james kahn's scratchpad

Webex finally works with Firefox 3

James Kahn — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:52:54 +0000

It’s about time. Now if they could get their act together and officially support Vista x64 (even though it works), that would be really something.

Barefoot running shoes

James Kahn — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:48:22 +0000

I just did my first run in my new pair of Vibram FiveFingers barefoot shoes. It really is a liberating feeling running barefoot. It made me feel like I was a kid again… I just wanted to run.

That was until my calves started reminding me that this was my first run “barefoot”, and I need to get more practice in. I stopped at around 2 and a half k’s. My calves are killing me now, in a good way.

I’m a huge believer in strengthening parts of the body that are underworked, rather than using band-aid type measures, such as inner-soles or heavily cushioned running shoes. I see these as a great way to learn to run and work out naturally. Actually going barefoot and stepping on sharp stones and glass isn’t really an alternative, so these are the next best thing.

There is a great article on the principles of barefooting at New York Magazine. It’s quite long, but got me inspired.

Microsoft licensing for vReplicator replicas

James Kahn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:02:10 +0000

When using vReplicator to replicate a Windows virtual server from one site to another, you don’t need Microsoft licensing for the target, as it is a powered off image.

Microsoft clarify this here (emphasis mine):

First, we are licensing by running instance, which is to say the number of images, installations and/or copies of the original software stored on a local or storage network. Instead of licensing every inactive or stored virtual instance of a Windows Server System product, customers can now create and store an unlimited number of instances, including those for back-up and recovery, and only pay for the maximum number of running instances at any given time.

Inspiration

James Kahn — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:43:16 +0000

In defense of downtime

James Kahn — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:02:25 +0000

It’s all very well swimming as hard as you can, but how are you ever going to know if you’re swimming in the right direction unless you stop and look?

Silly dogs

James Kahn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:17:35 +0000

If Border Collies are supposed to be so smart, why can’t mine figure out how to stay out of the rain? Anyone want an unused custom-made dog castle (aka huge dog kennel)?

Gold Coast Marathon 2008

James Kahn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:41:00 +0000

I did the 10km run in the Gold Coast Marathon yesterday with my wife. I usually am not a big fan of running, but I enjoyed myself yesterday. I clocked in at just under one hour (58:33).

Now we plan to do the Bridge to Brisbane in September. Maybe I will train for that one

New job - Vizioncore

James Kahn — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:19:46 +0000

Well, I had my last day at Clariti/S Central on Friday. Finished up with farewell drinks and a BBQ, in true Clariti style. In a couple of days I start my new job - Australia/NZ Systems Engineer for Vizioncore. Should be a lot of fun. Vizioncore have some great products for virtualised environments.

Don’t be surprised if my blog gets Vizioncored all of a sudden!

Any tools for local PC service monitoring?

James Kahn — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:28:38 +0000

I’ve got an HP multifunction printer (Photosmart 3310), with terrible drivers. It works fine except for one issue - periodically the corresponding services on my PC spin up to 100% CPU, and stay there until I restart the service or reboot my PC. If this happens when I’m not plugged into power it really eats the battery on my laptop.

Does anyone know of a tool I could use that monitors Windows services and restarts a service if, say, it’s been at 100% CPU for a minute?

Getting Things Done with Outlook

James Kahn — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:58:08 +0000

I’ve recently become a big fan of the Getting Things Done methodology (GTD for short). Simon Guest has a great writeup on how to implement GTD with Outlook 2007.