Stapler

Spiceworks is a free network monitoring utility that I have started using one of my client’s networks. Spiceworks makes the software free by selling adds withing the application. The adds aren’t intrusive and I may find them useful at some point as they seam to be good companies and very relevant. There is a paid version if you don’t wish to see the adds.

The install was quick and it uses a web interface that is very simple. There is a set of steps to get started with the software and there are videos and instructions for each step. Once it is installed, you can give it Domain credentials, and any other credentials it needs, and then an address range and it proceeds to scan your network. You may need to open some ports in you client firewalls which can easily be done with a Group Policy change. It will also scan some of the other devices on your network. WAPs, Firewalls, switches, etc. You may need to provide credentials, but it can get most of it’s info from SNMP.

Once the scan is done, there is a wealth of information available to look through. Hardware age, brand, BIOS dates, installed software, whether your virus definitions are up to date, NIC traffic levels, and much more. You can create custom reports on almost any detail you can think of. You can also use an interesting tool the software has to compare computers. This would be useful in the case that you have 2 similar computers and you are trying to figure out why something is working on one computer and not on the other.

One of the network management tools you can use is alerts. Again there are a bunch of canned alerts that you can use, but you can create one for any detail you want. Disk space warnings, servers going off-line, software installs, you can even get an alert when WeatherBug is installed if you wish. The alerts can be emailed to you if you like or they can just show in Spiceworks. I would expect that one of the top requests will be for SMS alerts, so hopefully they add that soon. I really like this feature as I get an email when my servers go down much sooner than I would normally get a call.

The software also includes a built in help desk interface. I haven’t taken the time to set it up, but it is a web interface that allows you to create,manage, and update help desk tickets. It also includes a second web interface for users to create tickets with. Then you can run reports, send updates to users or your boss, and track time spent on projects. This feature alone may be worth the time it takes to set up the software. Very cool.

This software has quite a few features many of which I haven’t even started using such as contract management, access to white papers and forums, and to-do lists, so if you are looking for a simple network management utility, Spiceworks is one I would recommend.

Thanks to Handy Solo for bugging me to write this post. It was fun.

An American Creed by Dean Alfange

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”

By Dean Alfange

Thanks to Dave Ramsey for posting this quote.

As GreenTheo recently posted, this bail out plan is a mess, and if you hadn’t heard, it’s not $700 billion. It is a blank check for the Federal Reserve to do with what they want. It could be trillions when they are done. Now I am not a big New World Order Conspiracy believer, but this sounds like a story straight out of a book about the NWO. This needs to be stopped. It seams the way to fix a problem to a bunch of bad debt, is not to add more debt to pay to fix it. We need to stop the dept madness in our personal finances, in our churches, in our businesses, and in our government. It will catch up to us sooner or later.

Dave Ramsey had a guest on his TV show Recently that talked about what is really happening, and what we can do to change it. You can find those videos here and here. Basically, one of the regulations in the law that was written in response to the Enron problem (Sarbanes Oxley) is causing much of the problems.This economist and Dave both feel that we can fix this problem without the government buying almost a trillion dollars in bad mortgages and printing new money to do it (thereby increasing inflation). If we relax that rule temporarily, it will free up the market and keep us from having to buy all those loans. Dave also has a great explanation on his website here.

Either way, the government needs to here what you think. I have contacted mine and I encourage you to email, call, fax, carrier pigeon, or morse code them your thoughts on the situation. You can find the contact information for your representatives here:
Your Congressmen
Your Senators
The senate committee in charge of this issue

P.S. I also saw this interesting video on youtube. Not sure how much stock to put in it. Hard to tell, but interesting and scary. Contact your representatives and tell them what you think.

The web is such a great place with so many amazing things to look at. I thought I would share some of my favorites with you in no particular order.

As you have probably figured out, I am a geek. And a site that really gets my geek side excited is the Astronomy Picture Of the Day web site. Every day the have a new picture from NASA’s vast archives and a great and educational description of the picture. Some of the pictures they post on there will take your breath away. Definitely a daily can’t miss.

Another website that I enjoy is the Alaska Volcano Observatory web site. The Aleutian Island chain in Alaska was created by volcanoes and many of them are still active. This web site allows you to see what those volcanoes are doing and it gets really interesting when one becomes more active. They have daily and hourly updates with awesome pictures. Really cool stuff.

Extremetech is one of my favorite sites for articles about computer stuff. Lots of Product reviews, how to’s, and industry new.s They also have a couple of build your own computer articles that the update regularly like the Bang for your Buck Gaming PC.

My favorite online music source is SomaFM. Tag’s Trance is my favorite channel. I also enjoy Jango.com.

I also spen a lot of time on my favorite social networking sites such as Twitter, DIGG, and LInkedIn which I recently posted about here.

The website that I probably spend the most time in is Google Reader. If you are not familiar with Google Reader, it is a RSS reader and you can read more about it here. The list of websites and blogs I follow using Google Reader is pretty long and I hope to do a series of posts about those soon.

Nathan

Check out my Indian food review on the Epicurean! Blog.

I drive a lot for my job. I may be in north Denver in the morning, and then far south in the afternoon, and then back to the office before heading home. All in all, I end up putting close to 2000 miles on my car a month. With gas at well over $3.00 a gallon, that adds up. This has caused me to start really paying attention to my gas mileage. I have changed the way I do some things and I have started researching new ways to save gas.

One of the more well known ways to save gas is to keep your tires properly inflated. Low tire inflation can affect your cars mileage. It also can reduce your car’s handling and decrease the life span of your tires. One of the other things I would recommend is looking into the proper PSI to fill your tires too. Some manufacturers set the recommended tire pressure based primarily on ride comfort(Lower Pressure) and not necessarily based on handling, mileage, and/or tire wear. I would recomend you talk to the technician at the store where you got the tires or get them rotated at. They can help you figure out the correct pressure to use. You don’t want an overinflated tire either as that can reduce grip, cause more tire wear and even cause catastrophic failure of the tire.

Speaking of tires, there are 2 tires that have caught my eye recently. Yokohama is making some tires that look really promising. Their Decibel Super E-Spec Tire has a few unique qualities that make it very green. The tires are manufactured using a process involving citrus oils that requires 80 percent less petroleum in every tire. They also have a special lining that resists the loss of air so they maintain optimum tire pressure for longer periods, and they have 18% less rolling resistance. They are only selling them in Japan right now, but I hope they bring them to the US in the near future. The other tire I have been looking at is the Green Diamond Tire. These tires have thousands of diamond-hard green silicium carbide granules embedded evenly throughout the tire’s tread that give it great grip in the snow. The other green part of these tires is that they are made from remolded tires. They take an old tire with worn out tread, and put a new tread on it. That’s one tire that stays out of the landfill, and much less petroleum used. Pretty Sweet.

The next mileage enhancer I discovered was Mobile 1’s Advanced Fuel Economy Synthetic Motor Oil. If you haven’t looked into it yet, Synthetic motor oil is the way to go these days. It is a much better oil and it lasts a lot longer between oil changes than conventional motor oil. What makes the Advanced Fuel Economy Motor Oil different from other synthetic oils is that it is specifically designed to cause less drag and friction inside the motor and therefore enhance your fuel economy.

The other thing I want to try in my quest for the best gas mileage possible is a K&N Air Filter. There are 2 advantages to a K&N air filter. 1, They are designed to last a million miles, so you are not throwing away a paper and rubber air filter every 6 - 10,000 miles. 2, They provide much better air flow which theoretically allows your engine to run more efficiently. They sell drop-in replacement air filters for just about every vehicle/engine ever made, and for many vehicles they also sell another type of air filter that replaces your stock air filter and the air filter box with a much higher efficiency alternative. These have the added bonus of increasing the horsepower on most vehicles.

I have yet to try the K&N filter and the Mobil1 in a somewhat scientific experiment where I keep track of mileage before and after, but I plan to in the next couple of months. There will be a follow up post soon.

Nathan

Wow, I can’t believe that my fist post on kettlebells was almost 3 months ago. I have been doing a lot of kettlebelling(is that a word?) since then and I have really enjoyed it. I have really enjoyed the strength and endurance I have gained from kettlebells and also the way I feel after an exhausting KB workout. I thought I might share a few of the things I have learned in the last few months about KBs.

I have really enjoyed a couple of websites about KBs I found:
One of them is WorkoutIQ. It is written by Denis Kanygin who is a personal trainer in California. His blog has some good information about kettlebells, fitness, diet, posture, and a great workout of the week. Check it out.
I also have been enjoying The Rifs Blog. It is more of a personal blog about using kettlebells and doing other forms of exercise. I find it really motivational to read about some of the workouts Mark and his wife do.

I have been doing this 3 day a week Kettlebell program and really enjoying it. It is amazing how fast I have adapted to the challenges of kettlebelling. There was no way I could do a complete Wednesday workout from the program 2 months ago, but now I am buying a heavier kettlebell so that I can make parts of it more challenging. I also have started to enjoy and sometimes crave doing KB snatches. The snatch is an amazing full body exercise that is unlike anything I have ever done. I have started keeping track of the snatches I do on a Personal Training Manager site. I don’t have all of them logged there, but I have done well over a thousand snatches since I started kettlebells 3 months ago. That’s pretty cool. I even did 80 snatches on each arm at 10,000 feet while camping 2 weeks ago. That was a great challenge and a lot of fun.

I recently bought a 54lb kettleblell and I am looking forward to the challenge of the new higher weight. I am also learning some basic Kettlebell juggling form my friend Gareth, so I will post again in a couple of months with an update.

Woohoo,

After almost a year of work, my wife and I payed off our last credit card last month. Boy that’s cool. We still have a long way to go, but it is an exciting milestone.  A big thanks to Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University. We went through the 13 week course starting last August, and we really enjoyed it. Many of the principles we learned at that class have helped us get where we are now. The most helpful part for us was not the what(I know I should save and not use credit cards), but the how(Baby Steps). I also enjoy the podcasts of his show.

 Another resource about money I have been enjoying  is The Simple Dollar. This blog has lots of common sense money information. I don’t agree with everything he writes, but it is always well thought out and thought provoking.

Check out their blogs, and think about attending one of Dave’s classes. It might just change your life. 

My first experiences with video games as a child were cartridge based games on the family commodore 64. You remeber the one, with the giant keyboard that was the computer? Those were the days. Well, I found a websire this week that has brought back many of those memories:  c64s.com

They have all of your favorite games from the Commodore 64 playable from your web browser. Woohoo. Enjoy.

Fitness has been a focus of mine this year. Other than the obvious reasons for staying fit such as staying healthy, having more energy, and to look good, I have a couple of goals that are motivating me in my quest to be fit. I hope to test for a First Degree Black Belt In ATA TaeKwonDo before March of next year and I need to be in great shape to pass that test, and to keep up when we spar and grapple. I also plan on doing my first sprint Triathlon this summer which will require endurance. There are a couple of things I have been doing lately to stay in shape: cycling, swimming, running, and going to TaeKwonDo class really have helped, but I have found a new form of exercise I am really excited about: Kettlebells.

Kettlebells are cast iron balls with handles. They have been used by the Russians for hundreds of years to stay in shape and they have been gaining popularity here in the US in the last couple of years. Kettlebell workouts are total-body workouts that increase strength, endurance, while challenging both the muscular and cardiovascular system. Here is a video that shows some of the many exercises that can be done with kettlebells. Kettlebells come in many diferent sizes. The sizes are measured in an old russian unit of measure called a pood. One pood is equal to 36 pounds or 16kg. That is the kettlebell weight that most people start with. As they increase their skill and depending on the exercise, you can use other weights anywhere from 8 pounds to 97 pounds.

Due to their ability to increase endurance and strength, Kettlebells have become very popular with MMA athaletes. I am told that they made an appearnce in the latest Rocky film too.  Pavel Tsatsouline is credited with being a big part of bringing Kettlebells to the states. His website has lots of great information about them and some great books you can order. I bought a 44 pound Kettlebell today, and I am looking forward to learning more about kettlebells and starting to use them on a regular basis. If you are interested in buying one, you can find them at local stores, but you may have to call around to find a store that caries them. Thanks to Mr. Baker for turning me onto Kettlebells and for the lessons.