Steve Holden's Blog

Getting - Busy Four Day Weekend Recommendation

This Memorial Holiday weekend in San Diego looks very busy for us.  When things start to look like they might get potentially out of control with the family schedule, I've found I like to have a 'low-tech paper' calendar for the family to look at in the kitchen. 

I usually print out a couple of pages for each day of the weekend using a 'day keeper'  template from DIY Planner.  But since today is an off day from work, it is really a four day weekend, and a four-up Hipster DIY Planner page can get all the information I need on sheet.

I just printed a single page, and add all the stuff I know is suppose to happen. Now when Christy gets back from volunteering at the kids' school, she can get her items on there, and in theory, we should be pretty well scheduled. 

Have a great weekend! You can follow mine via twitter if you want.

Executive Staffing With Stay-At-Home Moms

Sue Shellenbarger @ WSJ.com recently had a very interesting article in her Work & Family column called "How Stay-at-Home Moms Are Filling An Executive Niche." 

I think this idea is extremely beneficial for both the consultant and the business.  The consultant gets to keep their skills current and in use. The business gets access to "C-level" expertise at an extremely reasonable rate.

Some links mentioned in the article:

• FlexibleExecutives.com
• FlexibleResources.com
• FlexexperienceConsulting.com
• MomCorps.com
• On-Ramps.com

Moving From Microsoft Outlook To Macintosh Mail & Address Book

I just read a Walt Mossberg's Mailbox article about how to move from a Windows PC to an Apple Macintosh when you have a great deal of information in Microsoft Outlook, and it reminded me of the work around I came up with recently.

Christy recently migrated from a Windows XP based laptop to an iBook G4 with Leopard.  And she was using Microsoft Outlook on the PC for email and contacts.

I moved over all her email using Google GMAIL's IMAP service.  This was pretty easy, because once I had the IMAP account configured on Outlook I could just drag and drop the emails she wanted on her Mac.  Then I fired up the Mail client in Leopard and configured it for the same IMAP account, and I was done.

I figured I could use the export functions in Microsoft Outlook to get me a contacts file that would import into Apple's Address Book, but every file I tried ended up hanging when I tried to import on the Macintosh.

So, I came up with this work around. 

I went into Microsoft Outlook's contact view on the PC, and did a select all.  And then did a right mouse click to Send vCard of all the selected contacts.  This created a new email message with all her contacts vCards.  I then selected all the 'attachments' and saved them to a folder locally on the PC.  I then copied the folder to a USB flash drive and moved them to her Macintosh.  She then clicked through that folder and added the people she wanted into the Leopard Address Book.  Pretty easy and it also cut down on some clutter in her new Address Book because she picked just the vCards to import that she wanted.

Walt suggested a $10 tool from Little Machines' O2M (Outlook To Mac).  I haven't used the tool but from what I read on their site it appears to be a possible alternative solution.

Multi-Topic Update: San Diego Fires, Jersey Boys, Technology

The last week or so has been extremely crazy and busy. 

First up the San Diego Wild Fires (aka FireStorm 2007) have been all consuming, and I'm happy to report that my immediate & extended family, friends, and co-workers in the San Diego area have been spared major hardships.  But our hearts go out to those who lost love ones or their homes.  The fire fighters and public safety folks have been outstanding and they deserve a ton of credit & praise.  Thanks!

The weirdest thing about the fires, was that during the whole time it was going on, Christy and I have been in Jersey Boys heaven.  They have released a new Jersey Boys Book, Frankie Valli has an excellent new album out called "Romancing the 60's", the touring cast is in San Diego, and we traveled to New York City (NYC) / New Jersey (NJ) on Sat. 10/20 returning Tue. 10/23 for the Fan Tribute and to interview Tommy DeVito. And did we mention we've seen the musical three times in six days: Fri. 10/19 (Opening Night in San Diego), Sun. 10/21 (Broadway), and Wed. 10/24 (Cast Talk Back in San Diego).  Yes ... we are crazy.

Lastly a quick update on some technology stuff.  Things are still going on over at TechNewsRadio but a little slower than I'd like.  My fellow FriendsInTech members have put together another new Halloween special called "It's The Great Server Chuck and Kreg."

Other quick tech mentions:

I recently upgraded from a Cingular 8125 to an AT&T Tilt and I'm really loving the new phone with high speed 3G/UMTS/HSDPA connectivity plus Windows Mobile 6 and integrated GPS.  The camera is also a big improvement, as is the keyboard/button interfaces.

A couple of weeks ago I did upgrade my 8-GB 2nd Gen Apple iPod Nano to an 8-GB 3rd Gen Apple iPod Nano.  I have some unboxing pictures posted to Google.  I like the video option a great deal. I used it to watch dozens of video podcasts recently on the trip back to NYC/NJ.  I have also been using it a lot at home sitting in bed or by my computer using a DIY  Lego stand.

I have also picked up a copy of Apple's new OS X via Amazon.  I hope it gets here soon so I can rebuild my old G4 iBook for Christy and finally get her off of Windows XP and spare her the horror of Vista.

Recommendation - Family & Kid Camping In San Diego Area

Yesterday, I went with Conrad's 3rd grade class on a field trip to Indian Hills - a family and kids camp in East San Diego County. 

I took a ton of video and I plan to build them a little DVD scrapbook. 

But I was really impressed with the facilities and the things to do.  Check out the link above if you are interested.

Brewery Recommendation: Mad Anthony in Warsaw, Indiana

I am working through my stack of stuff to blog about and I am up to my endorsement of a great brewery in the Warsaw, Indiana area:

Mad Anthony's Lake City Tap House

113 East Center Street, Warsaw, Indiana 46580

574-268-2537

www.madbrew.com

We had a great dinner there, amazing microbrews, and a great cover band called The Fabulous Rhythm Kids was on stage for several hours. They played some very good rock and blues covers.

Book Reviews: Dead Sea Scrolls, Google, Freemasonry

I finished reading several potentially interesting books during our recent family vacation trip to Vashon Island, WA:

• Weston W. Fields "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Short History"
• David A. Vise & Mark Malseed "The Google Story"
• S. Brent Morris "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry"

I really have to recommend the Fields book on the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It is very well documented and historically interesting - plus it has some great pictures.  Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display in San Diego (through December 2007) which is the main reason I picked up the book.

The Google book is also recommended for those interested in technology, Internet history, and business & organizational ideas.  I personally only had a minor understanding of the history, technologies, and personalities related to Google so I found this book very interesting.

The Freemasonry book was entertaining but nothing spectacular.  I enjoyed it because my father and his father were Masons, and I learned a lot about what they probably went through.  The background history was interesting and I enjoyed the humor of the author.

 

Good Geek Birthday Presents

I got some great birthday presents today (Thanks family!):

• Logitech Wireless Music System for PC
• Upgrade to MindManager 7 for the Mac
• Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint Headphones
• R2D2 Star Wars Puzzle (Published in 1977 with original $1.68 price tag @ ToyRUs)

The Logitech Wireless Music System has been un-boxed but not installed.  Not sure how it will work with Vista.  Hopefully I'll have time to play with it tomorrow

The MindManager 7 upgrade is great.  I was in the Beta program and find it a great improvement over version 6, and more in-line with the Windows version minus the Microsoft Office integration.

The QuietPoint headphones are excellent.  They might be better than the Bose QuietComfort 2s I use to have before they were stolen. I've only used them around the office and in the jury waiting room today.  They worked great.  No airflight test yet. Maybe by the end of the month I can comment on that experience.

Stupid DRM Photos From JC Penny

I was shocked to learn that our 2006 family and kids Christmas pictures we took at JCPenny have digital rights management (DRM) features that makes it relatively impossible to scan into a visually usable graphics file using a recently purchased scanner.

When I scan them on my HP C3100 I end up with a grainy, very unattractive picture.  I was getting all mad at the scanner for sucking until I read the back of the pictures with the following warning: "Kodak Professional Endura Paper - Professional Images Are Copyright Protected - Do Not Copy."

Darn right frustrating! :-(

If there is a DIY hack, please let me know.  I'm off to investigate, and I'll keep you posted.

Two Stay At Home Dad Mistakes

I only managed two major stay at home dad mistakes yesterday:

• Drove about 0.5 miles from our home without strapping Carson in her car seat taking the boys to school in the morning.
• Picked Conrad up 15 minutes late at school.  He was so bummed that I couldn't even cheer him up with a slurpee.