Well, I’ve installed a few more programs and made sure that I’ve configured most of my hardware with updated drivers. I started creating an image file about 5 hours ago, and it looks like it will take another 4 hours. It looks like my Windows XP partition is around 18 Gigs.
With all of the programs installed, updates downloaded and installed, and Windows configured the way I like, I think this will save me around 9 hours of work. Actually, it will save me more like 18 hours. I won’t be able to use my main PC for about 9 hours, but all I have to do is start the program and move the image file to the proper partition. I won’t actually have to sit in front of the computer for any of the actual input stuff either.
I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves regularly reinstalling Windows, to create yourself an image file after your next reload. It makes the process go SO much more smoothly.

As I’ve done many times before, I’ve reloaded my PC. I’ve got the original Windows XP Home Edition loaded, most of my software loaded, my iPod synchronizing, my network printers working, and I’m pretty comfortable with this load.
I would create an image file of the load, but it would be about 14 Gigs and that’s a bit much. I may just do it anyway, though. Actually, I think I will create an image. It would probably save me hours of reinstallation, as well. OK, you’ve just witnessed me change my own mind in a matter of seconds.
Now I’m working on cleaning up my desktop (the one made of wood). I guess I can make the image file while I’m doing that.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Google Earth, but they’ve come up with a Google Moon. The creative people at Google have added some images to the map of the moon using some pretty liberal creativity. For those that are interested in seeing some detailed views of the moon’s surface, zoom in as far as possible on almost any part of the surface.
Another pretty cool part of the thing is that it shows where Apollo missions 11-17 landed (minus 13, of course). I didn’t know that they landed so close to one another.
I just checked to see if there was a Google Mars, but apparently they haven’t gotten there yet, or maybe they just haven’t had the time. They recently decided to offer a second public offering of stock options. They were recommended to offer around 15 million shares, and they decided to offer exactly 14,159,265 shares to raise approximately $4.2 billion for more projects. You may realize that the number is pretty strange, but familiar. That’s because it is a derivative of PI.
These people are talented and also have a pretty good sense of humor. I don’t know any tech out there that wouldn’t want to be working for Google right now.

According to this, Microsoft has decided to go ahead and put WinFS out there. The file system is intended to make searching and keeping track of documents a cinch with instant search results through constantly updated indexing. The thing is, Google Desktop Search achieves these quick results already.
Apparently the Desktop Search program made so many people happy that Microsoft wants to include it on their new OS, Windows Vista, so that they have more presence than Google, when customers make the move to Windows Vista from Windows XP.
Up until Google came up with the Desktop Search Sidebar, I thought Microsoft had given up on releasing WinFS with the new OS, but it seems that having competition brought their productivity up a notch. This is just another of many reasons to cheer for the brilliant team at Google!

I have the site finished for the most part. I have a little editing to do here and there, but it looks a lot cleaner than the previous design. Now I just have to finish working on the BAPCS design.

I have been trying to figure out how to get a web site to send me an email without using Frontpage extensions, or having to pay for a service to do it for some time now. I’ve finally found a way to do it.
I didn’t use their directions exactly because every site is different, but they got me to the place where it works.
The Site Wizard is the wonderful site that helped me get there and I wanted to post a note here about them so I’d have it for future reference.

The concept of talking online for free has been around for quite some time. I remember 4 to 5 years ago, using one of the instant messenger services to talk to my parents instead of using long distance. It was pretty bad because we were both using dial-up service. It was kinda like talking to each other through a 50 mile toilet paper tube. I had to wait for their message to get through before I could respond. This process made a simple question and answer take about a minute or two. I kinda got burned out on it, especially after cell phones started to have long distance for “free”.
With the advancement of broadband being distributed to both my parents and my house, we have tried it probably once, and that was about a year or two ago. It was almost exactly like talking on the land lines. Skype has been around for quite a while now, and from all the reviews I’ve read, works quite well. Google has just come out with Google Talk. The interface is very simple, there are no avatars, and the visuals are only attractive to these eyes of mine because it is very simplistic looking. It is made to be easy to use. They are also working to make Google Talk open to connect to all networks.
The capability to connect to all networks AND be able to use VoIP is available in the Gizmo Project, which is a project that Michael Robertson is working on. Michael Robertson is the guy who was majorly involved in mp3.com and Linspire 5.0 (formerly LindowsOS).
With the ability to use a bluetooth headset as your computer’s speakers and mic, you can talk as you would on a regular phone. It makes it very comfortable. I know this because I have a bluetooth headset (Plantronics 2500) that makes using my cell phone on the road much easier. I’ve also used it to replace my speakers on my computer when I needed the computer to be quiet, but wanted to hear everything the Big Brother 6 houseguests were saying on the Live Feeds.
If your budget is tight, you can’t get a cell phone, but you have broadband, your long distance can get a lot cheaper. It just takes a little experimentation, and you have to get your long-distance family members to install one of these programs on their computer.
Looks like the future of communications is getting better, and cheaper.

Wow! Google has outdone themselves here. The ability to fit everything they did into such a nice little package is absolutely spectacular. It’s a little buggy visually when you try to minimize and then maximize, but it works well otherwise. Of course I’m using it currently on a Celeron Processor with only 32MB of video memory. It’ll probably be better when I get home. Check out the tool here.