I installed the evaluation version of Exchange 2007 yesterday and had a chance to play with it today. Pretty nice. Outlook Web Access looks 90% like standard outlook.
My employer allowed me to purchase a computer based training (CBT) DVD for Visual Basic 2005. I’ve gone through the first 3 sections of the 15 total and I’m surprised at the amount of knowledge I picked up just by playing around in VB2005. I did learn a few tricks from the DVD but nothing extraordinary as of now. The remainder of the DVD is going to be the real meat though. User controls and different data access methods that I haven’t had the chance to play with yet. I’m actually looking forward to learning new stuff.
We started receiving equipment for our virtualization project. The IBM NAS, tape backup, and LCD console arrived yesterday. We also received a new gem that I’m looking forward to using: An IP based KVM. It allows up to 16 systems to be accessed from anywhere via a web interface. Cool stuff. We’re both drooling to put it in to production. The APC rack needed for the new equipment hasn’t come in yet, however. We do have all the electrical work completed for the upgrade though. Soon I’ll start talking about VMWare issues, I’m sure.
I’m hoping the weather wanes down so I can put on my new aluminum alloy wheel goodness this week!
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
I literally have new wheels. The boy and I drove down to Plymouth, IN last night. I picked up a complete set of 2007 Impala aluminum wheels with Goodyear tires. The tires still have ink on the meat of the tread. They have 5 miles on them. As soon as this stinking weather breaks, I’ll post some pics of my car.
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
With my schedule being so busy at work lately, I’ve found myself doing work at home. Maybe it’s just because the winter is here and I’m bored. Maybe because I feel like I’m not wasting my time learning an old programming language (Visual Basic 6). What’s neat is that I can kick back on my couch with my laptop and connect to work via our VPN. I’m basically sitting right in front of my desk… only on my couch.
My laptop is still pretty nice. For being two years old, the feature set is comparable to new systems. It has a 17” widescreen and an 8x DVD burner. The only real difference is the processor speed and memory. I want to start doing all my development work on my laptop so I can program at home or at work. Visual Studio 2005 requirements are a bit steep. I requested to get a 2 gigabyte memory upgrade from my boss and it was approved. I ordered it today. Thanks for the memory!
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
The person that had the Impala wheels and tires for sale got back to me. $550 for brand new tires and wheels off a 2007 Impala. Where is my easy button? Neat thing is that the person is located in Plymouth, IN. Just an hour drive for me.
I’ve been reading a few of my past blog posts. They’re remarkably upbeat. It seems like I’m always posting good news. That’s “good news” I guess. 
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
Today my 6100 started to flake out on DNS lookups. I’d reboot the modem and it would work for about 5 minutes. I could only access the web configuration for those 5 minutes too. DHCP and routing seemed to be working correctly. As a last ditch effort I pushed the reset button. 5 minutes later, no DNS and no config page.
I’m assuming the modem is failing and it will only be a matter of time before it completely goes. I used opendns.org for DNS for a few hours but now it is working again. *shrug*
I also found the perfect set of 2007 Impala alloy wheels on eBay today. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to see if they’d fit on my 2002 because I had to leave for Sunday dinner. I sent the seller a PM. They didn’t get bid on. Maybe he’ll be willing to sell them to me.
Griminal Grim's Ramblings