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I just bought an electronic keyboard for practice at home. It’s an entry level one, and apparently quite good, it’s a Casio CTK 591.

Got it off Ebay for CAD $71 + $30 S&H so total $101. Not a bad deal considering the new ones still retail for about CAD $150 – $160.

Will keep everyone updated on my progress. Of course I’m just doing this for fun, the one really using it would be my wife because she’s taking tutorials for an advanced level student, while I’m just at the beginners.

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I guess by now everybody’s heard about the Zotob variant worms running around affecting Windows systems all over the world. Heck, it might have affected you in someway, I know yesterday evening, a co-worker of mine got one on his test machine, and a whole client building got hit hard. Although removal tools and patches(MS05-039) came up quickly to close the security vulnerability in systems, it just struck me how even in a high security environment like where I work, things like these still happen all the time.

Although we can’t be 100% protected from things like security breaches, viruses, worms and trojans, there are a couple of steps we could take to protect our PC’s:

• Install a virus scanner on your PC. If you can afford one, buy something like McAfee or Norton. If not, there are some good free ones out there like Avast, Trend Micro or AVG.
• Use a personal firewall within your home network. Most of the newest home routers come with a firewall built in, but if you want added security, use something like Zone Alarm or Sygate.
• Ensure you have a spyware removal tool on your PC. The most popular ones these days seem to be AdAware, Spybot S&D, and Microsoft Anti Spyware.
• Keep your PC’s updated with the latest security patches.
• Do NOT open attachments from people you don’t know.
• Do NOT open attachments from people you know, but have suspicious names or seem out of place. If in doubt, confirm with them that they actually sent a file before opening.
• If you get affected with a virus/worm/trojan, take that PC off the network immediately to prevent the thing from spreading to other PC’s within your network (and other people too).

Hopefully some of these tips will be useful in helping protect your network and PC’s.

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I stumbled on this article when I was browsing the net, and I thought it might help some people to stick to their exercise routine.

To be honest though, I wonder how much those tips could help. In my opinion, the people that the author is speaking to is just plain lazy, wanting something without any sacrifices. If I were him, I would simply give these two tips:
1. Want your goal bad enough.
2. Find a way to do the required actions.

What do you think?

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Oil prices plunge
What great times to be a speculator

Virus wars
Important note: Keep your PC’s patched and secured at all times !!!

LifeStraw
A great invention, small as a pen, and yet filters dirty water to make it drinkable. Third world countries rejoice.

Lazer Trip Wire
Oooh, oooh, I want one of theese

How to tell if your sushi is fresh
Hmmm.. sushi… *drool*

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Laptop sale ended up as a mob.
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?

Airbrushed model
See for yourself.

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Well, I can chalk off “Stung by Bee” from the list of things that is not pleasant and never happened before.

It is definitely one of the most painful experience that one can ever experience. As for me, it has been almost 12 hrs since I was stung and I am still experiencing considerable pain and discomfort. Anyway, I immediately look for treatment methodology and find a pretty good list from www.drgeene.com/21_2002.html. Here it is:

- Remove the stinger with all haste, in whatever manner is most convenient. If you see a little black – dot in the wound, part of the stinger is still present.
- Apply a solution of one part meat tenderizer to 4 parts water. Papain, the enzyme in meat tenderizer, breaks down the protein in bee venom responsible for the pain and itching. Don’t leave this on for more than 30 minutes, or it can irritate the skin. If this isn’t available, you might try an antiperspirant. Aluminum chlorohydrate reduces the effect of bee venom, but to a lesser extent.
- Apply cold. Use ice or cool water for 10 to 30 minutes after the sting. This blunts the body’s allergic response.
- An antihistamine such as Benadryl, taken by mouth, can give some added relief, and help prevent the reaction from spreading.
- A shake lotion such as calamine can be helpful. A paste made of baking soda and water can have a similar effect.
- Topical hydrocortisone can also provide some symptomatic relief.
- Give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for systemic pain relief.

Oh well, life goes on

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What’s your take on the Raptors this year? While most Eastern teams get better, the Raps added two rookies. The two rookies better be good.

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Microsoft beats Apple on IPod patent
Let the fun and games begin !

Urine powered batteries on the way
Cool, save on your electricity bills by peeing to power your electronic equipment in the future. I wonder how much pee would be needed to run a cellphone, laptop, TV, microwave, desktop computer, car, etc

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I’m sure some of you have heard about the Super Size me movies, where there is one guy who eat McDonald’s for a month or so, and gained 25 or 30 lbs in the process. The author is trying to prove that junk food is making us fat. I happen to believe that it is not true.

The truth is, EXCESS food is making us fat, whether it is junk food or not. However, it IS easier to eat too much when you are eating junk food, thus making you easier to get fat if you eat junk food daily. To prove my point, here’s a case study of someone who eats LIMITED amount of McDonald’s daily, and still manage to lose 37 lbs in 3 months.

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As a developer or even a normal user, has this ever happened to you? A couple of browser windows are open (Thankfully Firefox solved this one for me), your development environment open, database management system open, windows explorer open, notepad open and God knows whatever other apps that are sprawled all over the desktop. You need to switch between them pretty quickly, and yet trusty old ‘Alt-Tab’ just takes up more time because you now have to choose from tons of open windows, and the decision time needed is almost equal the time needed to look it up in the taskbar and just click it.

Well, I found a semi-solution for this. I was originally going to try the Virtual Desktop Manager from the Windows PowerToys for Windows XP, but turns out it only works for XP, and not 2000, so I looked around for similar things, and found an application called Virtual Dimension. The semi refers to the fact that you’d still need to manage which desktop/dimension apps are going to be put in, and use ‘Alt-Tab’ once in awhile, but it does clean up the clutter on the desktop quite a bit. The concept is to have a number of desktops that you can switch between by using an assignable key. You can put different groups of applications on different desktops, hence the ability to work on development on one desktop, graphics design on another, and possibly do file managment on another desktop.

I’ve used this for a couple of days now, and feel that it has been really helpful in organising my work area on the screen. Now I usually have my development environment (Visual Studio.NET, Enterprise Manager, Internet Services Manager, Computer Management) open in one desktop, while having Firefox, Outlook and any other apps in this desktop. It allows me to easily access my development tools, and when I need to check email and perform other tasks, to switch working environments at a punch of a key.

Highly recommended for people like me who tend to have an innate number of applications open at one time.

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