Rod

Sunrise this morning

2024-12-04T09:11:00.002-06:00

Haven't done this in a while.

printers!

2024-06-03T10:11:00.003-05:00

Joplin Vs OneNote vs Samsung Notes - Writing with a stylus

2024-05-24T13:38:00.009-05:00

Just my own observations here.

Strictly looking at Pen note taking abilities. and the new Joplin ability to insert a drawing. Which in my estimation is a game changer. This puts Joplin on par with OneNote fully.

I am only comparing OneNote, Samsung notes and Joplin. I am not referencing the other best note taking application. Evernote. I have used Evernote. It was a very long time ago. There are many good things about Evernote. But in my estimation everything in Evernote already exists in OneNote and Joplin. Joplin in my opinion is the future for note taking. It is open source and a very robust application.

What I did for a test. Basically I set out to write the same set of notes from the same meeting 3 times. Once in each application. I attempted to avoid getting tired of writing the same thing over and over again by using each app for the meeting for a month. It is a weekly meeting that always follows the same format. I used 2 different devices so over the course of 6 weeks I used each app 2 times. I used each device 3 times. I was using a Samsung Tablet S8 and a Samsung Fold 5. There are niggles to each device that leans it towards one or the other applications.

So Starting with OneNote which is the gold standard for me to use for many years now. It is what I compare other note taking applications against. there are a variety of reasons for this. But mainly it is because of the ability to hand write my notes either in my tablet, smartphone or my computer/laptop, for example Microsoft Surface. Onenote was/is wonderful on so many respects except for the pen feel in the application. In the pen feel category the native Samsung Notes app far exceeds this. Palm rejection was amazing. moving around in already written notes to get to a new area to expand upon it was perfect. Expanding the canvas to add more notes worked perfectly and the integration back to reading the note was seamless. Because of the issue with the pen feel in the application I noticed that I tend to print my notes a bit more than when in Snotes app. minor issue but it is worth noting. Especially when we get to the Joplin app.

Ok Samsung Notes App (snotes). This is the native app that all Samsung pen enabled devices come with. It has amazing Pen feel. Because of that. I notice that I am much more likely to write in cursive in the application than I am in either of the other two applications. This is the only area where snotes beats the competition though. Palm rejection is fine not amazing. But fine. Moving around in an already written note works well. Canvas expansion is non-existent. You just simply cannot expand the canvas. You set it at the beginning of the note and it stays where it is. Very annoying that is. All other things about snote are more a reflection of the app and I am trying very hard to focus on the pen note taking ability in the applications today. snote overall is a fine app for pen note taking.

Joplin. with Pen enabled drawing input. This is a new feature and the purpose of this document/writing is to present the good and bad so far. Most of these things can be fixed fairly easily. But this is a game changer people. First off the bad. Palm rejection works, barely, sort of, kind of in a weird sort of way. If you "approach" the tablet/writing surface pen first and then rest your palm after the pen is detected. It works wonderfully. mostly, If you do not approach the pen writing surface in this manner. It most likely will not work and will leave a palm mark on the document. annoying. But it still works. Because the pen takes over. Next annoyance. Erasing. the click button on the pen for erase in snote or onenote does not work at all. You have to select the eraser button in the toolbar erase what you want to erase and then reenable the pen writing function. Minor I know but I was amazed about how often I just click the button on the stylus to erase and then hope to move on with my note taking and this is not yet a possibility. Canvas expansion works every bit as good as onenote. editing an area to add notes. Works every bit as good as onenote though differently. Pen feel is fine about as good as onenote. I noticed that I do tend to print rather than write in cursive. Which is something I think I might be able to overcome.

All in all this being a first edition in Joplin. It is a very awesome. Good show.

Every Browser has an issue. Opera lately.

2024-04-02T07:46:00.005-05:00

Opera has a stupid splash screen with sound no less that shows up every time you load it. It is very annoying. Also, this splash screen is an executable and really is a potential threat. So I have been deleting it whenever I install Opera.

Problem is. Opera when they do an update to the browser. The reinstall the stupid splash exe file. So I finally wrote a quite powershell script that deletes it. It gets ran after every Opera update.

###### Code #########

Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\rod' -Recurse -File -Filter 'opera_gx_splash.exe' | Remove-Item -Force

###################

So just so others can enjoy this.

New Feature needed in Webex/Teams/Zoom

2024-01-15T14:21:00.005-06:00

I want the ability to change the volume for specific people. not mute them per se. but to change their volume coming thru.

I just had a meeting where one person had a very high voice that was quite loud and another person had a low voice that was quite soft. I really wanted to turn ones volume down and ones up.

We could call it Gain and have a slider that moves them up or down depending.

Why People?

2023-12-07T13:31:00.000-06:00

Why do people often overlook others?

Have you thought about the next person, the one who follows in your footsteps? Why not take others into consideration, regardless of whether they share your views, whether you'll encounter them again, or even if you'll never meet them? It's about the small acts of consideration:

• Keeping the left lane on the highway clear for passing only.

• Resetting the microwave after using it, not leaving time on it.

• Ensuring the ice maker is properly closed to avoid spilling ice and causing a mess.

• Taking responsibility to unclog the bathroom if you're the one who clogged it (you know if it's you!).

• Placing shopping carts in a manner that prevents them from damaging others' cars.

These are basic courtesies, but we can aim higher:

• Offering to return a shopping cart for a mother, allowing her to stay with her car and children, which only takes a moment of your time.

• Assisting an elderly man with changing a flat tire, which might take just five minutes.

• Engaging in conversation with someone who seems tired, stressed, or is waiting for someone or something.

• Putting your phone away and observing those around you, perhaps offering a prayer for them.

Why aren't these actions more commonplace?

We should strive for these and more!

So another entity was hacked.

2022-09-02T13:06:00.001-05:00

from Samsung today.

We have taken actions to secure the affected systems, and have engaged a leading outside cybersecurity firm and are coordinating with law enforcement. We want to assure our customers that the issue did not impact Social Security numbers or credit and debit card numbers, but in some cases, may have affected information such as name, contact and demographic information, date of birth, and product registration information. The information affected for each relevant customer may vary.

I went and checked. and sure enough I lied to Samsung about my birthdate and zip code. So the information they "stole" is incorrect anyway.

Why do people put their real birthdate on FB ??? I don't get it.

Hacked Computerhack GIFfrom Hacked GIFs

There are days I hate Microsoft.

2022-05-19T09:45:00.004-05:00

dealing with a "newer" application from the evil empire. *cough* powerBI *cough*

Stupid memory hog and a half.

Ok it does do easy pretty well. It also does pretty fairly well.

But none of that is what annoys me. Right now the biggest annoyance is the stupid interface that doesn't accept hotkeys. Close the current BI worksheet/data you would think control F4 or perhaps Ctrl-W Nope. You have to close the entire application.

Also, Alt-F-S you would think that would save. Nope Alt DOES NOT EVEN WORK!

Why the heck?

MS spent years teaching everyone to use the Alt Key and the Control key and now they take them away.

Just annoying.

But back to the closing of the current workbook. So I have to close the entire application before I can open another workbook. Or I have to have two workbooks open at the same time before I can close another one. and since this is a huge memory hog. Wellllllllll.

1 out of 5 would not recommend.

Meals from the Heartland

2022-02-15T09:06:00.003-06:00

Meals from the Heartland -> this organization tries to help feed as many people as they can each year. Volunteering is one of the easier things any person or persons can do. You go, you help fill sacks of meal kits and then you go home. In as little as 2 hours of your day you can make a difference in this world.

Helene and I have helped many times over the years. I can honestly say I don't remember how many times. more than 5 less than 100. It has always been rewarding.

Yes you can help as well

And you should!

Clickity the link here if interested. https://mealsfromtheheartland.org/

saylorville cold evening 2022.02

2022-02-12T17:53:00.001-06:00

Just a cold evening walking the dog

Egg Carton. Which is right?

2021-04-19T12:38:00.001-05:00

Which is right?

I am sooo totally a B person myself. And you put the carton in so the eggs are in the side closest to the person. So when you grab them they aren’t over balanced away from you and onto the floor.

I dislike A intensely. and I really do not know why.

My family is just wrong though. They don’t have a system. Grab them out of the middle half the time.

Lost my Job in January - my thoughts on how to get your next job

2020-12-11T11:06:00.003-06:00

tldr; Do something each day to move you forward.

2020 has been rough on everyone. I am not alone in this. In January of 2020, I lost my job due to 'budget' cuts. It was BS. The leader of the department did not like me and to be honest I didn't think much of that individual either. My Good Boss had retired 7 months before and I had seen the writing on the wall for a few months so I was not surprised in the least.

It was a surreal experience to say the least. I was offered in essence 9 months of salary. But I was going to walked to the curb right now. That was interesting and not surprising. What was sucky though was I was not allowed to say good bye to any of my co-workers. That was how management worked in this department. The entire department was taken to another room and held there away from me while I got to pack up my desk and leave. What made it even more surreal was that I had an interview already scheduled for the next day. It was a job that I felt I was perfect fit.

So home I went.

Got up the next day went in for the interview, It went well. Called back for a 2nd interview and guess what. I didn't get the job. Also, found out during this time that my mother in law (who I loved) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Not kewl. Spent the next month or so just spending time in the garage building stuff and going over to see her and the family. I think having that time off was good for me. and for my family.

I didn't really start looking for a job until March. Remember when COVID hit? yep about that time. Great time to be looking for a job.

Here was my process.

1. I treated looking for a job just like a regular job.

2. I got up each morning. I dressed as if I was going to work. Then I went to my home office and I worked on finding a job.

3. I looked at the various job boards. I considered the positions that were available and I picked 1 or maybe 2 to apply for. I spent at least an hour or two writing or tweaking the resume and developing a cover letter for the position. I entered the position in an spreadsheet and tracked date applied etc...

4. It would now be noon or after. I would have some lunch. And head to either my office to work on learning new skills or to my workshop to build something. I built I cannot even tell you how many side tables, desks, cat trees, etc... during this time. The wood shortage for COVID hadn't really hit yet. So I was able to run my menards card up quite a bit.

5. I worked each day at working. I took weekends off. But I treated looking for a job as if it were a job.

End of April I was offered a consulting gig with the State. It was a very good position. I accepted it. Turned out to be a great group and I was able to offer them alot of help and it was rewarding. I worked from home so that enabled me to be flexible and I enjoyed the working from home. I actually quit looking for another job because COVID and stuff.

End of May, one thing alot of people don't know. I got a very serious MRSA infection in the back of my head. I was very sick. Due to the nature of my position. I could not afford to take time off. I also was having a huge fever etc.. This is great in the middle of pandemic when you need to go to the doctor.

First of August, Job is going well, I am settled in. State is even talking to me about becoming a fulltime permanent employee. I am seriously considering it. It isn't my dream job. But it is a good job and it pays the bills and the people I was working with are really nice. But along comes from out of nowhere a chance at what for me would be a dream position. Long story short. I applied interviewed 4 times and now am in a dream job for me.

Lessons I learn and continue to learn each day.

FROG - kind of my catch all right now. It means Fully Rely On God. Each day I put a silicon bracelet on with FROG on it. It reminds me that God is in control and I need to just rely on Him. If you want one as well. Just ask. I have some extras. Always.

Keep Learning - I took the 9 months off as a chance to both learn what the job search process was now and I also took full advantage of every learning opportunity that I was offered during this time. Whether it was a recruiter telling me what I did wrong in an interview or the guy at the hardware store telling me the best way to apply some stain.

Don't count on your employment situation. The economy changes, the work changes, leadership changes. Mine did. Yours probably will. I think my new company is great. But they are in this to make money and if things change. I fully expect them to make good business decisions. My new boss? Yes he is a good guy. So as long as the boss is good. The position is good.

My advice to you. If you are in the position I was in. First Step back and consider your position in life. Take a day perhaps a month then start. Do something each day to move your search forward. Don't trust that just because you are the perfect fit for a job that you will get it. Until you are receiving paychecks. You don't actually have a job.

If you have questions for me or want to talk feel free to reach out.

Mouse Mover (keep your screen awake)

2020-10-02T12:05:00.000-05:00

so you want to appear to be online for work. Even though you know not one person is going to IM you. But your Boss might be watching your online status.

so you look for a little application that will move your mouse to keep your screen from sleeping because IT has forced your computer to go to sleep after X minutes of inactivity.

Well never fear. Here is a script for you.

First though you need to download and install Autohotkey. https://www.autohotkey.com/

then you need to copy and paste this script into a notepad file called stayawake.ahk or something like that.

Start------

;

; AutoHotkey Version: 1.x

; Language: English

; Platform: Win9x/NT

; Author: A.N.Other <myemail@nowhere.com>

;

; Script Function:

; Template script (you can customize this template by editing "ShellNew\Template.ahk" in your Windows folder)

;

Loop

{

Sleep,90000

if(A_TimeIdle>180000)

mousemove, 5,5, 50, R

if(A_TimeIdle>380000)

mousemove, -5,-5, 50, R

if(A_TimeIdle>450000)

send {tab}

}

end-------

*cough*

I claim no liability in this code. I claim nothing. *cough* I have never actually used this in real life *cough*

I am not responsible for you not getting your job done

*cough*

America makes me sad right now.

2020-07-14T14:46:00.002-05:00

you know what amazes me in this day and age? The amount of people who don't even try to see the others view point. Their only outlet is to attack. I remember in school being taught to think and consider the argument from the other side. I remember being forced to argue a viewpoint I didn't actually agree with. Makes you walk a mile in the other persons shoes.

Funny thing is. If you actually have to take the time to consider another persons point of view you actually begin to feel empathy for them. And of course no one wants to do that right now. Attack we say Attack!

Notice I didn’t say one word about which side I am on. I will say that I try very hard to consider a persons point of view when they state it. I remember visiting a large city a few years ago. I remember an individual in that large city could only see things from his view point. He could not consider anyone outside of what he could see. That made me sad, you see, it isn't just a problem in cities; it's also in rural America. And in suburbia as well. You have to be able to argue both points in order to understand what you believe. If you cannot understand your brother or sister who is American then you cannot understand America.

hookdrivers - Something new I am trying

2020-02-25T10:57:00.001-06:00

It works well and at the Fishermans Swap meet this weekend I sold out of all my products both days. I had to make more one evening in a hurry. If you want one please email me. Rod@bergren.net

Spillway Road in winter

2020-01-21T21:36:00.001-06:00

Took the doggos for a walk. It was very cold. They loved it of course. It was gorgeous in its own way.

SharePoint Grant-SPProjectAdminstratorAccess Error.

2020-01-09T09:16:00.002-06:00

"Grant-SPProjectAdministratorAccess : Cannot insert the value NULL into column 'WRES_GUID', table 'ProjectWebApp_EPM.pub.MSP_WEB_SECURITY_GROUP_MEMBERS'; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails. Table 'MSP_WEB_SECURITY_GROUP"

Yes, this big ol error.

Turns out we had moved from one primary domain to another. You know company changes hands or changes names or someone decides that they don't like the Domain name for some reason. Most of the users we had in the Domain moved just fine except for 2 Admins. Of course it always has to be the admin ID's.

There was absolutely nothing in the Googlina that was worth looking at. Yay! I was just about to call Microsoft and pay the fee to have someone tell me how to fix it.

Since it was actually a Development system that was erroring out. I decided to try making it worse before calling and begging.

Opened up the Manage Users page for the PWA instance.  /PWA/Admin/ManageUsers.aspx

Search for the user. Well paged down and paged down and paged down. (search didn't work)

Edit user(Click User Name). Reattach the userid to the correct email address with the correct domain. john.doe@RightDomain.com

Then the Powershell command worked. and the Admin has access to DEV to do DEV work.

YAY!

Caught a bee in flight

2019-09-16T21:39:00.003-05:00

Went driving in SW Iowa this weekend. Caught a bee in flight in my window of my truck. The background was pretty as well.

So David went on a Mission Trip and Mom and Dad went on Vacation.

2019-06-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

David headed out of town for 10 days on a mission trip with this bunch of yaahoos.

So Mom and I decided it was time for a much needed vacation. Those who know us know we rarely get this option. So here Helene was trying to speak but I don't think she had enough Vacation or sleep to be able to actually speak.

But then we settled into just relaxing and reading. And then we started driving and seeing the sights.

Like Bob and Steve's Convenience store. This actually caused us to take a wrong turn in the middle of Wisconsin. Seriously off track for about half and hour.

But we did take note of some stunning scenery as well. Like the the North Shore of Lake Michigan.

Eventually we stopped looking at the scenery which is awesome on the UP and we did get to our Hotel on Lake Huron. Which was also awesome.

Then we ran around in Mackinaw City and toured an Ice Breaker. The Mackinaw. She is a big boat"Ship" I was called out on calling it a boat. Sorry those of you who actually know the difference.

And toured the Michillimackinac Fort. Which was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. They had guns dude! and fresh baked bread.

We left Mackinaw City and ran up to the Soo. Sault Saint Marie. We did the Locks tour thingy. They are interesting. The Ships are huge! Things dont' happen quickly here though. Also we hung out with Bigfoot for awhile. He was a pretty kewl dude.

On the way back home we stopped at Kitch-iti-kipi springs in Michigan. There is a rainbow trout in one of those pictures. You can even see the rainbow on him. Just glowing away.

Last stop was Oshkosh. This was Helene's favorite stop. We got to fly in Vintage Bi-Planes. On a bright sun shinny day with just a few clouds in the sky.

Finally it is time to get home. Drove over the Bridge over the Mississippi and thru some pretty farm land. That is Iowa don't ya know. Stopped in Tama for supper and had some Ice Cream.

Old recipe (joke)

2019-01-26T08:00:00.001-06:00

Found this recipe in an old cook book. Obviously a joke by someone. But the fact that the ladies that were publishing this cookbook left it in there.

My giggle for you today.

Enjoy

Magnify the flag and shine some light on it.

2019-01-14T13:04:00.001-06:00

Notice something really kewl with a magnifying glass and the lighting in my study today. So, I took a picture. Pretty much unedited except for the edges where I wanted to get rid of some background that was distracting.

Enjoy

Cold walk for the doggos

2019-01-09T18:15:00.001-06:00

Went for a walk. it was cold and windy. The dogs didn't seem to mind. Me, I was distracted by the sunset. Imagine that.

The Start Button/Task Bar

2019-01-09T18:10:00.000-06:00

The Start Button/Task Bar

So, Why do we all just leave the start button bar on the bottom left of our screen? If we do that. We end up with a bar that has icons and well if left as the default takes up a significant amount of real estate on the screen on a screen that is wider than it is tall.

I end up with something along the lines of this.

And that is all well fine and dandy. But I cannot tell what is up on which screen. I don't know which SQL file I might be editing, I don't know which webpage I might be on in IE/ or chrome. or the folder in Explorer. And lastly I have to "know" what each icon means.

Many years ago, I switched this to being on the right hand side of my monitor and I have never went back. This offers me many advantages over the default.

1. I have at least an inkling of what I have open in each application/browser

2. It takes up space on my screen from the width rather than the height. We have more width to spare.

3. if I am Terminal serviced in somewhere ( I leave my TS screen at the bottom) I have a quick indicator telling me I am not on my own computer

4. I can have alot more windows open before things begin to stack like the Internet Explorer icons above.

Here is a screen shot.

As you can see. I can see what is up on each page/application. It is out of the way being on the right hand side. and it just seems clearer. Maybe not cleaner. But certainly the information is more clearly available to me.

It is an easy switch. Just right click and unlock the task bar.

Then select the bar where no icons are present and drag to where you want it. Top, left, right.

Don't want to give out your email again? Don't

2018-10-23T07:54:00.000-05:00

instead,

Here is option 1
Create an account using mailinator.com.
Just type in any name and any @mailinator.comThen you are signed up. And you can see any email they might send you at @mailinator.com.It's a public inbox.

Option 2. alot like 1
Create a new email address you never intend to check.
I have one at yahoo.com I don't even know the password. I have to reset it every once in awhile when I actually have to confirm it is a real email address.

Option 3 (what I mostly do)
Have your own Domain. bergren.net
use IdoNotLikeEmail@bergren.net
have those emails auto delete after an hour.
I only have to check if I have to confirm. If they sell my email address well. It gets deleted anyway so I don't really care.

Borked SharePoint site? Anyone?

2018-07-10T08:16:00.002-05:00

I am ending up with this.

Code Example is here. Powershell

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials")

$tempC = new-object System.Net.WebClient
$tempC.UseDefaultCredentials=$true
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext("http://bergren.net/")
$Ctx.Credentials=$tempC.Credentials

#Get the Web
$Web = $Ctx.web
$Ctx.Load($Web)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

#Frame Master page URL
$MasterPageURL = "$($web.ServerRelativeUrl)/_catalogs/masterpage/seattle.master"

#Set Default Master page & Custom Master page
$web.CustomMasterUrl = $MasterPageURL
$Web.MasterUrl = $MasterPageURL
$web.Update()
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

$fontSchemeUrl = "$($web.ServerRelativeUrl)/_catalogs/theme/15/fontscheme003.spfont"
$themeurl = "$($web.ServerRelativeUrl)/_catalogs/theme/15/Palette013.spcolor"
$imageUrl = "$($web.ServerRelativeUrl)/_layouts/15/images/siteIcon.png?rev=23"

$web.ApplyTheme($themeurl, $fontSchemeUrl, $imageUrl, $false)
$web.Update()
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Thoughts and Ideas are welcome.