So, it's been a little over a month since the last update.  In that time I've gotten a new job (which I started this week) and picked up a new motorcycle for my wife.  It's been a crazy month and I haven't been this happy/busy in a long time.

My new job has come with some major changes compared to what I've been used to.  For starters, I now work in a Mac/Apple centric environment.  Now I know I've said some unfavorable things about Apple in the past, but this will truley put my thought and comments to the test.  An I will certainly be confirming what I've said, or eating a healthy serving of crow.  We shall see what happens.

An to wrap things up, I'm looking to overhaul the site.  I'm not sure if I will stay with Geeklog as my CMS system or if I will make a move to something else.  Either way, some things need to change as I feel the site looks very dated and it doesn't really project what I really want the site to say without words.  So look for some changes to crop up as I settle into my new job and get some time to work on the site.

An yes, this job will allow me time to work on the site.  It will also provide me with the environment I need to explore new technologies and learn many new facets in the technology arena in which to wite about.  So things should finally be on the move around here.  Wish me luck and keep an eye here on the site.

Wishing all my fellow Americans a Happy and Safe Independence Day.

The Geeklog backend software has been upgraded once again without a signle hicup.

Nope, this site isn't going down. Be that much to the dismay of some I'm sure.

No, this end is of my employement with JPMorgan Chase.  I enjoyed 11 years working for them and may still again someday, but for now, my time will end on Friday (April 30th).  As I've stated before, my full time job has been the main reason I've not been able to commit time to this site.  While it hasn't always demanded all of my time, the spare time I have, I try to unplug and attend to my other hobbies.  Sometimes it's my collection of Volkswagens that are always needed a little work, or going on Motorcycle rides with my wife (she has her own bike).  I learned a few years ago that you just can't stay in front of the screen all day ever day.  It's just not healthy.

So, now I'm hoping to start a new chapter in my life.  I'm looking for a new job, new people to work with and hopefully many new challenges that I can write about here on the site.  In my downtime, I'm going to be focusing on learning VMware ESX, Server 2003/2008, MS Exchange, Various flavors of Linux and just about anything else I can get my hands on.  As I learn, I intend to write about it.  Maybe it will help some of you, maybe it will just help me.  Either way, it can't be a bad thing.

Also, if you are an employer in the Metro Atlanta area or the NW Georgia area, you can find a copy of my resume Here.

Thank you all for reading and I'm looking forward to putting more information up for you to continue reading/learning.

So, maybe some of you have heard that MS said they would be putting out a Windows Update that would check Windows 7 Installs for known Activator exploits and alert you the user if your copy wasn't legit.  Top that off, they also said that they wouldn't force this update down our throats (not yet anyway) and we could even un-install the update if we got it on our system accidently.  So far they are living up to their word.

Windows Update KB971033 went live last night and true to their word, you can choose not to install it if you are one of those that just doesn't have Windows set to auto download everything and install.

So, if you are worried about this update giving a false positive and bugging the snot out of you, avoid or uninstall update KB971033.  Word on the street however, is that you can expect this updates and an addon to kill the activator exploits to be contained withing the upcoming ServicePack 1 for Win7.  So enjoy it while you can.

So many of us know that USB 3.0 is starting to show up just about everywhere but here in the USA.  Granted some high end motherboards now have it that we can get, but, that's about it.  Granted again, who is able to get anything that uses it just yet?  But let's face it, we all want to be ready when it gets here and right now, that's not an option.

It is now.  Belkin has brought out a USB 3.0 PCIe add on card for your desktop, Express-card adapter for your laptop and some nice USB A-B & mini-B cables to use with them.  This is great right?  Sure, save that Belkin seems to think that being first to market also means first to pillage.  The PCIe card will run you $79.99, the Express-card will hit you for $79.99 and the pack of 4ft cables will run you $39.99. 

Lets face it, we are used to high prices for new tech, really we are, but there are limits.  Enjoy it while you can Belkin, as soon as a few others bring their horses to the race, the markup will have to come down a tad.

That being said, anyone with deep pockets that wants to send one of those to us for some testing, would be greatly thanked.

As most of you know, Techography uses the Geeklog CMS/Weblog system.  A new security release came out last month and I finally got a chance to take care of that today.  As always, if you see anything that your don't think is working right, please leave me a comment on this article.

For those of you that were still watching cartoons while some of us found the internet back in the 90's, there was a great idea that came about.  It was the mid 90's and the internet was really just starting to gain momentum. Web pages were all rage since very few knew how to make them and even fewer had the resources to host them or have them hosted.  Hosting companies were a new thing as well.  Everything was new and alien.

Out of all of the came a hosting company called Geocities.  It was one of several that would host your site for free.  They also charged a small fee to shorten the URL to your site, a bit more web space and some extra web tools.  I, like millions of other fledgling internet users flocked to Geocities and started learning how to code in HTML

Those days are long gone now and I've also just gotten word that Yahoo!, who purchased Geocities some years ago, is shutting the project down and scrubbing all the site contained within.  I have to admit, I was actually saddened a bit by the news. Then I had to wonder if my old site was still there.  Sure enough, I punched in http://www.geocities.com/~calimus  and there it was.  A archived leftover from somewhere between 1996-1997.  That was the last time I can remember doing anything with the Geocities site.  The code that was there was made even well before then.

So for now, you can still get to the site.  I've made sure to save a copy of it for myself.  I'll add that to my digital scrapbook.  It's been a long time Geocities, and I hate to see you go even though I haven't visited for at least 12 years.  You were a big part of my life where I honed some of my earliest skills.  So long old friend.

Looks like bloggers will have to be a bit more carefull starting Dec 1.  If your a blogger and you plug a product on your site, or twitter, or facebook, or even myspace (is that place still alive?), and you were payed by the manufacturer in any way to review or plug said product, you had better tell everyone you got payed.  Fail to do so and it can result in a $11k fine.

It sounds much worse then it is really, but it's still a bit of a PITA legality.  For a better understanding, check out what the fine folks of at Arstechnica have to say.

Well, looks like Verizon isn't going to sit back and continue to wait for a deal with Apple on the iPhone any longer.  Today the announcement was made that Verizon and Google have made a deal.  This means Andriod based phones should make their way to the Verizon stores in as little as a few weeks from what the PR guys are saying.

Should be interesting to see what they come up with together.  Currently, I'm a BlackBerry Storm user, but maybe I could be swayed.