Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Using Snadboy's Revelation

Using Snadboy's Revelation can help you in some situations, but it doesn't always work.

Just a quick update on my A+ Certification training, because I couldn't think of which blog to put it in!

Last week I began my A+ Certification training which my company is paying for. I'll blog more about that in a different post. Anyway, the instructor showed us a tool for recovering passwords that a client/user has forgotten because it has been automatically saved into their software.

Scenario: You have been asked to move the email for your client from their old computer to the new computer and finish setting up the software. Problem is, the client doesn't remember the password.

Solution: With Snadboy's Revelation, you can reveal the password that is hidden in a password text box (hidden by asterisks). Its quite a simple tool, accept I haven't got it to work yet.

The demonstration in class was simple enough. Very handy. Last night at home I downloaded and installed it on a USB key (the only files you need are the .dll and .exe). I tried it on my Google Notify window, but it would reveal the password. Ok, so its not perfect.

I tried it at work this morning because I have another actual use for it.

Scenario
: I have a number of websites configured in Dreamweaver, and they all have the password save into the server settings. One site I haven't updated in a long time and I recently started updating it and I wanted to be able to update it from home. Except I don't remember the password. So that would leave me with only being able to update it at work, which isn't too useful. (The story is more complicated than that but I'll leave it at that.)

So I installed my USB drive to try and run the program and a dialog box said "File not found" appeared. I checked behind the dialog box after closing it and sure enough it was gone. Turns out my Symantec Antivirus deleted the file off my USB key because it treats it as a Hack Tool!

I went into settings and the default action for HackTools is to Quarantine the file. I tried changing it to "Leave Alone". Then I installed the utility again on my hard drive, and again Symantec deleted the file!

Luckily, I just tried playing with Symantec again and I was able to restore the file, but who knows if it will get deleted again.

(NOTE: I don't have full control over Symantec, its installed remotely be our IT people)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Wedding plans and classes

If you didn't know it already, I'm getting married in June of this year and the planning is well under way.

This weekend we met with the photographer and went over the order of the photos, and the meeting only took half an hour. It took us 1h45min to get there! That's ok though since we had dinner with the in-laws, which are really great people, I'm very lucky... and so are they! Yesterday we picked up some shower gifts that my parents and sister had sent down (they live 5 hours away) since the shower is in 2 weeks so that was fun. Had to go back a second time because the guy at Home Outfitter forgot one of the boxes! But we did get a nice rug for my computer room here in the rec room.

Then we addressed all the envelopes and put together all the invitations. Most were already made we just had to add the reply card and envelope, but even that didn't take very long so the invitations should go out in the mail tomorrow. And that means we didn't have to mess with them today!

But we did have to do yard work today :( Finally time to get outside when it wasn't raining. We didn't get all the weeds but at least the garbage is gone and the leaves are raked... and even the front flower beds are done.

Next week should be good, but it will be busy. Classes are finally over (I work at a university) but I'll begin my Comptia A+ Computer Hardware/Software Technician certification training. For the next 17 days or so, my afternoons (12:30 - 4:30) are dedicated to learning how to fix, install and troubleshoot computers! No big deal, I've been doing it for years, even though its not technically part of my current duties. But there is a chance I could create a new course after this and teach it to some of our computer students! So nothing wrong with upgrading skills that could lead to better pay in the future. Or something like that anyway.

I've heard the tests aren't that hard, and I already know most of the material, but the tests have been updated as of 2006. I've already gone through some of the readings and it is a mixture of old and new stuff but I feel even the old stuff is still relevant... I've had to work with it in the past so I know what's out there.

Even got a computer from my future father-in-law that will be donated to my future wife's museum (she works at one) so I get to practice my computer technician skills on it. Actually, right now it won't boot of the Windows XP Home CD without keyboard interaction, and the only keyboard I had around is my Apple USB keyboard and unfortunately, the USB ports don't kick in when it tries to boot of the CD or the floppy. So I'm going to download a Linux LiveCD and see what I can do.

Wish me luck! What brand of Linux do you use? Leave feedback in the comments!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Have you seen my manhood?

When I got home from work today, I wasn't too hungry (big lunch, bad stomach) so I snacked a bit while reading some articles in the recent issue of Women's Health that my fiancee had laying on the table.

Then:

  • I fixed the shower curtain
  • I folded and put away the laundry
  • I through out old clothes that don't fit anymore (put them in storage for donation/sale)
  • Cleaned the bathroom
  • Dusted the ceiling fan in the bedroom
  • Watched the Women's Network while eating a bowl of frozen yogurt.
  • Now where did that manhood of mine go?

Gee I wonder when my next yoga class is ... ok maybe fixing the shower curtain was more manly.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Stand up for Tibet: A Moment of Action




I never expected to blog about the situation in Tibet, but I find myself suddenly moved to do so. For the article that made me think, read Pema Chodron's article at
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/80893.

On March 31st I had received a message via one of the mailing lists I'm on for LampOnThePath.org, the organization I received my Five Tibetan Yoga Facilitator training from. It was a message from an organization affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Just checking my old messages... it was from Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW).

It was asking people to take part in Stand Up For Tibet, which simply entails that you stand up for a minute, or a few seconds, or as long as you can holding a Tibetan flag or just a piece of paper with the word "Tibet" on it.

I figured since I read the email a few days late (I am notorious for being behind in my email) it as now the 31st so I decided to do it. I'm not exactly new to activism, although the only thing I've done lately was show up for a rally to support some of my co-workers who are on strike (separate bargaining unit, I'm still required to be at work so yes, I had to cross a picket line but not to do their work).

I found an image of the Tibetan flag then went down to the main courtyard of the building I work in. Since I was the only one there, holding a printed flag with the words "Free Tibet" underneath it I didn't feel silly, but I did feel incredibly uncomfortable. Talk about moving out of your comfort zone! After only 3 or 4 minutes, I couldn't really take it anymore and I went back to my office. I cut the "Free Tibet" part off the flag and then taped the flag to my door.

Note:
You can find out more about the flag of Tibet here:
http://www.tibet.com/flag.html

And a large image of the flag that might be good for printing can be found here:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Flag_of_Tibet.svg

All sorts of things went through my head. How would the Chinese people I work with react? Are they anti-Tibet? Pro-communist? Would I get any flack from people? I have to really learn how to stand up for myself (and others!) if its something I believe in. Regardless of consequences.

Just another one of the many issues I have to deal with and hopefully transform I suppose.

Namaste.

PS: On a local note, the KW Lama Yeshe Ling Buddhism study group will be putting an event together to show support for Tibet so if you are interested in finding out what they plan, let me know by posting a comment or emailing me.

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A day in the life of a blogger: What's it like?

I was fiddling around on the web today during some down time at work when I came across a blog by skinnyjeans who had written about how her obsessive blogging had caused her insomnia. She writes about other great things too. Mainly I was drawn to the article because I have been thinking about how to monetize my blog and wondering how much money can really be made, regardless of what web-gurus try and tell you about problogging.

Her comments don't make it sound like the prospects are good.

She seems to have an interesting site, with lots of ads, and targetted content that appeals to niche markets (female bloggers). She has multiple blogs, but she doesn't appear to making all the money that the web-gurus state is out there.

What I did find useful (possibly in another article) is her description of "the Big 4": the four biggest topics of blogs are technology, politics, celebrity gossip and business. Unfortunately lifestyle blogs are not in the top 4, and what you are reading right now happens to be mainly a lifestyle blog, but hey, now it has a term associated with it!

It does appear however that I'm lucking out due to my situation in terms of blogging, though not necessarily for reasons that I'm altogether happy about:
  • I'm male (actually I have no complaints that I'm male)
  • I'm a geek (or more specifically, technically oriented)
According to skinnyjeans, men have it easy when it comes to getting traffic (although I have read some of her other posts that deal with the total assholes that seem to live on the net and I try not to be one of them).

The other benefit is one I never really considered until the past few weeks. I have been hoping that one day I too will not work with computers or technology, but I happen to very good at it, and I should learn to take my skills as the gifts that they are. Since technology is a market that lends itself very well to blogging, I think I do have skills that can be shared with others, be of use, and possibly lead to passive income!

And since I actually do enjoy playing with new technologies and writing about how to use them so that everyone can understand it (which is in fact, what I get paid to do on a daily basis in a sense) than I really could get paid for doing what I enjoy, which is really what I was looking for in the first place.

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