February 27, 2007
paytrust bill presentment service
ok, i'm getting used to the service. i didn't quite understand a few things at first but it makes more sense now.
friend of mine with the service claims to have *two* addresses listed on his credit card. but i'm pretty sure it just works like this:
read more...February 26, 2007
rpm challenge :: lobot
i've been meaning to spend more time on music. playing with a band again has been great (in addition to all the other music projects), but i want to do more composing and recording. seems there's never enough time!
read more...my super geek day
busy day...
1) my first mail arrived and was scanned in my new "virtual" mailbox. i'm going paperless and i'm really diggin' the service. i'm hoping this will eliminate a bunch of clutter i have, piles of papers around the house and unfiled documents.
2) also on the e-mailbox front, i got my first bill (cable bill) via paytrust and they auto-scheduled the payment based on my rule (less than $20). once less thing to do! --i'm trying to avoid having to log in to a dozen sites just to read and archive my statements, then schedule and pay my bills. plus i can have any bill, not just electronic one's sent and processed, in one place.
3) "hoooney, could you pick up more toner on the way home...?"
my printer sent me an email. (actually it's a thermal and doesn't take toner but you get the picture). i'm working on printing labels at home while i'm at the office, that way i can pick up labels and just go. now my printer can warn me if there's a problem, let me know what's up --zebra's built-in printer server rocks! so nice to be able to "talk" to the printer too (via admin pages) rather than just decipher blinky-lights (moris code) on the front panel.
4) speaking of which, i finally printed my own *genuine* fedex label. not a screen-shot paper-dump from the web but the real deal on my kickass zebra thermal. printed over the net too. woot. oh, i'll miss flirting with the fine customer service folks while i filled out the paperwork tho... well, time to move on. now i can just drop it the boxes off, have them pick it up. a lot less fuss there.
well, there you go. lots of things only a geek would gloat over in one day.
all time best radio stations
all time best commercial radio stations :
#1) radio free hawaii (was kpoi)
#2) knrk (before/after the clearchannel era)
#3) Live105 / KBPA, (bay area radio, honorable mention here).
all time best public stations:
#1) ktuh (college radio, university of hawaii)
#2) klc (college radio, lewis & clark college)
#3) kopb (npr with a mixture of music, classical/jazz/ethnic/electronic)
#4) kboo (local community radio, wide format)
internet radio mentions:
radio.tabla.com, somaFM, afterhoursDJ.
here's why...
clarity is a beautiful thing
two events in recent memory made me feel that the world is (still) a beautiful place, where it had grown dull, tarnished, or felt out of place the past few years...
read more...February 23, 2007
virtual me | my office assistant is a robot
ok. my office numbers are forwarded to my mobile, my fax line is virtual, all my voicemail processed via email. i control when, who -and how people can reach me.
now it's time to digitize my physical mailbox, and eliminate paper. i don't want to deal with the minutiae of billing, or filing paperwork. i want to get rid of junk mail (don't we all?), not deal with separating the wheat from the chaff there. i really want my mailbox to become the equivalent of an instant scanner!
why?
i still have filing to do from last year. it just piles up, it's no good. i'm not disorganized i swear, well, maybe a little. i'm way more organized that most people i know! plus, i need to keep records for my business (7 years!) and that takes up room. when i need to retrieve something, i have to dig through folders. if i'm traveling i can't read my mail or look anything up (not previously scanned). plus there's a certain liability of having record in one place, with no backups.
read more...February 20, 2007
outlook calendar tricks
set the 'event' type as the default calendar form :
create a custom form: tools / forms / design a form....
choose all day events for time setting.
publish the form: tools / forms / publish form as...
assign the custom form to the calendar: navigate to properties on calendar folder, choose the new "event" type in the drop down for the default.
if needed, delete the form by selecting properties for the folder, upper tab "Forms", then 'manage...' (button).
eh, ymmv.
Outlook Calendar Start Time Shortcuts
One of the best undocumented features of Microsoft Outlook - well, undocumented as I can tell - is the "calendar shortcuts" feature. When you create a new appointment or task, you don't need to know the exact date of the appointment or task - let Outlook figure that out for you!
For example, if your boss tells you that a particular report is due in 25 days, you don't have to manually figure out when that is - just enter 25d in the "Start Time" for the appointment (make sure that today is selected in your calendar, otherwise the appointment will be added 25 days from the day selected).
Other available operators include W (weeks), MO (months) and Y (years) as well as TODAY, TOMORROW and NEXT TUESDAY (or whatever other day you need next week). Note that these calendar shortcuts also work with Tasks as well.
cool shortcuts
here's list of a few trick keyboard shortcuts for windows, word & excel.
read more...February 18, 2007
behringer bcf2000 & bcr2000
you can use these together without daisy chaining them together over MIDI, having each one directly connected via a USB port.
you may want to modify the name that shows up however. my driver installed them giving eaach one the same name (e.g. the common "behringer fader/rotary 2000").
read more...error writing to the registry
You may encounter the following error messages displayed when trying to modify the registry values. "Error Editing Value Cannot edit
One possible reason for that failure is because Windows grants read access to many registry entries --you may need to manually grant write permission, even to the Administrator (or 'Everyone' if you like), if that's not set.
i was surprised when trying to update the "friendly name" for a external device in the driver settings, windows would not let me update the value until i granted myself write permissions --a kind of safety mechanism.
read more...