Author: Lorin Olsen

Google Is The Center Of The Universe – Part II

Lorin Olsen

google-latitude
I am a casual user of Brightkite.  I use it to log into four or five different locations on a regular basis.  And I use it to do a couple of location-specific tasks – such as location posts and location photos.  But as a general rule, I use it only a handful of times each day.
But there are a couple of things I love about it:

  • Entering location data is easy.  I have a few dozen Placemarks set.  And I can enter my location by referencing one of my preset Placemarks.
  • Phone integration is quite mature. SMS data entry is a snap.  I can send an SMS message to a single phone number (after associating my phone with my Brightkite account).  Checking in is easy. And sending pictures and text are a breeze.

But I am not altogether thrilled with everything that Brightkite does.  Indeed, I have a couple of problems with it.  

  • I have to build a completely separate friend/follower base.  I hate this.  I want to have one friend/follower/contact base for all my social apps.  It’s not hard to use Brightkite’s functionality.  But it is yet another user database.
  • I have to use a separate user/password to signon to the service.  I really want a single signon or federated signon.
  • I really want my location solution to integrate with my mapping solution.  In this way, I can do dirctions and distance calculations simply.
  • I would love for my social systems and my location systems to work together.  Specifcally, I want to be able to IM or send tweets to folks that are around me.  And I’d love to have the ability to use XMPP as the infrastructure for these communications.  In that way, I can leverage the immense automation potential of Jabber-based systems.

Do I need another location-based system?  Probably not.  Do I want another location system?  M0st definitely.
Enter Google Latitude.
 This morning, Google told the world that Latitude was available for testing and use.  So I downloaded itand gave it a try.  Google Latitude does some things extremely well.

  • Google gets the basics right. I can check-in. And I love the fact that I can use Google Maps to put a pin where I am located.
  • Google does get the GPS fundamentals right.
  • Google has mobile clients for all the major phone platforms (although I am hearing that the iPhone client really needs a little help).
  • Google uses the single signon system that my other Google apps use.  More importantly, it can leverage OpenID in a federated model.
  • Google integrates with Google Talk.  Hence, it is XMPP-enabled.
  • Google integrates with Google Maps and Google Earth.

While it would be fair to say that Google has the framework and fundamentals right, it still needs to polish some of the rough spots.  In particular, the check-in process is particularly clunky – especially for phones w/o GPS.  Since GPS is avaialble on all “new” phones, Latitude reaches the tech savvy folks who like new toys.  But the reach is limited for those phones w/o GPS.  And the SMS functionality appears very immature.  There is no simple way to check in (via a service like Placemarks).  
Bottom Line: Google Latitude is a great first step.  It gets the fundamentals and infrastructure right.  But it really needs some work on the UI.  With a few more polishes to the UI, this WILL replace my Brightkite use.  But for now, I will use both and incur the overhead of doing the same thing twice.  This offering will force Brightkite to up its game or risk losing everything it has worked so hard to earn.
 
-Roo
P.S. Louis Gray has a great write up on Latitude and its impact upon Brightkite and Loopt.  His thoughs are available on his site.

Realtime Reporting Is Evolving…

Lorin Olsen

twitterfall…towards realtime collaboration.  And the transition is exciting.
Yesterday was a busy day at work.  It’s the busy time of year in the tax preparation business.  And I’m always multitasking: planning for next year’s systems, supporting systems we’ve deployed this year, and consulting on systems that are experiencing trouble at any given moment.
But even on busy days, there is time to multitask on other matters.  I knew that the Republican National Committee was holding their election for the new committee chairman.  And I really wanted to watch what was happening – in realtime.  As someone who uses social media as an avocation, I knew that there were ways of getting realtime feeds of data.  I did a little checking and found that three or four of my favorite commentators were live-blogging the event.  So I was quite excited.  
I remember when I used to go to state conventions and state committee meetings.  That was quite a while ago.  When I used to attend, there really were smoke-filled rooms.  Of course, many had smoke in them because I used to smoke a pipe.  But that’s a different story…  In the past, only an annointed few individuals were privvy to the rooms where important decisions were made.  If you were lucky, an enterprising reporter might post a story in a local paper.  And a few folks could get telephone updates from friends who were at the venue.  But you never had any realtime view into the process.
That all changed with the advent of the worldwide web.  And those changes accelerated with the introduction of blogs.  If you knew someone who was attending, you could get an update of events within a few hours.  And that was wonderful.  But while you could receive data faster, it was an evolution and not a revolution.
But the last four years have seen some important changes.  First, wireless phones have introduced the ability to get instant feedback (via SMS or the web).  Second, text messages have been augmented with the addition of rich media – including both audio and video.  Thid, everyone has these devices.  So anyone in attendance at a meeting can communicate.  These three shifts in communications have enabled everything I saw yesterday.  And live blogging has been a real difference maker.
This week’s RNC meeting was something altogether different.  Not only was there good communications (despite WiFi troubles at the hotel), but communications became multi-dimensional.  Live blogging has always meant that realtime posts could be sent from conferences and meetings.  But microblogging (using Twitter, Friendfeed and other tools) has meant that short and pithy bursts of info could be sent in realtime.  More importantly, short messages could be sent form the outside to the inside of the venue.  And this simple fact transformed everything.
I was sitting in Kansas City.  I was not in the meeting room.  But there were a few dozen people who were there and who were twittering the event.  And these people provded multiple views (and voices) about what was transpiring.  And I heard the voices of various operatives from many of the different candidates.  But more importantly, I and other people could send questions or engage in realtime conversations about what was transpiring.  This made those “on the outside” seem to be part of the process.  This fact alone should increase excitement and participation by those who couldn’t otherwise attend.  But I am sure that many people at the venue used the feedback from the remote audience as a means of gauging what the common folk might think of what was going on behind closed doors.  
Of course, the only folks who were engaged in the #rncchair discussions on Twitter were twitterati and cognoscenti.  But these folks were a fantastic proving ground for the technology.  And the growing applicability of this technology was apparent to all. Folks who had broadband connectivity and a larger screen were at a tremendous advantage.  They could provide and receive far more information for their use.  I am sure that the various candidates’ teams had various levels of technology.  And those with a good handle on the technology (i.e., those who posessed smartphones like iPhones and BlackBerries) were at an even great advantage.  [Note: It was clear that Saul Anuzis’ team stayed in the race for a long time because he had mastered many of the communications channels available to him.]
As technology becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous, more and more people will gain more and more advantage from these technologies.  And as the software and services become even more accessible (i.e., less complex) even more people will be able to take advantage of realtime participation.  
In the end, the technology alone did not make a deterministic difference.  Michael Steels won the race because he had a good plan and he executed it quite effectively.  Many folks will point to a specific reason that they think was critical for Steele’s success.  I won’t be so bold.  I wasn’t there.  But I know that Michael Steele didn’t lose the race due to an insufficient grasp on the communications technologies at his disposal.  Indeed, why else do you think Michael Steels was so visible as a Fox News contributor?  He knew the imporance of using communications tools to energize his base while broadening his reach.  And the communications tools available to us today helped to make that possible.
I’ll leave each of you the assignment to determine why Michael Steele won the chairmanship.  In the meantime, I used a variety of tools to stay”in the know” – Twitter, hashtags (specifically, #rncchair and #tcot), Twitter search (at http://search.twitter.com) and Twitterfall (http://www.twitterfall.com).  Twitterfall is fantastic.  It provided a realtime rolling (or falling) ticker of a particular conversation thread.  I was able to see who the talkers were as well as see who I should be following.  
And for those interested in metrics… By getting involved in this one event, I saw my overall follower count (on Twitter) grow by over 20%.  Of course, I started from a small base, but the real numbers were nonetheless impressive.  
Finally, I would like to reinforce an important point: I do like to send “thank you’s” to the folks that followed me as a result of this event.  I use SocialToo.com as a means of responding to all new followers.  It is a great tool to help “personalize” the process of nurtturing your following.  If you didn’t receive a “Thank You’ from me, drop me a note and I’ll send you a personalized email with my warmest thanks..
 
-Roo

For Better or Worse – Google Is The Center of the Universe

Lorin Olsen

I got up very early this morning (~5AM) to the whining dogs.  Our son had left a light on in the living room.  So the dogs woke up early to the light.  I dragged myself out of bed to give them a walk and then feed them.  After about thirty minutes of light chores, I settled down to the computer to start to put together a post about the RNC Chairman’s race (which I will do later).
Over night, I was converting one of my DVD’s to a video file I can use on a portabe player.  And everything was running very slowly.  And I mean verrrrry slooooowwwwwly. Normally, I can get a DVD converted in five or six hours. But this one was only six or seven percent complete after eight hours. And nothing was moving on my system.
bad_googleI had recently upgraded to Windows 7. So I figured that maybe there was some problem with Handbrake and Windows 7. So I got onto Google and did a quick search. I was then confronted with the fact that all of my search results were flagged as containing malware. That couldn’t be the case. After all, some of these sites were very trusted sites that I use all the time.
Google couldn’t be wrong. So maybe I had something on my local machine. So I started to run malware scans on my system. I ran both Malwarebytes as well as Spybot Search & Destroy. And everything was crawling along. So I started to get concerned that I had a more serious problem on my system. [Note: Paranoia is not always a good thing.  I was starting to see risks lurking on every sector of my hard drive.]
I started looking at the process list and noted that I had my anti-virus scan in progress. This was quite odd as the weekly scan normally completes it’s work very early every Saturday morning.  So I’m starting to get quite nervous. I must have some kind of “bad” bug that needed special eradication. I stpped the AV scan and saw that the video encoding started to move along. In fifty minutes, it had encoded a quarter of the file. So I’m figuring that Windows 7 Beta + Handbrake + a simultaneous AV scan may be a bad combination.
But what about the malware that Google tipped me off to? Since two different anti-malware tools proclaimed the cleanliness of my system, I started to relax. And since my video conversion was progressing, I stepped away from the computer for a couple of hours.  When I returned, things were still slow. But that happens when a video conversion tool takes over 90% of the CPU.  
So I decided to check some of my social networing sites.  And I started with Google Reader.  It was there that I found my answer: Google had implemented a bad piece of code.  According to every source on the web, I was a victim of Google’s attempt to incorporate http://www.stopbadware.org into their search results.  And a human error had literally flagged all search results as containing malware.  
So with this tidbit of information, my problem is solved, right?  Not really as I had just demonstrated the problem of trust and social engineering.  You see, I “trusted” Google as a company that made few (or no) errors.  Indeed, even their “beta” code is better than other companies and their “production” code.  And to make matters worse, Google is the center of my universe.  I search using Google.  I use GMail for most of my personal email.  I use GReader as the means of aggregating all the RSS feeds I consume.  In point of fact, Google is the center of my Internet experience.  And I had trusted them so much, that I did not even consider that they might have an error.  I assumed that my system was at fault.  After all, the people at Google are experts.
So what is a ‘roo to do.  First, I must remember the words of our 40th President: trust, but verify.  Then I need to remember not to be doing too many things at once.  I was running a program for the first time on a new OS at the same time that I run anti-viral scans.  Um, I’ll try and avoid that perfect storm in the future.  
But I am also reminded of some corrolary applications for this situation.  I should never make a man, a woman, a company, a government or even a political party take up residence in the center of my universe.  After all, the center of my universe should be occupied by the only indivudal who is completely worthy of that role: the Lord God Almighty.  Only He is completely trustworthy.  No man (and certainly no organization) should be trusted so intimately or so completely.  The results of such a misapplication of trust could be disastrous.  
So as of today, I don’t trust Google as much.  And I am reminded why I should’t trust elected officials (of any party) so much.  Reagan was right; trust, but verify.
 
-Roo

I’m Feeling Seven-ish, She Said

Lorin Olsen

windows7Cindy asked me what I thought of Windows 7 after the first hour of using it.  I told her that I felt, er, um… And she said “…seven-ish?”  And I guess she was right.  I am feeling seven-ish.

Here are the ‘Roo’s first thoughts:

– Installation was good – exceptioanlly good for a beta.  I hope the installer becomes a little more informative before final release.  There has to be more feeback to inform the user that progress is occurring – lest the user abandon hope that the install is progressing!

– A number of the default apps (like MSPaint) now display a ribbon bar.   This is the UI enhancements delivered in Office 2007.  I like the interface changes.  But I know a lot of folks who aren’t so keen on the changes.

– I like the new themes that display multiple pictures.  And some of the pics are fabulous!

–  Media Center setup was peculiar.  At first, it didn’t detect my Hauppage HVR 1600.  After a reboot, it finally detected my TV card.  Once the TV card was detected, downloading of the guide and the remainder of Windows Media Center setup went smoothly.  I do like the interface touches like the icon/preview that appears at the bottom of the guide.  It’s a little touch.  But I find such touches to be demonstrative of a complete commitment to the customer experience.

– I had zero problems playing movies when using the Windows Media Player.

– iTunes functioned flawlessly.  I could play MP3 audio files, AAC audio files and a variety of MP4 video files.  And I had zero problems when I plugged in my iPod.  It was detected by both Windows and iTunes.   As a side note, Last.fm’s add-on for iTunes worked great.  I need to check scrobbling – but so far, so good.

– A variety of my system utilities seem to operate nominally.  This includes Spybot S&D, AVG Free and even Privoxy/TOR.

– Printing worked fine- thank goodness.

– Adobe apps seem to work – including AIR apps (like Twhirl).

– Other Twitter-related apps (like Tweetdeck) seem to work well.

– I used Psi to connect up to the work IM infrastructure.  All seems to work.

– Google apps (like Google Earth ad Google Chrome) all seem to work well.

– Home network setup isn’t smooth yet.  I tried to set up a homegroup.  But it didn’t allow me to set one up until I was connected to a network that was previously designated as a “home” network.  Of course, my network was setup as a “home” network.  So there is obviously something amiss.  I hope to try this function out in the next couple of days.

Bottom Line: Windows 7 is not the grand divergence or vast improvement upon Windows Vista that some folks claim.  Indeed, it is an evolution of Windows Vista’s basic system.  As I consider how Vista relates to Windows 7, I remember how Windows 2000 related to Windows XP.  W2K was a great baseline that XP built upon.  Similarly, Windows Vista is the base that Windows 7 builds upon.  In so many ways, this is the OS that Microsoft should have released.  I wonder just how much this OS will cost (in the retail channels).  As an upgrade from Vista, I’m not inclined to pay the full sticker price.  Indeed, this is what I should have received when I first purchased Vista.

Nevertheless, Windows 7 is quite nice.  And for a beta, it is wonderful.  It is clean and far more nimble than Vista.  And a lot of the rough edges that we had in Vista have finally been polished to a fine sheen.

In short, I’m very impressed by the OS.  And I am even more impressed with the “fit and finish” of this beta.  Microsoft was very smart to provide this to millions of people.  It will build the enthusiasm for the Windows brand.  And in all candor, that enthusiasm has been flagging for a couple of years.

I'm Feeling Seven-ish, She Said

Lorin Olsen

windows7Cindy asked me what I thought of Windows 7 after the first hour of using it.  I told her that I felt, er, um… And she said “…seven-ish?”  And I guess she was right.  I am feeling seven-ish.
Here are the ‘Roo’s first thoughts:
– Installation was good – exceptioanlly good for a beta.  I hope the installer becomes a little more informative before final release.  There has to be more feeback to inform the user that progress is occurring – lest the user abandon hope that the install is progressing!
– A number of the default apps (like MSPaint) now display a ribbon bar.   This is the UI enhancements delivered in Office 2007.  I like the interface changes.  But I know a lot of folks who aren’t so keen on the changes.
– I like the new themes that display multiple pictures.  And some of the pics are fabulous!
–  Media Center setup was peculiar.  At first, it didn’t detect my Hauppage HVR 1600.  After a reboot, it finally detected my TV card.  Once the TV card was detected, downloading of the guide and the remainder of Windows Media Center setup went smoothly.  I do like the interface touches like the icon/preview that appears at the bottom of the guide.  It’s a little touch.  But I find such touches to be demonstrative of a complete commitment to the customer experience.
– I had zero problems playing movies when using the Windows Media Player.
– iTunes functioned flawlessly.  I could play MP3 audio files, AAC audio files and a variety of MP4 video files.  And I had zero problems when I plugged in my iPod.  It was detected by both Windows and iTunes.   As a side note, Last.fm’s add-on for iTunes worked great.  I need to check scrobbling – but so far, so good.
– A variety of my system utilities seem to operate nominally.  This includes Spybot S&D, AVG Free and even Privoxy/TOR.
– Printing worked fine- thank goodness.
– Adobe apps seem to work – including AIR apps (like Twhirl).
– Other Twitter-related apps (like Tweetdeck) seem to work well.
– I used Psi to connect up to the work IM infrastructure.  All seems to work.
– Google apps (like Google Earth ad Google Chrome) all seem to work well.
– Home network setup isn’t smooth yet.  I tried to set up a homegroup.  But it didn’t allow me to set one up until I was connected to a network that was previously designated as a “home” network.  Of course, my network was setup as a “home” network.  So there is obviously something amiss.  I hope to try this function out in the next couple of days.
Bottom Line: Windows 7 is not the grand divergence or vast improvement upon Windows Vista that some folks claim.  Indeed, it is an evolution of Windows Vista’s basic system.  As I consider how Vista relates to Windows 7, I remember how Windows 2000 related to Windows XP.  W2K was a great baseline that XP built upon.  Similarly, Windows Vista is the base that Windows 7 builds upon.  In so many ways, this is the OS that Microsoft should have released.  I wonder just how much this OS will cost (in the retail channels).  As an upgrade from Vista, I’m not inclined to pay the full sticker price.  Indeed, this is what I should have received when I first purchased Vista.
Nevertheless, Windows 7 is quite nice.  And for a beta, it is wonderful.  It is clean and far more nimble than Vista.  And a lot of the rough edges that we had in Vista have finally been polished to a fine sheen.
In short, I’m very impressed by the OS.  And I am even more impressed with the “fit and finish” of this beta.  Microsoft was very smart to provide this to millions of people.  It will build the enthusiasm for the Windows brand.  And in all candor, that enthusiasm has been flagging for a couple of years.

Windows 7 – Finally

Lorin Olsen

w7-installed
It’s almost 3:00PM CST on Saturday.  And I’ve been working on this for over six (6) hours.  But I’m sure that a whole lot of people have spent a whole lot more time than I have.
Yesterday morning, Microsoft was supposed to make a beta version of Windows 7 available to 2.5 million customers.   So far, there is no single proocess that works to make that download process a reality.  Indeed, the Internet was abuzz with the challenges that Microsoft was having  with the huge demand for Windows 7.  I don’t know about any of that, but it sure has been a Byzantine process getting all the bits and getting the appropriate product keys.
After hearing all of the whispers, groans, screams and general noise yesterday, I waited until today to start the process for myself.  I got up bright and early and walked the dogs.  Once they were fed and watered, I started the process.  I tried to go to the Microsoft location where I could get the download and the product key in one place.  But that was not a workable solution this morning.  It may be OK as you read this post.  Check at Microsoft’s site first.  And if it is still down, here are some tips on how I proceeded.
So I figured that I would try and do the two things separately.  I found a great link over at Neowin.  From there, I was able to get to the product pages where I could request a product key.  Fortunately, I did this before 2.5M other people did.  So I got a good key.  Then I went over to Technologizer to see where the downloads for the ISO were hosted.  It’s important that you get a file that is hosted at Microsoft as there are lots of BitTorrent trackers that are pointing to very old versions of the code.  Get the dowload from Microsoft and you can be more comofortable that you are getting the Build 7000 bits.  And the Microsoft folks have updated their infrastructure.  It only took me about ninety minutes to download the 2.4GB ISO file.
Once I got the product keys and the ISO, I burned the DVD and started the install.  That was before 10A.  That’s when the fun began.
8:3oAM – Began ISO download
9:45AM – ISO downloaded
9:50AM – Got product key
10:00AM –  I rebooted the system and I started the install.  I chose to upgrade an exising partition.  That is a risky proposition.  But it would best represent the experience most people would encounter.  So I checked currency of backups and started the install.
The install looks almost identical to the Vista installs I’ve performed hundreds of times.  Unfortunately, the instller also acts like the same installer.  You get precious little feedback to determine if the process works or not.  You can wait for five minutes to progress 30% across the progress bar.  But sometimes, it takes thirty minutes to move a single percent.  The good news is that the installer at least lists the number of files it is dealing with in each step.  So while the progress bar may not move, you can at least tell if things are “stuck” or not.
It took almost an hour to “check the files” before the next step in the installation could proceed.  I was starting to get a little worried.  But then things started to move along.  By noon, the installer had finally prgressed to the last step (“Completing upgrade”).
12:01PM – The “post-migration” steps are taking longer than the unpacking and copying of files.  Arghhh.
12:48PM – The post-installation process has jumped from 34% complete to 57% complete.  I am really glad to see the file count.  Otherwise, I would have abandoned the installation long ago.  I’m becoming a little peeved at the note that says “this may take a few minutes.”  OK, Redmond’s definition of “a few” and my definition are not in agreement.  But this installer is acting just as it has in the past – very little feedback with data that is non-representative.  At 57%, I can be certain that I am not 1/2 of the way through this process.
1:10PM – Is this thing scanning my HD and sending checksums to NSA or the RIAA?  This is taking forever.
1:25PM – We’ve rebooted yet again.  But I’m seeing a new splash screen.  So far, it’s the only indication that there is anything different between this OS and Windows Vista.  I do like the animations of the swirling balls morphing into the Windows logo.
But I’m greeted with the post-installation process still being at 57% – arghhh!
1:30PM – Whoa.  We’ve jumpted to 63%.  I wonder if the reboot was needed to clear a file lock.
1:37PM – 74%
1:44PM – 87%
1:45PM – Restart again
1:47PM – Hey, it’s asking for the product key.  I must be making progress.
1:50PM – I’m being asked for the first Ctrl + Alt + Del of the new OS.
1:55PM – I finally see my standard desktop
So the installation / upgrade process is very long.  And you need to be patient.  But my upgrade went fairly smoothly – except that Citirx ICA had to be disabled and uninstalled.  Otherwise, the upgrade is pretty good – f0r a beta.  It took a little over five (5) hours to upgrade an existing Vista SP1 system.
-Roo

Some Virii Must Be Attacked With Multiple Drugs…

Lorin Olsen

Sinus InfectionAbout a month ago, I went to the doctor to address a sinus infection.  I have always been prone to getting sinus infections.  But for the past couple of years, I’ve found that using a sleeping wedge has reduced my sinus infections to one or two a year.  But last month, I couldn’t beet back the odds.  I think I fell prey to lots of rain and lots of large temperature shifts.  But whatever the case, I had to go and see a doctor.
The doctor confirmed that I did indeed have a sinus infection.  And he prescribed a low dose of Amoxicillin.  While Amoxicillin works well for lots of people, it hasn’t always helped me.  But I though I’d give it a try.  After all, I don’t want to over-prescribe or cause some kind of weird viral resistance.  So I gave it a try.  After about five days, I could tell that the antibiotics had helped some.  But it was clear that they had not totally eradicated my problem.  I still had pressure and nasal discharge indicative of a lingering problem.  But I figured I’d wait until it got worse, just in case my own immune system could beat it down.
Well, after being away from town for a week and flying to and from Atlanta, I could finally tell that I needed to see a doctor again.  This time, the doctor decided to take a more aggressive approach.  He prescribed a cocktail of Amoxicillin and Augmentin.  And he prescribed it for 14 consecutive days.  The doctor figured that he would attack the problem with two sticks – and keep hitting it until it was beaten into submission.  I really appreciate this approach as I want to get rid of the problem.  I’ve had a bad headache for almost a month now.  It will be nice to solve the problem.
That Was An Analogy
But this solution applies to multiple problems – including a problem my duaghter was having.  Yesterday afternoon, Bailey asked if I could check her computer and see if there was a problem.  Bailey isn’t one to ask for help at the first sign of trouble.  In fact, she likes to try and solve problems for herself.  So when she asked me to take a look, I leaped into action.  
The problem was easily identified; I used Spybot Search and Destroy to diagnose that my daughter was suffering from a case of malware.  In this case, she was infected with Virtumonde.   I was surprised that she was infected at all as she was using the “approved” anti-malware products recommended by the University of Kansas.  And even though KU is good, I should have realized that I need to stay on top of these things.
So I started the process of removing Vundo (the shorthand name for this beastie).  I first used the Spybot Search and Destroy tool.  It idetifed three instances of the infection.  And it removed these instances – or so it said.  But afte rebooting the system, I was still seeing bizarre problems (like difficulty logging onto the system and some slugglishness in web operations.  So I restarted Spybot S&D and noted that the same infection had returned.  That’s when I started to get concerned.    
I started reading up on Vundo and learned just how pernicious this little beastie is.  I donwloaded VundoFix.   And started to run this scanning and repair tool.  It also noted problems with Virtumonde infection.  So I let it clean up some things.  And after running this tool, I rebooted and tried Spybot S&D yet again.  And once again, I encountered problems with reinfection.  This one was beginning to remind me of my sinus infection.
So I started bringing out broader spectrum tools.  I downloaded current versions of Sophos Antivirus as well as AVG.  I also downloaded Virtumonde Begone.  Then I downloaded a PCTools utility and a Symantec tool to help along the way.  In short, I startied hitting this thing with multiple attacks.  In the end, a combination of two anti-virus / anti-trojan tools plus two anti-spyware tools seems to have knocked this thing off her system.  
There are lots of references to how to get rid of this beast.  But the forums on Yahoo (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080729134452AA2GPB5) gave me some of the best info.  If you get infected with this one, make sure that you don’t spare any effort to get rid of it as it is quite nasty.  And be prepared to spend a number of hours trying to knock this one down.  It causes a heck of a headache and requires  attacking the problem as broadly as possible.  Indeed, be prepared to get into a two-front war when you attack this bug.

Christmas 2009 Remembered: Part 2

Lorin Olsen

despereaux
After everyone ate their fill of Christmas good cheer, the Olsen’s bid a fond adieu to our step-aunt as well as Meredith and her beau.  And then we headed off to one of our favorite holiday pastimes: the Christmas movie.  Every year, we pick one film that everyone can agree upon and we go and pad the holiday cinema gate.
This year, we all decided that we wanted to see The Tale of Despereaux.  Iwant do all of my loyal readers the disservice of a movie review.  I am altogether unskilled at objectively assessing films.  Indeed, I am a sap.  And I love a good morality story.  This movie was both.  Without giving away too many secrets, the story tells the tale of mice, rats, kings, princesses and a host of folks in between.  By the end of the movie, redemption is the message for everyone on screen – and for me as well.  Through courage and selflessness, the tragic heroes are redeemed from their own faults and frailties.  I just love happy endings like this!
When we got home from the theater, the entire crew retired for a nice night’s sleep.
When the morning came, it was time for Cindy to take daughter #2 to the airport.  Dana had an early flight that morning as she needed to be back at practice in the afternoon.  Cindy got her to the airport.  The flight was on time in departing and arriving.  So she made it to practice with plenty of time to spare.
While Cindy was taking Dana to the airport, I made sure the new Bluetooth rear view mirror was working in Cindy’s car.  It was quite simple to set up and make it operate.  I still have some tweaking to do.  But that will waituntil after the New Year.  But when Cindy returned, we tried out all the new gear.  With a grin on my face, I proudly showed her how everything worked.  And I am glad to say that Cindy is quite pleased with the electronics!
After a lot of cleaningand a fair bit of laundry, we started packing for our trip to Georgia.  I had my samll bag with my clothes and Cindy’s laptop.  And she had quite a large bag with everyting she needed to take.  We hit the hay early for the early-bird drive to the airport.
As noted in my last post, we got up quite early and headed off to the airport only to be met with flight delays.    The eqyipment was indeed in Missouri, but the crew did not arrive the previous night.  So the flight was cancelled.  Thereplacement crew arrived the next day an hour later than anticpated so the flight was delayed another hour.  ANd then we had a horrible problem while boarding.  One of the passengers apparently had a heart attack while boarding the plane.  So everyone was stuck in the gangway to the plane while emergency medical crews came on board, assessed the patients condition and then whisked the patient off the plane.  Fortunately, everything turned out fine – though I can’t tell you the exact condition of the patient now.  But he appeared well while deplaning in a wheelchair.
Once everyone reloaded the plane, we got out onto the tarmac.  And then another problem arose.  Within a thirty minute span, the temperature had dropped twenty degrees – which was below freezaing.  So the gentle rain that was falling when we first boarded had become a froen rain that needed to be treated.  So we waited on the tarmac while the place was de-iced.  We finally became airborn five hours after our scheduled departure.
When we arrived, it was time to meet Dana and go out to dinner.  We chose a simple asian “fast food” joint that had some super noodle offerings.  I chose a yummy shrimp and soba noodle  dish.  Dana and Cindy had some other dishes.  Normally, we share meals when we eat this way.  But we didn’t share that night.  Thank goodness we didn’t share (as you’ll learn in the next part of the Olsen Christmas saga).  After dinner, we went back to the hotel and wet to bed.
The next day was all ours – after Dana finished practice.  Cindyand I found a great breakfast nook call the Java Jive.  I just loved their menu and their homestyle joi de vivre.  We picked up Dana and headed over to the High Museum of Art.  The High Museum was having a show called “The First Emperor” which featured the art of the first Chin dynasty – including a number of terra cotta warriors.  We scheduled a visit for Tuesda morning as we couldn’t fit it into that day.
After we left the High Museum, we headed off to see my Dad and his wife.  And while I could go into great detail about how thrilling it is to see my Dad, I’ll just summarize.  My Dad is doing well, though his eyesight is failing.  But his wife take exceptional care of him.  So he is in need of nothing.  And like myself, he has gained a few extra pounds in thelast couple of years.  Good women (and lack of a commitment to regular exercise) will have that effect on men.  We feasted for a couple of hours.  We yakked about everything.  And we lined Dana up with a way to see Dad and Susan on a more regular basis.  So our mision was accomplished.
After a few hours, we needed to head back to the hotel as Dana needed to get up early for her pre-game shoot-around.  So we headed back to Atlanta.  We dropped Dana off at school and Cindy and I headed back to the hotel where we settled in for the night.

Christmas 2009 Remembered: Part 1

Lorin Olsen

It’s early Saturday morning and I’m in the Kansas City International airport.  Normally, I like to get to the airport a few minutes early. And I never have time to scribble down my thoughts.  But today is different.  I am sitting in the airport in the unsecured area.  I am with Cindy.  She is reading her book and I am listening to the Daily Source Code (with Adam Curry).  He is talking about conspiracy theories and circumcisions in Uganda.  So with that kind of mix going on, I just have to start recording my thoughts.
Cindy and I were awakened at 4:00AM to a phone call.  We didn’t grab the phone in time.  And in fairness, I don’t even remember hearing the phone.  After all, I was asleep.  We both rolled over and slept until my alarm went off at 4:45A.  We got up early so we would arrive at the airport an hour before our scheduled takeoff.  We woke Bailey up and grabbed a couple of bagels.  And then, we were off.
The drive was quiet and dark.  There was little (i.e., zero) conversation.  There has been a whole lot of stress the past few days.  Most of it is the natural friction between parents and their young adult children.  And in Bailey’s case, this friction has been betwwen her and Cindy.  I hate to intervene in such matters.  So I find myself in the uneasy demilitarized zone between two women that love one another – but are still feeling a lot of conflict. Wow.  Life sure is complicated.  But I’m wandering off topic.
We got to the airport and gave each other hugs and kisses.  And Bailey headed off into the darkenss of KCI aprport.  We went into the terminal and saw why we had received a phone call at 4A.  Our flight to Atlanta had been cancelled.  While Atlanta is a hub, Kansas City isn’t.  We assume that an inbound flight was delayed or cancelled.  And the next Delta flight to Atlanta was three-and-a-half hours later.
So Cindy and I grabbed coffee at Starbucks.  And we settled in to a long winter wait.  As you can tell, I’m using my time typing up my idle ruminations.  And Cindy is reading.  For a lot of people, a few hours in an airport is hellish.  Well, I feel the same way.  But it does give me plenty of time to tap out a new article or two.  And since I can’t bear to do work at 6:30 in the monring, I’m going to assemble some fleeting and disjointed thoughts.
Christmas was a wonderful time at the Olsen’s.  As is our custom, we went out to eat on Christmas eve.  This year, we went to a local Asian noodle joint called Blue koi.  And as usual, it was quite wonderful – but quite pricey.  But we had three of four kids with us.  So we had another chance to love on the kids a bit.
After dinner, we went to Christmas eve service at Heartland.  And it was one of the best Christmas eve services I can remember.  We arrived and folks were singing solos from the stage.  We all checked our watches to make sure that we weren’t late.
Uh oh.  As I’m typing this, Adam Curry has broken into some Christmas music.  Yeah, I’m listening to the 12/23 Charlie on 12/27.  And Adam is playing one of my favorite Christmas songs: The Night Santa Went Crazy (by Weird Al).  I’m grinning and hearing about Santa grinding up Rudoph into reindeer sausage.  But I’m digressing…
Where was I?  Oh, I remember.  I was talking about Christmas and the celebration of our Lord’s birth.  As we checked our watches, we knew we were on time.  And then we realized that this was the pre-Christmas “concert” everyone was talking about.  It was wonderful.  People were trickling in.  And they seated themselves to the sound of wonderful Christmas cheer.
The service was fantastic.  There were carols, a brief but very pointed redemption message, a communion, and the traditional lighting of Christmas candles.  All of this was done within one hour.
And the best part is that it set the mood in my heart.  My life is always crazy.  I have twenty things to do with dozens more on hold.  So it would be easy to go through hte motions w/o remembering the meaning.   But this service reminded me of the real reason for Christmas.  Christ was born on this day.  And we remember his birth.  But how many of us actually remember the reality.  And the reality is simple: He came to Earth to give up his life on our behalf.  He lived for the purpose of dying.  As I type these words, I feel a tingle running down my spine.  I am so capable of being blown away when I am in God’s presence.  When I am reminded of his, I am left mute in awe.  Even now, I find myself struggling to write down these thoughts.  When God is near, I tremble.  And when Christ came to Earth, the Earth trembled.  The angels sang.  And the kings came to worship
After the service ended, we hustled home for the traditional Christmas gift exchange.  And everything went wonderfully.  Yes, there were gifts.  But more importantly, there was a calm and peaceful sense of of well-being.  It was interesting to note who got what presents.  Dad got some movies and some music – with a few bottles of designer cologne thrown in.  Mom got a very Bluetooth Christmas.  Everyone got clothes.  Dana got a replacement computer. And Adam got a lot of lacrosse equipment.  Bailey was the most interesting.  She is growing and changing.  So she wanted to give everyone an hour’s worth of service.  But she realized just how commercial things are.  So she crumbled and gave people lots of music.  And in our house, that is very important.  She received all sorts of music from latin singers and mex-american bands.  But I am wandering off-topic…
We set out the milk and cookies for Kris Kringle.  And we went to bed.  We all slept well.
I got up early to walk the dogs and make coffee.  And I decided to do a little spot cleaning of the kitchen floor while I waited for everyone else to get up.  I probably went a little overboard on cleaning.  But I felt the spirit of my mom being channeled through me.  With my step-aunt coming for dinner, I wanted things to look good.
When Clarin and Meredith came, we rousted all the over-sleepers (i.e., my son).  And we had wave two of presents.  Interesting observations came with this second “gifting.”  In particular, Meredith had spent a great deal of time on her present.  She settled on a them of women’s togetherness.  Every woman in the family got a special stuffed bear.  And they all relate to one another.  It is far too complicated to explain it here.  But the point was simple: all of hte Schwerin women (both in Kansas and in North Carolina) received a part of the themed gifts.  It was very cool seeing my daughter focus on a broader meaning.  It was heartwarming and it made her Dad quite proud.
And then the food work began.  Cindy and Clarin started chopping.  And Bailey and Dana started to work on side dishes.  The main course was a wonderful beef Wellington.  Cindy makes individual filets that are individually wrapped in pastry.  The pate is made from mushrooms and ham and a litany of other wonderfully tasting goodies.
And the cranberry dressing was outstanding.  It had  cranberries (cut in half, apples and even a little orange.  And the tastes were quite wonderful when assembled together.  Dana added her signature green bean casserole.  While Meredith and Bailey assembled salads and deserts.
In short, the meal was astounding.  I am quite blessed to have a plethora of great cooks in my kitchen.  Praise God!

“You’re Crazy, Man. You’re Absolutely Crazy”

Lorin Olsen

snow02

I heard these words while I was making coffee here at the office (in downtown KC).  A colleague asked me if I rode my bike this morning.  I get that question a lot during the winter.  But today, I’m getting it from everyone.

Today, it’s 10° F.  And it’s snowing.  There is less than an inch on the un-plowed surfaces.  But it is all powder.  I didn’t hit any icy patches on my ride.  They did call for sleet before the snow, but we were spared that challenge.  But back to the story…

I told my colleague that I did indeed ride my bike.  And I told him that it was a lot of fun.  I love it when it snows.  Everything is so quiet and still.  All of the normal background noises all seem to hold their breath while the frozen wonder accumulates.  But I digress…

Per my normal routine, I got up and showered.  I figured I’d better have extra layers.  So I pulled on my silk undergarments.  [Yes, they are long johns, if you must know.]  Silk is amazing as an insulator.  I can’t think of anything I’d rather wear when it gets really cold.  Once I pulled on all my layers, i woke the dogs and we went out on our morning walk.

Wow, the snow was so beautiful.  And the dogs loved the time outside.  They jumped and rolled in the snow like little children.  They pulled on their collars and they wrestled with each other.  And they were cold.  I could feel the cold on my face.  Fortunately, everything else was covered.  But all they had was fur.  After about fifteen minutes, they were done playing and wanted nothing more of the snow.  They are so very much like children.

We went back inside and I got them some food and fresh water.  They were very eager diners this morning; they both got right down to the task of cleaning up their bowls.  They didn’t even bother to notice the cats that were taunting them from the dining room table.

So while they feasted, I folded up my work clothes and stuffed them in the backpack.  I didn’t even have a chance to log in and check the weather before I left.  I just grabbed my reflective gear and helmet and I hit the road.  I figured I ought to leave early, just in case the roads were dicey and I needed to walk some of the way.

But the roads were great.  There was about a half-inch of snow on the streets.  It was just enough to make that crunchy sound when the weight of my bike (and my fat ass) pressed down on it.  But I had plenty of traction.  And there were very few motorists to deal with.  So the ride was still, quiet and very white.

When I got to the bus stop, I turned off my lights and waited.  And as always, Noah showed up in no time at all.  He had his mountain bike rig.  So he was having fun in the snow.  He stopped by fishtailing his bike and trying to throw up some snow.  But the snow is a little wet for that kind of fun.  Nevertheless, I could tell he was really enjoying himself.

The bus ride from the mall to downtown was uneventful.  So was the ride to Starbucks from the bus.  The parking lot was virtually empty when I pulled into the office.  I locked my bike and went to the men’s locker room.  Once I changed my clothes, I headed up to make coffee.  The floor was quite empty when I dropped off my bag at my desk.  So I had a quiet few moments to make some coffee.

And that’s when he asked the question.  And my simple affirmative response was met with, “You’re crazy, man.  You’re absolutely crazy.”  I grinned.  And I realized that what seemed quite simple and joyful to me was a marvel to this person.  I am sure that there are any number of things that this man does that would seem to be marvelous to me.  He may paint.  Or he may be a carpenter.  He may coach his kids sports teams. Or he may take care of an elderly parent.  All of these things are positively marvelous.

But he saw my simple routine and marveled at it.  I was quite astonished by this – and a little bit humbled.  We have such a wonderful world.  And I was hand-made by the God who created these wonders.  And better still, he trusts me (and all of my fellow dwellers on this spinning rock) to be his faithful stewards of this planet full of wonders.    I awoke to the still and the quiet of a beautiful snowfall.  And God whispered in my ear.  And when I finished all my normal “start-up” activities, He spoke to me again – through a co-worker.  And his words were simple: “You’re crazy, man.  You’re absolutely crazy.”  And I imagined Him laughing with delight.  Thanks, Lord.  I’ll take that as a crazy compliment!