While I was filling up my gas tank, there was a sign put up on the pump that said something along the lines of “BP stations are locally owned and operated, and contribute to the local communities. Thank you for your loyalty.”  It really made my blood boil as I read that, and heard the picketers across the street shouting at me for supporting a locally owned and operated gas station that happens to be a BP franchisor.

I’m not sure what I’m more angry, the fact that these people are just looking for a cause to “fight” for because they’re bleeding heart liberals and want to earn their “good for society” badge?  They really don’t care about the oil spill in the gulf, they really don’t care about the causes they wave flags for.  They just need a scapegoat and target for their activism, and BP is their current target.

Boycotting BP, especially in Northern Minnesota, isn’t going to do anything to help the gulf.  All it is doing is hurting local businesses and the local Minnesota economy.  BP isn’t going anywhere, they’re still going to be in business for years to come, and they’re going to continue making gobs of money.  Whether the oil spill in the gulf is their fault or not, instead of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, the bleeding heart liberals need to actually think of what is GOOD, and HELP the people in need.  There are organizations that you can donate money, and other items to, to actually help clean up the oil, because the government sat around and talked about what to do, instead of doing anything, and now there is a big mess on the gulf coast.

It would make me a happy camper, and it would be better for the environment to not have all those extra wrappers filling up my waste basket.

There is a bill being proposed to grant executive control over the Internet, in a case of “Cyber-Terror” and allow the government to seize control of private sector networks, effectively shutting down the Internet.

It goes on to talk about the terms vaguely, and any threat that deals with computers, the Internet, telecommunications, computer networks, would qualify as Cyber Terrorism, and allow Uncle Sam to cripple private networks.  This includes the possibility of shutting down networks to prevent phone calls and other communications systems.

New licenses would be given to individuals and companies who deal with the major networks, giving them clearance, and basically saying you have to have government approval to run any large private network.  They would also be required to provide additional data and resources to the government.

Frankly, I find this very apalling, and do not want ANYONE in government having judicial control over public networks, allowing them to effectively shut down the system with a flick of a switch.  The government is very lacking in current security operations, and network security is best handled by the private sector.

I understand the need to be able to mitigate threats, but there are cyber attacks every day against corporations and individuals, and the current private networks do a damn good job of keeping the peace, along with keeping the Internet ONLINE.

Well today I just found a service: MyBlogLog.  Apparently someone else thought that concept would be a good idea too, only they were able to execute on the concept.  And it looks like a pretty neat service!  I would have done some things differently, but for the most part, it has all of the features I wanted.
I guess if you can’t do it yourself, wait long enough, and it’s bound to be done by someone else.

And then since it’s Christmas, there is the assumption that gifts are supposed to be thoughtful and meaningful, specific for the individual.  This is what makes it difficult.  If I was to go on vacation somewhere, and buy some random shirts or trinkets for people, they would be happy even if it wasn’t something they wanted or liked.  It’s the thought that counts.  But at christmas time, if someone gets you something you don’t want, you just return it.  It takes away from the spirit and the thoughts behind the gift giving.

I’d much rather buy someone a present out of the blue (like a DVD or CD, or a funny/cute item) or treat them to a movie, or pay for a meal.  That shows more of the spirit of giving than trying to buy something that they will like or want on a day when everyone is expected to.
That and the crowds and shoppers at the malls and the crowdedness of the stores just annoys me.

Anyways, enough about that.  I stumbled upon a goldmine of funny cat pictures the other day (the link was sent to me by a friend).  So I saved all the pictures I could, and put them together in a gallery at http://amishgeek.com/g2/.  I’m slowly going through all the photos, and naming them, and adding keywords so all 1000+ photos are easily searchable.  I’ll also be re-uploading my collection of random funny pictures of other stuff soon too.

Why does the Duluth Police Department waste money on Segways for their officers to ride around on? I have a lot of respect for our police force, but with the city facing bankruptcy, why do they waste money like this? I’d rather see the police riding around on bicycles than segways.

Although I do think that it is an interesting idea, and I look forward to snapping more pics & vids of the segways when I get the chance.

Well the 2.5hrs to Eau Claire Wisconsin went well, but when I hit Eau Claire, it started to snow.  The snow then proceeded to turn into a blizzard with limited visibility.  This of course brought back memories of driving through Wisconsin over new years during a snow storm (when I went into the ditch and totalled my car).  And here I was, driving my brand new car that I hadn’t yet fully learned how it handled in snowy conditions.

Thankfully the hand of God was upon me and I made it to Madison safely, and by 1pm!  As I pulled into the Alliant Energy Center, I saw on the big billboard in big blaring letters: “Microsoft Seminar CANCELLED”.  Oh great!  I drove 6 hours through a blizzard for nothing!  So I called up a friend who used google to give me directions to the nearest Panera Bread so I could at least use their free Wi-Fi internet access to try to get some work done.  I also stopped by Best Buy and picked up Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS for my laptop.  I hung around Madison for 4-5 hours and left around 6pm.  I wanted to wait and see if the storm would subside.  Nope, it got worse!

By the time I left, there was 8-10 inches on the ground, the roads were not plowed, so I was driving around town in at least 6 inches of snow, thankfully my car is like a tank in the snow with its nice winter snow tires.

The drive back to Duluth was long and tiring.  A 360 mile trip at 45mph with limited visibility.  Every few miles I would see someone in the ditch.  By the time I made it back to Eau Claire, it was around 9:30pm, I used my Mapping software with GPS to find a restaraunt, I didn’t want to eat McDonalds again, and didn’t feel like getting out into the storm to ask for directions.  The GPS navigated me right to a Fazolis Italian Restaraunt.

I got back to Duluth around 11:30pm, and went to my office to check my email.  And that is when I found out that I had a meeting at 10am in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St.Paul).  So I had to get up early again on Friday and drive to the cities to meet with a potential client.  Luckily the meeting went well and I closed the deal and now have another web-design contract.  So I guess it was worth it.

Just too much driving and getting up early this past week.

What makes it even more fun is that I finally have my business phone line routed to my office, rather than my house. So the line is plugged into the PBX box for the building. Unfortunately, Jim is to busy to set up the PBX system, so when you call my phone number, it gets picked up and automatically routed to New Tech Concepts. Great! I’ve already received calls on my cell from customers asking me about this.

Last week, I purchased a copy of ACT! by sage. It is supposed to be this great CRM software for managing client relations. Well, it would be great if the software worked properly. For some reason, it is having problems rendering things on the screen. The images get screwed up when viewing the data fields, and the calendar does not show up at all.

What a way to start the week

The reason I called EV1 is because I had been receiving complaints of spam and hacking attempts coming from my servers. But I couldn’t find any evidence of such.

Finally, I found out why. The person who was experiencing the spam/hacking attempts was getting them from a certain IP: 216.127.XXX.137. And when they did a reverse DNS on the IP, it came up with one of my domain names. So they contacted me!

I didn’t recognize the IP address in question, it definately was not one of mine. So I did a reverse DNS/IP whois on the domain, and lo and behold, it belongs to EV1! Apparently, when I cancelled my server with them 2 years ago, they didn’t remove their reverse DNS entries. So the new owner of the server was causing trouble, but my domain still showed in the reverse DNS.

EV1 is now removing those reverse DNS records, and I commend their support, as it was a rather painless phonecall to make to get everything cleared up.

So, the lesson to be learned here, if you have ever had servers somewhere, make sure that they remove the reverse DNS records after you leave their services!

Why do some of these people have to drag their dirty laundry out for everyone to see? They come and post, and complain about a certain user, or a certain site that says or does something bad against them. From what I can tell, these users almost always think a lot of themselves, not much of others, live at home (with their parents) or are still in high school, and don’t have many friends in the ‘real world’. I feel kind of sorry for these people in the fact that they don’t have many friends, and may not realize their own downfalls to work past them.

I understand people have problems. I understand some people are childish, and instigate the actions of which they are complaining about. But please, can’t these people just leave their problems in private? Why do they feel the need to let the world know that userB made a website making fun of userA, or userC says “such and such” about useA? I visit a forum to chat, and have intelligent conversation, and not to have to weed through the day-to-day lives of those without lives.