• "Worse, it appears that the Droids don't support Exchange ActiveSync policies"
  • Not true. The default "corporate email" app doesn't support Exchange ActiveSync policies. There are apps that do.
• "Here's what happened to me in real life, acting as a regular consumer: I was not able to set up access to my Exchange account on the consumer $30-per-month plan."
  • Here's what happened to me in real life: I was able to set up my exchange account before i left the store. on the $30-per-month plan.
  • You do NOT need a $45 corporate package.
• I work at a major university and there are three folks just in my office who have had Zero problems connecting the Droid to our exchange accounts, plus countless others across campus.

My biggest problem with this article is that he rails on the Droid for lacking support for Exchange ActiveSync policies.  The Droid doesn't lack the support, the app does. so get a new app. I'm looking into Moxier Mail.

I've heard far too many people complaining because the Droid doesn't do things exactly the way they want it to.  The Droid is based on the concept that each application can be replaced if you don't like it for example if you aren't happy with the Exchange support, get a new client.  Ok, enough with the whining about Exchange support, or that Verizon charges extra for the Corporate Data Package.

More and more my Best Buy experiences have been filled with unintelligent & over-confident employees trying to sell items that can be found half price elsewhere. For example, just before my most recent work trip my headphones broke, without enough time to order online, i looked locally. Of the places in town Best Buy had the biggest selection of around ear headphones, so with the intention of returning them after my trip, i picked up some headphones for $200. At the prodding of karf0 i checked amazon, wasn't too surprised to find the same headphones for $100, and i vowed to never buy anything at Best Buy again.

Until the Droid came out...

I went to Best Buy on Friday November 6th, 2009 for the unveiling of the Motorola Droid.  I entered the store at 5:30pm, and i could tell that "Droid Launch Day" had been a busy one for them, I also knew this to be true because I had been in earlier in the day so one of my co-workers could pick up his Droid.  We chose Best Buy to obtain the latest in geeky gadgetry because Droids purchased at Best Buy are 199.99 without the mail in rebate. (They invented mail in rebates for people like me.)

I have to say that purchasing my Droid at Best Buy was probably the most pleasant phone buying experience of all time.  They installed the screen protector at no extra cost (I don't think she was supposed to) and the process took all of 30 minutes.  Best Buy  redeemed itself yesterday with it's great service. I'm not going to buy anything directly from best buy, but at least I've got a positive experience to go along with the negative one.

The conference was really great. Compared to the other conferences I've been to it had the fewest people, and had the most focused theme. That really brought people together. Discussing technical obstacles as well as policy and committee generated issues, it was nice to hear how people have solved the problems we're facing and to help people who are facing problems we've moved past.

Every higher ed web conference I go to I'm always very interested in how web teams are positioned with in the hierarchy of their institutions. Many are in IT, and many are in Communications (or Marketing or University Relations), but almost all of them, especially the successful ones have either

1. An IT team that creates a framework that excels at showcasing the university that works closely with a Communications team that creates good content and engaging imagery. or
2. A Web Team that consists of programmers, designers and content creators that as a team produces the framework and the content and does not report to either IT or Communications, but works with both entities.

The second option is the right one. Having a team that can focus on creating a great website, and being out of the politics of IT and/or Communications is key, as well as having people who are dedicated to the web. Dedicated to web content, and design, and creating a good solid way to display them. I'm not sure it will ever be a reality on our campus, but it's something to strive for.

Some of the things I'm left with after the conference:

• Networking and and non-session events are the most useful
• A lot of people are doing a lot of things with Cascade
• We're doing pretty basic things, but we do them better than most
• We are early adopters, with versions & features
• People do some really convoluted things with Cascade

@karf0 fixed our XSL and wanted me to mention the default page will need a display name for the link back to the Home since the base folder is no longer indexed in the XML.  Here is the file for download:  Cascade Site Nav XSL, and the code is also displayed below. There are obviously some code in here that is specific to us (specifically the pngfix class). Also note @karf0's comment at the bottom.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
	<xsl:output method="html"/>
	<xsl:output encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes" method="xml" version="1.0"/>
	<xsl:variable name="folder-root-page-name">default</xsl:variable>
	<xsl:template match="/system-index-block">
		<ul>
			<li class="active">
				<div class="pngfix">
					<a href="/{$folder-root-page-name}"><xsl:value-of select="system-page[name=$folder-root-page-name]/display-name"/></a>
					<ul>
						<xsl:apply-templates select="system-page[name != $folder-root-page-name] | system-symlink | system-folder"/>
					</ul>
				</div>
			</li>
		</ul>
	</xsl:template>
	<xsl:template match="system-folder">
		<xsl:if test="dynamic-metadata[name = 'nav_exclude' and value = 'Yes']">
			<li>
				<xsl:if test="descendant::system-page[@current='true']">
					<xsl:attribute name="class">active</xsl:attribute>
				</xsl:if>
				<div>
            		<xsl:attribute name="class">pngfix</xsl:attribute>
					<a>
						<xsl:attribute name="href">
							<xsl:value-of select="path"/>/<xsl:value-of select="$folder-root-page-name"/>
						</xsl:attribute>
					<xsl:value-of select="display-name"/>
					</a>
					<ul>
						<xsl:apply-templates select="system-page[name != $folder-root-page-name] | system-symlink | system-folder"/>
					</ul>
				</div>
			</li>
		</xsl:if>
	</xsl:template>
	<xsl:template match="system-page">
		<xsl:if test="dynamic-metadata[name = 'nav_exclude' and value = 'Yes']">
			<li>
				<xsl:choose>
					<xsl:when test="@current='true'">
						<xsl:attribute name="class">activepage pngfix</xsl:attribute>
					  </xsl:when>
				</xsl:choose>
				<a>
					<xsl:attribute name="href">
						<xsl:value-of select="path"/>
					</xsl:attribute>
					<xsl:value-of select="display-name"/>
				</a>
			</li>
		</xsl:if>
	</xsl:template>
	<xsl:template match="system-symlink">
		<li class="external">
			<a>
				<xsl:attribute name="href">
					<xsl:value-of select="link"/>
				</xsl:attribute>
				<xsl:value-of select="display-name"/>
			</a>
		</li>
	</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Offensive Delta Charges (Thus Far):

• $15 per checked bag
• $8 for a salad on the 3+ hour flight

Three hours into the trip i've used up all but $5 of my per diem.  It's a good thing i'm not relying on that to feed me for the trip...

There are also three or so kids in the seats behind us. it has been a real joy sharing this trip with them. a real joy.

I love homemade pizza with whole grain basil crust

Jessica and i have been making a lot of pizza lately, she got a bread maker for graduation and it's primary function has been to produce wonderful whole grain crusts. I made a quick video of our pizza making process using Google Picasa, which is great at making quick and easy time lapse and slideshow style videos.

It is about 5:20 PM on Friday, September 11th. it is a time to
reflect. I clearly remember both of you sitting at the kitchen counter with me after you
came home from school watching the television footage of the collapse of the twin
towers in New York City about this time eight years ago. It was, like you both said,
watching an action movie on television. I will never forget sharing those minutes with
you both of you; my Sons. Didn't it  require some days to realize that it was not a
movie but was real? It did for me. One lesson to learn still is; use great care in your
lives. Be skeptical and know that great forces exist in this world which we cannot
control but must be wary of. A great Roman philosopher and politician said it best:
He who does not value his own life, controls yours. (Seneca was his name). How
true that remains some two thousand years after he said it. Remember Seneca's
words, my Sons, in all that you do because people exist who mean you ill just
because you are you, not for what you have done or failed to do but know also that
you are deeply loved, valued and treasured in this world. Be safe, be careful. Love
always, Dad.

I remember the moment he is referring to, I remember sitting in class and watching the images on TV. It was like it wasn't real like it was an effect created for a movie. A lot of things have happened in eight years, and some things have changed (TSA folks get to have an even more over-inflated sense of importance & GOP-encouraged racism against muslims) and some things haven't (the security of our nation). We have been at war since well before my son was born. We have been at war since my sister in law was in the fifth grade, longer than she has been politically aware, and we have been at war so long that we have come to take it as normalcy. It is normal for american's that we are fighting two wars, wars which most of them oppose.

One line in particular that stands out to me, and it is: "One lesson to learn still is; use great care in your lives. Be skeptical and know that great forces exist in this world which we cannot control but must be wary of."

Draft Analyzer Frontend (The original is easier to read)

A simple front end i put together for managing the live fantasy football draft. I used codeigniter, jquery and blueprint, and yes i went a little framwork crazy. but it was fun. it auto-finds players as you type them in, pressing "Enter" marked them as having been picked by someone else, and clicking "Add" marked them as picked by you and updated the roster column. AJAX is fun. By the way the roster is sorted by Team not by draft round.