It's snowing again. No, wait sleet. No, now it's rain. Oh no, now it's snow. Sheez. Ol' Ma Nature must be concerned these days because all the snow from the recent storms melted or something. Luckily, this won't be enough weather to cause a problem, or likely even enough to stick around.

Even IT pro's have home computer problems sometimes, only ours are usually more complicated because we tend to really challenge our computers. So anyhow, I got home yesterday, found my user profile (among a number of other things) in Windows was completely shot. I had to do some fancy maneuvering to even get into the system, and once things were close to being back to normal, so much data was lost I had to almost start like it was a new computer as far as set up goes. Not literally start new - none of this reinstall Windows crap. It needed to be fixed.

In the process of a lot of repair steps one of the things I had to do was to fight an unhappy hard drive and it's file table. I was certain I had lost some critical data, but suspected it was still in a recoverable mode on the drive. So, I decided to register a copy of Active @ Undelete Pro, which helped me in terms of getting a large number of otherwise lost, deleted and unassociated files on the drive back. While the files and directories in question were no longer associated with their original locations (that file table was pretty screwed up), this program still allowed me to browse them and recover every file I needed (like email dbx files, application profiles, some docs, etc.). That software is worth it's weight in gold. The version I bought (Pro) is $49.95, and allows removable disks to be worked with, but if the only locations you want to be able to recover from are your local hard drives (most home users), the standard version is only $29.95 - and well worth it. BTW, for $99.95 they also have an enterprise version that I will be purchasing for work when I get back to the office next week. It allows you to recover from other computers over the network - very cool.

There's one lesson here worth learning for the paranoid among us (yes, that's you, Steve ). Anything you store on/in your Desktop, My Documents, My Pictures, My.* (etc.) folders is stored under your user profile. So, if you want to make sure a Windows glitch is less likely to cause you heartburn, consider relocating the folder(s) or simply store your files elsewhere, not in the Documents and Settings tree.

Press Release: 

IF NASA FINDS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF AN OCEAN ON MARS, AMERICA EATS FREE GIANT SHRIMP

"We have closely followed NASA's recent exploration of Mars and all of us are rooting you on to find ocean water on the Red Planet," Davis wrote. "The 'Free Giant Shrimp' offer is our way of saying NASA's exploration of Mars and the discovery of ocean water would be 'one small step for man, one giant leap for seafood.'"

Riiiiiiight... Hey, ya never know?

If you are interested in what Mars actually looks on the ground, you need to check this out.

Someone named Lyle has put together a web site that takes raw feed images from the Mars Spirit rover and aggregates them onto a web site for viewing. This is from slashdot:

"I've spent a few hours hacking together some software to deal with the Mars Exploration Rover imagery at JPL. The software puts together a webpage and RDF feed of new raw imagery as it is posted to the JPL site, along with technical information decoded about how the picture was taken. It also produces stereo anaglyphs and color images that NASA has not seen fit to convert and make publically available. Be sure to also check out the ultra high resolution image of the lander as viewed from Spirit."

This is cool, and a perfect example of what someone can do on the Internet with a little interest, passion and expertise. So cool.

My friend and coworker, Scott, forwarded me a link to a blog review where Steve Clarke describes his experience with the Acer C300 Tablet PC, which was recently introduced to the market. I have been using the same Tablet model for the last 6 weeks, and have found I like it a lot. Almost to a “T“ I agree with what Steve has to say.

Scott has the newest Toshiba Tablet PC, which is also a cool device. It has a smaller screen/slate, but higher pixel resolution. Like Steve, I have found the larger screen on the C300, even with max res of 1024x768, to be pretty darn nice. But, hey - Scott's into pain, so I am sure eye strain counts for something. Just kiddin' man!

Scott and I have also been running some interesting software for the tablet that I seem to have better luck with on the Acer than Scott has had on his Toshiba, but then again, with all the stuff he installs on his computers, well - who knows, eh!

(Oh, and Scott turns 30 on Thursday, so be sure to give him a ration if you happen to read this and have a chance!)

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today ...

 - Dr. MLK Jr.