Author Archives: Chris

About Chris

Chris is an IT/IS management professional with over a decade of experience in IT, IS, Network Engineering, and Telecommunications integration. Chris specializes in web server deployment and information management. This includes CMS, CRM, and dynamic content deployment. Chris also manages a full service Video Head End with over 200 digital TV channels. Chris also has five years of project management, knowledge management, and engineering design experience. He specializes in both the Agile and Scrum project management methodology. He also has a background in computer forensics and information security including federal or state compliance audits (such as SOX).

Classic DF – 5/29/02

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May 29, 2002: [•] As usual, I love you wife, daughter, and cats! 🙂 [•] Immy is evil and he likes it that way. [•] Mermaid yelled at me for making fun of Netscape 7 PR1 a couple of posts ago. I believe the quote was “Prepare for more crashes”. Well, I stand corrected as it seems that this Netscape browser will finally once again be more stable than Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. For the record IE crashes at least 2 times on me in a 10 hour work period. Got to love it! [•] Red Raven is alive. He e-mailed me and everything 🙂 [•] Azazel has somehow managed to get us onto a taping of MTV Becoming: Wannabes. I’m sure to get some pictures or at least a review of what it’s like to be on MTV. Yummy!

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Classic DF – 5/28/02

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May 28, 2002: [•] Everything has been pretty darn crapp-a-licious lately. I don’t even know where to begin complaining and besides do you really need another web master blabbing about his personal life? I’ll spare you the details and simply cut to the chase: Life has not been peachy lately and it’s really starting to get to me. This whole misery/depression thing must be contagious because everyone I know is stuck with it (including yours truly). A lot of stuff has gone on in my life lately that has complicated other things. These other things include my personal life in general. I don’t really like to talk too much about personal stuff here (I made a pledge a long time ago not to in order to avoid conflicts, misunderstandings, etc…). What I would like to talk about here though is about the concept of WYSIWYG. WYSIWYG is an acronym for “what you see, is what you get”. For all intents this should make tasks 1.) Easier, since you know what the outcome will be. 2.) Improve accuracy during task development. 3.) Allow fine tuning and editing over time to solve new issues and add new information as it arrives. Life is definitely not WYSIWYG. I have found this out the hard way. The hard way, in general, sucks. You would think that what everyone is telling you is true in life, but it isn’t. In fact I would venture to say that 95% of what people tell you everyday is “sugar coated” to make issues more palatable. No one is telling you the truth all the time. I’m sorry if you didn’t want to hear it, but the truth hurts and this time I’m not sugar coating it at all. When a loved one lies to you it is even worse. Ten fold. Maybe a hundred fold. I myself can’t particularly rate it. I’m not a very good at folding 🙂 The point is it hurts big time and it takes awhile to heal this sort of stuff. When a loved one lies to you, you go through several stages: Anger, denial, frustration, fear/confusion, etc… Your brain basically takes time to sort through all the horrid information it is forced to handle and at times may even shut down under sheer stress. This is a very scary time in particular. The shut down of the brain manifests in two common forms: 1.) Depression- A state where your brain reverts to its primal form and operates on very self-destructive urges without logic being applied first. 2.) Mental Breakdown- Your brain literally shuts itself down due to the emotional overload of a situation in order to save itself from depression or self-destruction. Sometimes both happens. Sometimes just one. But always, at least one will occur if not for at least a brief period of time. If you make it through this you’re in the clear (as they say). If it was only that easy though. There is days, weeks, etc… that go by until the situation not only is simply resolved, but the healing process finally takes away the layers of pain created by the original infraction. Any relationship though in life worth having requires that you persevere not only in the times of good, but in the times of confusion too. I guess the point is that I’ve learned many things in life and recently I’ve grown up a little more. What I once thought would be the end of the world has turned out to be another chance for me to learn a little more about life, love, and the idea of what this all means. Growing up: It’s almost a four letter word. Well, actually it’s a nine letter phrase, but lets not be picky. 🙂

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Classic DF – 5/24/02

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May 24, 2002: [•] Once again, my world has irrevocably changed. Everything is different now; yet everyone is still where they were a week ago. I still work at the same job. I am still married with a child and 3 cats. I live in the same apartment. Even drive the same car. I feel so different now though. It’s like a loss of innocence all over again. Not since I was 6 years old have I felt this way. Not empty; yet not full. Just there and being. Nothing more or less. Where do we go from here? Because I sure as Hell don’t know.

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Classic DF – 12/18/01

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December 18, 2001: [•] Ramadan is over (BTW: I hope that all my Muslim viewers had a joyous Ramadan) and 90% of the war in Afghanistan has been won. However, Mohammed Omar and Osama bin Laden are both still missing. [•] US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns all US citizens to be vigilant against terrorism as the nutjobs of the world begin to embrace new techniques of inflicting pain on others. [•] US Marines injured by a landmine encourage the world to worry about bigger problems instead of their wounds. [•] The Yemeni military has attacked an al Qaeda camp in its country. [•] Even though al Qaeda appears to have been beaten the US government continues to warn US citizens about the possibility of a terrorist attack. [•] US President Bush had several lesions removed from his face. None were cancerous. [•] Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is asking Arab leaders to meet him in Mecca to discuss Israel and Palestine. Go nutjob leader! [•] Siena Heights University has added a philosophy class that examines how The Simpsons handle theology. [•] India is mulling over its response to a terrorist attack on its government. [•] Arctic weather hits Europe. [•] Somali warlords are attempting to convince the US to attack their country’s government in hopes of achieving power. [•] Ebola continues to ravage Gabon. [•] The ousted government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide attempted to regain control of Haiti, but failed. [•] Oh those crazy civil liberty loving Canadians and their crazy civil liberty loving Canadian ways! [•] Thailand will only issue 17 visas this year in an attempt to stop illegal activities. [•] A heavy earthquake hit Japan and Taiwan creating a small tsunami. [•] Spain has arrested 7 suspected ETA members. [•] Princess Buniah al-Saud, the niece of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, has been arrested on charges of beating her maid. [•] A sewerage spill has closed a portion of Laguna Beach, California. [•] A first-grader who dresses as Santa Claus and distributes small toys in a local mall was kicked out by mall owners since (get this) he’s competition to the official mall’s Santa LOL. [•] The Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed. [•] Serious crime fell in the first 6 months of 2001, but murder went up. [•] An equipment failure has stopped progress in clearing anthrax from the Hart Senate Building. [•] Vivendi Universal has bought USA Networks. [•] Be careful, you could end up buying fake FDNY or PDNY goods. [•] Intel is sponsoring an open source code called OpenCV that they hope will allow computers to see in three dimensions. [•] A Japanese zoo’s panda gave birth to a male cub. [•] Utah has introduced the US’s first voice-recognition based travel information service for telephone users. [•] A genetically engineered mouse has been developed who’s milk contains the malaria vaccine. [•] Chicken feces and diesel fuel: What a mix! [•] CERT is warning UNIX administrators who are running Secure Shell on their systems to make sure that they are using SSH2 (full install not upgrade) with no SSH daemons running and all exploits patched. [•] Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Office XP. [•] RSA Security Inc. has developed the Wireless Equivalent Privacy protocol to encrypt individual data packets sent over 802.11 wireless networks thus fixing current security issue. [•] A new drug reduces cold symptoms within a day and knocks one day of the actual disease off. FDA approval is about a year away at best. [•] 3/4 of new HIV cases are resisting treatment. [•] Autism seems to be higher in Silicon Valley. Could tech savvy genes be responsible? [•] Google will allow you to now browse 600 catalogues online. [•] Universal Music Group’s new CDs won’t play in a PC. Their solution: Buy another copy in digital format for the PC through the Net. Hey, why not pay a third time just for fun! Hell, let’s go for four! [•] An ISP is claiming the FBI wants the e-mail logs for data logged by the BadTrans.B worm and sent to one of several e-mail addresses including one hosted by the ISP. Why would they want it? Well, they assert that BadTrans.B is actually the Magic Lantern virus developed by the FBI reported on earlier last week. [•] A captured al Qaeda member turned informant claims that Windows XP has backdoors inserted by the terrorist group. [•] Christmas may be here, but thoughts of September 11th still haunt Americans. [•] Everyone’s favorite anti-CVS group, It’s Our Town, has been sponsoring a gift drive for needy families of Warwick, NY. [•] The US Postal Service switches into high gear to meet last minute mail demands. [•] Will a correction officer who is charged with trash compacting a box of contraband kittens face jail time? [•] Newburgh, NY City Comptroller Ed Weber resigns because City Manager Harry Porr was fired. [•] Cory Jones is found dead in New Windsor, NY and police are ruling it suspicious. [•] Local Catholic school teachers are still on strike, a textile union pickets an employer over a wage dispute, a woman is charged after she crashes her auto with a young child unbelted, ’tis the season for ice, the Milford-Montague bridge toll gets raised, an elderly woman is killed crossing a highway, a high speed chase keeps things interesting for the Ulster County Sheriffs, robbers are defeated by a soda machine, the Sullivan County Family Violence Response Team arrested a man on charges of molesting a toddler, and Wurtsboro Police arrest John Kallajian stemming from charges in Connecticut. [•] Hank Williams Jr. and Kid Rock will appear together on CMT Crossroads. [•] Weezer has begun working on their new album. [•] Charlie Clouser has left NIN, but formed a new band called Revenge of the Triads that includes guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and bassist Jason Slater from A Perfect Circle. [•] The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 rules, but then again you already know that don’t you? [•] Can’t afford the Corvette? Try the Ford Focus; it rules. [•] The 2002 Maserati Spyder is so damn kick ass that I don’t even have a wise ass comment to get you to click on the link. Just do it. [•] Intel has announced an official Pentium 4 chipset using DDR SDRAM. The new AMD Duron mobile ratchets cheap laptop speeds up to 1GHz. And Toshiba has quit the memory business. [•] Viisage Technology licenses its face recognition technology to the US Army. [•] Apple has released a PowerBook with a CD/DVD burner and more memory. [•] Adobe is putting the final touches on multimedia creation software for Mac OS X. [•] Azazel and I had an excellent time at my company’s Christmas party. The food was great and a good time was had by all! [•] C0il is home for Christmas vacation! [•] Sometimes a song can say it all. [•] Note that there is no planned updates for the next three days as I will be attending a three day seminar on VDSL. The next update will be this Saturday. Talk to you then.

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Classic DF – 12/13/01

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December 13, 2001: [•] Israel has labeled Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat as useless in the war against terrorism and will instead use military force against terrorists. [•] Once again, a surrender deadline passed without the al Qaeda giving up. Looks like they want to die. [•] The US Army has admitted to producing anthrax in Utah, but says none of its supply is missing. [•] Suicide gunmen raided the Indian Parliament killing 12 people including themselves. [•] Zimbabwe President Mugabe says that the US and UK are unfairly punishing him for his land reform program. [•] The EU has ruled that France’s ban on meat imported from the UK is unlawful. [•] Japanese government officials may have tried to downplay its Mad Cow Disease outbreak a little too much. [•] A South African court sentenced 4 Caucasian men to 30 years in prison for killing 2 Black men in 1999. [•] A 7-year old Honduran boy’s eyesight is restored thanks to a generous missionary. [•] Dunlop-Tire is offering a total of $25,000 Canadian to anyone with the last name Dunlop who changes their last name legally to Dunlop-Tire. [•] Gary Hart has been found guilty by a UK court of “causing death by dangerous driving” that caused a train to crash. [•] The videotape with Osama bin Laden bragging about his part in the September 11th attack has been released. He is so screwed. [•] The US has quit its ABM Treaty with Russia. [•] The CDC is stockpiling the anthrax vaccine in case it’s needed for civilians.[•] Obesity has become the second largest preventable health risk next to smoking. [•] A freight train derailed in Missouri. [•] An Amtrak train hit a van killing the 7 people inside. [•] A news helicopter for Milwaukee TV station WISN crashed onto a freeway killing the pilot. [•] The FBI has confirmed that their home-brewed key logging virus called Magic Lantern is real. [•] So many people were anxious to see China’s new WTO web site they overloaded the server and crashed it. [•] The third artificial heart transplant recipient has died. [•] The American Accreditation HealthCare Commission has certified 13 health web sites as being reliable for health information. [•] Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl are suing Courtney Love in an attempt to kick her out of Nirvana LLC. [•] Recent advances in mice with sickle cell disease using gene therapy provides hopes that humans may respond in the same manner. [•] DrinkOrDie hasn’t been the most active cracking group. In fact, their reputation is downright horrid. So why did the FBI go after them over bigger dogs? [•] Need money? Sue a spammer! [•] Independent musicians are starting to make money selling music on the Net. Imagine that… LOL. [•] Scientists have developed a plastic magnet. [•] The FCC has approved area codes for wireless device use only. [•] People in opposition to building a Wal-mart distribution center in the Town of Mamakating voiced their opinion to the town. It’s nice to know that somewhere besides Warwick, NY hates having actual job creating businesses in their town. [•] Voters have approved the Town of Bloomingburg, NY to run trash pickup. [•] The regional US Post Office processing center at Stewart Airport is laying off its temporary workers. [•] One snowfall has put the Town of Fallsburg in debt, non-clerical Catholic school teachers are still striking, a traffic accident puts a woman in the hospital, a condo catches on fire, Dawn Delorenzo is indicted on stealing $50,000 from an acquaintance, Harold A. Bell is charged with molesting a young girl, taxi driver Patrick Lawlor is charged with exposing himself to a woman, Newburgh police are looking for a suspect who shot a man, a grocery store is robbed, Thomas Bair is charged with having sex with several minors, John Babcock is charged with having sex with a girl under 11-years old (What’s this National Arrest A Pedophile Day?), a teenage girl is charged with defacing a sidewalk, gambling draws opposition, Anderson R. Emmanuel is charged with trying to kill a woman, and the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets is open again after a powder scare. [•] Creed has picked Tantric as its opening act. [•] The Duh Study of The Day: Using vaccines that are too weak could make viruses immune to treatment in the long-term. Anyone ever hear of antibiotics? Look what happened with people not using them properly! [•] Quantum cryptography promises uncrackable encrypted files through the use of a LED that emits a single light photons at a time. [•] VW has opened its new luxury car auto plant. [•] Current Dodge Vipers owners will get first dibs on the new 2003 Viper SRT-10. [•] Be prepared– have a winter emergency kit in your auto. [•] The BMW M3 rules. Find out why. [•] The Cadillac Escalade simply didn’t guzzle enough gas as is, but a super charged version should fix that! [•] How a desktop PC and an inventive young mind found the world’s largest primary number. [•] Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 1 is here. [•] The European Computer Manufacturers Association has backed Microsoft’s .NET Common Language Infrastructure and C#. [•] Microsoft has released the Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP as a free upgrade that includes some multimedia goodies including an audio converter that turns MP3s into WMAs. [•] Azazel and Li’l Pooh went down to Hooter’s in Nanuet, NY with my mother-in-law. Now there’s an interesting story indeed LOL. [•] DF.com extends its prayers and heartfelt hope of recovery to Samantha and her daughter Winter Charlotte. [•] Mermaid my friend, unfortunately bad things happen to good people too. You’ll find your “light”; just give it time. [•] Bored? Well, this week I’d like to introduce you to another fine Pop Cap game called Alchemy. It rules and is even better than last week’s pick, Bejeweled. On a final note, a belated joyous Chanukah to all my Jewish readers. Talk to you all next week!

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