Tales from the Geekside.

What I've been up to

2008-11-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

So this year has been pretty crazy here's some highlights of projects going on at work.

Fonality trixbox upgrade. VOIP system based on asterisk but with commercial support and offsite DR backup? System is slick, fast and has a nice application to manage calls called HUD. You can download the trixbox CE edition which is free, but limits the amount of support you have and maximizes the configuration you do. We're testing one remote salesman this week so I'll keep those of you waiting with baited breath aprised of the progress,
Cat6e and gigabit switch upgrade. We redid our rustic Adirondack wiring to cat6e and upgraded our switches to gigabit capacity. This should future proof us for the needs of the future.
Upgraded our internet connection from 1 T-1 to 3 Bonded T-s and approx 5Mb bandwidth. What a difference.
Migrating our NT Domain to Server 2003 Domain (SBS 2003). Exchnage and SQL Server replication here we come. Have to tread lightly on this one. So many details to map out.

New NXE

2008-11-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

So I downloaded the NXE and it is really nice. I am digging the ease of use, and installation to the HD. I installed the Orange Box on my XBOX. Load times=much more improved. Seems media center app performs a little quicker and I can now playback a video that I own that I ripped via handbrake.

I also took the plunge and created an avatar. My gamertag is kunkman1234 if you are interested.

SWEETNESS. stay tuned, for more to come.

NXE Preview Program

2008-11-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well I just found out that I was selected in the third wave of the early preview program for the NXE.

Can't wait till I get home from work and have a chance to check it out. My wife, is setting up my 'Avatar' for me. I can only imagine what my digital representation might look like...

New Xbox Experience - Nov. 19th

2008-11-17T12:14:00.001-08:00

So do any of my dedicated, loyal followers own an Xbox 360? Are you lookinng forward to the new dashboard update?

I myself am looking forward to the Netflix availability which has some very nice kid friendly movies available. Now my queue can be reserved for what Mom and Dad likes (and, until they start offering part of their allowance towards the monthly fee, so it should be).

You can view info on the update at the official xbox site: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/nxe/

Some things to look for from the review guide:

Go Anywhere with the Guide Button

Use your Guide Button to explore anywhere, anytime,
in or out of games, across all channels. Here you’ll
see a sleek, streamlined version of the familiar
blades interface you’ve grown to love. You can access
your full games library at all times, in addition to
Marketplace and your Friends Channel. No more B
button mashing to back out to the Dashboard. Keep
moving and discovering. Save time, save your thumbs.
The Guide Button is also a handy way to see your
wireless controller’s battery life, time of day, how
many friends you have online, and your Achievements
and Gamerscore.

Install Games to the Hard Drive
Instead of always playing from the disc, we made it
possible for you to copy games to your hard drive.
This will cut loading times 30 percent to 50 percent.
That’s huge. If you have a few favorites that you play
daily, you can get into them faster than ever. And like
everything else in the new interface, it’s easy — pop
your disc in, use your Guide Button to go to My Xbox
Channel, select Install to Drive and you’re done.
It’s worth noting that saving to the hard drive is
optional, not required. If you’re just testing a game
out, you can still play from the disc. Another key thing
to mention: If you delete a game from your drive to
create space, your game will still be saved for the
future if you decide to play it again later. Any content
you’ve purchased from Xbox LIVE can be deleted and
downloaded again without charging you twice. For
obvious reasons, we recommend that you get a hard
drive to have sufficient room for your entire library.
Saving your games to the hard drive virtually
eliminates the noise of your spinning game disc. For all
you sound geeks out there, the actual volume level has
been reduced by 7db. That means you can hear more
subtle nuances in your games and music collections. It
also enhances voice chat with friends on Xbox LIVE.

Ditch Your Zero Gamerscores
We know your Gamerscore is important to you. We
want you to get Achievements, too. And just because
you (or someone else who uses your console) played
a game once and didn’t like it doesn’t mean it should
be held against you for all eternity. So now we offer
you the ability to ditch the zero score games from your
history. Happy now? Good.

Browse the Marketplace Alphabetically
No more scrolling through endless titles to find the
content you want. Using your Guide Button, go to
Game Marketplace, scroll down to select All Games
or All Videos and search alphabetically. If you don’t
know what you’re looking for, browse by genre.

Keep Your Old Gamerpics and Themes
Don’t worry — all the gamerpics and Themes that
you downloaded will still work with the New Xbox
Experience. We haven’t taken anything away, just
added features and made it more user-friendly. And
if you think Avatars are too cutesy, try

My Blog is Pathetic

2008-11-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

So I created a blog and only posted one thing.

Well, that's gonna change baby. I am going to post more frequently than I used to. So watch out world I'm bringin geeky back - yeah.

Extract Data from a Symantec Q&A Database for * possibly * free

2008-07-17T04:59:00.001-07:00

I work for a medium size manufacturing company in upstate New York. We are trying to centralize/modernize our systems that used to exist as 'information silos'. One of these systems we use is a DOS based Database system known as 'Symantec Questions and Answers' or 'Q&A'.

They used Q&A to create separate information stores about customers, machines we have built and shipped, Technical Service/Field Service calls, etc. I am evaluating each database they currently have and seeing if:

The information is already collected and we just need to do some database/report magic to extract the info.
By altering a business process, our ERP system, CRM System, or Microsoft SharePoint becomes a better fit for the information they wish to collect.

That lead me to yesterdays quest * attempting * to find some helpful information on how to extract data and field definitions from 'Symantec Questions and Answers' or 'Q&A' in order to import the information into an access database so that I could first clean it up, and later import into the SharePoint Call Center template.

My quest seemed extremely unfruitful yielding no direct instructions, save a few 'costly' consulting services who, for the right price, would do it for me. But alas, I am the type of person who wants to the 'how' to do it, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty in the process.

Since I had such a hard time finding this information freely on the internet, once I finally figured it out (my wife knows all about my inability to 'let it go'), I was inspired to join the 21st century, create a blog and share with you my experience.

Below are the steps I tool to get the data out. Looking back it seems so easy, yet in the middle of the process it seems confusing. You may have to change certain variables in the formulae to achieve the desired results. You take full responsibility for your actions should you decide to follow my advice.

Phase 1 - Emotional Preparation

Get over the fact that you are a stubborn German man, and cannot export to a .csv file to achieve the results you want. This step is paramount, do not overlook this step.
Accept the fact that you have to export the Q&A database into a temporary Paradox database.
Brace yourself for the ramifications of bothering the sales quoting staff for 5 minutes so you can start the process.

Phase 2 - Get to Work

Through VNC remote into the sales staff's desktop before she returns from lunch and fire up Q&A in Windowed mode so you can tell WTH you are doing.
Through Q&A export the data to a file. Choose Paradox
Name the file 8 characters or less with .db at the end - Q&A is a DOS based lifeform.
Make a copy of the export file so you always have a source file to open.
Open Microsoft Access 2007 (if you have it)
Create a new database
Go to the 'External Data' section of the Ribbon
Go to More -> Paradox File
Select 'Import Source Data...' and browse to the location of your copy of the data.db file you created
A table is now created with the name of your source file
If you go to Home->View->Design View you can see the field names/definitions
Now your data is in Access 2007 and you can clean it up and export it to any format you wish.

To quote the company computer Guy, "That wasn't so hard..."

I used Gadwin Software's Gadwin PrintScreen free edition to create my limited screen shots.
If you find this post helpful, please leave comments below.