Various Stuff

Here's a collection of various items I'm just lumpin' all together ...

Church IT's Biggest Loser contest is underway, but you can still join the "fun".  Currently there are 16 of us signed up ... that's $400 in the pot ... and a vendor is donating an iPod touch or Gamin GPS into the mix as well.  Sign-up here to lose some mass and maybe win some cash.

What to eat?  So I'm hitting the treadmill almost every day, that's been pretty easy.  Problem is I don't know what to eat.  For breakfast I'm eating some oatmeal and lunch I'm doing 2 open-face peanut butter sandwiches.  At dinner I'm trying to eat less and pass on anything that I would guess isn't good for loosing weight.  Any recommendations on foods to eat ... especially lunch and in-between meals?

SharePoint Training - last I checked we've got around 35 registered for the free SharePoint training Jan 7-11.  I finally registered and reserved a hotel for Ed and I Saturday.  We continue to do more experimenting with SharePoint so I'm really looking forward to this training.  Don't forget we also now have discounted pricing for vendors/consultants.  Registration will close soon so don't delay.

Sync Outlook and Google calendars?  Goal: allow my wife to see and add to my Outlook calendar.  We use Google Apps at home so I'm guessing my easiest route here is sync between outlook and google calendars.  I'm playing with Calgoo Connect which, so far, has worked very well.  Downside is it's not free.  But it's worth $30 if I can't find something free.  Any other ideas?

Church IT Roundtable IRC channel, have you checked it out yet?  There's typically about 12 of us in the channel throughout the day and even late into the night.  Stop by and join in the discussions or ask a question.  Server = freenode.net  channel = #citrt

Vista/Office2007 Deploy - as you may/may not recall we started rolling out Vista and Office 2007 this month.  So far so good.  Staff response has been very positive ... many commenting how they love Vista's eye candy.  So far the biggest issue has been printing to our Toshiba 3510's.  Sometimes the Vista print spooler just stops working and won't start again until you rip the driver out of the registry and re-add.  It's not a widespread issue, but it happens enough that Ed's writing a script to automate the removal and re-add.  Our Toshiba Vendor has been onsite and so far has no resolution for us.  There have also been some Active Directory issues that we're still working on ... these are mainly invisible to end users though.  For the most part I'm really liking Vista and I hope the soon-to-come SP1 addresses some of the annoyances/issues.

Episode 20 of the podcast has been transcribed - now you can read about the technology in place at ACS Technologies.  Thanks to Dean and team for giving us an insiders "view".  Maybe we can talk FTech and Shelby into doing similar?

iWorship presentation software now out of beta testing - iWorship 1.0 is now out and available for purchase.  And just to clarify ... while this software was written by one of GCC's interns and we use it during services, it is not GCC developed software.  So please don't email me support questions about iWorship - thanks!

There ya have it ... just some updates for your reading enjoyment :-)

Comments

[Hugh Norman]

Another Outlook-Google sync option is www.syncmycal.com. Haven't tried it, but I've been watching.

[Bryson Medlock]

I've used www.syncmycal.com for awhile. Usually works well, but can be a little buggy if you have a PDA. A free option that I've been playing with is http://www.scheduleworld.com. It's a custom built Funambol server. They keep a copy of your calender and contacts at http://www.scheduleworld.com, then sync it with Google. Since it's a Funambol server you can find Funambol sync clients for pretty much anything, including cell phones, PDA's, SmartPhones, MAC,MS Outlook, etc.

[Justin]

For Outlook-Google sync, you can use Plaxo. It allows you to sync Outlook with Google calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. There are other services it works with too; Yahoo, AIM, Hotmail, LinkedIn, Mobile phones/pda, Mac OS/X.

It is an all-encompassing service and works very well.

[Larry Baxter]

Good to see the number of IT folks taking some steps about weight. A nice start, especially daily exercise - keep it up!

> Problem is I don't know what to eat.
> For breakfast I'm eating some oatmeal

That's a decent choice (low sugar for sure if not already doing that). Adding some fruit you like would be a good addition.

> lunch I'm doing 2 open-face peanut butter sandwiches.

Not the best, though PB in moderate doses and whole grain bread isn't bad. The Healthy Choice / Smart One and other budget frozen entries cost just $1-2, are well balanced and only 300 calories. The 'Cafe Steamer' line is particularly good. Eating out? You can do ok with just a little caution, and a knife to split the typical huge portion lunches in half and get a box to go.

It may not carry you the whole afternoon. That's ok - have a snack of 100-200 calories mid-to-late afternoon, like a yogurt, fruit, or pretzels.

> At dinner I'm trying to eat less and pass on
> anything that I would guess isn't good
> for loosing weight.

Guess?!??!!??!?!?!?!?! Here's a big opportunity for you. I get the sense from the blog you wouldn't change so much as a data cable without doing the research and being 100% confident in your choice. Do some research on food and you'll be amazed and well informed. There are several good sites on calories and fast-foods. I was shocked to find out how much some of my favorite foods were when I didn't think them dangerous (eg Caesar Salad), and pleasant surprised how reasonable some other choices were I assumed would be bad (eg personal pizzas at Camille's). Really - you're fighting the weight battle with one and a half hands tied behind your back if you don't know the impact of your food decisions.

Another comment on dinners. For most of us trying to lose weight, portion is as big a problem as selection. Be aware of what a suggested service size is, and cut back on portions of starches, fats, meats. If you like salad at all, you can't do better than have a salad with most dinners. Get pre-packaged bags if convenience is a factor. Get something beyond iceberg for more taste, and get some new low-fat cool tasting dressings. Go heavy on vegies, and for your sanity, picks ones you like and rotate the choices.

> in-between meals?
Are not evil! Going from 2-3 big meals a day to eating 5-6 times is far better. Between meals you want stuff that's not high-fat, tastes good, and doesn't leave you wanting more in 5 minutes. For me, pretzels with mustard and habanero sauce rocks - others might prefer popcorn, fruit, high-fiber crackers. If you form a salad habit, or already like it, that's an excellent between meal snack too. The new portion control snack packs (100 cal) aren't bad if you're currently eating unmeasured bowls of chips.

One last tip. Liquid calories (soda, most artificial juices) are a horrible way to spend your calorie budget. Water is best (lots of it), sugar-free soda if you like, green tea, etc.

Good luck all!

[Justin]

Sorry, I forgot to add the URL for Plaxo: http://www.plaxo.com

[Jim]

Jason- just chiming in that we see the same behavior here with our Toshiba 3510 and Vista. Machines can print for weeks without issue and then suddenly everything stops until you whack/add the driver again. Would love to nab Ed's script if he gets it working!

[NewsAddikt]

Think outside the Xbox, man. I switched to Mozilla products. Their Sunbird calendar product syncs w/ your Gcal w/ an add-on! Install Sunbird on multiple computers and your can edit your calendar from home, work, etc. It's free and it works great. It also has the option to save an appointment w/ the recurring schedule 'last' week of the month - which Gcall doesnt have.

[Neil Nuttall]

Re Vista & Office 2007
We went thought the same task back in Feb/Mar on about 40 PCs - old and new (and will be doing it again this coming Jan/Feb on a new batch of 40 or so new PCs). We used ImageX/WIM/WDS to install 2 different Vista SOEs.

It's all been good and the users are all OK with it. As we replaced machines on peoples desks one of our interns did a half-hour orientation with user.

Our biggest mistake was drawing the line too low for the minimum spec for our older PC. You live and learn. A new XP SOE may have been better on those.

We too have intermitant issues with the spooler in Vista just not working (I suspect it's our Xerox drivers), a simple restart of the service solves the problem. No big deal really, just a little annoying at times.

[Joe Louthan]

Vista before the six month anniversary of Vista SP1? You are a braver man than I am.