So I finally took the plunge and setup a Twitter account.  My final reasoning for doing so was the fact that I am always on Skype and like to use the Skype Mood feature but I thought it would be a cool idea to share my status with everyone, not just my Skype buddies.  So I looked into it a bit and found that I can use Twitter as my main “status” holding system, as well as posting anything I like.  Then using a new program called “Twype” my Skype status is automatically updated based on Twitter.  I also downloaded TweetDeck so I can update both my Skype and Facebook statuses from one place.  It’s pretty nifty.  Although I must say the best one of all is the program I have on my Windows Mobile phone called PockeTwit which is simply cool.  It uses a cool UI that works great with touch screen devices.  It even understands more advanced touch screen motions like slides and flicks.  I think the coolest part though is when I post a status update using PockeTwit I can get my current position using GPS coordinates from the built-in GPS device and then post a link with my status to show my posting location on Google Maps.  That’s just pretty slick if you ask me.  So you can follow me by clicking on the link on the navigation menu.

Here are the links to the software I am using:

1. Twitter
2. TweetDeck
3. Twype
4. PockeTwit

The family and I just returned from a trip to Sunset Beach in North Carolina to relax and blow off some steam.  We took a bunch of pictures and I wanted to try creating a Photosynth out of it.  For those who don’t know Microsoft Lab’s has a new beta tool that allows you to take lots of pictures and then their system “synths” them together to create a flowing and sometimes 3D image if you took enough.  You can then explore and move into the final synth to explore it.  CNN used this technology on for the inauguration to reflect pictures taken from all over DC into one giant synth.  I didn’t take enough to make it 3D but it is still pretty cool to see it all mapped together, and automatically nonetheless.  I plan on creating more in the future because it really is pretty cool.  I included a link below to let you view my view for the past few days.  Give it a shot, it’s pretty cool!

Open Sunset Beach Photosynth

There is nothing more “fun” than system or data recovery.  The only hard drive I currently have in my server is slowing down and appears to be dying so I went ahead and purchased three new Western Digital Caviars from NewEgg and loaded them into the Chassis.  The box happens to have an NVIDIA (Evga) mainboard which also has a RAID controller unit built in, so I decided to use it for RAID5 purposes, which according to Microsoft is the best RAID configuration for Hyper-V support and speed.  However, once I realized that some of my important Virtual Machines were not exported it quickly became a struggle because I have never had to perform a Hyper-V data recovery procedure with less than optimal conditions.  I luckily found this post: http://blogs.msdn.com/robertvi/archive/2008/08/26/howto-recover-snapshots.aspx that explained how you can merge the Hyper-V differencing disks back together to create a single VHD file that Hyper-V can load up.  It was very helpful and probably saved me hours of internet scouring.

To Add Some More Info:

My single server at home is actual just a VM Host that then runs multiple other machines for DNS, DC, TS Gateway, etc.  It also serves up files to users as well.  The problem is that Hyper-V allows you to create “snapshots” so you can easily revert changes back as long as your Hyper-V machine is functioning correctly.  You can have multiple layers of snapshots in different trees as well.  I had taken a few snapshots during my installation process of each machine in the event something went wrong I could just revert it back.  However when you create a new VM in Hyper-V it requires that you have a single VHD file or that you create a new VHD file.  So my problem arose when I no longer was able to login to the old Hyper-V machine and either export or merge all of my Snapshots down to a single set of files or file.  Using the article above along with the first comment/response it is very easy to use Hyper-V’s Virtual Disk Management tools to merge the snapshots down even without the virtual machine currently being loaded by the system.

-Brent

Seeing as its the day before July 4th I figured it was a good time to post a little bit of humor as well as things that should make almost any American proud.  In a world where there are many problems and desperate situations here at home and afar I am still glad to hang up our flag and celebrate our independence day.  It’s not often one can claim that their ancestors fought and won over tyranny and oppression.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done?  He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What  does he intended to do, bomb them?'
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several  thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A US Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the US, English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.  At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.
'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'
The American said,  ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it. 
'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !'
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.”