Phil Scott's WebLog

I received an e-mail today regarding the Microsoft Exams.  It seems they are moving back to the old format where they tell you what your score was, and even break down the exam so you know what to work on if you had some weak spots.  I for one welcome this new change.  Of course, you hear a lot of people in the training and certification industry harping on “if it's green, it's green.”  The theory behind that is the exams cover such a wide range of topics, that if you do know 75% of the concepts you are doing pretty darn good.  We rarely have someone score a 100% on an exam, and if they did we were pretty sure they were using study aids like brain dumps and other illegal study guides.  But it was also pretty nice to see those high scores on the ol' VB6 exams :-). 

What would possess someone to make a drop downlist to choose a time zone that looks like this:
Africa/AlgiersAfrica/LuandaAmerica/AdakAmerica/AnchorageAmerica/BarbadosAmerica/Buenos AiresAmerica/ChicagoAmerica/CuracaoAmerica/Dawson CreekAmerica/DenverAmerica/EdmontonAmerica/HalifaxAmerica/IndianapolisAmerica/La PazAmerica/Los AngelesAmerica/MazatlanAmerica/Mexico CityAmerica/MontrealAmerica/NassauAmerica/New YorkAmerica/PhoenixAmerica/Puerto RicoAmerica/ReginaAmerica/St JohnsAmerica/TijuanaAmerica/VancouverAmerica/WinnipegAsia/AnadyrAsia/CalcuttaAsia/ColomboAsia/DaccaAsia/DhakaAsia/Hong KongAsia/IrkutskAsia/JerusalemAsia/KabulAsia/KamchatkaAsia/KarachiAsia/KrasnoyarskAsia/MagadanAsia/NovosibirskAsia/SingaporeAsia/TbilisiAsia/TokyoAsia/VladivostokAsia/YakutskAsia/YekaterinburgAsia/YerevanAtlantic/BermudaAtlantic/CanaryAustralia/AdelaideAustralia/BrisbaneAustralia/DarwinAustralia/HobartAustralia/Lord HoweAustralia/PerthAustralia/SydneyEurope/AmsterdamEurope/AthensEurope/BerlinEurope/BrusselsEurope/BucharestEurope/BudapestEurope/CopenhagenEurope/DublinEurope/GibraltarEurope/HelsinkiEurope/IstanbulEurope/KaliningradEurope/KievEurope/LondonEurope/LuxembourgEurope/MadridEurope/MonacoEurope/MoscowEurope/OsloEurope/ParisEurope/PragueEurope/RomeEurope/SamaraEurope/SimferopolEurope/SofiaEurope/StockholmEurope/TallinnEurope/TiraneEurope/ViennaEurope/VilniusEurope/WarsawEurope/ZurichGMTMiddle East/BeirutMiddle East/CairoMiddle East/DubaiMiddle East/HaifaMiddle East/KuwaitMiddle East/RiyadhPacific/AucklandPacific/ChathamPacific/HonoluluPacific/WakeUTC

I'm pretty guilty when it comes to keeping on top of install “critical updates.”  Many times, the little ballon pops up when I'm actually doing something on my computer.  Reading an article, playing solitare or perhaps even doing work seems to be it's favorite time to pop up.  I've gotten pretty good at dismissing it.  Remind me in three days I tell it.  I'm not really scared of my PC being hosed by the updates, my concern is having to restart my computer.  If I'm at work, I'm probably in the middle of something, or getting ready to start something else.  No time for a reboot! 

Ohmph.  I couldn't pull the trigger on going to the PDC.  My brain is definitely mad at me, it knows that going there would be a TREEEEmendous venture.  But as Garth would say “Live in the now, man.  You'll never afford it!”  Plane tickets plus hotel, plus cost of admission would pretty much wipe out my weak savings that I've been trying to build up.  All for what I really viewed as a geek vacation where I could get some cool toys.  Hopefully those toys will be available on MSDN or to MCTs shortly after the PDC, and looking at the list of PDC bloggers I know I'm in good hands when it comes to trusting others to make sure I can stay ahead of the curve.

Three day weekend coming up, and I've stocked up on the video games :-).  Not really, but it does seem I've purchased quite a few games in the recent weeks.  I've been pretty into Madden 2004.  It has a new feature called owner mode where you have almost compelte control over a team.  Sell the naming rights, upgrade the stadium, set the cost on the beer.  All kinds of stuff.  Make enough money to bring in the big name coaches and training staffs, fill up the roster with studs and play away.  A true football geek heaven.  I know people who have bought the game and have yet to actually play an actual football game.  They are just simulating the game out.  Crazy.

In a car crash kinda way, I was really interested in seeing what the SoBig worm was going to try to do.  Hopefully now that they've identified the servers they'll be able to dissect the payload. 

It appears there is a new variant of the MSBLAST worm that patches your machine against the DCOM overflow.  Keith should expect the black helicopter's any momment now.

I guess I'm the anti-Gunderloy.  Historically, like most geeks, I do my best work in the middle of the night.  I might be a “night person,” but I think I just feel a little guilty “playing” on a computer during the day.  If it's sunny, I could be outside running.  If it's raining, I could be cleaning my apartment.  But at night, the only thing I have is late night SportsCenter, girl gone wild infomercials and a couple .NET books I've been meaning to dig into.  And a wide awake brain.