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If you want what I believe is a great example of the proper role of a religious organization in a disaster like this, take a look at the Faithful America weblog. I found them after hearing a discussion on The World on NPR last night. That site has the audio available if you want to listen – it is the January 12 show.

Disaster time, in my opinion, should not equal conversion time. As Christians, we are called to model Jesus’ compassion and show God’s love to those in need, not convince them that it is time to follow him because we are helping them. If they ask what makes us want to help, then we should speak of the very nature of humanity that we believe is derived from God first and then that we feel directly the compassion of Jesus for us in his sacrifice on the cross. I would hope that we would suggest to them that there would be time later to discuss more of the specifics of our faith rather than taking advantage of a vulnerable time in their life. Most importantly, I would hope that we would remind them that MANY religions (and agnostic organizations, too) are helping in the aftermath – it is not solely a Christian value to respond to a human tragedy of this magnitude.

If you shopped there with a credit card last week, follow their advice and check your bill.

The Bigger They Are …

… the bigger their screwups. Wal-Mart screws up big time, double- and triple-billing customers who shopped there last week and paid by credit card. The retail giant says the problem — a computer glitch — is fixed, but advises customers to check their bill.

I am catching up on a few updates I have wanted to make but have been too busy to post. More to come.

Sorry that I haven’t posted much over the course of the last little bit. I spent the bulk of the end of last week and much of the weekend assisting a client recover from an Exchange 5.5 server crash. I wanted to comment on a couple of issues that everyone running any version of Exchange should keep in mind, none of which are uncommon knowledge, but reiteration never hurt anyone.

1. Exchange standard edition has a limit of one information store and 16gb per database. If your database grows past the 16gb limit, Exchange will cease to function – you will lose mail flow and the ability to access any items in your mail system. Recovery from this issue is complicated and can be time consuming. Monitor your Exchange environment for growth in your private information store.
2. Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is hugely cool for projects like restoring Exchange databases. I was able to build a Windows NT domain controller and a separate Exchange 5.5 computer that were both completely virtual for the purpose of restoring the bloated Exchange database.
3. User account information over time will become bloated. When accounts are deleted, you should archive their mail out of Exchange and delete their mailboxes. Proper cleanup of your accounts and mailboxes can alleviate problems before they happen.

I will post more as I think of them, but those are some that come to mind quickly.

Well, today the Philadelphia Eagles will try to win the NFC Championship for the third consecutive time. I know this isn’t a technology-related post, but I feel compelled to pen at least a line or two in support of my home team.

To that end, here are the lyrics to the Eagles Fight Song, along with an mp3 of a band of faithful giving it voice:

E…A…G…L…E…S EAGLES!

Well, we are almost through the holidays and starting a new year. In the technology world, this can be a particularly busy time. Many organizations and people are attempting to spend money so as to reduce their tax burdens, and still others are simply trying to ensure that they don’t lose budget that they haven’t spent. Either way, it produces a much busier time for those like me that assist businesses with their technology needs.

One of the major projects many people are undertaking at the end of this year is a major network upgrade. As hard as it may be for some people to believe, there are still companies with Windows NT 4.0 as their network operating system. With Microsoft ceasing all support for NT 4 at the end of this year, it becomes moderately critical for companies and organizations to attempt to at least upgrade to Windows 2000; my recommendations at this point, however, are to upgrade to Windows 2003, Microsoft’s latest network OS.

I am currently managing one Windows 2000 to 2003 upgrade, which I should be completing tonight and tomorrow, and one Windows NT 4 to 2003 upgrade, which will probably be completed in the month of January. I will post any issues that I come across after I have completed the projects.

At any rate, here is wishing you and yours a happy and prosperous new year.

May the joy of the Christmas – time with family and friends, gifts given and received, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ – bless and keep us all on this day.

I have been reading a lot about CSS and how it works, and while I haven’t gotten quite brave enough to try and actually modify templates and the like of my site, I did modify the color scheme. Please let me know if you have any comments on the new do. Thanks.

I am back from my Thanksgiving vacation. I promise to post regularly again.