Outlook PST files

Like the saying goes, don't put Pst eggs in one basket. But that's exactly what Microsoft allows you to do starting with Outlook 2007. PST files hold all your email, calendar, and address book (contacts) information. If that file gets corrupted or deleted, you could loose all your emails. Pst files get corrupted all the time.

Actually, Microsoft has allowed users to have large pst files even prior to 2007, but the previous limit was 2GB. Once users hit that limit, all sorts of problems cropped up for Outlook users. Among those problems was the notorious resending of the same email. If let on, it would send out that same email every time it checked the internet. Their friends and coworkers get blasted with hundreds of copies of the same email from the Outlook user.

Where things really got to be a problem was when the pst reached its maximum size and it was corrupt. This happened more often than you'd think.

If you have Outlook, use the SCANPST application that came with Outlook to scan your pst file. I bet you'll find you have a corrupt pst file. Microsoft recognized this file corruption as a problem and for Outlook 2007 they have it check the pst file every time you load Outlook. If you have a small pst file, then you'll likely not even notice the slowdown. However, for those of you that have large pst files, you could experience long delays once you open Outlook.

Long delays in Outlook cause many people to use the task manager to manually crash Outlook. Since Outlook is usually doing a check or repair of the pst file, the chances that the pst file will get even more corrupted increase dramatically when users crash their Outlook. Unplugging or loosing power to your computer during a repair can have the same effect or worse.

If you are using Outlook, try to keep your pst to a manageable size. Periodically check the size of your pst file(s). If any are more than 500mb, create a new pst file and archive those old emails.

Stop using your ISP's Email

Your Internet provider most likely provides an email for you. Maybe they provide multiple emails for you. I think it is fantastic that they would provide you with those email accounts.

I think you should know that there is a catch that comes with those email. Once your friends, family, and business associates have that email address, you're stuck with that email. And by sticking with that email, you are forced to stay with your current Internet Service Provider, because if you switch from AT&T to Verizon or to Comcast or any other service provide, your email will change. Most people do not like to change emails. So, to keep form changing emails, many will just stick it out and stay with their current ISP, even when they're unhappy with their current ISP.

I don't recommend it. Either get your own domain with your custom email or pick one of the many free email accounts available all over the web. GMail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, or even AOL.

Yes. An AOL email account is free. If you are paying for AOL Email, then you're paying too much. If you have DSL or Cable or T1 Internet, you can still get free AOL email.

Infowars Crackpot

I've seen the bumper stickers with inforwars on them, and I got curious and went to their site. It's a site that claims to be unbiased, but really it's just a mesh of seemingly related facts exaggerated and mixed with opinions from a ultra-conservative slant. It's a conspiracy site. Some of thinks I clicked on from their site lead me to other crackpot scams like the "Homemade Energy" kit scams. I also checked out some of the "facts" and discovered that the "deceptions" are based on how the information is portrayed. Examples include presenting voting information that is out of date then applying it to current circumstances and drumming up discredited claims and rumors and vague references, which are presented as credible verifiable facts. 

Yes, there are infowars going on out there for your mind, such as consumer products, political candidates, corporate image, and any other marketing ploy. I have no doubt that conspiracies really exist at many levels of federal, state, local, corporate and private levels. (Not to mention that conspiracy is considered a federal crime.)  However, to claim you've pieced it together with a hodgepodge of disjointed facts implies you are either a nut or you are truly out to make money from people already experiencing information overload, or maybe both. 

Everyone, please check the facts before believing anyone with claims of a grand deception. 

Avoiding Vista

I've run into so many clients that are desperate not to get another computer for the main reason that they are avoiding Windows Vista.

I know there are other factors, but I keep getting asked about how to get an XP machine.

Texas Education

The laws for this land amaze me sometimes. It is not enough that education is so expensive and that school boards are corrupt. That high schools graduate students that cannot read or subtract. It is also not enough that community college websites are hard to navigate and show little interest in helping the uneducated get educated (irony?). No. Texas had to go and pass a law that took away some of the effort that hard working students put out. In 2007, Texas passed a law that affects your GPA when you drop too many classes. That is dropped classes during your entire educational career, not in a semester or a year but your entire life. Talk about encouragement . Does Texas not want its people educated? Or only those that don't read the fine print to get educated? Or only those that can manage the strict guidelines of a whitebread society?

If you want to go to college, read the fine print before you enroll in a Texas institution. Better yet, go elsewhere, because it seems that Texas has no real interest in education. Sad. Truly sad.

Nature Loves Void

It has been noted that Nature abhors a vacuum, but the universe is vast with space. The void has been at war with nature since time began, which is to say always. Once, nature and void were companions, friends, and even cohorts, out to please and contend with one another. What began as friendly games became ever more desperate as each tried to win over the other. Their last big fight was the great inflation of the universe moments after the big bang. This was their last great passionate love and hate battle that gave birth to time. The battle still wages on, but their strength had been tapped to the brink of exhaustion. They will one day fight in a great contest, but until then, the petty squabbles of unhappy bickering keeps them occupied.

Thief in the family

We had no idea it was this bad. We were lied to on so many levels.

We were lead to believe that they would take care of the bills while we got caught up with things. We discovered bills were behind, and we helped them get the water bill caught up. Then we ended up paying for what was far behind on their electricity bill.

We were lead to believe that Amanda and Gabe were freeloading on them, when it was the thief that put them in a bad place to begin with.

We were lead to believe that Ramona was the victim of selfish in-laws, when it was Ramona that was in denial about the thief and how dangerous he was/is.

We were lead to believe that the food that Amanda and Gabe had not shared was simply a selfish act, when it was the thief that put them in that situation, while Ramona and Pancho did nothing.

I just thought it was a simple misunderstanding. I was so wrong. Ramona forbade Gabe from revealing the whole truth about the thief. She did it on purpose. She has been manipulating others to cover up for the thief. What is it that she is so ashamed of that she is willing to destroy her whole family for a single rotten son?

The thief would steal money from his niece. Jewelry, CD's, DVD's, and other valuables from any family member. He would do it quickly and without notice. Stepping away from your room for only a minute is long enough for the thief to slip in and take whatever he wanted. He would steal food, whole family packs of food, in the night. Not to eat for himself, but to barter with for whatever he does as night.

Three of the thief's brothers tried to stop the thief, but Ramona intervened every time.
Pancho was no better, as he had given up on his son. He would not punish his son. His son would steal, and when one of the brothers brought it up, Pancho would laugh.

The house was always filthy. The thief dirtied the dishes and the kitchen and wouldn't clean up after himself. The toilet seat was left crusty with spots and the smears of an unclean man. The used toilet paper was placed in bags and in the trashcan, instead of being flushed. It smelled disgusting.

At one point I paid the thief to clean up after himself. How sad was that? He did a half-crap job of the cleaning.

Now, I want nothing to do with the thief or Ramona or Pancho. They are not welcome where ever I live. The are a poison to themselves and the family they are destroying.

If they keep this up, and every family member will turn on them. Soon, they will have no family left to turn to. The thief has obviously been paying them back for something they did to him. The thief has been a vengeful and evil. I think the thief is out to destroy his mother and father.