It's Patch Tuesday people... Windows patches released today along with Adobe Flash and Shockwave patches. If you run a Windows machine, get 'em while they're hot.

I'd be patching but my Windows are broken. I have an OEM on order, but it's not here yet. More on that when I have the time to rant.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 03:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Last night I heard frogs croaking for the first time this season.  Maybe Spring really is here.  We'll see.  There is still snow in my front yard.  Not much but some. 

I'm ready for warm weather.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 09:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 It's been snowing steadily here since 8 am. We're done with winter for the season, but apparently it's not done with us.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at April 08, 2013 11:37 PM (DkimJ)

2 LOL - Paul I think you have to move a bit farther south to get summer

Posted by: Teresa at April 10, 2013 09:30 AM (hJwgq)

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Go watch the vid.  Incredible! 

I wish I had seen them when we were out in SF.  Wow!

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 12:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Today I am going to try and install an SSD drive on my laptop. First I have to image the drive, then wield a screwdriver, then hope it all goes together again. 

Should be fun.  I found a couple of youtube videos to help, the best one being by Carey Holzman detailing the process. 



If I can get my external hard drive reformatted... I may just be able to do this. 

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 12:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 I have a tool for that.  I call it 'Mike'. 

Posted by: pam at April 07, 2013 09:22 AM (Wce/n)

2 Pam - LOL.  Well this is taking longer than I thought.  Apparently there is a major flaw in the current hard drive and it won't allow itself to be cloned... GAH.  Not that I care about that so much, I was finally able to clone the recovery disk.  Sheesh.  Trying to decide if I should do anything else this weekend of leave it for now and do the switch over next weekend. 

Posted by: Teresa at April 07, 2013 11:40 AM (hJwgq)

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Saw this headline on one of my news feeds today...

Republican Bruce Rauner raises $1.3 million for possible Illinois governor bid

And I swear I thought it said "Bruce Banner"...

I'm wearing my contacts so it must be wishful thinking.  The Hulk in politics... oh yeah, that so works for me.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 05:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I saw several mentions of Google's Doodle for Easter. Apparently it has sparked much outrage, but caused me to wonder...

Does anyone still use Google?

DuckDuckGo is a far superior and safer way to search the web. I haven't searched with Google in ages. 

Sheesh people - get with the times. Google is so yesterday.

****

In very earthshaking news, it seems Justin Beiber has had his monkey seized.  'nuff said.

****
Today was national backup day.  I had no idea.  But I suppose I should say, please backup your data. Then again I'd say that anyway.

****
And that's about all I have for today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 10:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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These are the funniest auto-corrects ever. Set down your drinks, grab a kleenex. You will laugh til you cry.

The 30 Most Hilarious Autocorrect Struggles Ever

Happy Friday.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 05:18 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I was reading an article by information security expert Bruce Schneier that has caused a bit of a stir. For a few minutes twitter was hotly debating the merits and at least one podcast was released specifically to address his conclusions.

After reading it, I was more amused than anything else.

"If we security engineers do our job right, users will get their awareness training informally and organically, from their colleagues and friends."

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 02:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The calendar says it's Spring.  The snow on the ground outside says it's Winter. 

I don't care what the weather wants to do... it will be Spring. 

Because I say so. 

Ha. Like anyone ever listens to me.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Looks like Apple has instituted Two Factor authentication for anyone with an Apple ID and a phone that receives text messages.

9 to 5 Mac has the story

I will be setting this up on my Apple ID as soon as I get a chance. However, they have not sent out any official notice yet. Also, 9 to 5 says they are still training their personnel on how it works so they can assist customers.

If you haven't ever set up Two Factor on gmail or dropbox or other platform, you may want to give it a few days. That way if you get stuck, you are more likely to get help quickly.

It's good to see this. Thank you Apple.

****

Then I saw this story

Apple ID Security Hole Allows Password Reset With Email Address and Date of Birth

So sooner might be better than later in going to the 2 factor auth. 

****

I just went through the process.  Worked in a very straightforward way.  Although be prepared for the dire warnings of what will happen if you lose the recovery password etc. 

It turns out you can verify a device like a phone, or your ipad, or ipod touch.  You don't need a cell phone I think... I did add my cell number to the process as another method.  If you don't want to give them a cell number, it might still work.  

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 03:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There is some new ad malware created specifically for Macs circulating about the interwebz.

Ad-injecting trojan targets Mac users on Safari, Firefox, and Chrome

Don't ya just love ad spammers. Yeesh.

So let's go over this once again! Please do not click on anything and install it when browsing about at a website. No matter how much you want to see that kitty jump at the red dot, this will not enhance your experience.

If you get to a site and it tells you to install a plugin to view the video... leave. Immediately.

If you have a Mac and you are worried about having picked up this barnacle, it seems to be fairly easy to check and then to rid yourself of it.

How to remove 'Yontoo' adware Trojan from your OS X system

And so ends your public service announcement for today.  We thank you for your kind attention.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 01:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It was an anniversary weekend for my husband and I this last weekend. It was very nice indeed. Hard to believe it's been 34 years...  I can't quite wrap my head around that number.

****

I saw this story on the Chicago Tribune

Chicago police officers, hotel doorman help rescue baby

We stay at the Talbott Hotel when we are in Chicago. It's a great place.  I've met the doorman Dwayne Neff. I think I need to give him an extra tip the next time I'm in town.

****

There was a google drive outage this morning

It's amusing to see all the wailing and gnashing of teeth by people who expect utter perfection 24/7/365.  Why did they go with google drive in the first place?  Because they know their own systems are subject to failure and it would take far longer than a few hours to get that fixed. 

****

Robots that do the chores***

I want one.  Especially if I could get it to cook for me.  Of course if it cleaned the dishes once I was done, that might be an acceptable start.

***minor warning... auto run video at the link - just in case you are somewhere you don't want it speaking out

****

That's it for now.  Maybe more later if I find something else fun.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 12:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Happy anniversary! We'll hit 33 yrs in May ... doesn't really seem possible, in some ways.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at March 18, 2013 03:07 PM (upyv2)

2 Happy Anniversary!!  We hit 20 in just a few months.. a good marriage is such a blessing; happy you two have that!

Posted by: Pam at March 18, 2013 05:15 PM (Wce/n)

3 Yay Pam and Paul!  LOL. Always glad to see people who have managed to be great for each other over the long haul. 

Posted by: Teresa at March 18, 2013 05:19 PM (hJwgq)

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So Google is turning off Reader, their popular RSS service on July 1st. If you have been using this service, you might be at a loss. What now?

Fear not. There are other options.

Go to google and download your RSS feed via google takeout. Go to your google reader page --> Help --> How to --> Reading -->  How can I download my Reader data?  Click the link it will aggregate the data.  When it's at 100% click Create Archive.  It will zip it and then give you a download button.  Voilà.  You are done.

This format should be compatible for import to other readers.

One option to replace google is newsblur. It's open source with a web option along with iOS/Android options too.  The iOS app looks very nice.  They have instructions on how to import your google reader feed.

Of course they are currently swamped with fleeing google users even though there are a few months before the service goes away... sheesh.  The main site is either slow or down for the count tonight.  Wait a bit before trying to access it until the furor dies down a bit.

I gave up on feed reading a while back. Just couldn't keep up.  But the iOS app is so nice I may reconsider...

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 09:06 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, dadgum google can't keep a little thing like Reader going but they can conquer the known universe?  I am bereft.

Posted by: Pam at March 13, 2013 10:10 PM (Wce/n)

2 Pam I don't think the word is "can't" the words are "don't want to".  It has cause much grief on the interwebs.

Posted by: Teresa at March 13, 2013 10:18 PM (hJwgq)

3 I have used Snarfer for years... but they don't update it anymore.  Might have to see about this one you mentioned...

Posted by: vwbug at March 14, 2013 04:50 AM (FPOeI)

4 VW - wait a bit.  Every other service is slammed right now while people jump off Reader.  Give it until the  middle of May for things to settle down and other services to spin up new servers to handle the load. 

Posted by: Teresa at March 14, 2013 10:19 AM (hJwgq)

5 I can't get to Newsblur at all now... slammed is a good word for it! 

Posted by: Pam at March 14, 2013 01:46 PM (Wce/n)

6 Pam I followed his twitter stream yesterday. He was not expecting this and even though he was planning on expanding the service in the next month this caught him completely off guard.  I use Netvibes for regular news reading and even they are getting slammed today.  Amazing how many people this effected. 

Posted by: Teresa at March 14, 2013 01:52 PM (hJwgq)

7 Wow, poor guy!  Or, hooray for him if he'll be serving ads.

I once tried Mozilla Thunderbird as an aggregator... didn't like it too well, but it might check it out again... the downside, of course, would be no iPhone app.

Thanks for the info, anyway!

Posted by: Pam at March 15, 2013 06:48 AM (Wce/n)

8 Finally decided to try and get newsblur... and it is no longer free.  $2 a month.  Sigh... off to find another.

Posted by: vwbug at April 29, 2013 04:50 AM (FPOeI)

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Ah such a dull day.  It's been cloudy and drippy.  Then late afternoon it rained  hard.  Now the weather tweets from around here are about flooding.  What a change from last week when it was all snow.  

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yes, the snow... it be melting. 

Ever since the storm last Friday, the daytime temps have been significantly above freezing.  Works for me.

Of course there is still plenty of snow on the ground and the entire meltdown will take some time (unless we get a rain storm).  We'll see how long until the majority of the grass is finally showing.  Right now the amount is zero... still all white with a number of inches to melt.

****

Went walking with my regular camera on Sunday.  The problem is, I didn't take a single photo worth my time to do more than glance at and pass on by.  That's pretty sad.  I seem to have lost my touch.  Or whatever kind of touch I had at one time. Oh well.  There is always next weekend.

****

And because I had nothing better to do, I joined App.net (which is apparently a less cluttered version of twitter).  Not sure if I like it, not sure if I'll stay.  We'll see.  In the meantime, if you are a member I have a link in the sidebar.

****

Here's a cool little website you might enjoy.  Jeff Gamet was talking about this on the British Tech Big Show (which I listened to earlier today).  I may try this out tomorrow and see if it does more than make me want to scream.  We shall see.

Coffitivity: Make your office sound like a coffee shop

Just not sure the clash of coffee cups is what I need.  Hmmm...

****

That's it for now.  Time to give my eyes a rest from the computer screen.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 10:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I finally managed to make myself fix up my smugmug site where I have lots of my pictures from my "real" cameras (the Nikon DSLRs). 

One of the things that has been bugging me for a while was that I didn't like the way my site looked over there.  But, even with "easy" tools, it's not really easy at all to figure out how to fix things the way I want them.

Luckily I ran across a tutorial (that wasn't there the last time I looked).  Half of it was stuff I knew, but it was the rest that was exactly what I was looking for.  It's the SmugMug Tutorial by Ryan Oakley. 

The only thing he didn't cover was how I could get my "galleries" off the main page.  However, I was able to find a written tutorial in the FAQ covering that little bit. 

It still needs a few little tweaks.  One of them being a banner with some sort of name on it.  So far I'm not coming up with anything I like.  I could stick with my name, but that's kinda boring.  So I'll think a while longer on it. 

The other problem keeping me from using my DSLR instead of my iphone is that I want to change my photo workflow.   I have both Photoshop and Aperture.  I don't do much by way of serious "fixing" of pictures.  Aperture has been good enough since I started taking more pictures, but they have thrown the occasional curve at me that has caused me problems. 

The worst was when they updated their RAW conversion and it completely hosed my existing photos.  Very very irritating and it took a while to get it fixed.  That's about the point I gave up on photos from my good cameras. 

I'm seriously considering moving over to Photoshop and using Adobe Bridge to organize my photos.  But that would be a pretty steep learning curve just to do minor fixes. 

I continue to ponder.  Once I figure it out, I may even start taking pictures with my real camera again.  We'll see.

Update:  Well, I figured out a title and I have it up.  I may change it later... or not.  But now I feel as if I have the site done enough that it isn't unfinished looking. Yay!

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 08:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This one on Samsung devices.

It looks as if the Samsung Galaxy S 3 and the Note 2 have the same lock bug that was causing Apple some headlines a couple of weeks ago.

I'm pretty sure you'd have to have some very bad luck and have your phone stolen by a complete geek for this to be an issue. However, if you own one of these devices, you should probably be on the lookout for system updates issued over the next week or so. Once it's released, you may want to wait a day or two. Just to be sure there aren't any major issues with the "fix".

Here's the scoop (such as it is) via Ars Technica.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 08:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you are an Evernote user, have you changed your password?  Yesterday Evernote sent out emails to all their users asking them to change their passwords because of a data breach. 

Very proactive on their part. No matter what the company doing business online, the bad guys keep trying.  It is impossible to keep them out completely.  Fast action on the part of companies to limit the damage, is a great thing.

So do take a few minutes, if you haven't done it yet, to change the password and make your data more secure.

Thank you.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 06:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Airport observations. There's always something going on...

*****

Unbelievably slow security line. A girl didn't pull out her laptop. An elderly lady with no clue she needed to have liquids out.

Still had time for sandwich.

Some guy getting on the plane. Shedding stuff from his bag as he goes. His wife picks it up then stops in the aisle to give it all back to him. Had to duck out of the way while She slings crap around.  She's having a long winded conversation with him about whether a newspaper is "important" or not.  He claimed it was… alrighty then.  Now that we know, please sit down!

Why do people try to pull wheeled bags down the center airplane aisle? Yeah you flight attendants riding this flight, I'm talking about you. You should know better.  Especially if your bag keeps getting stuck!

Oh joyous day!  There is no one in the middle seat!!!

Two women in front of me with hair styles straight from the Oscars (aka rats nest updos). Wouldn't be surprised if small rodents jumped out of that mess

Bumpy start to flight. Now away from Chicago. I prefer Chicago. Oh well.

Crap. Lost one of my favorite earrings. *sigh* Probably when I took off my scarf to go through security.

Not sure why they serve drinks on this flight. It's so short it's hardly worth it...  Just getting to 10,000 ft is 1/3 of the flight.

Three men at the airport talking about fertility treatments and which local doc does what, how much it costs, and even one doc who does a "money back guarantee" depending on how things go. Wild.

Someone here has a wifi hotspot named"Angry Lawyer".

Ah the joys of winter travel. Before takeoff we needed wing de-icing. Just a precaution. That's okay they can be as cautious as they want. 

Why is it that some flights turn off the overhead lights on takeoff but others don't? This is a  question that wanders through my head as this plane leaves the ground with lights ablaze.

The flight from STL to MDW is 42 minutes. But some guy decided he must put his seat back all the way back just moments after leaving the ground.  I guess he really needs that 30 minutes of reclining. Sheesh. Luckily he is not in front of me. Even luckier, the seat didn't break and land on the person behind him. We were doing the steep climb after take off and he was not a small boy.

The woman next to me was a bit chatty when I sat down. Luckily she is sleeping now.  I'm too tired and it's too early in the day for me to want to talk. ~~ feeling curmudgeonly. 

Would pull out the headphones and listen to an audio book but the flight is too damned short. No point for the 15 min before I'd have to turn it off again.

Should have brought my moleskine notebook.  Didn't want to take up the space in my purse. But I could have put it in my carry-on. At least then I could write during the "no electronics" times. (the things I don't think of...)

I assume one day we'll be able to leave devices on.

Yep already descending. Amazing how fast this flight goes. Now if only I didn't have to get to the airport like 2 hours early, it would be most excellent.

5 youngish guys in suits riding the moving walkway at MDW.  Standing in a row facing the gates. Telling people walking by to slow down. They are not on my flight, thank goodness. I expect they will break out in song mid-flight wherever they are going. Heh.
 
Guy just left the plane carrying something that looked like a pizza warming carrier.

Another guy carrying his skateboard on his back. 

The question remains... Why do people try to roll suitcases down the airplane aisle?

Late leaving. Waiting for passengers from connecting flights. Must be nice. I've never had a flight wait for me.

*****

And arrived back home with no real problems.  Wonder how that happened.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 12:36 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Compared to your usual tales, this was an uneventful flight. Still entertaining, though.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at March 03, 2013 12:45 PM (DkimJ)

2 I know - kinda makes me sad.  LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at March 03, 2013 12:50 PM (hJwgq)

3 I'm sorry your flight wasn't better than what sounds like a military troop transport. Yep, been on a lot of military cargo planes and they sound like they have as many amenities as civilian.

Posted by: Lemon Stand at March 03, 2013 01:33 PM (oIyXC)

4 Sorry, T, but I was smirking through most of this. 

And I also have never had a flight wait for me. Watched one flight pull away as we were sprinting towards the gate... after they said they were waiting for us. Then watched as they stopped to load our bags and take off.

Posted by: T1G at March 03, 2013 01:53 PM (gnQ9t)

5 LOL smirk away.  I laugh as I write it. To me it's all amusing unless someone delays a flight. 

Posted by: Teresa at March 03, 2013 03:51 PM (hJwgq)

6 I always take a sudoku book on with me - if I focus on those it keeps me from screaming  and helps tons on those fast flights.
I hate flying - but I love going places and I'm not going to let my fear/hatred of flying keep me from seeing the world.

Posted by: patti at March 03, 2013 07:52 PM (Ge36/)

7 LOL - Patti I have Sudoku on my iphone and love it.  I am not afraid of flying at all. I suppose I should be, but I'm not.  

Posted by: Teresa at March 03, 2013 08:55 PM (hJwgq)

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Not only did I get this year's cold which turned into an annoying "post viral" cough, I've been working like mad at work because we got a new internet line put in. This means lots of reconfiguration of various things and many late nights working on stuff so it doesn't cause problems during the day.   

There has been much hair tearing as I tried to figure out how to set up reverse DNS for this line (not sure why the provider isn't doing it, but so it is).  Finally got that one cracked after lots of reading along with trial and error (mostly error).  Once that was done, there were a number of other things that had to follow, but that was the prime stumbling block.  Glad it's figured out.

This means I haven't had time to take any pictures which is rather annoying.  But this weekend I hope to remedy the situation. 

It's time for the "Grand Midwest Tour".  Right now it looks as if the snow will be staying south (which works in my favor).  I will be headed to Chicago for a couple of nights to hang out with the kids.  Celebrating that my son got his official notice he graduated Summa Cum Laude, which is very cool. 

Then off to my friend Richmond's place for the Academy Awards party - always a fantastic time.

Then down to St. Louis for a couple of days to see my mom and sister before heading back home. 

It will be non-stop fun and games.  I'm just hoping the travel gods are in a good mood.  We'll see.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 05:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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