Christopher Kusek, Technology Evangelist

Hello there.  Are you one of the many thousands who have a Prius, or any Toyota vehicle with HID Lights which are supposed to last for 10x longer than standard bulbs, and had it last less than 1Yr’s time?

Then, you’ve come to the right place.

A few high level examples of information:

A typical Halogen headlamp has a service life of ~450-1000 Hrs.

A typical HID headlamp has a service life of ~2000 Hrs.

 

So, given that math.  I would have to drive my car every day for ~6hrs in order for my bulb to start to fail within a years time.  Sadly, I did not drive it that much.  However it still did enter to a point of failure.  Failure which was considerably unsafe resulting in both of my headlights turning off at a number of points while driving on dark roads, luckily no one was ever hurt.

Oh, did I mention this was my second set of HID bulbs to be replaced?  The first time, replaced “Under warranty” at no cost to me.  The second time, Toyota has advised they will replace “Parts+Tax” however, I will have to pickup the labor.   While that sure is nice of them.  I wish I weren’t the only of thousands experiencing this problem.  This problem blatantly ignored by Toyota who only responds on an AdHoc, Opt-In basis, requiring US the consumer to do something about it - To reach out and contact Toyota on it.

This is very clearly a safety issue.  An issue which forces the consumer to front money and services to pay for something which Toyota knows is wrong and is their mistake.   This safety issue should be addressed as a Parts Recall and replacement, not having us figure out to call Toyota (800) 331-4331 and open a case in order to “try” to get this resolved.   You most likely will be in contact with Heather, as a lot of us have.  

It should also be noted, that if you’re experiencing this issue - Even if you’ve gotten it resolved whether under warranty or out of warranty (As I’ve had it fixed in both cases) you should file a complaint with the Office of Defects, so this is on record and our voices heard.

Hopefully you will be able to get your problem fixed and resolved in a timely and safer fashion, without having to resort to the extortion of paying out of pocket $902.88 (or more) and wait 2-3 weeks for a reimbursement of Parts+Tax, having to shell out the $137.80 (more or less) for labor, while paying for these HID Bulbs which are being quoted at ~$350 a pop, even though you can get an equivalent replacement for $175 for a PAIR.  But I imagine my definition of extortion is completely off base.  It probably has less to do with being sold something with an expectation it will work and actually getting it to work and not get screwed around when it in fact does not work as advertised.

Good luck out there with all your 2006, 2007, 2008 and beyond Priuses and other Toyota vehicles with HID lights which also suffered from this bad apple.   Don’t wait to open a case, and don’t get screwed by your dealership either in or out of warranty about this.   Toyota knows about this, and it is up to you the educated consumer to act on your behalf because they certainly are doing everything in their power to make sure that you have to jump through as many hoops as possible.

Raise your hands up and praise Joanne Lin of the MSLCommunity for bringing us these little gems! (Gem1 and Gem2 ! :)) [Time for some verbatim copying!...kind of!]

 

Help celebrate our 25^th anniversary with a free e-book offer.  The November offers is valid from November 19 to November 26, 2008, so download the e-books soon.  You can also sign up for Microsoft Press Connection newsletter to get monthly update.

For November:

 

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Fundamentals by Stanslav Pavlov and Pavel Belevsky:   This book examines the architecture, built-in programming tools, drivers, and build process, and shows how to take advantage of the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Software Development Kit (SDK).

Download this e-book!

 

 

Windows Server 2008 Networking and Network Access Protection (NAP) by Joseph Davies and Tony Northrup with the Microsoft Networking Team:   Get the official resource for deploying, administering, and troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 networking and Network Access Protection (NAP) technologies.

 

Download this e-book!

 

Going for a SQL Class? Get a copy of SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition!

Microsoft Learning is teaming up with the SQL Server team to give away free copies of SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition to people who attend select instructor-led classroom training at a Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (CPLS). Here’s the deal: The Deal!

So, if you’re looking for an early gift for yourself, or your friends.. Get them the Ebook that keeps on giving! :)

Happy Holiday-Season-Time! And spend that good money in this economy of free!

Anyone who’s been using Tweet Deck has also been using Adobe Air!

Well, there are a number of enhancements introduced in both of them! A MUST upgrade, hands down, no question about it!

Tweet Deck:

There are a number of new details introduced in v0.20b, and you can go here to check them out, but some of the ones I’ve particularly noticed and enjoy!

Response times are amazing! If I post a tweet, it appears immediately instead of getting cached to eventually deliver.  Running at speeds equal to being “On Web”

You notice that little “[+]” over there? That serves two-fold benefits!

First of all, it lets you add people to groups, so you can structure and order things easier inside of Tweet Deck Groups! And second of all, if there is no [+] What you have there is someone who is following you, but you are not following.  This plays out very useful in the Replies column trying to decide if someone you are talking to is someone you are following or not!

Love the new “Remaining API” section, which lets you know how close you are to exceeding your API calls for the hour and effectively being stuck with “Rate limit reached”

You will notice that the little scroll bar at the bottom which let you specify the period of time, with which your tweets will be displayed is gone.  Yes, it is gone, though with these new advancements and speed, it may not be needed anymore!

Be careful though, if you have a preferred URL shortener, it will reset it to the default!

Adobe Air:

Finally! Adobe Air will use your default browser instead of an alternate Browser!

What does this mean for you? It means if you chose FireFox, or Chrome to be your default browser, it will use FF or Chrome, instead of forcing it to IE.   I’ll have to test this on my Mac still to see if it forces open every link clicked as a new Browser entirely, but it should continue to open as new tabs in your existing browser in your preferred browser! Thanks Adobe!

So, go upgrade! You’ll be glad that you upgraded both Adobe Air and Tweet Deck!

And feel free to add me @cxi on Twitter! I wish I could say I’d add you back immediately, but I still have a case open with Twitter support, preventing me from being able to add new people!

Hi there, for those of you who do not know, I am vegan.

Furthermore, I am also a geek, and an efficiency geek.   Part of the guidelines of those two prior statements is that I look for the best solutions to problems, and I look for ways in which they can be replicated with ease, with as little effort as possible, and consumable by all the masses.

It is with great pain I feel I have to write this post, but this is not the first time I’ve broached this particular subject, in fact I’ve touched on this subject in my personal and professional life hundreds if not thousands of times.

The particular subject in question is, Vegans, or those “trying” to go vegan (Whatever that means) and their lack of ability to get enough protein.

Let me start by providing you a little insight into my particular situation.

I went from Meat-eater, to Vegan over night.  I did not ease my way in to it over several years.  One day I was eating meat, and the next, I was not any longer - And I haven’t looked back since.    That was ~8 years ago I made that decision and change.   The core tenet which kept me from being vegan for so long? The lack of consumable vegan foods which weren’t all “Smoked”, “Bbq” or “Charcoaled” It would burn my mouth and left a bad taste all around.

The second part of my situation, is that immediately upon becoming a full-time vegan, instead of a full-time omni-vore, I had to stop myself from eating on a daily and regular basis.  Why? Because I was getting too much protein (This is contrary to what you may see a lot of others doing.  Most “vegans” claim they cannot get enough Protein)  This brings me to the very point of this all: What are you doing wrong if you have become vegan and are unable to get enough protein?

Now, don’t get me wrong, and I want to make this very clear.  If you aren’t getting enough protein and you are vegan - You are fundamentally doing something very wrong.

I don’t want to sugar coat this.  But there are a number of tenets of nutrition, with the first one being called

Portion sizing: When you eat food throughout a day, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner.  There are portions of food which you need to account for.  You cannot wake up in the morning, eat 15lbs of pasta and say “I’m done for the day”.  First of all, that isn’t healthy and won’t provide you with the sufficient level of nutrients your body needs for long-term sustainability.

Portion Planning: Just because you are eating appropriate portions of food, doesn’t mean you have your planning down.   Let’s say you’re following “Crazy Persons New Diet Fad” which says, “Eat only beans and lentils and you’ll lose weight!”  While technically it may be true, if your body isn’t sustained to feel satisfied from eating purely lentils and beans all day long (Something I rarely eat), then your body will feel it is being deprived and starved.   When the body enters into starvation, it starts to store everything as fat.  Next thing you know, your ‘waist’ has grown instead of shrunk and now you’re blaming a “vegan diet”.    Any diet which doesn’t involve balance and doesn’t listen to your body, isn’t one worth trying.

Bringing me to the next most important:

Listen to your body: Once you’re off the hormones of beef and all of the additives found inside of most food, you’ll be able to “hear” your body.   You will find yourself having cravings for all different kinds of foods.  That is your body telling you “I need this, I want that”.   My body tends to tell me when I lack certain nutrients so I fulfill its particular requests.   While this can be easily said by the lack of certain nutrients and substances, the same can be said by the abundance of things.   Your body in short order will start to alert you when you’ve taken in too much protein, or fat-soluable minerals.

So you’re saying, “Hey, I’m vegan and I don’t get enough Protein”.

I have to ask, “Then what is it that you’re eating?”.  

Here are some particularly good sources of Protein, which don’t require you to change your diet considerably, or undergo any kind of major ‘changes’ to your life, let alone your budget.

Disclaimer: If you have a gluten allergy, a majority of these will not work for you.  Let me know if you are looking for sources of protein and are allergic to gluten and I can reach out to you separately. :) I particular seek out Gluten specific proteins because I like Gluten :))

Second Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with any of these food companies.  This is actual food that I eat, and I’m tired of hearing vegans “quit” because of the lack of “protein” options.

You’re on the Go? Need a snack and an influx of Protein?

Look to: Tofurky Jurky! (Available in Original and Peppered) - 12 Grams of Protein per 4 pieces.  That’s a “steak” worth of Protein in a single package, yet taking seconds to eat.

Still on the go, and want something sweet?

Clif Bar has all the answers here.

As a convenience vegan, always on the go, I looked for the best in high quality/low cost bars to eat.  After trying them all, I’m drawn towards the “Clif Bar” and the “Luna bar” line.  Though, the Luna Bars I like are only available out of season. :)

A few specific bars from Clif that I eat are:

And my favorite ones available (seasonally)

So, wait a minute.  You’re telling me a bar, which you can get for $0.99 cents has 10 or more grams of protein in it?

Next thing you’re gonna say I can get a single Vegan bar covered in chocolate with 13 grams of protein!

 

Hey, wait a minute.  I’m not always on the go, and I want something which isn’t just a bunch of candy bars to eat!   What options do I have to introduce into my regular meals?

Well, this is simply done without pictures! Get yourself some Tofu, some Seitan, or even eat some Pasta!  Pasta itself has loads of protein in it.  If you’re saying “I don’t want to eat carbs” then you’re effectively saying you are willing to throw all caution to the wind and ignore your body and its needs (The brain loves carbs!) But, to cut on carbs.. go with Seitan or Tofu then.

Here’s a simple way to give yourself a large volume of Protein with little effort.

 

 

1 Cup of Pasta, a heaping of Pasta sauce to your choosing, and 1 cup of Garbanzo beans smashed.   The beans will mix with the sauce and become a thicker sauce.

All to the tune of an additiona 11.9 grams of protein just from the garbanzo beans alone.

 

 

 

Hey! I thought you said not to eat beans.

No, I didn’t say that.  I said that beans and lentils are not a staple in my diet, I come across them occasionally!  And you can too. :)

 

 

One of the best ‘quick access’ protein sources that can be cooked are the new Boca Original Chik’n Nuggets.  There was some controversy around these (I’m sure you’ll find them on a google search) where they went from a vegan recipe, to a non-vegan recipe.  And now we’re back to the vegan recipe.   I particularly advise the bagged variety which offers 14g of protein per every ‘4′ nuggets.   They’re soft, easily consumable, great tasting, and $2.69 a bag at my local Woodmans.

 

 

This is not the end-all, be-all list.   The options are endless and I’ve only barely touched the surface of how to get protein (Infact, too much protein) fairly easily and readily.

 

One last thing for the Spelt-inclined or general Pretzel lovers:

Newmans makes a line of Pretzels which are chock full of protein! (And spelt as well) 4/5 grams of protein per serving for around 30 grams per bag.  

 

 

 

Like I said, this is not the definitive list of Protein sources out there for vegans.  There is a lot more than this, and a whole lot which cater specifically to particular allergies or needs, and even some to correspond to what I would refer to the “Crazy diets”

(Re: Crazy Diet is defined as a diet which cares more about what they’re telling you to do on paper, than to actually care for and listen to your body.  These fad diets tend to cause more trauma in the casual person than they do of help in the long-run).   As an efficiency and hard-core geek who will test things and get them down to a scientific level of replication, I would not encourage diets which are not founded in fact or reality.)

Good luck out there, but most importantly - If you’re not getting enough Protein - Tell me what it is that YOU eat, and that can be easily tracked and traced to make sure you’re not only living well, but a balanced and appropriate life.

Thanks

This post inspired by My So Called Vegan Diet: Week 2

Today, Twitter offered an explanation of the Deletions issues a number of Twitter users have been experiencing: Updates on deletions

Status deletion has been re-enabled.

User restoration has also been re-enabled.

User deletion remains off as it still represents a significant problem for the stability of the service. In the past several months, we’ve had to turn off user deletion many times in order to keep things running smoothly. Each time we turned it back on, we’d hoped we had sufficiently patched the existing system to prevent it from being a problem.

We’ve now concluded that the user deletion system needs to be rewritten and we’ve started that effort. Until we finish, user deletion will remain off. There’s a number of places throughout the site where we will need to message this better. We’ll be making those changes as well.

Certainly, this is a concerning issue, only one of which plagues the frequent twitter users in the tweetosphere.   Without any knowledge of exactly how they’re handling the routines for handling user deletion, aging, and load experienced on the system I could only offer the briefest of a question of how it is being addressed with suggestions.

We’ll see if the Tweetosphere continues to suffer from Performance issues such as this, and the frequent Site Outages experienced throughout the week.  Always raising the question and concern of have they properly accounted for the scale of this volume and the user communities peaks and valleys for system load.

I’ll keep my eye on it, but here is your word from the Twitter itself! @cxi - Christopher Kusek

The other day on Twitter, ABC7 was looking for Feedback in the form of Tweets on our take on the Economic Bail out - Well, my voice was heard! (Well, my tweet was posted and read! ;))

So, for the whole of the twittersphere - Here is my little few moments and 140 characters or less on economic bailouts! (I come in at about 1:07 seconds)

@abc7 Govt modifying the bailout plan to take real action will be beneficial so long as it is not used to line pockets.

 

Thanks to all of you out in the twitterland, and you can certainly find me here on twitter

You can find the original link to this on ABC7’s website!

I guess that’s right! According to Truemors, Blogit and this article here at Bloomberg.

Twitter may charge companies for access to its users so it doesn’t have to ask venture capitalists for more cash, said Williams, the company’s chief executive officer. As the value of Internet companies plunges this year, investors are asking for a bigger chunk of the startups they invest in.

“The VCs have the money, but they’ll just negotiate harder,” said Williams, who sold his previous venture, Blogger, to Google Inc. in 2003. “I want to manage things so I don’t have to raise money in 2009.”

So, be careful out there! Non-business folks you should be fine! But the reckoning may come (Can you fit extra ads in 140 characters? :))

Stay tuned for more Twitter-News as it comes up!

In the Twitter-Sphere, there has been controversy surrounding “Twitterank!” and its requirement of you entering your credentials.

This initially prompted this response and update from the Author of the tool:

Disclaimer

I’m not out to steal ur twitterz. Frankly, I wish I didn’t have to ask for your account info, but Twitter doesn’t offer APIs using any other authentication mechanism (according to the docs). So blame them. Read more about what I’ll do with your account info/data in the FAQ.

I will not store your password. I will only use it once to calculate your Twitterank.

However, that still did not stop these other blog posts:

Gullible Twitter users hand over their usernames and passwords - did you get your Twitterank yet?!

Is Twitterank Ranking Your Popularity Or Stealing Your Password?

And other ones.

I initially rebroadcasted (From a trusted source) the links to this very Data, however at the urging of a concerned Party - I took it up a notch and contacted Ryo of Twitterank directly.

He advised that they do not store passwords, nor is it being used as a phishing operation.

Though he does agree that people ought to be more careful about sharing their passwords.

Which brings us to the lesson for the day.  Twitter is a great phenomenon.  And it’s a good thig we have trusting well intentioned souls such as Ryo out there.  But remember.  Not everyone will be nice, and the next cool site (Which may not be trustworthy) could indeed be capturing your data, reselling your DM’s and any other number of things.

So do be careful out there.  At the moment I do retract initial concerns of Ryo himself causing any harm, but do be concerned with any Web Based App that you do not trust, as a mechanism for releasing your Twitter credentials, or any other credentials for that matter.

Thank you for your time, and if these details change, I’ll certainly be the first one to say “Doh! I’m an idiot!” :)

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Twitterank in any fashion, nor have I ever used its Services! However, I have changed my password just in case recently, so sorry @Guykawasaki I think I broke the auto-alltopper which would feed off of my account!

#Addition#

@axelator reminded me of this lesson - Wondering, Why is it we would do this? share our twitter credentials, trusting implicitly a site to do with one of our tools?

This is reminiscent of the early days of the Internet (late 80’s, early 90’s) which were Trust was implied.   A lot of you may not have thought that these credentials are indeed the keys to a kingdom, whether you meant them to or not.   Luckily, this was not intended with harm in mind.  But this is a wake up, this isn’t the first time, and certainly won’t be the last.

Be Careful out there.

Special Props to T_rank for this new blog to address the questions as well.

Also, think about your passwords - Sarah Evans makes it succinct here:

Do you share your password(s) freely?

Wow, another bombshell dropped us on by Congress! The clause that Small Businesses in Defense (and other) areas for a guaranteed budget allocation has been squelched.

This previous instance set some serious precedence with no end in sight.

(re: “Preferential Treatment” for minorities called unconstitutional a court has ruled)

So, fresh from the halls of Congress is this little gem:

“Small business program declared unconstitutional”

As Nick Wakeman has had to say,

I think this story is just beginning. Small business advocates will likely be on Capitol Hill explaining ways that Congress can address the court’s ruling. Some will argue that many socio-economic groups still are discriminated against. Another argument is that small business programs foster economic growth.

We definitely need that now.

Perhaps this will drive innovation in these smaller businesses in order to be more agile, nimble and able to take those monies from big business.   But without any major reform in addition to these new lines of ‘reform’ initiated from Congress and declaring things “unconstitutional” we’ll be stuck with more of the same, Big Business Wins, small businesses collapse and Monopolies all around!    The question is, who will be the Thimble and who will be the Car.

 

Good luck out there small businesses. It’s definitely an uphill battle from here.

You ever find yourself in the position where Twitter Tools no longer updates anymore?

The information is aged, old, ancient - Infact, even if you blow away the tweets displayed, the details on your widget do not seem to go away?

One way to get rid of the tweets it has cached are by dropping your wp_ak_twitter database.

That will result in clearing out the data in the database and in the sidebar, but it may not resolve your ability to actually update and receive tweets.

After I dropped the database, it took a considerable amount of time, but -eventually- it started actually pulling updates from Twitter as a whole - So good luck to you others out there, and hopefully you don’t have to drop your database like I had to!

This will intentionally be a short-post.

Trying to determine exactly what ‘limits’ twitter tools has, as it stopped updating 3 weeks ago and I had to drop its tables in order to clear out old stale data.

We’ll see what comes of this!

This exam is not ready yet! No Beta code to speak of.

But there is already talk about it, so the chances of there being codes.. Soon!

Until such a point, here are some study guides provided by the blessed Garth Jones!

70-635 MCTS: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008, Desktop Deployment

70-635 Study Guide

He’s even created a Wiki Page for Exam Prep and Review! so check it out!

So, special props to Garth Jones, and look forward to an update to the Free Testing Archive when we get that Beta Code!

Thinking about getting Certified? Not sure what to do? What the value is?

I’d like to point you to our good friends at Microsoft running a Certification 101 Live meeting.

*Begin Blatant Theft from the MSLCommunity :)*

After many suggestions from you, and from our dear friend Trika, we are hosting another Certification 101 Live Meeting. This one will take place on Tuesday, November 18^th and will hopefully be the start of a regular schedule of these Live Meetings.

Audience: IT Professionals, developers who think they might like to get certified, but aren’t sure it’s right for them and/or aren’t sure where to start. People who have never taken a Microsoft exam and work with Microsoft products, or people who will be working with Microsoft in the very near future.

Registration: Join folks from the Microsoft Certified Professional team (including ME) to learn about the benefits and process of getting certified: choosing a certification path, preparing for your first exam, taking an exam, and what to expect after that. Click to register for:

• November 18, 2008 at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032394770&Culture=en-US)(What time is this in my region?)
• November 18, 2008 at 5:30 P.M. Pacific Time http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032394771&Culture=en-US (What time is this in my region?)

Here’s what we’ll talk about…

• what a technical certification can do for you–what is the goal?
• how to choose a certification track that will help you meet your goals – career or otherwise
• how do you know when you’re ready (expected experience level, time/money involved, etc)
• preparation options (what you need to know, how to learn it)
• the testing experience (registering, during the test, what happens when you’re done)

Our hope is to make this less intimidating for new people.

Please send the links around if you have co-workers or user groups who might find this helpful.

*End Blatant theft!*

Do check out and comment on their blog as well! this post Certification 101: Getting Started with Microsoft Certification and others are available there!

You ever get up and say “ooh! I want to find these TR articles!” Okay, if you don’t, *I* do :)

I certainly know a number of other folks who are always out there wondering …. Where do I find this?!?

Well, here is this little gem!

That’s right! all you need to do is click this Technical Reports: By Number link, and there you will have them all right there! I expanded it out to the “View All” feel free to manipulate as appropriate.

To tell you the truth, I wish I would have taken these photos a few days earlier, and also over-head.  It was the most beautiful red, BRIGHT red you can even imagine!