Aack

Caps Lock No More

I really do hate the Caps Lock key. I'm not a touch typist although I can use about 8 fingers fairly reliably. The upshot is, I mistakenly hit that key fairly regularly. I just recently discovered, however, that you can turn that key off.

If you are unfamiliar with doing registry hacks, you can copy and paste the following into a text file, rename it to something like "CapsLockBeGone.reg" (the .reg is important) and then double click on it. You will then need to reboot, but you will happily be Caps Lock free.

For those who want to experiment, but don't want to do this forever, I've included the text for "CapsLockBeBack.reg" (but who'd ever want to do that).

If you are way more curious than the average person, check out Microsoft's Scan Code document.

"CapsLockBeGone.reg":
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00

"CapsLockBeBack.reg":
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,3a,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00

As an interesting side note, I am not the only person with this predilection - there is a Caps Off community as well as commercial keyboards (though not many) that have either moved or removed the Caps Lock key.

Save the dang cheerleader already!

So Milady and I have been watching Heroes. It's been a fairly interesting, if not frustrating, story. It plays out like a comic book where each edition adds to the story, yet never completes the story. It reminds me of shows thtat I watched as a kid..."Tune in next week when we'll find out if our intrepid hero will save the lady from being friend in peanut oil or toast The Bad Guy in marshmellow cream. Don't miss next weeks exciting episode!"

I remember a show being on in the mid-eighties (that I believe was recycled from some other epoch) that had or 4 different unrelated stories going on. We'd watch everyweek and then finally one of the stories ended.. AND so did the flippin' series! I was really mad.

All I can say si that they better not do it to me again.

Mr. Passive-Aggresive, Take 2

So, you know about my PA tendencies. Just to share the further adventures of PA-Man, my supervisor was complaining about the new employee evaluation process that he has to trudge through for each one of us. Just to put things in context, we've had 5 different rating systems (that I remember) since I started working there 14+ years ago. The latest says that each element must (again) have a quantifiable scale to rate the employee on. A co-worker suggested Newton-Joules/Decade. My supervisor and I started laughing. I think he may use it.

Mr. Passive-Aggressive

You tell me, does it make me passive-aggressive if I write up a boneheaded policy in Comic Sans? Just wondering.

White & Nerdy

New way cool music vid from Weird Al. It made me laugh. Probably because I so identify with it.

K.I.S.S. Diet

Not a diet per se, but I have been intrigued by the No S Diet. I recently stumbled across this and discovered that on my most recent fire assignment I pretty much was following it (at least in spirit). The big killer I think is sweets which I have attempted to steer clear of (except for that half of a bear claw I had this morning - but today IS Sunday).

It will be interesting to see what my weight is when I get home because I'm down to the last notch on my belt. Time will tell.

In a nutshell...

"There are just three rules and one exception:

* No Snacks
* No Sweets
* No Seconds

Except (sometimes) on days that start with 'S'"

It's so simple, I think I can do this one.

Scan This!

You never need a scanner until you need it. We have one that was purchased some year back in the dim recesses of the past and I have been dutifully keeping it around because I use it every now and then.

Apparently I won't be using it now or then.

I have not used the scanner in say, oh - about 2 years. I needed to scan something into the computer and went about setting it up. Right after I plug it in, I realize that I haven't installed the drivers since I upgraded to WinXP.

To top it off, the drivers I need to install require me to purchase a CD. That's right, UMAX wants me to purchase for $15 the almost 9MB driver file on a CD before I can use my not-so-trusty scanner again.

Cheap jerks. I already paid good money for this box. Lousy crooks. They haven't even set up an online store that I could purchase the driver online. Brain-dead idiots.

Guess I'll go buy a new scanner from someone I can trust. Anyone want a perfectly good scanner that (use to) run just fine on Win2K?

Proud Pappy

I just spent 2 hours listening to Thing 1 and Thing 2's piano recital. It was nothing like the one 18 months ago. Nothing. I really enjoyed myself. Both girls had their pieces memorized and performed them quite well. I know that they are looking forward to playing for the Grandparents on their trip outside next week. [Question: what will I do for the next 4 weeks with no one in the house? Stay tuned.]

Aside from my girls, there were a number of the students who were dynamic. One young lady played a piece that was incredible. The power and emotion were quite obvious. I was spell bound through the whole performance.

Afterwards, the instructor presented the standard end-of-season awards. Thing 2 received an award for "Practice, Progress, and Participation". The instructor said that in the thirty years that she has been teaching, there have been only a few students that progressed as well as Thing 2 did in the past year.

That makes a Dad pretty happy.

Traveling Along

Every vicariously re-live a trip through receipts? I do on occasion. Odd, but enlightening too. For example, a trip to Anchor-town that I took last month, I spent $40 on two separate meals - all for me. One was at the Double Musky Inn. I had a wonderful plate of Alligator Ribs. They were glazed with a sweet sauce. Sorta like a clear teriyaki. They tasted like chicken with a very slight fish undertone. Very slight.

The other place was the Glacier BrewHouse. I had a blackend red snapper with pico de gallo and fresh avocado. Quite exquisite.

The other putrageous expenditure was me upgrading my underwear. You see, I've always bought cotton. Always. No if's, and's, or butt's...

Recently I splurged and purchased 2 pairs of Ex Officio boxer briefs. The first day I wore them I knew I was in trouble. I have never had a more comfortable pair of underwear. Thin, light weight, breathing, non-binding, comfortable, shall I go on?

Anyway, I had 2 pair and decided to get enough for a week. So guess what, I spent just over $100 on underwear at REI. No foolin'! Hopefully I won't need to do that again anytime soon.

Gals, if you love that man in your life - do him a huge favor and buy a pair for him. He'll thank you in the end.

Guess I ought to go back to balancing the checkbook. Thanks for the diversion.

FireFox Link

Do want to lose this link, but don't want to read about it right now:

http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/best_of/firefox.htm

BTW, Scot's Newsletter is one of the better eZines I've read. No ads mean no bias. Well, that may be a bit simplistic, but I find that he writes well rounded, up front, honest articles concerning many areas of interest.

Check it out: http://scotsnewsletter.com

Hey, Remember Me...

No, it's not a personal photo. Yeah, I know - been awhile. I have done a bit of traveling of late (a monumental understatement), and have lacked motivation to post anything. So I thought I'd just get in gear and post anything that came up, and this is what came up...Hacker or Slasher? The Killer Quiz.

I scored 7/10 - how about you?

Webpages Of Minimal Value

I'm in the process of cleaning out my inbox. I have (had) over 200 messages of unknown value or importance. I decided that I would capture the web addresses that were floating around in my inbox and document those that had minimal or questionable value. (Well, some of these I actually find interesting, but...)

Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness
Generating Color Palettes (may actually be useful)
Dictionary of All Vowel Words
Lorem Ipsum Text Generator
Sharing KVM with Two Computers
The Book of the 1001 Nights
ID Theft Handbook (Prevent, not enable. BTW, I couldn't get it to load when I double checked it.)
PVC Go Kart
Dishwasher Salmon with Cilantro

BTW, I'm now down to about 60 messages of known value. I feel like I accomplished so much. Somehow I think it would have been better off to do a Ctrl-A, Ctrl-D. I'd never know what I was missing.

Zen Webpage

Falling Sand Game. Requires Java.

Endless hours of fun. Now if I could just convince Milady.

Smooth Jazz

One of my favorite radio stations is in Phoenix. That doesn't do me much good here in Fairbanks. That is until now.

Sometime between my last two visits, they started broadcasting online. Now when I'm on the computer, I'm listening to 95.5 KYOT. Happy, happy. Joy, joy.

For the record, I will NEVER utter nor write "happy, happy, joy, joy" again. That's just too weird.

Traveling Along

I'm getting ready to go on a long overseas trip and in preparing, I have come across several good informative sites:

I suppose I should make the disclaimer that I'm not going to be wearing a bow tie. I just came across the website and thought I would document it just in case. Besides, I've always wondered now you tie those things.

Also, totally unrelated to that, I have discovered that there is an Example webpage that has been set aside for use in documentation. What'll they think of next?