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	<title>Paul Brown's Blog</title>
	
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		<title>Dad in Haiti</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/1vxU-zzcnEo/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2010/02/dad-in-haiti/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:19:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
To start off, I&#8217;ll admit that I stole this idea from my sister&#8217;s blog, but it was such a good idea that I wanted to repeat it here. Also I have updated the photo gallery with almost twice as many pictures from dad&#8217;s trip.
Basically, Dad went to Haiti for a total of 16 days as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_283" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 420px"><a href="http://paulbrown.us/gallery3/index.php/Dad_in_Haiti"><img class="size-medium wp-image-283" title="presidential_palace" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/presidential_palace-300x119.jpg" alt="" width="410" height="162" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Haiti President&#39;s Palace</p></div>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<p>To start off, I&#8217;ll admit that I stole this idea from my <a href="http://natalydear.blogspot.com" target="_blank">sister&#8217;s blog</a>, but it was such a good idea that I wanted to repeat it here. Also I have updated the photo gallery with almost twice as many pictures from dad&#8217;s trip.</p>
<p>Basically, Dad went to Haiti for a total of 16 days as a pharmacist with the Samaritan&#8217;s Purse ministry. He had contacted Samaritan&#8217;s Purse a few days after the earthquake hit to apply as a pharmacist, and they told him there wasn&#8217;t a need for a pharmacist. As the story goes, the people from Haiti reported back to Samaritan&#8217;s Purse days after they turned Dad away, saying they needed a pharmacist immediately, and asking if they had any pharmacists on-hand, ready to go. SP contacted Dad and soon after, Dad was in Haiti. The following is his correspondence with us. I think it gives a good glimpse of what was happening in Haiti, from the hospital&#8217;s perspective.</p>
<p>Dad sent me the collection of pictures he will be using as he talks to different groups, and I have posted them in my gallery. Check them out to get a non-national news perspective of what things looked like down there.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://paulbrown.us/gallery3/index.php/Dad_in_Haiti" target="_blank">Dad&#8217;s Haiti Trip Photo Gallery</a></strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 4, 2010 8:36:59 PM EST</p>
<p>We are here. Good flight over and we landed about 1pm.  Took 2 hours to get to hospital.  Port au Prince is a mess but things got better as we got out of town and up into the mountains.  It was continuous city from airport to the hospital. Got here around 3pm, got the tour, and they turned the pharmacy over to me.  Everyone here seems to be happy that I am here.  Spent til 7pm in pharmacy just orienting myself to what supplies that we have.  The pharmacy is nothing more than a large closet, no windows.  The hospital sort of shuts down at 7pm, We eat meals at 7am, 1pm, and 7pm, and then the hospital is sort of on its own at night with the Haitian nurses watching over the place.  The team that is here is good.  Friday will be a little more active and I will get more involved.  So far, so good.  I am well and everything has clicked OK so far.  Will try to communicate again but it may be a few days.    All my Love to everyone!         Tony</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 6, 2010 9:37:26 PM EST</p>
<p>Hey to everyone.  All is well.  We worked this morning at the hospital, had lunch, went on a 4 hour trip to see the real ground zero of the earthquake.  After that we went to the other camp on the other side of Port au Prince and saw that part of the Samaritan&#8217;s Purse that is working in Haiti.  We got back at 6pm, ate supper and headed to the hospital to catch up on all that we missed out on this afternoon.  Got back after 9pm and I hope to get my first shower tonight.  The team here is good, with 2 leaving today and us adding 2 new ones.  I have a new roommate from Kansas.  Food is good.  Last night not much sleep.  Work is good and not hard.  I am doing the pharmacy and spending some time in the rooms with our staff and patients.  Everyone is here for the right reasons and their priorities are right and the Lord is truly the Lord of their lives.<br />
Hope all is well.   Love to all of you.<br />
DAD/Tony</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 11, 2010 9:43:30 PM EST</p>
<p>Hello for Haiti!  Things are going real well here. We actually have empty beds in the hospital but there are still patients with earthquake injuries in the hospital and they are still showing up for treatment.  It has really settled down.  Samaritan&#8217;s Purse has now committed to be here through March and discussions are underway to go past that.  Four of our team left today and eight will leave on Saturday, which will leave only 4 of us here for about 8 hours until a new team that is mostly Canadian joins us.  There are a lot of great stories happening here and none can be explained by man so we are just trusting that God is adequate and He is still in control.  The current team is still good and it is the 4 of us left on Saturday to transition this operation over to the new arrivals. There is very little overlap between teams now.  I watched a C-Section today and held the baby that was probably less than 15 minutes old. Probably did not do that with my own children. Things are expected to be slow for the next few day because Haiti has designated Feb 12-14 and a time of national mourning.  Our cooks are gone as of today so we are on our own for a few days.  I think we will survive.  Temperature here is about 85 each day and we are all working in T shirts and scrubs.<br />
Such a difference in medicine in a 3rd world country as compared to the US.  Hospitals have no private rooms, grand pianos, water walls, or air conditioning.  Our internet has been out for more than a day, and most of the computers are leaving Sat.  Do not know when the next communication will be.  Hope everyone has a great (and chilly I understand) Happy Valentine&#8217;s Day.<br />
All my love,   DAD/Tony                                                 Psalms 91:1-2</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 12, 2010 9:58:15 PM EST</p>
<p>It&#8217;s Friday night in Haiti and it was a wonderful sun shiny day of about 85 here at the Baptist Mission.  We are into to now turning the hospital back over to the local doctors but that full transition will take place over the next 4-6 weeks.  Feb 12-14 is 3 day national holiday for the mourning of those lost in the earthquake.  The church on our compound seats about 600 and there was over 1000 in attendance today.  They were lined up around the walls and into the streets.  They started before 8am and went to 12noon, with about 3 hours of that being singing.  The pharmacy is located through the wall from the sanctuary so I got a full dose of that service.  We had a great fellowship tonight with the missionaries with the 8 that are leaving the medical team tomorrow sharing their thoughts.  The common theme was the love and thankfulness of the Haitian people towards us being here.  We are truly the ones being blessed by a people that have so little in material possessions but have such a dependency on the most important thing, the Lord and His acceptance of all of us no matter what our circumstances.  There will only be 4 of us here for about 8 hours on Sat and then we start all over with a new team in a new week.  It is great being here.  I just hope that I have made it a little better for someone that is here.  I understand that it is not favorable weather at home and that is probably the only thing that I dread about getting back to SC, USA.   God Bless All Of You, All My Love,   DAD/Tony<br />
Psalms 91:1-2</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 15, 2010 8:56:31 PM EST</p>
<p>Monday in Haiti was a very busy day.  Even though many of the earthquake victims have been discharged, there is still some major efforts having to be done with those that we still have.  Our sickest patient with a spinal cord injury from laying under a fallen wall for a long time was medEvaced to the US today.  This has been being worked on since before we got here and it all of a sudden happened today when the Navy called and said their helicopoter was on the way.  Another patient needed parenteral nutrution and I was able to find 4 bottles stashed away and only out of date by 6 months.  We started it today and are trying to work it in between antibiotics so that we don&#8217;t blow the IV line.  Very interesting practicing medicine in a stop and go world when we are so used to running absolutely on schedule and everything expected at a moments notice.  An 8 person Canadian team joined us on Sun and it is amazing how quickly people can come together when the same goals and beliefs are common.  We are seeing a lot of things happen here that are out of the ordinary and know that we are just observers to something that is coming from a Higher Power.  Sunshine and clouds here and still 70-85 degrees every day.  We are blessed and know that we are in to turning this hospital back over to the Haitians.   May God Bless. See all of you soon!<br />
DAD/Tony                                                             Psalms 91:1-2</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 17, 2010 7:45:04 PM EST</p>
<p>It is now about 8pm in Haiti on Feb17.  I have completed my service and assignment with Samaritan&#8217;s Purse at the Haiti Baptist Mission.  It has been a great 2 weeks, I have worked every day with varying hours, and I have made many new friends in the process (American, Canadian, Dutch, British, Haitian and many others).  Hopefully this time has been good for the people of Haiti, we know we have had positive results, and the ultimate and final will probably not be know in this lifetime.  On Thurs morning, the 4 of us that are leaving will go through a debriefing at 8am, we will begin our journey down the mountain at 10am to make the 30+ hour time period of travel to hopefully get home on Friday evening.  Thanks for all the prayers, support, and help in allowing me to be a part of this.  I only hope that Haiti is a little better off and I know that I have learned and been blessed by this experience.<br />
See all of you soon.          DAD/Tony                         Psalms 91:1-2</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Date: February 20, 2010 10:11:52 AM EST</p>
<p>YES! I am back on US soil, in my own home with running and hot water and a great bed to sleep in.  It is a blessing to be an American and have the privilege of living in this country.  God was good to all of us on the trip. Those that are Christians in Haiti are a part of a church that is alive and well.  The medical team that I worked with was amazing and we always seemed to instantly become a family with a common cause once we met and went to work.  There has to be something about this Christian thing and the common purpose for which we were there.  Personally, all of the work to be done in Haiti is so overwhelming, I feel like I may have accomplished the equivalent as compared to that one grain of sand on the beach.   Thanks for all of your prayers and support.  I look forward to seeing all of you real soon.  Hope that each of you will some day be able to take a trip with this kind of experience.</p>
<p>All My Love,      DAD/Tony</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Scratch off Lottery Ticket Fun</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/9gSiv_Highg/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2010/02/scratch-off-lottery-ticket-fun/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=268</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over Christmas I played a game I almost never play: the lottery. I thought it would be fun to get a scratch off ticket from each state on our way from Georgia to Pennsylvania and see how much luck I could have.
Pictured above are the tickets that I still have because they didn&#8217;t win any [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_269" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-269" title="Lottery Tickets" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IMG_0917-300x199.jpg" alt="Lottery Tickets" width="300" height="199" /><p class="wp-caption-text">The 7 losing tickets</p></div>
<p>Over Christmas I played a game I almost never play: the lottery. I thought it would be fun to get a scratch off ticket from each state on our way from Georgia to Pennsylvania and see how much luck I could have.</p>
<p>Pictured above are the tickets that I still have because they didn&#8217;t win any money for me. Not shown are the two tickets that did win. Of course I expected to lose money on the whole experiment, and that&#8217;s exactly what happened. I also tried to get holiday-themed tickets, to make it more festive.</p>
<p>Here are some stats for you:</p>
<p>Overall stats: I paid $15 and won $3 of that back.</p>
<p>Georgia: $2 ticket; 1 in 4.21 odds, including breaking even.</p>
<p>South Carolina: $2 ticket. Won $2 back. 1 in 3.91 odds.</p>
<p>North Carolina: $2 ticket. 1 in 4.22 odds</p>
<p>Virginia: $1 ticket. 1 in 4.49 odds</p>
<p>West Virginia: $2 ticket. 1 in 4.35 odds.</p>
<p>Maryland: Two $1 tickets. 1 in 4.13 odds for losing ticket. Won $1 back on other ticket. I guess I was feeling lucky in MD.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania: $3 ticket. 1 in 3.98 odds. This one was the most fun (the big green one)</p>
<p>New Jersey: $1 ticket. Did not state the odds, but the website says &#8220;better than 1 in 5&#8243;.</p>
<p>Obviously this is all fun and games, and I wasn&#8217;t playing to win, I was playing to have fun. A good friend of mine calls the lottery the &#8220;stupid person&#8221; tax, and I whole-heartedly agree, because you&#8217;re gonna lose in the long run no matter what happens. You just might get lucky, but don&#8217;t count on it.</p>
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		<title>Adding a Mailbox Server Role to Exchange 2010: “Database is mandatory on UserMailbox”</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/yiHNRRP_0CE/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/12/adding-a-mailbox-server-role-to-exchange-2010-database-is-mandatory-on-usermailbox/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:20:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exchange Server]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I came across an interesting error while adding a Mailbox Server to my Exchange Server 2010 environment the other day. The error was pretty clear-cut, and the solution was also pretty simple, but very non-intuitive, so I thought I&#8217;d explain how to fix it here. To give full credit, I got my answer from this [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I came across an interesting error while adding a Mailbox Server to my Exchange Server 2010 environment the other day. The error was pretty clear-cut, and the solution was also pretty simple, but very non-intuitive, so I thought I&#8217;d explain how to fix it here. To give full credit, I got my answer from <a href="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchange2010/thread/5af966b5-de5d-4e03-bb20-bb6c8a49255b">this dialog</a> on the Microsoft TechNET forums, and the fellow with the username Nair.SS helped my solve the problem. It turns out another individual was having exactly the same problem, and he got his issue solved as well. Many thanks to Nair.SS.</p>
<p><strong>The Error</strong></p>
<p>The error message is pictured in this screenshot, and I&#8217;ve included the text in the caption:</p>
<div id="attachment_248" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 476px"><a href="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AddExchangeMailbox_Error.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-248  " title="Exchange Error" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AddExchangeMailbox_Error.png" alt="AddExchangeMailbox_Error" width="466" height="406" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Error Message when trying to add a mailbox server to Exchange Server 2010.</p></div>
<p>Here&#8217;s the text from that error dialog box.</p>
<blockquote><p>The following error was generated when &#8220;$error.Clear(); if ( ($server -eq $null) -and ($RoleIsDatacenter -ne $true) ) { Update-RmsSharedIdentity -ServerName $RoleNetBIOSName }&#8221; was run: &#8220;Database is mandatory on UserMailbox. Property Name: Database&#8221;.</p>
<p>Database is mandatory on UserMailbox. Property Name: Database</p></blockquote>
<p>One important detail to include here is that I had two mailbox servers installed in this environment and I was unable to gracefully uninstall them. Thus I had to delete them out of Active Directory using ADSI Edit. I&#8217;m pretty sure this is what caused the problem.</p>
<p><strong>The Fix</strong></p>
<p>One of the mailboxes had incorrect settings in Active Directory, so I used ADSI Edit to edit that user.</p>
<p>I connected to the Domain well known Naming Context in my root domain and found the user named <strong>CN=FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042</strong>. I&#8217;m not sure if all those numbers will be the same for everyone, but you can just find the <strong>FederatedEmail </strong>user. The <strong>homeMDB</strong> property was blank, so I inserted the CN value of an existing database into the value field, formatted as such:</p>
<p>CN=db1,CN=Databases,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=GTRI,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=gtri,DC=test</p>
<div id="attachment_249" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 425px"><a href="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/adsiedit_homeMDB.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-249" title="adsiedit_homeMDB" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/adsiedit_homeMDB.png" alt="adsiedit_homeMDB" width="415" height="455" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">After inserting the database value in the homeMDB field</p></div>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<p>I went to install the additional mailbox role, and it installed without any problems. There was one other blog post found <a href="http://trycatch.be/blogs/pdtit/archive/2009/11/22/quot-database-is-mandatory-on-usermailbox-property-name-database-quot-error-when-adding-additional-exchange-2010-server.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> that noted the particular error posted above, but the solution offered was different than mine. This error might have multiple solutions, but that post&#8217;s proposed solution did not work for me.</p>
<p>If you have anything to add, please leave it in the comments. Hope this helps!</p>
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		<title>Halloween 2009 – Cylon Jackolantern</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/PdcHLais2ig/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/11/halloween-2009-cylon-jackolantern/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:47:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[circuits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geekery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[halloween]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jackolantern]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pumpkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soldering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=226</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Historically I am not much into participating in Halloween festivities, mainly because I can never come up with a great idea for a costume. Maybe next year that will change. This year, however, I did come across a site in my Google Reader (I don&#8217;t remember which blog was the original source) that included a video [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Historically I am not much into participating in Halloween festivities, mainly because I can never come up with a great idea for a costume. Maybe next year that will change. This year, however, I did come across a site in my Google Reader (I don&#8217;t remember which blog was the original source) that included a video blog from <a title="MAKE Magazine" href="http://www.makezine.com" target="_blank">MAKE Magazine</a> about making a <a title="cylon" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylon_(1978)" target="_blank">cylon</a> jackolantern.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the original MAKE <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/weekend_project_cylon_jac_1.html" target="_blank">video post</a> about it:<br />
<center><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="276" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://blip.tv/play/gZIv1ZljAg" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="276" src="http://blip.tv/play/gZIv1ZljAg" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
<p>There&#8217;s a link on that page to <a href="http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/CylonOLantern" target="_blank">Evil Mad Scientist Labs</a> where they sell a basic <a href="http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/larsonkit" target="_blank">Larson Scanner kit</a> in their store, and that is the one I used in my jackolantern. Next year I might order the parts separately and take an even more DIY approach (perhaps even etching my own circuit board). This basic kit was a fun little project and it let me exercise some soldering skills. Take a look at how my final product turned out below.</p>

<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/11/halloween-2009-cylon-jackolantern/img_0504/' title='IMG_0504'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/IMG_0504-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="" title="IMG_0504" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/11/halloween-2009-cylon-jackolantern/img_0505/' title='IMG_0505'><img width="150" height="99" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/IMG_0505-150x99.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="" title="IMG_0505" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/11/halloween-2009-cylon-jackolantern/img_0509/' title='IMG_0509'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/IMG_0509-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="" title="IMG_0509" /></a>

<p>And see him in action! This video is probably a bit too long, but it&#8217;s only 20 seconds and I didn&#8217;t feel like editing it.<br />
<center><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j-DsAtikDvw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j-DsAtikDvw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center></p>
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		<title>Brizzly – a fresh new way to use Twitter</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/fryEPqM3BaE/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/09/brizzly-a-fresh-new-way-to-use-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:11:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=214</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems like Twitter is all the talk around the tech news bubble these days. You can&#8217;t listen to an episode of Buzz Out Loud or This Week in Tech (my two favorite technology podcasts) without at least one mention of this little social network that was more or less launched at the 2006 South [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It seems like <a href="http://www.twitter.com" target="_blank">Twitter</a> is all the talk around the tech news bubble these days. You can&#8217;t listen to an episode of <a href="http://bol.cnet.com" target="_blank">Buzz Out Loud</a> or <a href="http://twit.tv/twit" target="_blank">This Week in Tech</a> (my two favorite technology podcasts) without at least one mention of this little social network that was more or less launched at the 2006 South By Southwest (SWSX) festival in Austin.</p>
<p>On the surface, twitter seems kind of dumb. I explain it to friends as being like FaceBook, but only with the status update feature. That&#8217;s about it, except people have built services on top of twitter that make it incredibly more useful than simply status updates. I won&#8217;t go into all of those services here, but I have been beta testing one particularly useful way to interact with twitter, and that service is called <a href="http://www.brizzly.com" target="_blank">Brizzly</a>, created by the folks at <a href="http://www.thinglabs.com" target="_blank">thinglabs</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_215" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Screen-shot-2009-09-02-at-11.19.36-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-215 " title="Brizzly main page" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Screen-shot-2009-09-02-at-11.19.36-PM-300x219.png" alt="Brizzly main page" width="300" height="219" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Brizzly main page</p></div>
<h3>General Interface</h3>
<p>I&#8217;ve been testing Brizzly for almost two weeks now, and I&#8217;ve found that it just makes twitter easier to use. There aren&#8217;t a lot of features to talk about, but they are well-implemented. The general interface is simple and well thought out. Posts appear in the center of the screen, and the sides contain navigation/filtering links and trending topics. On the left, you can choose to see your entire timeline or just your @replies or DM&#8217;s, and you can create custom searches. A blue dot appears next to any item that has new messages. This is particularly useful for custom searches, as there is no need to use search.twitter.com any more! (there is also a search bar across the top of the Brizzly page, which is convenient). The trending topics are nice to have, and you can see an explanation of any topic by clicking it.</p>
<p>A nice touch to these sidebar items is that they are stationary as you scroll down the page. Another nice feature is that when you get to the bottom of the timeline that is currently visible, the page automatically appends the next set of tweets, just like Google Reader does (funny thing, since two of the lead developers, <a href="http://twitter.com/shellen" target="_blank">Jason Shellen</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/cw" target="_blank">Chris Wetherell</a>, came from the Reader team).</p>
<p>Also worth noting is that when you receive a Direct Message, a window appears above the trending topics with the message, and you can basically treat it like a chat window and respond to the message or close the window. And finally, regarding the general interface, it is nice that an asterisk is prepended to the site&#8217;s title when there are new messages (like GMail&#8217;s number of unread messages in its title). This means you don&#8217;t have to keep refreshing the page to see if something new is there.</p>
<h3>Embedded Pictures/Videos and Unshortened URL&#8217;s</h3>
<p>One killer feature is the in-line embedding of images and videos from TwitPic, Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo, among others. This allows users to never have to leave the site to see pictures/videos that are posted using the most popular image and video hosting providers.</p>
<div id="attachment_218" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Screen-shot-2009-09-02-at-11.27.47-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-218" title="Example of embedded images and videos" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Screen-shot-2009-09-02-at-11.27.47-PM-300x247.png" alt="Example of embedded images and videos" width="300" height="247" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Example of embedded images and videos</p></div>
<p>While embedded pictures and videos has always been a feature, yesterday the Brizzly team added an image uploading feature into the service. As <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/01/brizzly-adds-photo-uploads-500-invites-for-tc-readers/" target="_blank">announced</a> on TechCrunch, the images are hosted on the Amazon servers (that also host the Brizzly application), and they are given a http://brizzly.com/pic/*** link. This is a nice feature, but I think this might not be as universally friendly with the rest of the 140-character twitter world because of the longer links.</p>
<p>Brizzly also expands URLs that have been created with any of the more-than-enough URL shorteners out there. For example, if someone posts a bit.ly link to twitter, I will see the original link, not the bit.ly link. This is really handy for security reasons, so I at least know what domain name I&#8217;m headed to when i click the link. Aside from security reasons, it&#8217;s just kind of nice to see real links instead of shortened links all over the place.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>Like I said, I&#8217;ve been using Brizzly for almost two weeks, and I love it. There are some minor bugs, but this thing is still in beta, so that&#8217;s perfectly fine with me. The one bug I have noticed the most is when Brizzly thinks I have new posts to the timeline, and I click refresh only to find no new updates. I&#8217;ve seen this happen on most browsers on both Windows and Mac.</p>
<p>Overall, Brizzly makes it much easier to use twitter, and I&#8217;m looking forward to the Brizzly team rolling out new features as they come out of beta. If you use twitter, head on over to <a href="http://www.brizzly.com" target="_blank">www.brizzly.com</a> and sign up for an invite. It took about three weeks for me to get my invite after signing up.</p>
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		<title>Review: CLEAR WiMax in Atlanta</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/2eocohx1yjg/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/07/review-clear-wimax-in-atlanta/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:46:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=163</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A lot of people complain about their Comcast service in Atlanta, but I can say I have been 99% satisfied with my Comcast cable internet service for the past three years. They give me 18+ Mbps down and 5-6 Mbps up regularly, and I&#8217;ve only had two or three very short outages.
As good as Comcast [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A lot of people complain about their Comcast service in Atlanta, but I can say I have been 99% satisfied with my Comcast cable internet service for the past three years. They give me 18+ Mbps down and 5-6 Mbps up regularly, and I&#8217;ve only had two or three very short outages.</p>
<p>As good as Comcast is, though, the new WiMax service from CLEAR just might win me over. I missed their demo day in Atlantic Station, but after hearing about it, I went on a twitter search to hunt down a trial of CLEAR&#8217;s service. I was able to get my hands on some WiMax equipment for only a short 48 hour test period over an already-busy weekend, but I was able to get some data points.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Background:</span></strong></p>
<p>Before I share my results, though, a little bit about CLEAR WiMax. Basically they offer a viable alternative to your home internet, and they also offer a mobile option. There are a couple of options you can order from CLEAR. As the salesman told me, though (and I agree with him 100%), there is only one option: Unlimited Home and Mobile for $55/month. There are other ever-so-slightly cheaper plans that place caps on your data, or that only offer one of the two services. For $55/month, you get a fixed residential modem, plus you get a USB dongle that gives you internet pretty much anywhere in Metro Atlanta. See their local coverage map for Atlanta <a href="https://www.clear.com/shop/get_clear.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_184" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-184" title="IMG_0020" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0020-300x199.jpg" alt="Boxes" width="300" height="199" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Boxes</p></div>
<div id="attachment_185" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-185" title="IMG_0028" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0028-300x199.jpg" alt="Mobile USB modem" width="300" height="199" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Mobile USB modem</p></div>
<div id="attachment_187" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-187" title="IMG_0033" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0033-300x200.jpg" alt="Fixed residential modem" width="300" height="200" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Fixed residential modem</p></div>
<div id="attachment_188" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-188" title="IMG_0035" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0035-300x199.jpg" alt="Back of the residential modem" width="300" height="199" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Back of the residential modem</p></div>
<p>With the Home and Mobile option, you get an advertised 6Mbps down and 500 Kbps up connection. This varies where you live, of course, since the WiMax towers are placed in various spots throughout Atlanta.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">My Results:</span></strong></p>
<p>When I received my trial package, the first thing I did was to pop it into a laptop running Windows XP just to get some quick speed tests.</p>
<div id="attachment_166" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-full wp-image-166" title="6-26_10_23_PM_mobile" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/6-26_10_23_PM_mobile.png" alt="First speed test" width="300" height="135" /><p class="wp-caption-text">First speed test</p></div>
<p>Since speedtests can sometimes be deceptive, I used a ~118 MB file to test upload and download speeds via FTP. These tests showed a consistent download speed of ~430 KB/s and an upload speed of ~58 KB/s. I did not notice any bandwidth throttling through the entire file transfer, a painfully obvious characteristic seen when uploading from a Comcast connection.</p>
<div id="attachment_180" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 419px"><img class="size-full wp-image-180" title="first_download_cropped" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/first_download_cropped.JPG" alt="Download summary" width="409" height="210" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Download summary</p></div>
<div id="attachment_181" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 412px"><img class="size-full wp-image-181" title="first_upload_cropped" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/first_upload_cropped.JPG" alt="Upload summary" width="402" height="231" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Upload summary</p></div>
<p>All of these numbers are from the mobile USB device on a Windows XP laptop. One peculiarity I found was that speedtest.net detected my network being in the Seattle/Portland area, which I believe is where the CLEAR WiMax main hub is located. When I selected the Atlanta server on speedtest.net, I got the following results:</p>
<div id="attachment_169" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-full wp-image-169" title="504812494_mobile" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/504812494_mobile.png" alt="Speedtest with Atlanta server selected" width="300" height="135" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Speedtest with Atlanta server selected</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;m not sure what that means, but I didn&#8217;t have much time to play with different settings to notice any difference.</p>
<p>Another oddity I discovered in all of my testing was that I was able to get noticeably faster speeds out of the mobile USB device than the fixed residential modem. While the mobile device would get an average 4.5 Mbps, the residential modem would get close to 3.5 Mbps. This is still not bad, it&#8217;s just something I thought was odd. I was still able to watch high-def streams of the Daily Show from Hulu (as high-def as Hulu gets, anyway) through both the mobile and the residential connections. Pulling multiple streams through the residential modem might slow things down a bit, though.</p>
<p>Installation for both mobile and residential modems was a breeze. You just run a quick installer for the USB device and when you plug the device in, all you have to do is open the CLEAR Connection Manager and click connect. The only drawbacks to using the mobile modem is that the software is not Windows 7 compatible, and even worse, it is not Mac compatible.</p>
<div id="attachment_189" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><img class="size-medium wp-image-189" title="IMG_0047" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_0047-300x200.jpg" alt="Mobile USB modem with USB elbow" width="300" height="200" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Mobile USB modem with USB elbow</p></div>
<p>The residential modem installation was even easier. I plugged the modem into the wall, then connected the ethernet cord from the modem into my AirPort Extreme wireless router. This was simply a matter of swapping my Comcast cable modem for the WiMax residential modem.</p>
<p>I also had the chance to test this while riding in a car up to the Duluth area. I was getting very similar download/upload speeds while traveling at 70+ mph, and it only dropped out once around spaghetti junction (+/- a mile or two).</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pros:</span></strong></p>
<p>• Super Easy Setup</p>
<p>• Decent download/upload speeds</p>
<p>• Affordable</p>
<p>• Flexibility of having fast internet access throughout metro Atlanta</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cons:</span></strong></p>
<p>• Not Windows 7 or Mac compatible</p>
<p>• Speeds not near as fast as cable internet (this is only a negative if you actually need super-fast internet, which most people don&#8217;t)</p>
<p>• Unattractive and awkward USB dongle</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Final Thoughts:</span></strong></p>
<p>I think that CLEAR WiMax is a perfectly viable alternative to other broadband services. It&#8217;s not as fast as my Comcast connection, but I don&#8217;t necessarily need 18+ Mbps. It is definitely faster than any BellSouth DSL connection I&#8217;ve ever touched. It is cheaper than my Comcast service (because I don&#8217;t have cable tv), and in addition to being cheaper, I get two connections &#8211; a fixed modem for my apartment and a totally separate mobile USB modem. The only reason I am not switching right now is because the USB modem is not Mac compatible, since my primary computer is my MacBook Pro.</p>
<p>I recommend anyone in Atlanta to try out this service (to make sure it works at your residence and in locations where you would roam). You can get a 2-day trial by contacting William Higgins (find a short video about CLEAR WiMax and his contact info at <a href="http://www.wimaxatl.com" target="_blank">www.wimaxatl.com</a>). He&#8217;s a sharp guy and will answer any questions you have about the service.</p>
<p>UPDATE (9/15/09): If you sign up for Clear WiMax service, please use my referral code, <strong>n49dt2</strong>. Thanks!</p>
<p>UPDATE (12/17/09): I was just informed that the Clear referral program was discontinued as of December 5th. If anything changes, I&#8217;ll post another update here. Thanks to everything who used my referral code!</p>
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		<title>Ravensburger 3000 piece puzzle</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/Jutdr3CIyQQ/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:34:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=99</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I generally keep a pretty busy schedule, but lately I&#8217;ve had more free time, and I moved into an apartment almost a year ago, so I have more space to work. So I decided to take the plunge and buy a 3000 piece puzzle. I was rooming with a German guy in the summer of 2003, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I generally keep a pretty busy schedule, but lately I&#8217;ve had more free time, and I moved into an apartment almost a year ago, so I have more space to work. So I decided to take the plunge and buy a 3000 piece puzzle. I was rooming with a German guy in the summer of 2003, and since we were enjoying a lot of puzzles with the kids at the local church day camp, he introduced me to the <a title="Ravensburger" href="http://www.ravensburger.com">Ravensburger</a> brand of puzzles. From then until now, I had only seen their puzzles in local board game shops or on their website, but I knew they made one of the biggest puzzles in the world, at <a title="18000 piece puzzle" href="http://www.amazon.com/World-18000-piece-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B0000A12HT">18000 pieces</a>, and I knew that the build quality of their puzzles is among the best out there.</p>
<p>A 1,000 piece puzzle is pretty normal for everyday puzzlers, so I wanted something more substantial than that, but I also knew I wasn&#8217;t going to come close to the 18000 piece one. I have a thing for maps (I even have a world map <a title="curtain" href="http://twitpic.com/z410">shower curtain</a>), so I figured this <a title="3000 piece puzzle" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000A12HJ/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=304485901&amp;pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&amp;pf_rd_t=201&amp;pf_rd_i=B00069L7ZC&amp;pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_r=17AWS87FAZC6Y1X8HSE5">3000 piece one</a> would be a good puzzle to break me in.</p>
<p>When I would tell people I was working on a 3000 piece puzzle, they would look at me like I was crazy. After a quick google search on Ravensburger puzzles, though, I think I have found some people way more crazy than I thought I&#8217;d find. <a href="http://chrisandnaomi.hathawayhome.net/news/family/the_worlds_largest_jigsaw_puzzle">This site</a> is about a couple who probably assembled the 18000 piece Ravensburger before almost anyone else. Reading the comments on that page show that there are some dedicated people out there. One person spent ~$1900 getting the puzzle and then framing it! I also discovered there is a 24000 piece puzzle called the <a title="LIFE - The Great Challenge" href="http://www.worldslargestpuzzle.com/">LIFE: The Great Challenge</a>. There is a family who <a href="http://www.aegroup.com/puzzle/">documented</a> themselves putting this puzzle together, and I think I may use their technique to frame my tiny 3000 piece one.</p>
<p>On several occasions I had groups of people help me put my puzzle together when we&#8217;d have movie nights at my apartment, but I probably did about 60% of it myself. I received the puzzle in the mail on 3/16/09 and finished it on 6/4/09. It is still taking up a good chunk of the kitchen table, but at least I have a table I can eat at now. Here&#8217;s a visual timeline of the puzzling. For the next puzzle I do I think I will hang a camera above the table and make a time-lapse video of the process.</p>

<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9783/' title='img_9783'><img width="150" height="93" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9783-150x93.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/16/09 6:01 PM" title="img_9783" /></a>
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<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9786/' title='img_9786'><img width="150" height="105" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9786-150x105.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/16/09 6:04 PM" title="img_9786" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9787/' title='img_9787'><img width="150" height="91" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9787-150x91.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/16/09 6:06 PM" title="img_9787" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9788/' title='img_9788'><img width="150" height="99" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9788-150x99.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/16/09 7:28 PM" title="img_9788" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9792/' title='img_9792'><img width="150" height="99" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9792-150x99.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/25/09 10:28 PM" title="img_9792" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9794/' title='img_9794'><img width="150" height="99" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9794-150x99.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="03/25/09 10:28 PM" title="img_9794" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9877/' title='img_9877'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9877-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="04/01/09 6:13 PM" title="img_9877" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9886/' title='img_9886'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9886-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="04/06/09 8:59 PM" title="img_9886" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9892/' title='img_9892'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9892-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="04/18/09 11:41 AM" title="img_9892" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9913/' title='img_9913'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9913-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="05/04/09 12:07 AM" title="img_9913" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9918/' title='img_9918'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9918-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="05/15/09 5:33 PM" title="img_9918" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9926/' title='img_9926'><img width="150" height="80" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9926-150x80.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="05/17/09 10:30 PM" title="img_9926" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/ravensburger-3000-piece-puzzle/img_9941/' title='img_9941'><img width="150" height="100" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/img_9941-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="05/21/09 11:36 PM" title="img_9941" /></a>
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		<title>Microsoft’s Office Communications Server Is Broken</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/CgPR1eLmir0/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/microsofts-office-communications-server-is-broken/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:13:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=86</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At my day job, I primarily deal with Microsoft products, and of those, my main project is implementing Office Communications Server. I had rolled out a stripped down version of OCS 2007 back around Christmas, and in February Microsoft released OCS 2007 R2. The difference between the two versions is not worth going into here, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At my day job, I primarily deal with Microsoft products, and of those, my main project is implementing <a title="Office Communications Server" href="http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/en/us/default.aspx">Office Communications Server</a>. I had rolled out a stripped down version of OCS 2007 back around Christmas, and in February Microsoft released OCS 2007 R2. The difference between the two versions is not worth going into here, but they did change some substantial infrastructure elements with the upgrade.</p>
<p>As I was installing the 2007 version, I wanted to gouge my eyes out repeatedly, as the process to get the servers installed was painful to say the least. I was hoping they would fix at least some of this with the 2007 R2 release, but no, it is still just as painful. To sum up most of the frustration, I will say that the installer looks like an easy step-by-step walk-through, but there was a theme that kept recurring as I experienced this installation. You have to run different sub-steps of the installer from different servers under different usernames (Active Directory domain admins, schema admins, local administrators, etc.), and the error messages hardly gave a clue.</p>
<p>Anyway, I won&#8217;t bore you with too many details, but I did come across two particular screenshots that I thought were funny. In true <a title="This Is Broken" href="http://www.thisisbroken.com">This Is Broken</a> taste (which has moved to <a title="Good Experie" href="http://goodexperience.com/">Good Experience</a> since I was actively following it), here are two screenshots that show that OCS is written sloppily, and is simply &#8220;broken&#8221;.</p>

<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/microsofts-office-communications-server-is-broken/this_is_broken/' title='this_is_broken'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/this_is_broken-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="You&#039;re gonna give me that link to visit and not make it clickable!?" title="this_is_broken" /></a>
<a href='http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/06/microsofts-office-communications-server-is-broken/error/' title='error'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/error-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="A little grammar check would be nice." title="error" /></a>

<p>There is plenty more I could write about with regard to this product, but I thought those two pictures summed it up pretty well.</p>
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		<title>Microsoft Exchange 2007 Setup Error</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/TdBAXcch--M/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2009/02/microsoft-exchange-2007-setup-error/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:25:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulbrown.us/?p=78</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t plan on putting many posts about Microsoft products up here (who am I kidding, I have enough trouble posting anything), but I ran across this problem at work the other day and since it was a silly problem that wasted a few hours of my time, I thought I&#8217;d share it with you.
Basically, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don&#8217;t plan on putting many posts about Microsoft products up here (who am I kidding, I have enough trouble posting <em>anything</em>), but I ran across this problem at work the other day and since it was a silly problem that wasted a few hours of my time, I thought I&#8217;d share it with you.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Basically, I am installing Exchange 2007 from scratch in a test environment on a Windows Server 2008 virtual machine. Our domain controllers are all running Windows Server 2003, so we are running at a Window Server 2003 domain functional level. After having used the 32-bit evaluation version of Exchange 2007 to prep the schema, prep Active Directory, and prep the domains (the 64-bit version is required in production environments, and for domains with Server 2003 DC&#8217;s, you have to use the 32-bit evaluation version for all the prep steps), I ran the Install Exchange step of the Exchanger installer application. Here&#8217;s the resulting error I received from the installer:<br />
<img class="size-full wp-image-79 aligncenter" title="exchange_error" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/exchange_error.png" alt="exchange_error" width="510" height="446" /></p>
<p>For the sake of Googlability (yes, that is a word), I will type out the error in plain text here.</p>
<p>Error:<br />
Setup needs to contact the Active Directory schema master but this computer is not in the same Active Directory domain as the schema master (DC=abc,DC=org).</p>
<p>Error:<br />
Setup encountered a problem while validating the state of Active Directory: Exchange organization-level objects have not been created, and setup cannot create them because the local computer is not in the same domain and site as the schema master. Run setup with the /prepareAD parameter on a computer in the domain gtri and site Default-First-Site-Name, and wait for replication to complete.</p>
<p>Well, this error didn&#8217;t help solve the problem at all, because the local computer was definitely in the same domain and site as the schema master. We eventually traced the problem back to the fact that I had used the 32-bit RTM version of Exchange to prep the schema, AD, and domains, instead of the 32-bit SP1 version of Exchange. I went back and reran the prep steps and the Exchange installation step went off without a hitch.</p>
<p>So, lesson learned: When installing Exchange 2007 SP1 on a Windows Server 2008 machine (or any machine) and you have to prep the schema, Active Directory, and domains with the 32-bit version of Exchange 2007 because your DC&#8217;s are 32-bit, make sure you are using the SP1 version of Exchange 2007 32-bit and not your old non-SP1 version you have sitting around.</p>
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		<title>Lights in the Sky</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/paulbrown/gt/~3/WF4eilFCilw/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulbrown.us/2008/11/lights-in-the-sky/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:41:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://paulbrown.us/?p=64</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
If you know me at all, you would probably assume I am not a Nine Inch Nails fan. If you had asked me a year ago if I liked NIN, I would&#8217;ve told you I was not a fan. A few things happened in recent months that have drawn me toward the creative genius that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<p>If you know me at all, you would probably assume I am not a Nine Inch Nails fan. If you had asked me a year ago if I liked NIN, I would&#8217;ve told you I was not a fan. A few things happened in recent months that have drawn me toward the creative genius that is Trent Reznor. Throughout the existence of NIN, Reznor has always been openly against the recording industry, doing things such as holding studio time under pseudonyms as to not draw attention from the recording industry. In early 2008, NIN released their latest album, The Slip, for free on the internet.</p>
<div id="attachment_26" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 210px"><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/200px-the_slip_nine_inch_nails_album1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-26" title="The Slip album cover" src="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/200px-the_slip_nine_inch_nails_album1.jpg" alt="The Slip album cover" width="200" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Slip album cover</p></div>
<p>This is where I come into the story. The Slip&#8217;s free distribution caught the attention of the tech industry, with several of my favorite podcasts, including c|net&#8217;s <a title="Buzz Out Loud" href="http://bol.cnet.com" target="_blank">Buzz Out Loud</a> and Leo Laporte&#8217;s <a title="This Week In Tech" href="http://www.twit.tv" target="_blank">This Week In Tech</a>. After hearing about it from these shows, I decided to download the album and see what it was like, knowing I wasn&#8217;t particularly interested in Nine Inch Nails&#8217; music. As it turns out, this album sounded very different from the typical NIN songs you typical hear on the radio. Many songs do not have any lyrics and have an ambient feel to them, which I enjoy as background music.</p>
<p>In addition to downloading this album and becoming slightly interested, I also saw that Ken Wilson, over at<a title="avclub.us" href="http://avclub.us" target="_blank">www.avclub.us</a> was making his way down to the Atlanta showing of the Lights in the Sky tour, and he posted some videos of the show on his <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/avclub" target="_blank">vimeo page</a>. This is where I discovered that when Trent Reznor puts on a concert, he really provides a full immersive multimedia experience, not just a band playing loud rock music.</p>
<p>I decided I wanted to see this show, but since I missed the Atlanta date, I checked out the tour dates and found that one of the shows was going to be in my hometown, Greenville, SC, at the BI-LO Center. My friend Simon and I headed up to the show, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn&#8217;t know what Trent Reznor looked like, and I had only heard a small portion of NIN&#8217;s music.</p>
<p>I won&#8217;t go on with all the mundane details, but it was a mind-blowing experience. There were three LED walls on stage (the front two being the kind that you can see through when no video is being transmitted), each could be lifted into the air, and there were several walls of movable lights as well. The video walls were interactive to both the music and to Trent&#8217;s movement on stage. For instance, in one song, the band was enclosed in the front two video walls, both showing a rainstorm, and when Trent stepped close to the front wall, it would reveal him as he moved around. At other times in the concert, there would be a bump map moving to the beat of the synthesizers, all the while blended in with a live video feed of Trent&#8217;s face with a microphone as he sang.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve posted some videos that I shot below, but check out the other links as well.</p>
<p>The making of Nine Inch Nails&#8217; Lights in the Sky set: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53S5wTWBz_c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53S5wTWBz_c</a></p>
<p>NIN&#8217;s website to let you remix multi-track NIN songs and listen to other folks&#8217; remixes:<a href="http://remix.nin.com" target="_blank">http://www.remix.nin.com</a></p>
<p>NIN&#8217;s YouTube video page: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ninofficial" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ninofficial</a></p>
<p>My videos and pictures:</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5369.jpg"></a><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/mvi_53591.avi">Discipline</a></span></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/mvi_53611.avi">mvi_5361</a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/mvi_53641.avi">mvi_5364</a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/mvi_53701.avi">NIN &#8211; The Greater Good</a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/mvi_53711.avi">NIN</a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5369.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-37" title="img_5369" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5369-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_53651.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-36" title="img_5365" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5365-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_53631.jpg"></a><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_53631.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-35" title="img_5363" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5363-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a></span></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_53581.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34" title="img_5358" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5358-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://paulbrown.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_53561.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-33" title="img_5356" src="http://www.paulbrown.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_5356-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a></div>
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