We drove down to Manchester, Georgia today (down in middle Georgia kind of near Fort Valley) and picked peaches at Hudson Farm. Great fun, although it was a little bit more humid than I like because a rain storm had rolled through just before we got there. The peaches were huge right off the tree, but harder than I expected. I guess they’ll soften up over the next few days. Apparently this was a great year for peaches in Georgia; the rain was just right and there’s a bumper crop of outstanding fruit (which is also why it’s so cheap at the grocery stores). We got two large baskets of You-Pick peaches for $30. I think that was a pretty good deal…and fun, to boot!
Recently, my copy of SQL Server 2008 Management Studio began failing with this error message:
Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to interface
type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IServiceProvider'. This
operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component
for the interface with IID '{6D5140C1-7436-11CE-8034-00AA006009FA}'
failed due to the following error: No such interface supported
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)).
(Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop)
(told you it was geeky)
It took me hours and more than a few gray hairs to work this out. Apparently, the issue is caused by installing SourceGear’s Vault Client (Vault is a version control tool used by programmers to manage source code).
There are various pages online that refer to the error, but the vast majority suggest the solution is to re-register actxprxy.dll. In my case, the trick was to re-register C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ieproxy.dll.
The exact procedure:
Launch a command prompt as Administrator (best bet is to do Start, then search for “Command” to find the icon, then right click and choose “Run as Administrator” — you’ll have to click to approve it)
Enter the following command: regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ieproxy.dll”
and press ENTER.
That’s it. 2 seconds.
Wish I had managed to find that one before I spent three hours installing every SQL Server program I could identify and then reinstalling Visual Studio 2010. Uggh.
After applying updates, I was unable to launch Microsoft Outlook 2007. Every time I tried, it would open the frame of the main window, then fail with a modal dialog box:
Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.
I ran Microsoft Office Diagnostics (which usually can fix these kinds of issues — it’s under Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Office Tools), and it found no problems and didn’t fix the issue.
A little Googling turned up this nugget, which did the trick:
Click on Start > Run, then enter “outlook.exe /resetnavpane” and click OK.
My son Christopher and I shaved our heads last Sunday in solidarity with kids who have cancer and typically lose their hair during treatment. With your help, we raised over $2,250 to help fund childhood cancer research. And when you turn a 14 year old girl loose with a Flip video camera…well, you just might wind up with a really cool video to boot (thanks, Emily!) Here’s the big day:
You heard it right – I’m shaving my head in solidarity with children who have cancer and typically lose their hair during treatment, while raising critical funds for childhood cancer research!
In the US, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. Please make a donation on my behalf to support childhood cancer research so that all children diagnosed with cancer will have a better chance for a cure.
To make a donation, visit my page at http://bit.ly/d6hDu3 and click on “Make A Donation” or donate by mail or phone.
Thank you for your support!
By the way: my son Christopher is going to shave his head, too! You can donate under his name at http://bit.ly/ckWzhi.
(NOTE: The links changed on Wednesday afternoon, 3/3/10, so if you made note of the old links, you may want to update!)
I had a client ask me today to help with converting a bunch of WMV video files (Windows Media – Video) so that he could store them on his T-Mobile G1 and watch them. After a bit of digging, I found a wonderful tool called HandBrake that exists to do nothing but convert videos between formats.
In true geekspeak:
HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
The important thing here is that it’s “open-source” and “GPL-licensed,” which is to say that it’s free.
Oh, and it works beautifully. In no time flat I had converted all of the WMV files to MP4 files that should work flawlessly on his Android-based G1 phone. HandBrake would do a nice job of converting Windows videos to download to your iPhone or iPod Touch, too.
The other task he gave me was to replicate a DVD that he had produced a couple of years ago (just so we’re clear, he owns the content, so this is not about making illegal copies of commercial DVDs!)
For that, I turned to my old friend ImgBurn. This wonderful tool — also free — will read and write CD’s and DVD’s. In this case, I was able to rip the entire DVD to an ISO file, then pop in a blank DVD and burn an exact duplicate.
There you go! Two new toys to add to your toolbox.
This is awesome! It’s a simulator re-creation of the flight of USAirways Flight 1549 that suffered a bird strike and went down in the Hudson River in late 2009, complete with overlays of the various different radio communications. No audio for the in-cabin discussions between Capt. Sullenberger and his First Officer, but you do get the transcript of what was happening in the cockpit. Listen for how quickly the NY Departure air traffic controller grasps what’s going on, and how calm he is as he works to open up any possible path for a safe landing. This is a fantastic testament to the professionalism of everybody involved in this miraculous event (nobody was killed!)
In my search for as much information as I can find about my new Mustang, I found the online discussion forms at MustangForums.com (I have no idea how they came up with that name…none).
Anyway, I got a chuckle as I browsed around in the forums.
My car is a base Mustang V6, and has a black honeycomb grille with no foglights. The GT model (two steps up from mine, with a big V8 engine) has a grille with great big fog lights built in.
What amused me is that as I browsed around the “appearance” discussions, I noticed that one of the most-talked-about modifications that owners of V6′s make to their cars is the addition of a GT-style grille with foglights. In fact, it’s one I’d like to make.
Here’s the “people are funny” part, though: I noticed that several folks who have the GT with the foglight grille were looking to replace the grille with one that DOESN’T have foglights!
I guess everybody wants what they don’t have and/or they just want to be different. Regardless, people ARE funny.
Here are a few cool toys for the Mustang…a little “wish list” for the new toy:
1) Sequential Taillight Kit — Makes the turn signals blink in sequential fashion; very retro and wicked cool
2) Clear Turn Signal Lights – Converts the standard amber turn signals into a nicer chrome/clear deal
3) Chrome Halo Headlights – Love that BMW Halo Effect! Downside is that I don’t think these will work on my Mustang, because I have the daytime running lights.
4) Red Caliper Covers w/ Mustang Logo – I always did like the look of red brake calipers. (Bummer! These won’t fit my car, since I have 16″ wheels)
I traded in my beloved MINI today on a 2008 Ford Mustang.
It hurt a little bit, because that MINI was a WONDERFUL car, but it was time to move on as the MINI was quickly approaching 100,000 miles, and there were major systems that were due to begin breaking any minute.
The Mustang has just 19,000 miles on it (so it’s still covered by factory warranty for a while), and is in phenomenal condition. A very minor ding in the driver’s door and some trivial scratches on the center console are the only things that I have found that are less than perfect. It’s a pretty basic car — with the base 4.0L V-6 engine — but is wonderfully fun to drive and remarkably comfortable. Plenty of room for a big guy (I’m 6’6″ tall).
The best part? I have instantly and irrevocably been elevated to the level of “Coolest Dad in the Universe” by Christopher. Christopher is pretty sure that there is no better car on earth than the Mustang, and he’s still not sure that I really, truly bought one. He’s already seen many years in the future, and has decided that it would be OK for this to be a hand-me-down car for him when he goes off to college. We’ll see…
