The 2008 Family Christmas Letter

Hi Folks,

Well, it's 2008 which means we've been married ten years. That in itself is an accomplishment, I suppose. We're still happily married in case you were wondering.

We still live on our property in Cheektowaga. The house is in ill-repair, but it's still full of love! Every time the wind blows another shingle gets ripped off our roof and hits the lawn. We have weeds or grass growing on the roof of our porch. John is hesitant to go up there and remove the shrubbery due to his anxiety and fear of falling to his death.

Speaking of anxiety, John is doing very well and hasn't had a panic attack in a year and a half. He is down to 150mg dosage of meds, and is able to eat solid food again. He works as a computer technician for a public school district and is dealing with the enormous stress and aggravation quite well so far. He is still a bit surly, but is trying hard not to be such a jerk.

Melanie is still working as a Math Teacher as Lancaster Middle School. She is an AIS (Academic Intervention Services) teacher which means she has to deal with students who have trouble with math or simply don't give a s*$# about it. She has a pretty sweet deal there, so she can endure the trauma. She calls in sick whenever she wants and has all the vacations, so she has no real reason to complain. Melanie still enjoys Sudoku, cross-stitching, and sleeping in her spare time.

Our babies Silas and Chloe are doing great. Their love affair with poultry continues. They love sleeping in their spare time too! Their favorite spot to lay is in front of the heating vents.

Our biggest accomplishment of the year was our purchase of the SX-5000 Recliner. It's a real beauty, equipped with heat, massage, cup holders on each armrest, and a compartment for the remote control! During Sabres' games, John likes to have a beer ready for consumption on each side! We bought an extended warranty that covers stains from all bodily fluids for 5 years. We all fight over who gets to sit in the chair every day, but the kitties usually win.

We know it's difficult to be as awesome as us, but we hope you all are doing fine too. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanakah (or is it Chanakah?), Happy Kwanza, Happy Festivus, and Happy New Year! Did we cover all the various beliefs? Please don't sue us, because we don't have time for that.

Very truly yours,

John & Melanie

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: The Return of The Blue Bus

The Blue Bus has been "fixed" for the fourth time. This time, its return has been captured by the Technologist Cam. Be sure your speakers are turned up. I have to discipline myself to NOT laugh during these videos because it drowns out the sounds of the bus and I sound like a goof.

Movies: Making a list, checking it thrice.

I'm compiling a list of Christmas (or Christmas related) films to watch during the next 10 days or so. I like to have a good mix of comedy and horror.

• A Christmas Story


• Silent Night, Deadly Night


• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation


• Wind Chill


• Scrooged


• Black Christmas (1974 original; believe it or not, same director as A Christmas Story!)


• Dead End


• P2


• Die Hard 2


• Silent Night, Deadly Night 3


• Black Xmas (2007 remake)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: The Blue Bus Gets a Lift

The Technology Technicians' bus breaks down hopefully for the last time. Watch exclusive video of the bus being towed away by our crappy tow-truck. We spare no expense!

This is the vehicle given to the Technology Department to move equipment (Tools, TVs, cabling, etc) from building to building. It is essentially a retired school bus. By regulation, it had to be painted something other than yellow because it's no longer a school bus. Thus, the lovely blue color makes it look like a prison bus.

A month ago we had to have it checked out for emissions because we were all getting sick and light-headed and smelled diesel. Yesterday, it broke down twice on the trip back from Clarence H.S. where we took it to have the front-end aligned. Today, it wouldn't start at all. So, this bus may be the only vehicle in the junkyard with new tires and a perfectly aligned front end.

The Technologist Says: Back Up Your Data. Just Do It!

It can be maddening to work as a computer support technician. Especially when I have a client coming to me with laptop in hand and a helpless and pitiful look on her face.

"My computer crashed" or "My computer died" "HELP!"

As technicians, it is our job to get your computer up and running again as soon as possible. We always repair the machine or provide a replacement. Almost always, the client asks "What about all my files! I'm not gonna lose everything, right?

Reality check: When your computer takes a dump, there is no magic wand at our disposal to resurrect data that is lost. Despite what you see on TV, there really is no "Easy Button" that we can press to fix every problem. Ultimately, it is YOUR responsibility to back up your email, internet favorites, pictures, music, or anything you can't afford to lose. If it is important to you, BACK IT UP.

It's almost 2009. There are lots of inexpensive ways to back up data. Take your pick!

1. Jumpdrive. My favorite because they're cheap, portable, and can hold tons of data.

2. DVD. Most everyone can burn CDs and DVDs now. Guess what: you can burn things other than songs and movies. You can burn data such as pictures, email, Word and Excel files, etc.

DVDs can hold up to 4.3 GB of data.

3. Network folder. If you have a home network, share a folder and make it a "network drive". You can save stuff to it just like any other drive.

4. External hard drive. They cost less than $100 now and conveniently connect via USB and Firewire. Easy to install.

5. Cell Phone/iPhone. You can purchase a SIMM card that sticks into your phone and it acts like a hard drive. Connect your phone to your computer via USB, and you can transfer your stuff.

Listen to your Technologist. When a technological disaster strikes, you'll be prepared.

You're welcome.

Technologist Christmas...Decorating Day.

Melanie and I have the perfect combination of ornaments from her childhood, mine, and several we've acquired since we were married in June 1998.

Melanie and I have differing philosophies on how to hang the stuff on the tree. I've always said that we should leave the decorations on the tree when we put it away in March. Then, all we have to do is carefully bring the fully decorated tree back up from the basement and just plug it in! We might only have to replace a few bulbs and such. Melanie's methods are a bit more practical and traditional. She enjoys handling each ornament and hanging them with care each year. As you can see, it's a team effort.




Melanie likes the scary angel, I prefer a shiny star.


Retro ornament from Melanie's childhood.


Protractor ornament for Melanie the Math teacher.




Kitty paw stocking!




Retro ornament from my childhood.




I got a little tangled up. I'm not so good with garlands.




Melanie is the expert in interior decorations.
Notice the retro curtains in line with the whole retro theme.

Party Night: Sabres/Bruins game

A 3-2 win! Losing streak ends!

On the biggest party night in Buffalo we went to the Sabres/Bruins game. My co-worker Rob gave us tickets 15 rows from the ice on the side where the Sabres shoot twice. Derek Roy scored 2 and should have had 3 or 4. Miller was solid. Kaleta pounded the daylights out of anyone wearing a white jersey.

Oh, and speaking of jerseys, the new (or should I say old) Sabres jersey was unveiled as the whole team wore them for the first time. The old logo is back with the old design that is modernized just a bit. I love the old jerseys and want to see the new logo (the one that looks like a banana with horns) replaced by the old buffalo with the crossing swords. We have to wait until next year to see the white jersey. Wasn't the black and red jersey with goat's head on the front a total disaster!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I've been to a lot of Sabres game in my life but never on the night before Thanksgiving. The party was on for sure. My wife got her ice cream cone and I got my adult beverage (in moderation of course), but I did not get too sloppy. I've been to games with many different companions but my wife Melanie is by far the best.

P.S. The Sabres scored AGAIN while I was taking a piss. It happens every time. Still, it's better than waiting in line to relieve yourself. If the Sabres are ever losing by a goal late in the game, you know what I have to do.

Sports: There is an Odor In Buffalo

Bills: They went from first to worst in the AFC East, courtesy of a 4 game losing streak.

Sabres: I can't ignore the 6 losses in their last 7 games, or the current 4 straight losses.

With these happening simultaneously just in time for the holiday season, we're gonna have to pump up the party atmosphere here in Buffalo to numb the pain.

Trent Edwards has lost all his confidence. He's scared like a deer in the headlights. He's afraid to throw the ball downfield. When you are afraid to do your job in any career, you won't succeed. You have to have confidence and be able to take risks and criticism. Edwards is a better QB than J.P. Losman.

That being said, I would pull Edwards out of the Kansas City game this week if he stinking up the place. It's not about Edwards or Losman; it's about winning a football game. The Bills have to win this game against the 1-9 Chiefs. In fact, they will likely have to run the table (11-5) to have a shot at a Wildcard because they don't have any tiebreakers on their side.

Losman may not be the QB of the future (or the present) for the Bills and probably will be gone next year. However, he never seemed to be afraid to go deep with the football or scramble for a big gain. There is the chance he could make a big play to Lee Evans and give the team a spark at the right time just to get the win. Then, go back to Edwards next week because I still believe he's our best QB.

The Sabres' situation may not seem as dire because there's lots of time to right the ship. I feel more optimistic about the Sabres because I think we have one of the best coaches in hockey - Lindy Ruff. He has this knack for pushing the right "buttons" with his players to get more out of them. He assigned Henrik Tallinder and Max Afinogenov to the press box as healthy scratches in last night's shut-out loss to the Flyers. It was the right move, wrong result.

It was 2-0 until the Flyers capped the game with an empty-netter. You can't win if you score zero goals. The Sabres had a pair of 5 on 3 power-play advantages and couldn't score.

The key to winning hockey games: score more goals than your opponent.

Technologist Christmas: A Wish List

Ever wonder what a Computer Technician has on his Christmas wish list? I thought not.

Squeezebox Duet music server
Harmony One Universal touch-screen remote control
Sony retractable cord earclip headphones
black dress socks
dress shirts
Sabres hoodie
any merchandise from the "It's always Sunny" store

What's on your list?

TechBook: Sometimes, Rebooting is The Solution

I once had a co-worker who was a real arrogant jerk. He would always spout off about how "rebooting is not a solution...never tell a customer that...rebooting is only an excuse not to solve the problem!"

Jerk. What he failed to realize is shutting down and rebooting is part of a healthy maintenance plan for your computer. Think of it as a good night's sleep for your machine, or a chance to "reset" or "relax".

When you open a program on your computer, it grabs a portion of your system memory (RAM) to run. Sometimes, when you close the program, it doesn't release the chunk of memory it was using. This is called a "memory leak". If you leave your computer running long enough, you're likely to have several processes (from programs you thought you closed) holding onto chunks of memory. Your computer will run slower though you don't seem to have too many programs open. When you shut down or reboot the machine, all programs and processes release the memory, thus resetting everything back to normal.

So remember, give your computer a little "shut-eye". Reboot. Shut down.

The Writing's On The Door...

Why do I call myself a "Technology Technician"? Well, that's what it says on the door of my office. I am what I am until they change it I guess, right?

The Shawl (Performed By Doug Burr)

Doug's latest project "The Shawl" is a collection of nine songs with lyrics lifted from the Psalms. While it's not an official follow-up to the critically acclaimed "On Promenade", it is a real treat for the ears and for the soul.

The indie-folk sound of Doug Burr perfectly complements the honesty and transparency of the Psalms and makes for a truly unique listening experience. I was one of the first to review "On Promenade" last year and I'm proud to say I predicted it's success. Doug was kind enough to slip me an advance copy of The Shawl so I'd like to give it some props. It's more mellow, more acoustic, and brimming with emotion.

It hits itunes on December 9th and the physical CD will drop in January. Check out Doug Burr at http://www.myspace.com/dougburr. He's not only a great musician but he's also a heck of a nice guy, so say "hello".

TechBook: Back up Those Internet Favorites!

"Joe" loves to browse the web and he recently had his computer crash. If you're like Joe, you bookmark all your favorite websites for easy access. Of course, you lose all these Internet favorites if your computer takes a dump. Unless, of course, you master the fine art of backing up your favorites. Here's how:

INTERNET EXPLORER:

Click File-then Import and Export.

Select Favorites-then Export to File or Address. Select the destination (choose Desktop to make it simple), and click Next.

The file on your desktop will be called Bookmark.htm. This is the file you will want to save to a jumpdrive, floppy disk, or a separate partition on your hard drive.

When you need to restore your favorites, it's pretty much the same procedure. Open Internet Explorer, click File-then Import and Export. This time select Import Favorites then navigate to the location of where your bookmark.htm is located, then finish by clicking Import.

Remember to export your favorites once a month or so and you'll never have to worry about losing those precious links!

TechTip: Partition Your Hard Drive

Everyone likes "Joe", but it seems he installs a veritable pleathera of viruses and malware at least once every year, and I have to clean up the mess. His computer literally is his movie theater, jukebox, messenger, shopping mall, and bank. Thus, he is desperate without it. Lately there has been a nasty Trojan (not the condom, but computer malware) floating around the Internet which disguises itself as "Anti-Virus 2009". A rash of annoying and scary pop-ups warn Joe that the computer is infected with spyware an must download their product to scan and remove the virus. The virus has been known to wipe out "System Restore" and produce the infamous "blue screen of death" when trying to reboot. Most of the time, the only remedy is to format the hard drive that contains the Windows installation and perform a fresh install of the operating system. When you re-install Windows or perform a factory recovery, all pictures, mp3s, videos, internet favorites, emails, address book, games, and programs are LOST. Joe has to start from scratch! What lessons can we learn from Joe?

If you care about you data, keep it safe. Here's how:

Partition your hard drive. (do what????)
Think of it as figuratively cutting your C: drive into two separate and independent parts. One part will have the Windows installation, and the other part will have all your data.

When you install Windows on a PC, select the option to do a full format deleting all current partitions that exist (there likely is only one). Then you will have the opportunity to create partitions and designate the size of each. I recommend using C: for the Windows partition and setting to at least 10 GB. So, if you have a 100GB hard drive, you can set your D: partition to be 90 GB which is plenty of space for pictures, videos, and music.

Here's the really cool part: Once Windows is installed and you open "My Computer", you'll have 2 local discs (C: and D:). If Windows gets corrupted somehow or if you get a virus, all you need to do is format the partition housing Windows, not the D: drive with all your data. C: gets formatted (erased), Windows re-installed, and nothing happens to D: where you saved all your files! Just remember to always save your stuff to the D: drive.

In the next installment of TechTips, I'll show you the fine art of backing up email, your address book, and internet favorites.

Sabres/Capitals Game

I took Melanie to the Sabres game on her birthday, and we were glad to be treated to such a decisive 5-0 victory for the Sabres. She didn't know we were going until the morning of the that day, so she was surprised. Our section seemed to have an unusual amount of French-speaking Canadians (especially since neither team was from Canada). They spent most of their energy taunting Caps goalie Jose Theodore by chanting "Theo! Theo! Theo!". We found it very amusing that they were actually Quebec Nordique fans who are still mourning the loss of their franchise to Colorado. Apparently they hate Theodore because he once played for the Nordiques' fierce rival the Montreal Canadiens. Since they don't have their own team anymore, they just travel from city to city to harrass Jose Theodore. They were rooting for Buffalo, so we thought it was hilarious. By the way...Jason Pominville always scores when I go to the restroom at the arena. He scored his first career goal when I was in the restroom and he scored on this night while I was relieving myself.

Cute Soup Kitty

Our kitties seem to be willing to eat just about anything. Apparently, Chloe enjoys soup because we caught her sticking her whole face into an empty soup can. This pic is evidence! During the years, we've had to adjust our methods of storing food to prevent our kitties from eating popcorn, bran muffins, McDonalds' breakfast sandwiches, pizza, chicken wings, and cheese.

What Cute Looks Like...

Silas loves sleeping inside the basket we gave our kitties for Christmas in 2006. I think he likes to go somewhere private like this when he's really sleepy so that mommy and daddy won't maul him with too much affection:)

The Life and Times of A Computer Technician

As soon as folks find out you can fix a computer, they want you to be their own personal Geek Squad, free of charge. I don't mean to be mean, but I like to do other things with my spare time which is why I am inclined to charge a standard fee for services rendered. If I like you, I'll charge you my family rate which is $50.00 per hour. Or, you can read this blog for free TechTips which I will post now and then. Just by reading this blog, you may able to fix your own computer before wasting $100 or more on the Geek Squad. Stay tuned.

The Wig Party Vs Team Zissou

Oh, did I mention that I am now the starting goaltender for a hockey team called "The Wig Party"? I didn't choose that name, so don't ask. Anyway, they were 0-6 when I joined and I will try once again to help them break the win column today. Call me crazy, but I think we have a chance today vs. Zissou who are 4-5. I'm playing better lately, but I need to find a way to keep the goals against below 5 per game. It would also help if the team could score more than 1 or 2 goals per game as well. Follow the action here http://www.americanstreethockey.com//. We are in the Saturday AM league.

Autumn in Western New York

This time of year means beautiful colors, the sound of leaf blowers, Sabres hockey, and Bills football is in high gear. With all these thrills, tough choices have to be made regarding entertainment.

The Sabres got the snot beaten out of them last night by the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-1 (a team we've only beaten twice in 9 years). I feel we should have watched our new movie "The Strangers" instead, but hindsight is always...well, ya know. The Sabres play again tonite in Pittsburgh and I think we will DVR it and go to see Mason Proper play at The Bug Jar in Rochester. No, I'm not jumping off the bandwagon and we're not fair-weather fans. Good bands don't come to WNY too often and DVR is a fine new technology isn't it?