Why have I never noticed that before?!?!?
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)
Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Happy Pi Day!!
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tools You Can Use - Google Calendar Sync
The other day I was getting frustrated that my company phone wasn't syncing my Exchange calendar reliably. I'd tried deleting my profile and re-adding it, doing a hard reboot of the phone (now that's a phrase I never would have dreamed of using even 10 years ago), and several other troubleshooting steps. All to no avail. Being an android-base device, it was naturally having no problems whatsoever keeping up with my Google calendar.
So I set off on a search to find something that might let me sync my Exchange calendar to my Google calendar.
Well, guess what? Google themselves created just such a tool: Google Calendar Sync
It installs on the same PC where Outlook is running. You enter your Google credentials, set the sync frequency, and get out of the way. It works wonderfully. You do need to decide the best refresh frequency for you. Also, I highly recommend going into your Exchange calendar, putting it into List mode, and deleting all of those OLD appointments from years past. It makes the sync go much faster. Personally, I had almost 3,000 calendar events it was trying to sync. Once I pared it down to recurring meetings and just those from this calendar year, that dropped to under 300. There was a HUGE improvement in sync speed at that point.
Now, on to the one primary complaint I have so far about the tool. It's obviously registering itself as an add-on or helper inside your Outlook client. First, I had to close Outlook before it would install. Second, it never asked me for my Outlook/Exchange profile information. It's bootstrapping that, apparently. Given that it's hooking into Outlook, I'm disappointed that it's not event-driven. If I add/modify/delete something from my calendar, why can't it automatically sync that item instead of re-syncing my WHOLE calendar on a schedule? To give Google the benefit of the doubt, it's most likely a limitation inside the Outlook object model, but it's frustrating nonetheless.
The one other minor complaint I have is that, because it's a client-side tool, obviously your computer has to be on and running for the sync to work. The only time this poses an issue is after hours when I've suspended my laptop. If I accept a meeting request on my phone or through our web client, it won't show up on my Google calendar until the next time I have my computer up and running so the sync can run.
Given those two limitations of the tool, it's been quite the nice little find. Now, I have access to my Exchange calendar anywhere I have access to my Google calendar, not just from my smart phone or from our OWA portal.
If you also happen to be using Exchange/Outlook and have a Google account, I can highly recommend it.
So I set off on a search to find something that might let me sync my Exchange calendar to my Google calendar.
Well, guess what? Google themselves created just such a tool: Google Calendar Sync
It installs on the same PC where Outlook is running. You enter your Google credentials, set the sync frequency, and get out of the way. It works wonderfully. You do need to decide the best refresh frequency for you. Also, I highly recommend going into your Exchange calendar, putting it into List mode, and deleting all of those OLD appointments from years past. It makes the sync go much faster. Personally, I had almost 3,000 calendar events it was trying to sync. Once I pared it down to recurring meetings and just those from this calendar year, that dropped to under 300. There was a HUGE improvement in sync speed at that point.
Now, on to the one primary complaint I have so far about the tool. It's obviously registering itself as an add-on or helper inside your Outlook client. First, I had to close Outlook before it would install. Second, it never asked me for my Outlook/Exchange profile information. It's bootstrapping that, apparently. Given that it's hooking into Outlook, I'm disappointed that it's not event-driven. If I add/modify/delete something from my calendar, why can't it automatically sync that item instead of re-syncing my WHOLE calendar on a schedule? To give Google the benefit of the doubt, it's most likely a limitation inside the Outlook object model, but it's frustrating nonetheless.
The one other minor complaint I have is that, because it's a client-side tool, obviously your computer has to be on and running for the sync to work. The only time this poses an issue is after hours when I've suspended my laptop. If I accept a meeting request on my phone or through our web client, it won't show up on my Google calendar until the next time I have my computer up and running so the sync can run.
Given those two limitations of the tool, it's been quite the nice little find. Now, I have access to my Exchange calendar anywhere I have access to my Google calendar, not just from my smart phone or from our OWA portal.
If you also happen to be using Exchange/Outlook and have a Google account, I can highly recommend it.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
The wish list just keeps getting longer
And, not surprisingly, it's all geeky stuff.
Courtesy of an article over at Blastr, I learn about this:
Excuse the drool, if you would, please.
Courtesy of an article over at Blastr, I learn about this:
Excuse the drool, if you would, please.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Another entry for the wish list
I'm a geek. I like Star Wars, and Lego. Especially Star Wars Lego.
Well, now it looks like I have another itch to scratch:
Yes, Virginia, it's a Firefly Serenity Lego playset. It's not an official project yet, it still has a ways to go to get that official blessing. That being said, the official Lego response is encouraging, and if this achieves enough support, I imagine it would see the light of day.
I would definitely have to think about getting one.
Well, now it looks like I have another itch to scratch:
 |
| Shiny!! |
I would definitely have to think about getting one.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Star Wars in Iconoscope
From a mailing list that I'm on:
Star Wars retold in Iconoscope
Scene 25 made me laugh out loud.
That is just too cool, but in truth, it's also inside baseball. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't think you'd really understand the whole thing.
Star Wars retold in Iconoscope
Scene 25 made me laugh out loud.
That is just too cool, but in truth, it's also inside baseball. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't think you'd really understand the whole thing.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Cool Computer Tools You Can Use
Ever wanted to know what the color code was for that graphic on your monitor?
Trying to match the color of a logo you found a website?
Need to know the RGB value of that flower in a picture?
ColorPic is a cool little tool that I found today that lets you figure all that out. It has multiple "chips" (think of them as color slots) that you can use to grab colors and build a palette. It also includes a magnifier section so you see exactly what pixel you're grabbing. You can change the zoom level, and use the arrow keys to more accurately grab the exact pixel you want.
Once you've grabbed a color, it provides all the standard representations: Hex, Decimal, and RGB. You can then plug those in to just about any graphics program.
Also, because it lets you grab colors from your workspace, you don't have to download graphics from a website to load them into your graphics editor. It scrapes the values straight from your display, so if you can see it, you can grab the color from it.
It's not going to revolutionize the world, but when you really, really, really want to know what that color is, this will do the job for you.
Trying to match the color of a logo you found a website?
Need to know the RGB value of that flower in a picture?
ColorPic is a cool little tool that I found today that lets you figure all that out. It has multiple "chips" (think of them as color slots) that you can use to grab colors and build a palette. It also includes a magnifier section so you see exactly what pixel you're grabbing. You can change the zoom level, and use the arrow keys to more accurately grab the exact pixel you want.
Once you've grabbed a color, it provides all the standard representations: Hex, Decimal, and RGB. You can then plug those in to just about any graphics program.
Also, because it lets you grab colors from your workspace, you don't have to download graphics from a website to load them into your graphics editor. It scrapes the values straight from your display, so if you can see it, you can grab the color from it.
It's not going to revolutionize the world, but when you really, really, really want to know what that color is, this will do the job for you.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Achievement Unlocked!
There's just way too much truth in this:
http://evilrouters.net/achievement-unlocked/
A few of my favorites to whet your appetite:
Go check out the full list. As he says, if you've been in IT or a technical field for any amount of time, I'm sure you can relate.
http://evilrouters.net/achievement-unlocked/
A few of my favorites to whet your appetite:
Go check out the full list. As he says, if you've been in IT or a technical field for any amount of time, I'm sure you can relate.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Something to meditate on
Serendipitous Facebook is serendipitous.
First, a friend posts the following image, which made me chuckle:
Honestly, my first thought was "they didn't delete their cookies!!!".
Yeah, I'm a geek.
Then, not 5 minutes later, another friend posts this:
Yeah, I LOL'd.
A lot.
First, a friend posts the following image, which made me chuckle:
Yeah, I'm a geek.
Then, not 5 minutes later, another friend posts this:
Yeah, I LOL'd.
A lot.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
It's full of lights!
 |
| I don't think the wife would let me put it on the roof (h/t to Vulpine) |
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Yeah, I'm a geek
Today's Kids.Woot deal was just too cool for school:
Yes, those are sandwich cutters int he shape of a TIE Fighter and the Millenium Falcon.
Yeah, I ordered two of them.
 |
| May the Lunch be with you |
Yeah, I ordered two of them.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
. . .and never the twain shall meet
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| (h/t to multiple facebook friends) (and with apologies to Rudyard Kipling) |
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
I'd sign the waiver form
Water-powered jetpacks anyone?
As the article says, ". . .experience the thrill of blasting yourself face first into the water from 30-feet up"
As the article says, ". . .experience the thrill of blasting yourself face first into the water from 30-feet up"
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