and bogied to finish with a 42. I wasn't happy at all. Bad second shots on 15 and 16 (both came up short of the green) and my putting, which was great for the first five holes, left me stranded somewhere. On 17, I didn't hit my drive particularly well, but I was ok. I've abandoned my 3 wood now and tried my 5 wood. Not much better. I'm either going to have to find a new set of fairway woods, or just stick with my 3 iron, which I hit much better.

It was a disappointing end to what could have been a great round for me. I've got to find some time to hit the range and feel more comfortable with my fairway woods.

Little League Baseball - Game 4

I'm a little late on this one, but Game 4 was played Tuesday night. Nice night, but a little windy and cool. My son had 3 hits, scored once, in a losing effort. It seemed the kids were a little preoccupied with things other than the task at hand, and were daydreaming and looking at everything but what was going on in the game. It's kind of scary at times, especially when my son was playing third base and wasn't particularly paying a lot of attention. I kept hollering at him (nicely) to pay attention, as I was afraid of a line drive hitting him in the face when he wasn't looking. The kids wouldn't sit still on the bench and the coach get getting after them about it. It's hard to contain all that youthful energy at times.

Next game is tonight. Hopefully it will have a better outcome.

Monday Morning Review...

What a weekend!

Played golf on Friday afternoon. What a beautiful day. Shot an 82, but double bogied the last two holes. Still, I played well and had a good time with friends.

Saturday was my birthday. My son had Opening Day Ceremonies for little league baseball. He had pictures at 9:15 a.m. and his game at 10:15 a.m. They had a pancake breakfast from 8-10 a.m. and blowup things for the kids to play on. My son's team won their game, 11-7. He had two hits (a single and a double, an RBI or two, and scored two runs.) We finally left around 2:30 p.m. When we got home, I decided that if I didn't mow, I wasn't going to be able to do it before this coming weekend, and by then, it would too high, so I got on the rider and mowed. Took me a couple of hours, but it looks better.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Being that I was actually born on Mother's Day, it's more special for my Mom and me. This is the first year in quite awhile that we've not been together on Mother's Day. I did call and wish her well, though. The weather was crappy all day... in the low 50's and rainy all day. Spent the day indoors. My wife and daughter (6) got things around for a yard sale we're having this weekend, and my son and I watched "National Treasure", golf, and women's bowling... how's that for a trifecta?

As for the 10K a Day for the weekend... got in 5000+ steps on Friday, 4500+ steps on Saturday, and on Sunday... well, I got in about 3000 steps, only because I forced myself on the treadmill Sunday evening, as I looked at the pedometer and I hadn't even reached a 1000 steps yet that day.

All in all it was a great weekend. Going to be a busy week this week with two baseball games, golf on Wednesday (if the weather holds out), and a yard sale Thursday through Saturday. Sounds like more fun than humans should be allowed, huh?

Have a great week!

It's Friday !!!!

It's a sunny, cool day today. A lot of work to do, but it's going to have to wait until next week. Got a call from one of my best friends, and my golf league partner. When he calls on days like this, I know what he wants before he says anything. Yup... we're taking the afternoon off and going golfing and drinking some adult beverages and enjoying life and the weather.

Besides... my birthday is tomorrow and I know I won't be able to get out to play, and Sunday is Mother's Day.

Have a great day! I know I will, regardless of how I do on the course.

10K a Day - Day 4

Better yesterday. The sun was out, although it was still on the cool side, I was able to get out for my two mile lunch walk. Got in about 6700 steps.

I'm thinking that after the 7th day, I'll stop the daily posts on this. I'll just update it weekly. Make more sense, at least to me.

Little League Baseball - Game 2

The kids played a lot better this week. Stopped the balls when hit to them, and hit the ball pretty good. It was cold... around 54-56 degrees. I'm thinking because of the cold, the kids were a little slower with the bats, as most were swinging way behind the ball tonight. Of course, all of this is leading up to my boy going 0-3 this week. He was swinging way late on the ball. He still had a good time. That's all that matters to me.

It's another Woot! Off

Woot! is having a Woot! Off today. When one item sells out, they put another up. Could go all day... could go for two or three days. You never know when the Woot! Off is done. Check it out.

Also, Woot! has two other daily sales sites... T-Shirts and Wine. Give them a look too.

Golf League - Week 3

We were canceled due to rain. Personally, I think we could have played. We might have been sprinkled on a little bit, but it was nothing we haven't played in before. Canceling the round at 3:30 p.m. when our tee time is at 5:50 p.m. was a little suspect, but being a former golf league commissioner/secretary/whatever you want to call the position, I'm not going to complain too much. It's a thankless job and you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

10K a Day - Day 3

Not so good yesterday. It was rainy, so I wasn't able to get out for my walk. I was going to go to the mall to do my walking, but went home instead. Only got about 1700 steps in. I'm going to really have to do better today. It's a little on the chilly side today, and there is a chance of rain, but I'm better prepared for it today.

Another Quickr question

I'm still playing around with Quickr on Greenhouse, I have a question about the Quickr Connector and sending emails.

Let's say I have an email I would like to send to people internally (employees) and externally (vendors, customers, etc.), and I have an attachment to accompany the email. I know that with the connector, I can choose to send a link to the document, rather than the attachment itself. Since we do not allow access to our servers by people who are not employees, what happens with this email to those external people? Do they get a link that they cannot access? Do they get the attachment itself?

What I would like to see happen is that the internal people receive the link and the external people receive the attachment. I'm not seeing that as an option with the Quickr Connector at the moment.

Just wondering...

10K a Day - Day 2

Did a little better yesterday. Got 7300 steps in. Walked two miles at lunch and then another mile or two this evening. It is supposed to rain today, so it will make it a little tougher to get the walking in at lunch. I may have to go to the mall and join the seniors in their walks.

10K a Day - Day 1

Well, after one day, I put in about 5300 steps. The pedometer needs a little tweaking, so I might have had a little more than the 5300 steps yesterday. Not quite sure how I'm going to get 10K steps in a day, unless I don't sit at my desk all day, walking around aimlessly, just to get the steps in. I did walk about two miles during lunch, since the weather was nice. Also walked a little at home last night. Still, the 10K goal looks to be a little "out there." Time will tell.

Greenhouse Quickr and the Connector

OK... so I'm playing around with Quickr on Greenhouse. I've downloaded and installed the Quickr Connector on my laptop, but I am unable to connect to the Greenhouse site with this connector. Am I wrong in assuming that I should be able to do this?

I would very much like to demo Quickr to the powers that be here at work, and can get around this piece of the puzzle, but it would be better if I could get it to work. I've tried it from home and at work (through a proxy server), and could not get connected.

When I've tried from work, I get the following window:

DICore:

The handle is in the wrong state for the requested operation

Also, I've added Discussion Forums to my Greenhouse Quickr Place, but there is no way to add a thread. This seems odd to me, in that it is a discussion forum, and in order for there to be a discussion, you need to be able to add a post. How am I to add a post if there is no link to do this?

I would appreciate any help.

10K a Day for One Month

Our company has started a 10K a Day for One Month health program. Today is the first day. The idea is to get up to at least 10,000 steps in one day. The company has about 45-50 people (out of about 120) signed up for this program, and has given everyone a pedometer, a fanny pack with a water bottle which you won't see me wearing), and a log to keep track of how many steps you took. At the end of the four weeks (June 4th), all logs are turned in, and names of all the participants (who turned in the logs) will be entered into a drawing for an unnamed prize. This should be interesting.

It's no secret that I need to lose weight. I figured this would be a good way to help in that process. I've been trying to get on the treadmill at home, but my will power is not what it once was. I've worn this pedometer since I got it sometime last week. The most steps I've taken in one day is about 1500. I've got a long, long way to go.

I wish they would have started this back in January... say around Lotusphere time...

Wish me luck.

Little League Baseball - Game 1

Well, after two practices and one scrimmage, the boys and girls played their first game last night. They lost 13-9 in a six inning game. My son had two singles, at least one RBI, and scored a run. He played left-center field and did good out there, but only had one or two balls come his way during the game. Before the game, my wife and I took pictures of my boy in his first baseball uniform. He say "Take a picture while I'm clean, and then take a picture after the game with I'm all dirty." We laughed. Funny thing was, the only two people to get dirty (sliding into first base and sliding into home plate for no obvious reason) were two of the three girls on the team. Two of the girls are also the only one's to get hit by the ball... one as a batter, who was standing too close to the plate, and when she swung, the ball hit her hands, the other while playing catcher, with the ball hitting her solidly on her knee cap. I heard it from where I sat, so I know it must have hurt, and she had the full catcher's gear on.

I'm not sure how I feel about the coaches, though. Our coachs seems like pretty decent guys, but I haven't talked to them a whole lot. The other team's coach seemed to be the kind of coach I'm not thrilled about. Sure, you play to win games, but at this age, the games should be more fun and not as much about winning. We sat behind the wife of one of the other teams coaches. She was keeping score. After each at bat, the coach wanted to know how many runs were scored. Sure it is important to know, but it seemed a little ridiculous to me. Our coach, after the game, got on the team a little bit, in a nice way (not yelling and screaming), about how they played in the first couple of innings for not handling the grounders very well. They didn't, but I blame this on only having two practices.

It was fun to watch and it did look like the kids had a good time. Especially the kids who played in the outfield, who were putting dirt/sand in their gloves or building sand mountains or watching the train go by. They're kids... what more do you want?

For the Star Wars fan...

I can't think of any Star Wars fan that wouldn't want one of these...

Star Wars R2-D2 DVD Projector

It's only $2900

Golf League - Week 2

Had our golf league last night (Wednesday nights.) Shot a 40 on the back nine. All in all, I was happy with my game. Started off a little worried, but came around and played well. Temps were in the mid to upper 50s with a slight wind. As the sun went down, it got a lot colder... probably lower 50s by the time we finished.

Wolf Creek Golf Club in Adrian, MI is the course. Again, if they had a website, I would link you to it.

Hole 10 - 311 yard Par 4
This is not a difficult hole. It does have a pond... well, what used to be a pond, at the end of a decent drive, but it is located to the right side of the fairway. A long drive could reach it. I say "used to be a pond" as we've not had any rain this year, and the pond is pretty much empty, save for about a foot of water near the center. Anyway, I hit a good tee shot and was about 100 yards away. A little too much for a full pitching wedge, not enough for my sand wedge. So I chose a soft pitching wedge and barely made the left side of the green. Up hill putt with a slight bend to the right. Hit the putt a little too firm and went by the hole and missed a 5 footer for par. Took a bogey.

Hole 11 - 376 yard par 4
Nice straight way hole. Slight drop in elevation about 50-75 yards in front of the tee. Pulled my drive to the left rough, but still had a good shot to the green, about 115 yards away. Being that I have a set of Callaway clubs, which includes a 10 iron (between a 9 and a PW), I chose the 10 iron. Hit the ball to the back of the green. The pin was in front. Slight downhill putt and it looked faster than what it actually was, and my putt made it a little more than half way to the hole. Missed the par putt for another bogey.

Hole 12 - 140 yard Par 3
Downhill par 3. Trees to the right, trees and a creek to the left, with a sand trap guarding the back left of the green. Tee was placed at around 125 yards to the green. Since it was downhill, and the pin was in front, I thought I could hit my 10 iron pretty close. Finished short of the green, but just in front. Chipped on and made the 9 footer for par. Finally.

Hole 13 - 501 yard Par 5
Nice long par 5. Tee sits down below the fairway. The fairway is wide, but on the right side there is a bowl shaped crater, still part of the fairway, but it makes for a blind second shot. Trees on all along the left hands side, and past the bowl, trees along the right. Hit a good tee shot into the bowl. A little too close to the hill to use my 3 wood, but I really didn't have a choice if I wanted to get close to the green. Hit the top of the hill, but the ball went far enough that I had a little less than 100 yards to the green. Didn't hit my PW hard enough to reach the green, but chipped up to a gimme par putt.

Hole 14 - 155 yard Par 3
No elevation changes on this little par 3. Hit an 8 iron off the heel of the club, but hard enough to get it up close to the green. Chipped past the hole about 5 feet and made the par putt.

Hole 15 - 348 yard Par 4
This is a U-shaped hole, in that the tee sits above the fairway and then the fairway slopes up to the green. Hit a good drive to the top of the fairway, leaving me a good SW to the green (about 75-80 yards.) Hit a good shot and put the ball about 15 feet from the hole. Slight break to the right and didn't hit it hard enough to get it in. Tap in par.

Hole 16 - 290 yard Par 4
Another U-shaped hole, with a creek about 240 yards from the tee. Can't hit my driver here. Hit a 3 iron, but my right foot slipped as I was coming through the ball, and the I pushed it right. Not too bad, but had about 150 yards to an uphill green that slopes towards me. Hit a good 7 iron to the right side of the green. Pin is on the left side of the green. Hit a good putt, but finished below the hole about 5-6 feet. Made par putt. That's 5 pars in a row, if you are counting. I shouldn't be, but I am.

Hole 17 - 556 yard Par 5
Again, a U-shaped hole, but a little different. The landing area of the drives usually finish on the up slope of the hill, leaving an uphill lie for the second shot. Hit a good tee shot, a little right, but still in good shape. Me and my 3 wood haven't been getting along over the past several years, but I told myself that I need to get comfortable with it again. Well, we still aren't getting along. I got under the ball and popped it up to the right of #16's tee, about 40 yards. Have a good lie, but still need to hit the 3 wood again to get close to the green. Topped the damn ball and it stopped on the back of the down slope of #16's tee. Put the 3 wood back in the bag and hit a good 3 iron, just short of the green. Chipped past the hole, about 12 feet and missed the bogey putt coming back. Tap in double bogey. So much for the string of pars and I knew it.

Hole 18 - 380 yard Par 4
Nice, straight away par 4. Driving range to the left, so don't pull the ball, or you'll be searching for a needle in a haystack, amongst the driving range balls. Hit a good tee shot, a little right, but in the fairway. I've got about 140 yards to the hole, but have a big tree that I have to get over to reach the green. The pin is in front. I hit one of the best 8 irons I've hit this year, and finished on the fringe, right in front of the hole. Had an 7 footer for birdie, but missed it. Just didn't hit the putt hard enough.

All in all, a good round. A little tentative with my putts, but I just don't have a feel for the speed of the greens right now. With some rain, the greens will come into shape, and the speeds will be more consistent. It's still early in the year, but my game is pretty good right now.

This is what sports is all about!

I saw this post on a fantasy football website I visit regularly. Not sure what the rules are about posting an article in its entirety, so I'll post the link to the story instead, just to be on the safe side.

The story, from ESPN, is about a college girls softball game in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference between Western Oregon and Central Washington. Great story about how athletes are suppose to act...

Central Washington offers the ultimate act of sportsmanship

Golf League - Week 1

I figured I'd keep track of my golf game here. I'm going to try to post how I did in my golf league, and see where I may be able to improve my game.

The course is Wolf Creek Golf Club in Adrian, MI. If they had a website, I'd link you to it.

Week 1 - Front Nine

Hole 1 - 378 yard Par 4
Bogied the hole. Drove good, but was just off the left side of the green with my iron shot. Was short on the chip to the hole and just missed the par putt.

Hole 2 - 481 yard Par 5
Birdie the hole. Had a HUGE drive, if I don't say so myself. Had about a 5 iron to the green and put it on the left side of the green. Had about a 20 footer for eagle, but missed it to the right. Had about a foot for the birdie. Best drive of the year so far. Wind did help some.

Hole 3 - 153 yard Par 3
Double bogied the hole. This hole is all downhill. Hit an 8 iron about 10 yards left of the hole. Didn't hit the chip shot as well as I would have liked, and left myself about a 20 footer for par and missed it long. Then missed the putt coming back. Ball rolled over the edge of the hole, but didn't fall in. Looks like my chipping needs some work.

Hole 4 - 298 yard Par 4
Not one of my favorite holes. Have to hit an iron off the tee as there is about a 30 foot difference in elevation between the fairway and the green above. Hit a good 4 iron to the base of the hill and was a little short of the green on my pitching wedge. Chipped up to a gimme par putt (less than a foot.)

Hole 5 - 316 yard Par 4
Dogleg left Par 4. If you can draw the ball around the corner, you can set yourself up for a nice birdie. I drew the ball around the corner and set myself up with a nice short 60 yard sand wedge chip to the green. Left the ball right of the hole, right on the cut between the fringe and the rough. Used my putter to hit the ball uphill and crushed it for some unknown reason and left the ball past the hole about 10 feet and missed the putt coming back. Another bogey.

Hole 6 - 157 yard Par 3
Wind is in my face so I should have taken an extra club, but didn't. Tee shot hit the front of the green but sucked back to the fringe. The pin is on the second tier at the back of the green. Chipped up, but short, and two putted for another bogey.

Hole 7 - 451 yard Par 5
This is a tough, dogleg left hole. A good tee shot has to go around or over a group of trees, and then the second shot to the green below, with a pond to the left and a couple of traps protecting the front of the green. Again, I had a huge drive (wind assisted) and had about a 6 iron to the green below. Pushed the iron to the right of the green. Chipped past the hole. My birdie putt stopped just to the right of the hole for a tap in par. Missed opportunity here.

Hole 8 - 362 yard Par 4
Another good drive and iron shot put me on the green, below the hole, about 20 feet. The putt is up hill, with, what should be, a break to the left. Of course, my putt didn't break and I end up with a par.

Hole 9 - 357 yard Par 4
Dogleg right with a pond on the right hand side to catch those who try to cut the corner. Right now, with a par on this hole, I can finish with a 40. My driving, to this point, has been good. I feel pretty confident. With that thought in my head, I put the tee in the ground, place the ball on top, waggle, and pop the ball up in the air about 30 yards, on the side of the hill to the right. Great! Now, the ball's a little above my feet, so I take a 7 iron just to get the ball in play, and I try to get a little trick and set up for a little bit of a fade/slice. I hit the ball on the toe of the club, and sent it almost perpendicular to where I was, about 20 yards over the hill, but in #7's fairway. I still haven't reached the pond, which I now have to cross with any chance of saving this hole. I got my 3 iron out and hit it smooth and put the ball into the fairway of the hole I'm supposed to be playing. Chip up and miss the bogey putt and have to settle for a double bogey 6, for a total of 42.

Had plenty of opportunities to make this a better round. My chipping got the better of me this week. Had some good chips, but most weren't close enough to give me a legitimate birdie or par chance. Hole #9 was one of those holes that I have every now and then, so I didn't let it bother me. I know I could have easily been below 40 for this round, and being my second time out playing this year, I'm pretty pleased.

Little League Baseball - First Scrimmage

Well, my son's first scrimmage was yesterday afternoon. After a week of sun and temps in the upper 60's and 70's, the weather turned a little chillier for our first scrimmage yesterday afternoon. It was windy, but sunny and about 60-65 degrees, depending on whether you were sitting in the sun or in the shade.

It's a machine pitch league full of mostly 2nd graders, some of which have never played organized baseball, and some that have been playing for a couple of years. The scrimmage went kind of fast (about an hour and a half), as each player, on each team, got, at most, 5 pitches, over three innings of play. My son had three hits and scored one run. I don't know what the final score was, but I don't believe score was being kept for this scrimmage. Not sure if the score will be kept for their games. Wasn't like this when I was playing little league. We ALL knew the score. But I digress.

It's funny to watch these kids play. The ages range from about 6 to 8 years old. When these kids are up to bat, you can tell which ones watch the pros and which ones don't, based on how they hold the bat and take their practice swings. As for when the kids take the field, well... let's just say that they are not taking cues from the pros. If the ball isn't hit directly to them, they are very hesitant to move from where they are standing, unless the coach (nicely) hollers at them to get the ball and throw it to the nearest base, which is a chore in some cases. I vaguely remember playing little league, but I'm sure I was just as hilarious as these kids are.

Games begin this Thursday. I don't think our team will be practicing (only had two practices before our scrimmage yesterday), as the fields are pretty much in use every night, so this will be fun to watch.

Move from our AS/400 to an HP Open System... are you kidding me?

I just got off the phone from someone at HP wanting to know if I was interested in moving from our AS/400 (I know... it's now call iSeries... but it will always be the AS/400 to me) to some kind of HP Open System server thing. To be honest, I didn't really pay too much attention to what she has trying to sell me. You would have to pry the AS/400 out of my cold, dead hands (after unhooking all the chains, saran wrap, duct tape, etc. that I've wrapped around me and the AS/400.) I just can't imaging moving to something as reliable and trustworthy as our AS/400. The thing NEVER goes down. We never have to reboot it to get something to "fix" some kind of issue.

I laughed when she first said something about moving to something else, but after a brief discussion with her, and letting her know that I have worked with the AS/400 for close to 20 years, and that moving to something else is not in my reality, she completely understood. At least she wasn't pushy and was able to take my "no, thank you" answer without trying to force the issue.

Granted, we only use the AS/400 for our JDE/Peoplesoft/Oracle installation of EnterpriseOne 8.10 ERP system and a custom app for one of our plants (using Websphere), moving even these two apps to something other than the AS/400 will not happen on my watch. No way... no how!

And that's all I have to say about that!

Time to empty my mind...

(this post was started about a month ago and I am just getting around to finishing it...)

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post. Blogging is not as easy as some of you make it seem. I've not been posting during the work day, as some have suggested, but by the time I get home from work, eat dinner with the family, mess around with the kids, get them settled for bed, I'm not much in a posting mood. Sure the ideas are still there, but I just don't feel like posting. Guess I need to work on that.

Now, to empty my mind to make room for more...

...I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I can no longer listen to any Led Zeppelin song without thinking of Jellyrolls on the Boardwalk at Disney and the two guys valiantly playing "The Immigrant Song" on the dueling pianos. Every time I hear Led Zeppelin, that's all I hear...

...I don't like it when bands use the name of an older band. Case in point... Artful Dodger. Granted, the band started in the 1970's. Today, Artful Dodger is still playing, but there is a group from England that goes by a similar name... The Artful Dodger (notice the difference... THE.) They bill themselves as successful UK Garage Band, but are now "storming the urban music scene." To me, it just doesn't seem right. I can't say that I've ever heard anything from the "new" THE Artful Dodger, as urban music and me don't quite click, but I do miss hearing the old Artful Dodger. I wish I could be in the Cleveland area on May 3, 2008, where the original Artful Dodger will be playing the Cleveland Agora Ballroom...

...I visit PlanetLotus every day and read all the blog headlines. If I find something interesting, I'll visit the blog and read the posting. Even if I don't find something interesting, I still find myself click on some of the posts, just to see what's going on in that particular blog. One day, I hope to find myself on PlanetLotus, but at the present time, I don't post enough to warrant a submission to the site, and I don't post anything Lotus Domino/Notes related here (at least not yet) to feel that I should be included on the site. I do click on the Twitter link, but sometimes I feel like I'm stalking people without them knowing. I guess I wish I had the time to mess with all this stuff, and to "fit in" with some of the people I've met at Lotusphere way back in January...

...Working in a two man IT department, supporting a little over 100 users, leaves little time for R&D. I wish I had the time to mess with stuff. I did purchase some Lotus Quickr licenses, but don't have a server to put them on. I've downloaded Lotus Domino 8.0.1, but haven't had the time to install it on a, as yet, non-existent, test server. I see a lot of talk about VMWare. I even went to an offsite presentation, put on by a local consulting company, where VMWare was discussed. I see value in bringing it in house, but neither I, nor our network admin, have the time to do anything about it right now....

... I like ellipses. I'm trying not to be obvious ...

... I just realized that my high school class did not have a 25th year reunion. We had one for the 20th, but the person who organized that one swore up and down she would not organize the 25th. I guess no one stepped up to do it. I did what I could to help for the 20th, although I no longer live in that area. We had a blast and it was fun to see everyone a little older. It's funny, though. Some people still hold grudges from high school and refused to even consider coming. I just don't understand that at all. I guess some people never grew up enough to let bygones be bygones. My wife has the same issue with some of her friends who won't attend their class reunion, due to grudges and pettiness from a long time ago...

... I am a LOST fan, but hate the fact that I have to wait another two or three weeks before we see the new episodes. I'm not sure I like the direction the show is going, but am hooked enough to stick with it and hope that things turn out better than what I am imagining. I have to say, I am real disappointed in John Locke... he just doesn't get it. Ben's playing him like a fiddle and he doesn't even see it. How many times is John going to be (mis)guided by Ben? ...

... It's finally Spring here. The weather's been nice enough to go outside and do some yard work. As much as I hate doing yard work, it does look nice when it's done...

... As it is Spring, the golf season has started. I went out for the first time last Sunday. Had to knock the cobwebs off the clubs, and check the shoes for spiders and other creepy crawlers. Went out with a couple of friends. Started off big, playing 18 holes my first time out. My driving left a lot to be desired, but my irons, short game, and putting were great. Started off par, chip-in birdie, and almost walked off the course because I don't want to ruin the rest of the golf season. finish with a 39-42 for my first time out. Can't complain about that! Our company golf league started this past Wednesday night. My driving game came back to me. My irons and short games were still there. All I had to do was par the last hole for a 38. I should have quit after the second hole on Sunday. I proceeded to pop the ball off the tee about 30 yards. Hit the ball off the toe on my next shot. I was probably no closer to the hole than I was two shots ago, when I was on the tee. I was able to get my third shot within a chip shot of the green, which I overshot the hole and had a long bogey putt coming back. Of course, I missed that and finished with a double bogey and a 40 for the nine holes. Still, it was good to be out playing again, and the weather was about as nice as we've ever had for the first night of league play. Sunny and warm, with a little wind, that got stronger towards the end of the round. I love this game!...

... My son (8) is playing little league baseball for the first time. He's never played organized ball before. He's had two practices, one without the machine and one with. He's done well so far, and will be playing in his first scrimmage this Sunday. It will be interesting to see how he does...

...Guess that's all I've got for now. I better post this before I forget about it again, and revisit it again in another month...

Time for a change...

Thought I'd change the color of the blog a little, as you couldn't see the PlanetLotus.org stuff with the black background, and I couldn't figure out how to change the text color in the widget.

I'll probably play around with the colors some more, when I have the time.

You only have one chance to make a first impression...

This is going to be a little more of a rant that I would like, but I'm just back from the lunch and learn and was not all that pleased with the presentation. I should probably cool down some before posting this, but won't as it is still fresh in my mind.

First of all, I need to state that I do not hold DMC Consulting accountable for what happened today. They were only the hosts for the Lunch and Learn. They did not lead the session. It was lead by two IBM/Lotus people whom will remain nameless at the present time.

I was joined by my network administrator, the VP of Sales, and the Director of Operations at today's lunch and learn on Lotus Notes 8.0.1, Quickr, and Sametime (at least that's how it was presented.) The first Lotus person went through the normal sales stuff (how collaboration and the "next gen" and "x gen" people are using the tools available to share information. Same basic stuff I saw and heard all week at Lotusphere. What kind of upset me was that the presenter just kind of skipped over the whole Quickr piece of the presentation and jumped to Connections and Sametime (and Sametime Unyte.)

The second person was going to do the live demonstrations of the products. Unfortunately, this person hadn't rebooted their laptop since they left the hotel this morning, and had a lot of problems getting the Notes client to work properly. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait for a reboot of the laptop (although it probably would have made for a better demo.) They had problems getting the Sametime Unyte demo going (the meeting session timed out, for some reason, and they had to set up another meeting to join.) Actually, Sametime Unyte may be worthwhile for us to check out, as we (upper management people) do a lot of traveling to the parent company offices.

Anyway, there was a little bit of a demo of Sametime and Samtime Unyte. Quickr was demoed using Greenhouse, and very little was done using the Notes client and Windows explorer (probably the way we would use it mostly.) A lot of time was spent on Connections (which wasn't mentioned in the invitation I had received), which wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I brought everyone to see.

We saw very little of the Notes 8.0.1 client and the new features. I realize that time was limited (11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with a short lunch break), but I was expecting a lot more.

Again, maybe my expectations were higher than what the intent of the Lunch and Learn was suppossed to be about, and that would be my problem. However, with the technical issues that the presenters had, it didn't show the Lotus products in a very good light. I was a little embarrassed for the presenter doing the demo, when they manually minimized all the open windows (instead of pushing the Show Desktop icon in the quick launch bar) and we saw that they were playing solitaire this morning before leaving the hotel.

I just received an email from the VP of Sales, in a reply to my email to him, apologizing for the presentation, who said that, while the technical difficulties were annoying, he did come away with some thoughts, and would like to discuss them more in the near future. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I though it was, but still... it should have been a lot better than it was.

I came away a little disappointed, but hopeful that I will have another opportunity to right the Lotus ship, and do what it takes to get things rolling here.

I know that I can count on DMC Consulting to help me in my future demos and sales pitches to the powers that be. I did speak with my account person prior to leaving about doing something to get Quickr in for testing purposes (or just purchasing a few licenses to get started) and did send him an email concerning my thoughts about the presentation.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day...

And so it begins... maybe

Overnight we got 5" of snow and another 2" to 3" inches forecasted for today. Not what I was hoping for today. Sure, the kids are happy that they don't have school, but today was the day that I was (possibly still am) taking several people from work (VP of Sales, Director of Operations, Controller, and the CFO) down to DMC Consulting in Toledo, OH to a Lotus Lunch and Learn. The agenda is Lotus Notes/Domino 8.0.1, Quickr, Sametime, and anything else they have time for. It was going to be the first time these people would have seen these offerings.

I know the CFO won't be going, as he has had the flu all weekend and already told me this morning that he won't be in today. The VP and Director both live in Toledo and less than 5 miles from DMC, so they should still be attending.

I have yet to call DMC to see if they are still planning on doing this today, and I'm hoping that they still are. I have been excited about this, as these are the people who will reap the most benefit from these new products.

Wish me luck!

Well, I just received a call from DMC... looks like this thing is still on. I'm going to attempt to make the trek down to Toledo in about a half an hour. Hopefully, the weather won't be as bad as it looks.

It's a Woot!Off

Beginning today, Woot! is having a Woot!Off. When one item sells out, another one shows up. Check it out. Can't beat the $5 flat fee for shipping.

The Woot!Off could end today, tomorrow, or Sunday. It all depends on how much they have to get rid of.

Album Cover

Since everyone else is doing it, I figured I'd do the same...


Here's how to do yours...

1 - Go to Wikipedia's Random article page. The first article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to the Random quotations page. The last four words of the last quote is the album title.

3 - Go to Flickr's Interesting photo page. Third picture, no matter what it is, is your album cover.

4 - Put it all together to make your album. Either crop it to CD cover size, or just use the raw image itself ... the only rule is you're only allowed to add the album title and artist title.

Look at me! I'm Flocking!

I'm not sure how I found it, but I know I got a link from someone who is listed on the PlanetLotus.org website.

What is it? It's the Flock browser. It is billed as "The Social Web Browser", as it has some built in widgets for various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc.

It is built over the Firefox browser, of which I am a huge fan. I've found that many of the extensions for Firefox work in Flock.

So far, I like what I see. I'm still playing around with it, but so far, so good.

Where do I go? Where do I look?

OK... it's kinda late (9:30 p.m. EST) and nothings on the tube (watching Benny and Joon... love that movie... one of Johnny Depp's underrated roles) and surfing the web (mostly through PlanetLotus.org.)

I've been a Lotus Domino/Notes administrator for some time, since the R5 days, but the title of admin is mostly in name only. I know enough to be dangerous, but other than that, I rely on my local consultant, Googling (is that a real verb now?), and Notes.net (just about in that order) for quick answers to my, sometimes, stupid questions.

I've been to some administrator training classes, but it was so long ago, and learned a lot of stuff that, at the time, did not affect me or my company. Most of the training was back in the R5 days, and I never had the opportunity to take any of the R6 or, now, R7 admin classes at places like New Horizons and DataPlanners (are they even still in business?)

I'd love to find some low cost online alternatives to spending time away from the office. I work in a small shop (me and our network admin... that's it) and it is difficult to leave for a week or two for training classes. I was lucky enough to get to go to Lotusphere last week. I probably won't be able to go again until 2009.

I forget where it was, possibly the "Beat the Developers" session, as I hear it is informally called, but someone brought up the lack of books of any type for R7 or R8 out in the market. I'd love to have some kind of reference book to um... refer to when I have questions or want to look at how to do something. I need it in plain English. I need someone to explain it to me like I don't know what you are talking about, because, for the most part, I don't know... or at least don't feel like I know.

I'm a terrible reader. I'm more of a skimmer than an actual reader. Hell, in high school I never read one book that was assigned to me. I do regret it now that I'm 25+ years removed from high school, as I missed out on reading some good books... some classics. (Whoops... guess I went off on a tangent for a second...) I probably I would not take the time to read through the help text in the Admin client to find what I'm looking for. I suppose I would if there was no place else to turn, but it wouldn't be the first place I looked.

So, I guess what I am asking is this: Where do I go? Where do I look for learning more about being an administrator for Lotus Domino, without having to leave the office for a week at a time? I've been taking classes online through Ed2Go via my local college. I've taken everything from HTML to Javascript to Project Management classes. Each class is 6 weeks long, all done online, at about $90 per class. I get a certificate stating that I took the class and passed the online exam when I'm done (granted... it's not worth the paper it's printed on), but I also have all the class materials printed out and in a three ring binders that I can refer back to when I need to. It would be awesome to find something similarly available for administration training.

That's all I'm looking for. That and something that I put under my pillow at night and have the information drilled through my thick skull and into my long term memory so when I wake up, I know all I need to know. Which ever is easier, I guess.