Well, similar to wine, if you have bad wine, you basically never want to drink it ever again. If you drink good wine, you relish in the flavour and how it can have such vibrant taste.

In high school I would go and drink Irish Crème Cappuccinos at Starbucks, not because the taste was all that great but because it contained “Irish Crème”. Boy was that a mistake that stunted my growth and kept me from being the 6’8” man that I’d hoped to be.  Okay, just kidding, but seriously, I definitely am not much of a Cappuccino kind of guy. Why ruin the goodness of a shot of espresso with perfectly good crème and sugar that could be used in a baking process for something else?

For me I stumbled into the vibrant taste of coffee this past August. I decided I was going “cold turkey” with diet coke and was just going to switch back to purely water. This feeble attempt lasted for a few weeks before I was finding myself, while incredibly clear (drinking more water always tends to make things more clear) that I was falling asleep – maybe that’s a good thing? I was however finding that in the morning without caffeine I could be a grouch (though I’m sure that some of my closer friends had other names for it ).

So after conferring with myself, I decided I would give Starbucks drip coffee a chance. Besides there was a  Starbucks drip coffee machine downstairs in the building that I worked in that was complimentary to anyone that worked there. So I gave Pike Roast a try. Not too bad, but not something that grabbed me and made me say, “Oh you’re amazing.” The flip side was that the caffeine definitely was helping me to be a little more alert and the grouchiness was fading little by little. So I moved on to Bold and found that there was definitely a love affair in the making. The only caveat – it just didn’t have the right flavour to it. But how could I justify the cost I asked myself? Even as a Starbucks Gold card holder, it was still $2 a cup and required a stop by one of the several dispensaries in the area. Further more for days when I wasn’t feeling the Bold, I did have the alternative Café Americano but still, at $2 a cup without a second job, it was going to become financially burdensome to keep up this caffeinated habit.

Perhaps I should have known that I was destined to enjoy Coffee through the enticement of the Ray Charles Starbucks card that I’d received when I bought a copy of the Ray Charles album “Genius Loves Company” (what can I say, I’m the genius and coffee is the company? ). Which further makes me laugh since whenever I go to Starbucks and hand them this card they all look at it and wonder where I had gotten such a card – primarily since it’s coming up on being seven years old and not readily available. The other typical response is that it’s the coolest or cutest card they’ve ever seen. I even had one barista try to take it when it zero’d out so to speak… yeah that didn’t happen

Anywhere, where does that leave me? Besides having to beat people away from my Ray Charles Starbucks card? Well after a little market research looking at the Tassimo coffee pots as well as the Flavia and Keurig machines I did an analysis of requirements and alternatives. Not to say that I didn’t look at all the different coffee machines out there, but I was looking for something that would be low maintenance, single serving, easy to operate under the influence of next to zero sleep. At least those were the requirements. The alternatives of course were to become more disciplined at going to bed earlier, learn to live on uber-man schedule where I sleep thirty minutes every few hours or to take up something else and after all I’ve read about smoking it just didn’t seem like a good idea

So I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger and ordered a Keurig coffee machine and a box of samples of different Kona coffee k-cups. I’ve ended up sticking with Timothy’s Kona Blend Coffee as I’m a sucker for Kona coffee having actually liked the way it smelled as a kid growing up in Hawaii.

But that’s not to say that’s the only coffee k-cups that are magnificent… I’ve definitely found a delight with what is known as “Jet Fuel” from the Coffee People. It’s a strong, dark blend with a taste that is distinct – and free of carcinogens no less which makes it all the better. Plus after taking a some to work to share with colleagues, one of them definitely seemed to think that it made the peppermint mocha mix used as an additive in their coffee that it made the peppermint taste even stronger – can you go wrong with such goodness?

Perhaps, but that’s also why I have an alternative to the Café Americano – Timothy’s Espresso blend. While it’s not a one for one replacement it comes darn close from a taste perspective. And for those late nights where you’re looking for the taste, there’s good ole Timothy’s Espresso blend decaf – sure there’s a little caffeine, but nothing that a little Kerberos documentation won’t do to push you to dream land.

So where does that leave me in the morning? Typically thinking to myself, “Decisions, decisions…” especially with the influence of the Starbucks thermos, the Panera coffee cup and the Jet Fuel conveniently edging itself toward the Keurig machine. There are definitely mornings where I’m looking for comfort and not really the kick of an after burner through Jet Fuel which leads me to the Kona or another favorite, the Nantucket Blend. Either of which provides that nice and warm flavour with a gentle nudge that wraps its arms around you and reminds you that even though it’s a jungle out there, you’ve got your emotional blanket to take with you

Nonetheless, there were 34 practices that were entered into the poll and the top ten practices that were selected in order of popularity in this very non-scientific poll:

So what does all of this mean? Not much, except that folks were able to click through a poll.

I’m sure that the raw data could be spun in some manner or fashion, but due to the non-scientific collection means and lack of controls in place, I figured it would be more interesting to make note of the practices that did show up in the top ten. Each of these practices do great work in the DC area, Nationally and Internationally.  All of the practices listed likewise  have great people working for them, that in turn have excellent results.

So what’s next?  Speaking with my friend and caped crusader, Joel Ward, we’ve tossed around ideas of how to better poll the community but from a different angle. Perhaps rather than just voting on the best practice to work for, we take an inside look with practice members and managers to find out more about their methods, their approaches and what their expertise is.  Call it reporting and showcasing SharePoint excellence throughout the community.

Practices in original non-scientific poll – ActioNet, Applied Information Sciences, Aquilent, Inc., BlackBlade Associates, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bravo Consulting Group, CACI, CDW, ComSys, Deloitte, Digicon Corporation, HP, i3 Solutions, InfoReliance, Information Strategies, Innovative-e, JHC Technology, Juniper Strategy, LLC, Lockheed Martin, MetroStar Systems, MicroLink, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Planet Technologies, Portal Solutions, Perficient, RDA, Satory Global, Smartronix, Inc., Sogeti, Summit 7 Systems, Watkins IT, WinSmarts

Oddly enough though I would run an NSLookup and get a valid response. I would try to ping Google.com and it would ping. So I was left scratching my head wondering why I wasn’t able to transmit and receive anything other than just a DNS record or an ICMP. So what did I do? I called Verizon’s tech support.

So I disconnected and then reconnected and all was back to normal with super fast network connectivity that scared me (yes, scared me thinking to myself that just a few years ago these speeds in a wired environment were usually only in corporate data networks or academic environments).  Then about ten to fifteen minutes later, boom, disconnect.  Third times a charm I figured, and gave it another reconnect request, this time the session was flawless and had no issues, lasted 45 minutes long and then I disconnected manually and left for dinner with a few friends.  When I got back, I opened a ticket with Verizon support – they called back pretty quickly and left a message since I wasn’t available.  Rather than shy away from the issue I went ahead and gave them a call to further discuss.

After talking with a gent about what was going on, it was confirmed from my network traffic that there were “at cause” issues where the modem would attempt to talk to a specific node of the LTE cell and be disconnected from transmitting at that level and cease data traffic altogether. Because it’s the network side an official ticket was opened and network engineering team will investigate the network hardware and routing to correct the issue.

So first thoughts, LTE is blazing fast.  LTE is expensive in that Verizon wireless is capping at 5 GB for $50, 10 GB for $80.  I’d like to see VZW man up and do what MetroPCS is doing with unlimited usage for $60

Nevertheless, according to VZW, they should have the issue resolved in 5 to 7 business days, I’m interested to see it get fixed and will report back then.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft states that the Virtual PC software is more to assist small businesses…

Does Windows Virtual PC support 64-bit Windows XP as a guest operating system?

No. Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode was designed to help small business with application compatibility from Windows XP to Windows 7. The majority of business applications currently run on 32-bit versions of
Windows XP.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/faq.aspx

And yet, so many small businesses are adopting SharePoint, wouldn’t it seem like the natural fit to release a software package that can allow for 64-bit virtualization? And I bet that they could write a memory management module that would allow to go beyond what the 32-bit software operating system is typically bound to similar to Windows Server 2003 x86 Enterprise Edition’s ability to see up to 32 GB of RAM and address it as well.

I wonder if they did if it would look something like this:

I guess since it’s not yet available, we’ll go with the next best thing…

http://www.vmware.com/workstation

SharePoint Implementations today consist of a race between Architects, Developers and IT Pros striving to build well planned out, bigger and better idiot-proof solutions, and the Universe trying to produce requirements of entropy with bigger and better idiots.

So far, the Universe is winning.

Over the past week we have all watched international aid pour into the country in hopes of rescuing survivors trapped under the wreckage of buildings as well as to assist those injured and to care for the population as “the basics” are no more. So I know I sit, ponder and ask myself, “What is it that I can do?” By now you’ve probably heard of the SMS code to send cash through your phone to the Red Cross in support of Haiti, but what else is there?

Dux Sy (@meetdux) has established “Operation ShareLove: Haiti” as a fund drive organized to support our global brothers and sisters in Haiti. Not only are you helping out in support of those in dire to continue on living, but apparently you can benefit as well.

For more details on how to participate in Operation ShareLove, I strongly urge you to check out the Op SL page at http://sp.meetdux.com/archive/2010/01/18/operation-sharelove-support-haiti-earthquake-victims-amp-win.aspx.

It’s best to first install the Office Communicator 2007 R2 Cumulative January Update referenced in a previous post here at SPDan.com here.

Once you’ve installed the Cumulative Update, Microsoft has the x64 Conferencing add-in available at:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102368901033.aspx

If you’re looking to grab the x64 edition and don’t feel like scrolling down:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=180490

While this may not seem that big a deal to some, it’s very helpful for those that live by their calendar synchronized through Exchange and need to plan LiveMeeting invites a day or two out for distribution to several individuals to collaborate on a project together or demonstrate a code release.

Bottom line, thank you Microsoft for adding the capability for those using x64 based Office 2010 Beta 2 the ability to use Communicator more seamlessly!

Like other cumulative updates the package contains hotfixes previously released to ensure that you’re not having to patch together several different patch packages (we’re living in 2010 remember, patch management processes have been ironed out).  The core three issues that this CU includes that go above and beyond the hotfixes previously released include:

• 978161 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978161/ ) Office Communicator 2007 R2 crashes when you receive an incoming instant message notification
• 978162 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978162/ ) A hyperlink is converted to plain text format when you input the hyperlink into an Office Communicator 2007 R2 conversation window
• 978163 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978163/ ) You cannot call a user by using the Actions button in Office Outlook 2007, but you can call the user through Office Communicator 2007 R2

More information about the package can be read at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976135

or if you just want to download the package immediately for application to your system

Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Hotfix KB 976135

Upon completion of this installation your Communicator R2 application will be running at version 3.5.6907.83

It’s been a perplexing year with several life changes and challenges – whether family related, work or things in the social and technical communities that I’m involved with.

Today is Thanksgiving though, the day that we stop and breath and remember how blessed we are in this world. I know that for me, living in the Northern Virginia area I don’t see quite the same economic conditions that seem to exist in other parts of the country. I read articles on BBC, CNN, Fox and Drudge and suddenly see the enormity of the pain and hard times that are affecting others and realize how blessed I am.

I would only ask that on this Thanksgiving day in 2009 that you stop and realize the blessings that have been placed on you and reflect on them.