The reign of the Intellimouse is over
For a long time I have been a huge fan of the Microsoft Intellimouse, the original one with the button on each side for back and forward. It's the right size, has the buttons I need, and works - FOREVER. Seriously, I have had mine since 2001, dropped it, washed it, shocked it, thrown it, etc. It just keeps going. the only problem with it, is that I only had one.
The old timer
After trying numerous other mice, I decided to simply buy another one for work, and maybe a third to carry around in my back pack so I started searching. For reasons I can't explain, I'm "have to have it now" person. Even though I can save money online, I like to go to a store, buy it, and have it in hand instead of waiting for shipping. I can justify this by convincing myself that the cost of the item online + shipping is just as much as in store. So I ventured out looking for my beloved Intellimouse, they still sell them online so I figured stores would carry them as well. Nope, stores do not carry that old mouse anymore and since I HAD to have a new mouse, I opted for another one. The Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500.
And mine is Sea Blue!
Before I continue, something just came to mind, I like wires. I've had a wired mouse for so long that I think I've gotten used to the drag, and thus I always want a wired mouse. Since they still sell wired mice, I can't be alone. Thus, any mouse I buy has to be wired, and the Comfort mouse comes wired and wireless, and the wired version is much harder to find (in store).
Back to the new mouse ... So I found this one on display in an Office Depot/Max something or other store. It caught my eye because of the familiar shape, the wire, and the two nifty buttons on the side. I covered it with my mit, pushed it around, rolled my fingers over the scroll, then checked the price. $25, that's not too bad, I've payed $80 for a stupid gaming mouse before.
That was a few months ago. Since then I have fallen in love with this new mouse and it's replaced the once champion, Intellimouse. Oh, the Intellimouse still holds a special place in my heart, and I'll never throw it away, but this new guy has all the great features I loved about the Intellimouse plus one special feature I didn't even realize I need, blue track. this mouse works on anything, without a mouse pad. In fact, I carry around a mouse pad in my back pack because optical mice need them most of the time.
What I love about the Comfort Mouse 4500
- Wired
- Left and right buttons on the side
- Size and shape
- Scroll wheel
- Blue Track
- Price
Ganged vs Unganged memory
I decided to dig into unganged vs ganged mode and how it affects memory performance. I've never really found anything definitive online, and it's a mixed bag when it comes to what you should or shouldn't configure. This isn't scientific testing, after all, I'm not a scientist. However, it does have some results and I have screenshots, so hopefully it answers some questions for anyone who stumbles across this blog. Here goes ...
My Specs
- CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 @ 3023MHz (3GHz). Just a little overclocked by 200MHz.
- RAM: 8GB DDR3 720MHz (DDR-1400). 4 sticks of 2GB, 2 are kingston, 2 are OCZ
- Video: ATI Radeon 4870 750MHz GPU | 900MHz RAM (default)
- Mobo: Asus M4A785TD-M EVO
- Windows 7 Home Premium x64
I used two programs to run the benches, RightMark Memory Analyzer version 3.75 and Passmark Performance Test and just took screens of the numbers after I ran the tests. Like I said, not very scientific.
We'll start with un-ganged.
Un-ganged results passmark test
un-ganged results with multi-thread rightmark test
And here are the ganged results.
Ganged results - passmark test
Ganged results multi-thread rightmark
As you can see, slightly better performance with "ganged". And I mean slightly. Bandwidth is a little bit higher and the passmark score is as well, but obviously un-ganged is not a huge performance hit. I did notice that Windows felt a little snappier in ganged mode, so I decided to leave it at that.
Dinty Moore Beef Stew – Gluten Free!
http://www.hormelfoods.com/brands/dintyMoore/default.aspx
Back before I learned I was stricken with the gluten free curse, I used to eat some of the most unhealthy foods. One of those favorites was thick and creamy beef stew, the saltier the better. With nearly 100% of my daily value of sodium in one can, it's not exactly something you should eat every day. But some days demand thick canned beef stew, and today was one of those. Hormel, maker of Dinty Moore products has a microwavable beef and chicken stew that are gluten free. Along with a slew of other products. The stew tastes exactly the same as 10 years ago, when at times I would eat it cold straight from the can. Today, however, I microwaved it. My cat and dog swarmed me the entire time, thinking it was their canned food I was eating, and to be honest it does look like it. Man was it good though. $2.40 at King Soopers, that's not a bad price for lunch either. Although next time I may grab an extra can to treat the dog and cat as well, they both devoured my left over sauce. If you're in the mood for some salty soup, I wholeheartedly recommend Dinty Moore Beef Stew.
If you drain the creamy stock away, it looks just like that. No texture, all mush!
That's a good combination.
Best keyboard ever. EVER!
I finally have my dream keyboard ... What? You don't get excited about awesome keyboards?
I am really picky about the keyboards I use, and I type all day long. In fact, sometimes I take time to practice writing because my hands simply aren't use to it. That's the geeky world we live in. On top of that, I'm a horrible typer ... typist (yep, that's it ... like Trombonist instead of Tromboner? Oh come on, you laughed! boner ...). Seriously, it looks I'm typing with my knuckles, while crossing my wrists, and taking a large dump. And this is after years of practice. I know, I should learn how to type properly, but that means work and learning, and typing for me is like walking. I do it everyday, can you imagine learning how to walk correctly after you've been doing it wrong for 25 years? Kensington, and their keyboards save me. And typing on this new Kensington Slim Type Keyboard is like typing on an angels boobs while she feeds you corned beef and cabbage.
Why is this keyboard so great? Because it has chick keys like a Mac, they're soft like a laptop, and the keyboard is slim and fancy looking. Like a keyboard you'd see a Bond villain use. Chick keys are those keys that are spread a little farther apart than normal, which my thick sausage fingers need. However, they aren't truly chick keys. The keys actually look normal, but are slightly raised. I love soft keys, and hate clicky keys. This keyboard is very soft, like kitten fur.And the best part, it's only $30.
Next I should review the best mouse of all time.
ColdFusion 9 ODBC Server will not start
Ran into a weird issue with a customer today, their CF9 ODBC server would not start. It was giving this error in event viewer.
ColdFusion 9 ODBC Server@LOCALHOST,ErrorCode=430,ErrorMessage=Failed to open event trace file because the file version is not recognised.
I couldn't find anything on Google so I drilled down into the folder that contained the exe's for running ODBC. C:\ColdFusion9\db\slserver54\bin. I noticed a folder called tracing one directory above this. I renamed it and created a new empty folder named "tracing" and the services started without any issue. Deleting the ColdFusion 9 ODBC Agent.trc and ColdFusion 9 ODBC Server.trc files would probably do the same trick. Thought I would share in case anyone else is struggling with this.
Netflix Credit
Netflix sent this to me (and I assume all their customers) regarding a service outage. I didn't even know my service wasn't working, nor did I complain. This is excellent customer retention, and I'm not even applying for a credit. It's just a great example of what to do when something bad happens with a service based company. I hope other companies pick up the ball and run with this, like Comcast or even cell providers.
Gluten free sugar bombs!
Gluten free sugar bombs!
That's right, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those are Gluten Free Cocoa Pebbles and right next to that box were Gluten Free Fruity Pebbles. I feasted on pebbles tonight and it was glorious.
Sprint 4G Speed at home
My 4G speed at home on my Sprint Evo, not too bad. Listened to Pandora on the ride into work today without any pauses.
Speaking of Sprint, my wife's contract ended so we went to a Sprint store to add her to my plan and buy her an Evo. They gave us $200 trade in for the old iPhone 3G (not even a 3Gs) and a $125 bill credit. Didn't expect that at all, we basically didn't have to pay anything for the phone.
Finally got one: 2000 Isuzu Vehicross “Foxfire”
The Isuzu Vehicross has been my dream car since I was in high school, way back in 1999 when I first saw one. I was at a gas station at someone pulled in with an Ironman edition and my jaw dropped. It was the coolest, most beautiful car I had ever seen. 12 years later I finally have one. After seeing this one posted online from a dealer on craigslist, I finally pulled the trigger. They are getting increasingly rare and hard to find, I felt if I didn't do it now, I never would. It also happened to be a good time for me to buy a car, my 99 Subaru Legacy was slowly dying.
More pics to come as I take it on adventures, and bolt different accessories and modifications.
Some interesting facts about the Isuzu Vehicross.
- Limited production, only about 5,000 were made, 4300 were exported to the US
- They came in several colors, VX owners refer to their models by the color name. Mine is maroon, or Foxfire, or Foxfire Mica.
- The shocks are what you would find in a pro racing car. "Aerospace-grade 6061-T8 extruded aluminum construction, monotube design, with external heat-expansion chambers."
- It has a rear locking differential standard.
- Always in 4x4 with Torque on Demand (TOD), specially engineered with Borg Warner.
- On it's debut it won the Paris-Dakar Rally and also its class in the 1999 Australian Safari Rally.
Get rid of 500 errors for WordPress in IIS
Tired of getting these errors in IIS for WordPress? This is the 500 error normally displayed when there is a website problem. But behind it is the real error, that you need to see, without logging into the web server and running it locally.
Here is one of the many wordpress errors that may be behind the infamous IIS 500 error.
How do you get to see the real error? it's actually really simple, just login to IIS and edit the feature settings for error pages. First open IIS and go to your site. Then double click on error pages.
On the right hand side click on edit feature settings.
Then choose detailed errors and click ok.
Oh, you don't have access to IIS because you're on a shared hosting provider? Just edit your web.config file and add this line near the very bottom, just above /system.webserver.
<httpErrors errorMode="Detailed" />
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