KDC-Info: Web & Personal Notes: Keith D Commiskey

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2010-04-06T22:52:00.001-05:00

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Good Work is Hard To Find

2009-09-17T08:26:00.002-05:00

Recently had my teeth whitened, and my two front (non-vital) teeth fixed with a chairside veneer. From where my teeth were at, the Dentist did an awesome job. I'd been wanting to do this for about 15 years now. And in finally able to do so, I just wanted to pay tribute to a job well done by Dr. Lide in Richardson, TX.

My Review of Dr Lide and his staff

White Collar Comedy

2009-07-24T00:18:00.003-05:00

I was wondering today how come White Collar Comedy never became popular as Blue Collar Comedy has. Then it occurred to me that it probably failed 2 days into beta testing.

Now that's funny right der!

[Keith's click at humor]

They don't call me Ctrl-C for nuthin'! Well, okay, I call myself that. But for good reason. If you don't know, in computer terms, Ctrl-C cancels a DOS command or batch file. And I've canceled so many times, I guess that qualifies me as a self-starter. You catching all this?

[Flash humor: It's quick]

Speaking of pre-loaders...

And here I was wondering why white collar comedy probably wouldn't go too far.

Okay, I am giving the comedy back to the professionals now... I know, I wasn't supposed to attempt this at home. Sorry :(

Unfortunately, I could only find one professional worth watching on the subject:
Frank King - Clean Corporate Comedy

Simple Site Catalog - Now introducing Release 2.71

2009-07-19T23:06:00.002-05:00

Simple Site Catalog, newly released 2.71

The Simple Site Catalog is a powerful yet simple and affordable online web store building system which offers a multitude of options, including a built-in CMS (content management system), and built-in multi-product editor.

Release 2.71 includes spam control in forms, an inventory manager, an updated Google Base updater, master password, master password updates, and validation reworks for transitional types, along with a few other fixes and updates from the last release (2.6x). An optional new HTML editor works on multiple browsers. The Simple Site Catalog also provides for static pages (unfortunately this is not available on all servers, and requires a moderate level of web development knowledge.)

In addition to the release of 2.71, both KDC-Info Simple Site Catalog add-ons, the Web Links Categorization module and Wholesale Administration Filter module, have also been updated to accommodate the new catalog release.

Last Day on World of Warcraft (WoW)

2009-07-05T14:46:00.003-05:00

06/15 (Mon): Last Day of World of Warcraft (WoW)

When I first started WoW, I enjoyed exploring new grounds, seeing new things, and just learning the basics of the game. In the end, I just enjoyed the questing, and then the goal to get to 80. I'm not sure the difference between levels 1-40 and 70-80, but my guess is there was just too much to cover (and enjoy by myself) in the end. 40-70 was most enjoyed when I was able to group with my brother-in-law.

Well, without a line drawn for someone's end game, there isn't one, so I drew mine at getting to level 80. I'm back now in life to where I was prior to WoW... going over the 20+ things in life that I enjoy doing most (besides playing WoW). But I did so enjoy the break in life WoW provided for me. Perhaps I'll create a similar break in life in the years to come.

Business Trip to San Fran

2009-07-03T17:11:00.002-05:00

Landed in SF just before noon on Sunday. It was a good trip. Talked quite a bit with the lady next to me. She was a teacher from Indianapolis. Was also going to SF (first time to Cali) on business. Spoke of her husband and one of her 2 kids. I did a little on the computer and played a bit on PSP. A good flight.

Carol picked me up. I had to go downstairs 'cause she thought I came out the baggage claim section. Spending time with her, my mom and dad, Angel, and seeing Jasmyne for the first time was awesome. I had a great, great day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were long, long days. Tuesday after work I walked down to Market and back. Had a few Sierra Nevada's at O'Briens. Wednesday I walked over to Townsend to check out the loft where I worked at Xybernaut Corporation in late 1996. Had some more Pale Ale at O'Briens. I also stayed out way too late and spent way too much - last time I do that. And now my legs are killing me, and I forgot about the bay area breeze... it was pretty freaking cold both nights. So I believe I caught a bit of a cold too.

I learned a LOT while I was there, and was able to get some stuff done as well. We have a LOT to get done in the coming months, so it'll be interesting to see how and if I'm able to contribute, be it locally or back in SF.

The departure plane was late in taking off (something about a coffee maker leak), and on arrival, although they made up the time in the air, we sat on the tarmac for about 20 additional minutes. Sitting in the middle is not the best place to sit when on an airplane for 4+ hours.

I got back home Thursday night, and Rosco hasn't left my side since. After experiencing what I'm sure was a bagful of emotions; confusion, loneliness, boredom, anxiety, etc., now I think he's just mad at me and relieved at the same time.

I'm also exhausted. So I'm grateful I'm now on a 3-day weekend. Think I'll be sleeping through most of it.

I Miss Century Bank (aka, I now have ATM Fees [fees being plural])

2009-06-04T20:49:00.003-05:00

Recently, Wells Fargo acquired Century Bank. My first withdrawl at a Non-Wells Fargo ATM produced these results on my balance sheet.

NON-MEMBER ATM FEE - ATM USAGE = $3.00 (the ATM fee itself)

NON-WF ATM BAL INQUIRY FEE = $1.50 (for having the ATM tell me my balance)

NON-WELLS FARGO ATM TRANSACTION FEE = $2.50 (for withdrawing $... isn't that double jeopardy, double indemnity, double taxation, or double something or other?)

$7.00 to make a withdraw at a Non-Wells Fargo ATM.

I so miss Century Bank! They not only didn't charge ATM fees, they reimbursed the any ATM fees charged. Are there any Century Bank-types still out there?

* I tried Chase, and after hearing all their fees, I reconsidered, and they wanted $25 to close my account if done within 90 days of opening it. And b/c I decided against it, and wasn't going to do direct deposit, it was gonna be a $6/mo service charge. I had to put it on my calendar to remember to close it after paying them $12 to avoid paying the $25.

* Bank of America lost me when they took my ATM card when I learned what a wash was, and they wanted to 'teach me a lesson' (this was a long time ago, but I know they're still too big to be much different than WF). Not to mention they were the first to sponsor loans for illegal aliens without social security numbers. Wells Fargo also joined the openness for such loans. I want a home loan without providing my SSN!

* Viewpoint lost me when they were Community Credit Union, and the lady left someone's filled out application on the desk in front of me when she went to go get me something, Social Security number, full name, address, the whole 9 yards.

Century Bank was awesome! I understand they were local to Dallas, but perhaps there is another similar bank that's nationwide?

Merriam-Webster

2009-02-28T23:24:00.002-06:00

My first impression was, you can't be serious... Merriam-Webster is supporting Pizza Hut? Upon further examination, it was just a sponsored (keyword) advertisement.

Upon even further examination, I found it interesting that:

The Right-Wing definition date was: 1856
The Left-Wing definition date was: 1884

And I suppose I should transition that part over to my "and the Moral of the Story is..." blog, but I'll leave it here just the same.

Movies: Surround Lighting

2009-01-23T23:08:00.003-06:00

They do 5.1 and 7.1 audio. I'm wondering when 2.1 or 4.1 lighting will be available? Even if just in the movie theaters to start. I saw some reflections during a shootout while watching Bangkok Dangerous, and it was cool. Looked like the gunfire was coming from my side. I now have 5.1 surround, so seeing those slight reflections... talk about total immersion!

The .1 would be the main screen.
2. would be sides-front
4. would be sides-back

Perhaps then there could be a .2, with the second primary directly behind the audience.

Job Reductions Lead to LinkedIn.com

2008-11-09T16:50:00.004-06:00

Last Tuesday, I was caught between a 10% reduction in force and a company restructure. While I believe this will catapult me into learning new technologies and methodologies, trying to find the company that has an accommodating position can be a daunting task. In the meantime, I've picked up knowledge of more networking technologies, the latest of which is LinkedIn.

Feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile, my online resume, or any of my other profile-related links. I'm hopeful I will be helping to benefit another company soon, and will be tireless in my search to do so.

LinkedIn Profile

Online Resume

WEB DEVELOPMENT EXAMPLES
- Web Utilities
- Simple Web App
- 3rd Party Catalog Tool

GRAPHICS EXAMPLES
- Images and Renderings
- Computer Animations
- Logos and Promos

30' x 40' Earth Berm Passive Solar House in Central Maine

2008-10-29T11:15:00.001-05:00

A friend from work moved north to get back to his roots. Although I do believe consulting contractors might facilitate the process in many ways, I totally admire his dedication and willingness to do something on such a large scale, and wish him success in this endeavor. This is his story:I bought 10 acres of forest and a John Deere backhoe this spring. I then started building the footers for my 30' x 40' earth berm, passive solar, insulated slab house. My friend and I are doing this ourselves, no contractors.

read more | digg story

What's Wrong with America?

2008-10-14T12:11:00.002-05:00

American Express held a vote in which it's members would decide on where it would donate large sums of money. This is an excellent gesture and a most gracious award for the winners. Many kudos to American Express in doing this.

The results just came in and I was quite dismayed. I guess I shouldn't have because I've been shocked before with the mentality of voters (gas taxes vs public transportation; Bush vs Kerry). Perhaps I'm just far too biased being this touched on the number one topic in my life; education. That said, here were the results:

$1.5 million for 1st place goes to (24,101 votes):
Alzheimer's Disease: Early Detection Matters and its fulfilling organization, Alzheimer's Association

$500,000 for 2nd place goes to (20,650 votes):
Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom! and its fulfilling organization, DonorsChoose.org

Not to make light of Alzheimers, but in my opinion, when should education play second fiddle to anything else? Never! At least not for the next 50-100 years. If I'd had my education to do over again, when I was 5 I would have asked to be sent overseas (not exactly sure where, but I've heard there are quite a few countries that place a high value [not just cost] on education).

Outside of that, I understand American Express wants to get their members involved, which is a great thing, but don't they have an idea of what they consider important? I would hope that their priorities might be a bit more in order than their members.

Politics > Match-O-Matic

2008-10-04T13:11:00.002-05:00

Have fun with this. It lets you know how much selective listening you really do. Have you already made your selection? If so, is your selection really based on the 'promises' made by either party?

It'd be nice if they did more of these blind tests.

Match-O-Matic - Copyright © 2008 ABCNews Internet Ventures

The Debate - 2008

2008-09-26T23:15:00.005-05:00

Okay, I didn't want to do this, but this is frustrating. I'm a democrat, but I have no issues voting Republican or even Independent, depending on who I consider appropriate for the position, or worst case, against who isn't appropriate. I was pro-Bush in his first term, but vehemently against him for his second term (glad I was, but very sorry enough other folks didn't agree).

Here are just some of my thoughts on my frustration with some of the views I'm hearing (although it still seems split). There are a lot of people that have already made their decision, and so are nit-picking things that in anyone else's lap would never be thought twice about. Guess you can consider these my nits.

Didn't Bush have military experience? That got us far. I'm pretty sure a POW of 5 years will yield even better experience.

What experience does Senator Palin have should she have to take the CIC position?

Has no one considered, politics being a "Good Ole Boy" network, Palin wouldn't be pigeon-holed?

If McCain disagrees with supporting Bush, how does Bush feel about that? (which it was shown as fact he has agreed 90% of the time.)

Are you more concerned about the economy (D)? Or foreign affairs and corporations (R)?

If Bush were running again, going down as one of the worst presidents in American history, would folks still be anti-Obama?

Speaking of anti-Obama, what happend to being pro-McCain? I've heard commentators speaking about Obama's gray hair? Huh?

Obama flipping. That's funny. McCain is a much bigger flipper than most politicians. (I heard that on a news talk radio show 6 months ago.)

Obama didn't mention economic cuts? False. He mentioned cutting the billions we're spending on a false war in Iraq that McCain still thinks we can win. There are no winners in war. Doesn't he know that having his military experience?

I cringe to think we can make it another 4 years under (current) Republican leadership.

With as long as he's been in office, and as old as he is, can/will McCain really make "change" enough to get us out of our rut? Change typically isn't associated with life-long "experience".

I'm so looking forward to the VP debate. Especially for the women voting just because there's a woman in the race. Can anyone really separate their ideals from reality? Although I'm sure there will be tidbits folks will highlight whatever they can grab.

As with any minority, women included, this really shows you have to do twice as well as the non-minority participant in order to come up even in the best case.

In a debate, will the opposing party always disagree with every single thing? Agreeing in this case was an attempt to show bipartisanship. Oh my!

If McCain wins, and we get no better, or Lord forbid we get worse, will all the folks that backed him still back the next (R), as those that supported Bush in his second term are now supporting McCain? If so, how many years of doing badly will it take for folks to vote for reality (or worst case, a leap of faith in someone new) over their ideals?

Okay, I'm done. (For now anyways.)

Forgetting Friends

2008-09-11T15:33:00.002-05:00

For about 18 years now I've had a specific memory plague me which ironically was due to the lack of many memories. For whatever reason, I don't have a clue why, my memories of high school are few and far between. And unfortunately, this doesn't preclude the lack of all my memories with some of my then very good (and near 'only') friends. I was a loaner of some sorts, and the number of friends I considered close were few. A few of these great friends I carried on into my adult life. I even kept in touch at various times with some of them (and still do with a couple). A couple others stayed in my mind only.

Although there were more than one, the particular friend that I write of now, and think of at least once a month (along with those I did remember), is one that I spent near all my time with during and after school. We were even great football teammates. And yet, regrettably, is one I lost in my mind.

My high school is one that actually did a 5-year reunion. Despite the better judgment I used for school dances, I went. All went fairly well during the beginning of the reunion, until one of my best friends walked up and asked if I remembered him. Again, this was only 5 years after graduation (6 actually for me 'cause I dropped out my first month of my senior year). My mind went blank. And I mean absolutely blank. The ONLY person I could think of was another friend I had in 5th/6th grade, and that's the name I guessed. Wrong!

Embarrased? No. Ashamed. And to make it worse, I can't describe the number of emotions he went through in the next 30 seconds. I'm sure anger was in there somewhere. His best friend that he was always with who was also my friend by proxy was with him, and I couldn't recall his name either. I've never gone or even considered going to another reunion again.

Half of my issue is I didn't have any yearbooks to look through. But that's just an excuse. You don't forget your true friends - ever! At least that's the stance I would have taken if I weren't in my shoes.

I've rationalized this situation a lot since it happened. I know I see my life in blocks, chunks, chapters, or even mini-stories. High school is the one short story that has most of it's pages missing. Singed page fragments of a scorched book.

Obviously there's a reason for it, but in my mind, there's no taking it back or excusing it. Because the thick of it is, I should have stayed in touch in the first place.

The only thing I could ever do is to wholeheartedly say, I'm sorry.

So, Cliff Salonga, if you ever read this, I am truly sorry. I have no idea where my memories went, but they did indeed go. I did find a yearbook later on, and was able to recollect some of the memories through a few photos (one in particular taken with our group during a class break). It was then I also remember how many M&Ms I used to eat.

How I can ever forget as much as I have, even if I can ever understand it, will never forgive it.

Second Life; World of Warcraft

2008-05-30T10:50:00.002-05:00

I can't find it, but I watched part of a news segment last night on CNN that discussed the psychological impact (both negatively and positively) of virtual worlds on people. First discussing Doom, they moved into more current games such as Vice City, and then branched into a 10-15 minute spiel on how Second Life is wonderful for marketing and making money. How one lady went from $35,000/year in real life to $85/year online designing her own clothing line, and a guy was doing six figures/year in online consulting for advertising and marketing agencies. Then they moved into a 2-minute blurb on World of Warcraft and how this couple had met in WoW, and then got married. They then moved back to discuss the financial benefits of Second Life.

My wife asked, "So you meet people in that game you play?" (I've been playing WoW since January.) I hope she well understood when I mentioned how hilariously flipped the news segment was. Having played both, I found Second Life to be the social network where folks "venture out", all the while constantly being asked about your first life. World of Warcraft was a pleasant change from what was becoming a fairly seductive environment where every girl is a knockout and every guy is the basis for masculine pleasantries. No one asked about real life except perhaps the occasional "What part of the world are you in?" and perhaps a "How old are you?" (Keeping language in perspective should you be grouped with a 10-year old.) But near all of the game is about discussing your in-world characters and I haven't found there to be as much "socialism" as there was in Second Life. Well, then again, I did hear a story about a guy that was stabbed in the leg (in real life) during game play. People do vent and share some RL things, but again, nothing like what I saw in Second Life.

I wish I could find the article that portrayed these two online virtual worlds in the way it was. Granted, WoW isn't going to make you too much money in RL (not that it can't), but the world of Second Life isn't "as much" about marketing and making money as it has become about socializing and "venturing out". There's a reason every girl is a knockout and every guy is the basis for masculine pleasantries. And there's a reason World of Warcraft is one of the top online virtual games to date, and it doesn't have very much to do with finding your soul mate.

iGoogle Themes

2008-05-06T11:35:00.003-05:00

Do you Google? You need to be signed in to Google be able to see this...

http://www.google.com/ig?skin=http://kdcinfo.com/ig.xml

This is just something I threw together to test the iGoogle Themes development arena. Fairly simple really. Still considering whether it's worth it to go further on the layout: What is where and color scheme. I just did this up pretty quick to test the waters. I also didn’t go through all the attributes that can be set.

Short of getting a theme added to the iGoogle Theme Directory, which can take a little doing, there is an "iGoogle Theme Manager" gadget you can add to your page to add this or similar themes [semi]-permanently. When you add the gadget to an iGoogle page, allow it access*, and add the URL above to the list. I also did up a work-related test theme, but I'm not sure I can post that here publicly.

* Allowing the iGoogle Theme Manager gadget access: Aside from the general iGoogle cookies that are shared, I couldn’t find any security issues or risks. It does seem however that iGoogle developers have given it their blessing.

Note 1: The centered image in the footer appears to be "off" in IE. However, it looks good in FireFox. (At the time of this posting anyway.)

Note 2: I tried to see if Yahoo! had something similar I could toy with, but was unsuccessful in my search.

Multi-Page Notebook App

2008-05-01T13:56:00.002-05:00

The only open source equivalent I found for this program was discontinued back in 2004. Although the obsolete version of the app still runs on XP, I’m not sure about scalability for when we downgrade to Vista. Also, don’t believe either of these apps runs outside of Windows at all (short of wine, sorry *nix buffs, but then you probably have one built in  ).

What it is:

RightNote is a multi-page notebook that allows you to store and organize an unlimited number of notes in one file.

Each page contains a hierarchical tree which can contain virtually an unlimited number of notes.

Each page can be devoted to a different category, and typically you'll find you don't need more than one or two files to organize most things in your life!

Small-fee Commercial Notebook App: RightNote
http://www.bauerapps.com/RightNote.html

Discontinued Open Source Notebook App: KeyNote
http://sourceforge.net/projects/keynote/

I’ll be shelling out the $20 for this (or $30 if I don't make it in time for the special deal). I already shelled out $30 for an Explorer replacement (xplorer2: http://zabkat.com/ ) and I’ve been more than happy with that.

Gary Gygax, 'Father of D&D,' Dies at 69

2008-03-26T09:38:00.002-05:00

"He was like the cool uncle that every gamer had. He shaped an entire generation of gamers." - Mike Mearls, Lead developer of the upcoming 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.4.0
In Memoriam: Gary Gygax

* Blizzard Entertainment would like to dedicate this patch in memory of Gary Gygax. His work on D&D was an inspiration to us in many ways and helped spark our passion for creating games of our own.

Blizzard's latest patch (2.4.0) opened a new area (Sunwell Isle), as well as a new tournament area (Global Arena Tournament) for level 70s.

World of Warcraft

2008-02-26T12:02:00.010-06:00

The game is afoot! Care to join? Just let me know. I can provide you with a 10-day free pass to the greatest multi-player online game of this century to date. Okay, that's subjective, but you'll agree as soon as you create your character and learn the ways of their culture.

I have a family of characters, for which each one provides their own level of exciting adventure paths and abilities. You can click on their name to see more detailed stats about them.

You can also follow their progress in my newly created "Dragnist Family blog.

Dragnist Family - Antemortem
Doujhe	[doo-hey]	Alliance	Human	Paladin
Engineering / Mining		family favorite
Da'ajhn	[d'-on]	Alliance	Night Elf	Druid
Alchemy / Herbalism		youngest brother
Dehstni	[dest-knee]	Alliance	Draenai	Warrior
n/a		the only lady
Dejhde	[d'-shde]	Horde	Undead	Warlock
Alchemy / Herbalism		eldest brother; always up to no good
Duujhn	[doon]	Horde	Blood Elf	Hunter
n/a		Dejhde's follower

Cannot empty the clipboard.

2007-11-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

Cannot empty the clipboard.

Well, I finally found a solid solution for this error (so far as I know for now). I tested this near 50 times and about 5 different ways.

I've read LOTS of message posts on this, and not one has suggested this. Although one came close by suggesting to leave a copy of MS Word open (if the problem is happening in Excel). Unfortunately, this problem has been known to happen in Word also.

My solution? Ready for it? Here it is...

Open the clipboard, and leave it open (but minimized).

How to open the clipboard? There should be a file in your system32 folder named "clipbrd.exe". Double-click it. Or, you might be able to "Run" (Win-R, or Start->Run) the "clipbrd.exe" command (minus the quotes).

Please note that this solution is primarily for anyone with this issue that isn't running the Get Right Monitor, or you're not running remote desktop (rdclip) and/or terminal services.

DirecTV vs Dish Network

2007-09-21T23:36:00.000-05:00

In a follow-up to my AT&T DirecTV Home Entertainment blog post:

Although I would still love to have access to FIOS, we were recently forced to switch from AT&T HE over to Dish Network via Ygnition. Although skeptical of a company I've heard nothing about (which is why we didn't go with them when we first moved in), we had no choice. Living in an apartment has a lot of upsides (for us anyway), but this is one of the downsides.

However, surprisingly, I like them. The pricing is still ridiculous if you get a SetTop per TV (which we had to do with AT&T HE). With AT&T HE we had no choice but to get a SetTop per TV because you couldn't get local channels without it (at least not anything worthwhile, and we speak very little Spanish). But with Dish Network, we get every single channel we could want without a SetTop box. So, we only got one for the living room. Pricing is still high with only one box, but it's better than AT&T HE with 4.

Although changing channels is normal without the SetTop box, changing channels with one is a bit slow. But it's bearable with the speedier menu.

And what's best (aside from local channel availability), the menu system is what I was hoping for with DirecTV. It even looks like it was created in the 21st century! The box does too :)

All in all, I'm glad we were forced to switch, but we'll most likely still be considering moving in the next 6 months or so. I'm hoping we won't be restricted to a particular school district this time. But no matter where, if FIOS isn't available, we'll certainly be hoping Dish Network/Ygnition is.

Tribute to Reba on CMT

2007-09-16T23:53:00.000-05:00

Tribute to Reba on CMT - 09/16/2007
Such class. Such beauty. So much emotion! So inspirational!!!

Lorreta! Dolly!
Such class. Such beauty. So much emotion! So inspirational!!!

I love everything from folk to hip-hop, and am mostly an 80's person, yet country always grabs my heart and soul.

I see these artists, I see talent, professionalism, and such beauty...

LinksManager Raising Monthly Price

2007-09-14T15:14:00.001-05:00

Looks like LinksManager is raising their pricing, starting immediately, from $19.95 to $29.95. I could barely justify the $19.95 per month for a recip link checker. Was curious if anyone else felt $30/month is worth it? Or am I just being a little overly self-conscious with my monthly allotments and priorities?

read more | digg story

Change Your Passwords

2007-05-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

It is highly recommended to change your passwords so that they are at least 8 characters in length, provided you at least include a number or two, and one or two capital letters.

Some good password information pages are at:

Great strength checker
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx

Good advice, but don't use the checker (the one
above is better b/c you don't have to 'submit' it)
http://www.securitystats.com/tools/password.php

Consider changing your passwords today! Consider your e-mail, ftp, computer login, network login, router/access point (14 or 15 recommended), and any other passwords you might have.

And don't put them under your keyboard! :o