Covelle Corner

SharePoint Support

2007-11-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

I'm moving all the technical content to http://sharepointsupport.googlepages.com because I like Google and it lets me host files.

Again that's http://sharepointsupport.googlepages.com

SharePoint Support

Scary ass shark

2007-01-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

Prehistoric old scary shark discovered around Japan

Wii Error 32002

2007-01-24T08:53:00.000-05:00

Wii Error 32002

Acetaminophen Recall List

2006-11-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

Check the generic Tylenol products that you may have bought from Meijer, Walmart, CVS... Any generic Acetaminophen (that is affected) that was produced by Perrigo may contain small amounts of metal. Appparently, no one has gotten sick from the metal yet but just to be safe, view the list below and check your bottles.

Perrigo Recalled Batch List

Free Web Hosting for Teachers

2006-10-31T19:08:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know of free web hosting for teachers? If you click on Kris' English Class on the links section of this page, you'll see the free Tripod/Lycos site she is using right now. I looked but couldn't find any free hosting for teachers so I just put it on Tripod. Please let me know if you or any company you know hosts sites for Teachers. Thanks

I'm Back

2006-10-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

Watch for SharePoint v3 posts. It's MOSStastic.

Pope disses Mohammed

2006-09-15T15:15:00.000-04:00

Sounds like POPE may be calling for another Holy War.

INDIAN CATHOLIC - NEWS SITE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE OF INDIA

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

DateTime ToString() Format Methods

2006-09-11T16:14:00.000-04:00

Nice article describing the format methods for converting a System.DateTime to a System.String.

Date and Time Format Patterns

These Ain't No Crocodile Tears...

2006-09-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

I tried to write this past weekend, but it didn't post and I didn't have the heart to write it again. Now I'm ready.

Last weekend the world lost the one-of-a-kind, passionate nature enthusiast Steve Irwin, best known as "The Crocodile Hunter", to an unfortunate--yet perfectly fitting--accident with a stingray. This is merely my tiny tribute to one of my favorite and most admired celebrities. Thank you, Steve, for everything you did to educate the world about dangerous and not so dangerous wild animals. You are an inspiration to so many people, and you will be sorely missed.

New York Times Obituary
Irwin's Australia Zoo Site
The Crocodile Hunter

New 'Survivor' to divide along racial lines

2006-08-24T08:09:00.000-04:00

Now this should be some "Must see TV". Dividing people on this show by race should be interesting. But what would be more interesting is if they divided them by religion. How fun would that be to watch? I would have four groups. Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and Protestants. Maybe that will be on Survivor 14 if Survivor 13 is a success as it should be.

New 'Survivor' to divide along racial lines

Meet the Survivors

Create a Popup Calendar for ASP.NET Web Forms :: DotNetJohn

2006-08-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

Finally an easy to understand and even easier to implement popup calendar. The only thing I had to change was textbox=txtStartDate' and this was due to the fact that my page used a master page and a content controller. I changed it to textbox=<% = txtStartDate.ClientID %> and all worked perfectly.

Create a Popup Calendar for ASP.NET Web Forms :: DotNetJohn

Meet "Bamboo"

2006-08-22T14:33:00.000-04:00

So the little kitten that made her first appearance here a few weeks ago has grown quite a bit! Shown in the picture at seven weeks old, our newest family member looks healthy, alert and just downright adorable. After much consideration, we have decided to name her Bamboo... calling her "Boo" for short. I have to admit, I am still nervous about whether or not my allergies are going to be able to handle her; I guess we'll find out in the just a few short weeks...

Have any hints for introducing a kitten to a new household?

Turner to ax smoking scenes from cartoons - TELEVISION - MSNBC.com

2006-08-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

Ridiculous!! Come on people. Are we so scared that TV is going to turn our kids into smokers that we need to start editing classic cartoons? How about parents just bring their kids up right? Or maybe talk to them about smoking?

Don't know about you, but I turned out just fine. I saw Daffy shoot himself and get blown up without doing the same to myself. Next thing I'll be reading is that RoadRunner is edited and he no longer falls off a cliff but instead successfully makes it across, catches the guy he is chasing and they sit down to have a merry cup of tea. That would've taught me to be nice instead of trying to blow up the RoadRunner every Saturday morning.

Turner to ax smoking scenes from cartoons - TELEVISION - MSNBC.com

Looney Cuts

Nice Sampling of WinWF code

2006-08-21T10:09:00.000-04:00

Assorted Windows Workflow

Updated "How to get an Audience" in MOSS 2007

2006-08-18T15:25:00.000-04:00

Instead of that terribly expensive for each loop. You can easily get the audience with the following:

Audience = audienceManager.GetAudience(audienceName);

Microsoft.Office.Server.Audience

2006-08-18T15:15:00.000-04:00

Here's some code to retrieve an Audience object by its name. Notice that in MOSS 2007 that the SPAudience object is obsolete so you must use the new object Microsoft.Office.Server.Audience

try
{
using (Identity impersonate = Identity.ImpersonateAdmin())
{
ServerContext context = ServerContext.GetConte(spSite);
audienceManager = new Microsoft.Office.Server.Audience.AudienceManager
(context);
}

foreach (Microsoft.Office.Server.Audience.Audience spAudience in audienceManager.Audiences)
{
if (spAudience.AudienceName = audienceName)
{
returnAudience = spAudience;
}
}
}

Employed Again! Ferris and Caledonia...

2006-08-05T08:14:00.000-04:00

How quickly my life has changed in just a matter of days! Anticipating the acquisition my Master's degree, I pursued a dream and applied to teach at the university level. After an interview quite unlike any I had ever experienced at the high school level, Ferris State University offered me a position to teach four freshman English classes! I can't even explain how excited I was to become Professor Covelle. But--and you knew there would be a but--that dream is to be deferred.
Not but a few days afterward I received an email from Jim Glazier, Caledonia's current principal, regarding an opening for this upcoming school year. I taught at Caledonia High School over a year ago before being laid-off (if you've been keeping up with this blog you should already know the whole sad story), and I had already received a letter from the board stating that they would not be asking me back quite yet, which is why I had accepted the job at Ferris. Well, at that point I was in quite a pickle.
As it is, Ferris would only be needing me for the fall semester because enrollment would be so much lower in the winter. Calledonia would, of course, need me for the entire school year. The decision was fairly quick and easy, although I was immensely sad to disappoint Ferris and myself. On the upside, the department head at Ferris made it very clear that they really did want me to join the faculty, and if they had any openings for the weekend or evening they would certainly let me know. That was both a relief and a compliment at the same time. Besides, I haven't even taken the Master's exam yet...
So, I look forward to a wonderful, yet bittersweet, return to Caledonia and the profession I love. I have no complaints, and I can fairly guarantee that I will be the most grateful staff member at the school this year. Well, at least until the typical work load of an English teacher starts to bog me down, haha.

Summer Trip to Northern Michigan

2006-08-05T08:06:00.000-04:00

You know how sometimes you really take time to craft a nice, long email or posting and then, at the last second, some crazy little thing happens and you lose it all? Yeah. That happened to me a few days ago when I meant to post about our trip. Now you're just going to get the short version and hopefully the pictures can do the talking for me. This summer we chose to travel all over our own great (lakes) state to save a little dough for a sunnier excursion in the winter. We started with Higgins Lake, my beloved camping destination since I was a small child. Like so many others, I feel like this is MY lake, and it truly is a piece of my history; my family has camped here almost every year of my life for as long as I can remember. As usual, the water was ice cold and the weather was less than nice, but we were still rewarded with a gorgeous sunset (photo one), bountiful fishing, and diamond-clear water against a lush forest backdrop. After four days at Higgins we climbed north to St. Ignace to spend a day on Mackinaw Island. We prepared to spend two, but, really, one is all you need. We hiked to all of the landmarks, visited the forts, rode a tandem bike around the entire island, and even braved a haunted museum that scared me nearly to death when I was a toddler. Believe it or not, it still gave me a few good scares! While in the U.P. we made a "quick" trip up to the upper (photo two) and lower Taquamenon Falls, as Brad had never seen them before. Of course they were beautiful, but since we were up there around 8:30pm there were no other tourists... and it was spooky quite. After a short stop in Mackinac City we headed down and over to Traverse City for our final night. While there we lounged on the state park beach, purchased some "famous" cherries from a roadside market vendor, watched some fudge get made (before we bought and ate it, haha), and spent some time over at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. The hike up the dune was arduous as usual (even for someone who gets an awful lot of physical activity), and, as always, completely worth the gorgeous view and sense of accomplishment. There's nothing like climbing a few hundred feet to feel like you're on top of the world.

"Classroom Cranium" Exam Review Game

2006-07-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

After nearly half of a year, Cranium.com has released a feature article on my own version of their number one game Cranium. I used the game to help my high school students study for exams and found it to be an amazing success, so I wrote the company about it in the hopes that they could assist in distributing the idea. They seem to have a created an adorable green datahead with wormy apple image to go along with it; I feel pretty proud that my idea was good enough for its own image, haha. If you are a teacher interested in more information on how I did this, please feel free to ask. I also created a bachelorette party Cranium game that has proven to be quite a smash... if interested, just ask about that one, too.

View the article at: http://www.cranium.com/club/cranium_classroom.asp or click on the Kris on Cranium.com link on this blog's index page.

Somebody's Birthday is today.

2006-07-20T08:23:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Kristen!!!

Our Newest Family Member

2006-07-19T16:59:00.000-04:00

Introducing our newest family member, temporarily known as Princess Fiona! Today I ventured over to Allendale for an allergy test and kitten visitation and, happily, the trip culminated in a reservation for my sweet little kitten of choice. Only three weeks old, all of the kittens were absolutely adorable, and a couple had already been reserved. I found it difficult to choose between Fiona and Frodo, but when I discovered that a male Siberian can typically grow to 16 pounds, the decision was simple. I chose Fiona because she is the runt of the litter (I love an under-cat), quite vocal, and seems to be naturally pensive. To be completely clear on the subject, I can still sense an allergic reaction, although it's very slight... kind of like a feeling in the air. However, I rubbed each kitten directly in my eyes (hey, I wanted to be darned sure!) and yet I was still fine the whole time I was at the cattery. Brad's not convinced that my allergy will be able to handle her, but hopefully I won't have any problems. Either way, my little cutie will be moving in with us in late September. I'll be sure to update over the coming weeks, especially when I've decided on her permanent name.

SharePoint Browser options

2006-07-19T16:38:00.001-04:00

Great article describing the level of capatability non-IE browsers will have with the new version of SharePoint. Glad I stick to IE and more specifically IE 7 for all my work.

Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog : Improvements in Web Browser Compatibility

Anniversary in Grand Haven

2006-07-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

To celebrate our second wedding anniversary (Wow... no longer newlyweds!), Brad and I spent the evening gazing at the waters of Lake Michigan... just as we did on our wedding day. Our initial plan was to have a romantic little picnic on the same beach where we had our ceremony, but the oppressive heat and the curiously gusty winds prevented us. Instead, we headed over to Grand Haven to eat at the Bil Mar's restaurant. Although the restaurant did not do anything special for us for our anniversary, the view from our window seat was exquisite (photo upper left) and the food was delicious. I had the rack of lamb and Brad had the lake perch, both of which were well-presented and yummy! After our meal we spent some time at Grand Haven State Park walking on the beach, wading in the water, and chasing some seagulls. Seagull chasing, by the way, is not the brightest thing to do on a full stomach... but one has to work off the creme brulee somehow! Even the ride home was an event, as the crazy wind from earlier ushered in a doozy of a storm, complete with strobe-style lightning. Fortunately, the sky didn't dump on us until the very moment we pulled into home, and I was able to snap some nice shots during the commute. Hmmmm... I chose the 17th for our wedding date back in 2004 because research of the previous twenty years showed that it hardly ever, ever rained on that day and I didn't want my beach wedding ruined. Eh, that research needs some review, as it has not only rained, it's poured on this day for the last three years in a row! But rain or no rain, it was still a wonderful evening... of course, any evening with my husband is wonderful.

What's a "Saugatuck"?

2006-07-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

On the recommendation of some family members, Brad and I took a little trip over to Saugatuck this past Saturday. Growing up on the East-Side, I knew absolutely nothing about this town and found it exceedingly hard to believe that anyone would ever care to go there. My interest was piqued, however, when I discovered that it is currently the gay capital of Michigan... so I figured there had to be at least something worth seeing! As it turned out, it was about a close to a kitschy, Key Westy, touristy wander-town as I've visited in Michigan... even more so than Traverse City. I had never realized that any place in Michigan (well, besides Frankenmuuth) could even have the potential to be a tourist trap, and yet, here it is. We checked out all of the little shops on the strip, and found some really adorable knick-knack stuff... but since I'm into neither "adorable" nor "knick-knack," we (and our wallets) moved on. Lots of stuff to eat and buy, though.

Next, we trekked up Mount Baldhead, the tallest dune in town. This was worth doing! 287 steps to the top was a rather severe work-out, reminiscent of the gym's step machine... as you can see in the picture to the left, some breaks were necessary. But it was certainly worth it once you saw the view from the top (photo top left) of all of Saugatuck and the edge of Douglas. To the other direction you could climb up and down the sand dune part of the mountain (if your heart isn't pounding hard enough already). Definitely worth a look.

Then we explored Oxbow Lagoon -- waste of time!!! Even though it's on the tourist map, it's really nothing to see. Following a semi-dangerous, dune-circling drive up a one-way road, we took a short walk through some hillbillyesque woods and found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a hippy-type artists' colony. Not as interesting as it may sound. And the lagoon itself was a shallow pond. We were quite pleased to leave.

Next we went to Saugatuck Dunes State Park to swim. This was a gorgeous park, but be prepared... you will have a mile-long hike before you ever see the shore. The hike back from the lake seemed much shorter, but only because we expected it. When we were walking TO the beach, time seemed to drag on forever because we had no idea what lay ahead. As brochures promise, the beach is somewhat "secluded," but probably because most people aren't willing to burn the calories necessary to get there. Since we'd already scaled the bald mountain, we were ready for anything. It truly is a beautiful nature walk, anyway.

We ended the evening with dinner at the Coral Gables... we sat outside on a deck overlooking the Kalamazoo river and listened to some live music floating over from the bar area. The breeze was pleasant on the over ninety-degree day, and the service was fine. Good food, good times. I certainly recommend a day-trip (or maybe even an overnighter) to this little harbor town, just be sure to leave out a visit to Oxbow Lagoon. To be honest, I don't think the artists wanted us there anyway.

2 years ago...

2006-07-17T08:11:00.000-04:00

I married the most prettiful girl in the world and it was the bestest thing I've done.

Happy Anniversary Kristen!!!

Switch SharePoint Workflow Task lists at runtime

2006-07-14T16:35:00.000-04:00

I've been trying for quite some time to create SharePoint workflow tasks in multiple task lists. I haven't been able to figure it out or if it's even possible. But today I came across something interesting. The code below will change the task list for the workflow, but it will change it at the top most level not at the task level. For instance, if I run one workflow instance that creates tasks in Task List A and I have the code below in the workflow, on the second run of the workflow the tasks will be created in my newTaskList.

Here's the code:

this.workflowProperties.Workflow.ParentAssociation.SetTaskList (newTaskList);
this.workflowProperties.Workflow.ParentAssociation.Update();

Still don't know how to change it per Task.

Office Server 2007 beta 2 or WSS v3 beta 2 updage to RTM path

2006-07-14T14:41:00.000-04:00

I thought this was interesting. I had previously heard that Beta2 would be upgradeable to RTM. I fully understand the reason for the change and think it's a great idea. I only hope upgrades are smooth.

Customers who wish to upgrade pilot environments to "Release to Manufacturer" (RTM) bits must upgrade to Beta2 Technical Refresh (B2TR). We will not be supporting direct upgrade from beta2 to RTM.

The only upgrade path is Beta2->B2TR->RTM

Earlier localization plans excluded B2TR releases of some of the server products. Rather than leave users unable to upgrade their pilot programs, we broadened our support matrix. This change allows us to focus test resources on deeper testing of upgrade.

By request from support, we will need to keep the B2TR bits available for download after RTM is available, to ensure customers will be able to upgrade from their b2 pilot installs. The location and time this will be available is TBD.

The rest of the upgrade plan is unchanged. • B2TR is going to be released as a patch, for full SKUs and for the language packs.• Upgrading to RTM will require users to modify a registry key, uninstall B2TR, and then install RTM. This will be documented in B2TR and RTM.

taken from Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog

MOSS SharePoint 2007 UserProfileManager Manager

2006-07-11T11:26:00.000-04:00

The Microsoft.SharePoint...UserProfileManager class is now obsolete. So add a reference to Microsoft.Office.Server and use that one instead. Here's a code snippet to get the manager of a user. Make sure the user has a provide and the manager name is in the profile and you'll need to impersonate because the normal user can't retrieve this info.

using (Identity impersonate = Identity.ImpersonateAdmin())
{

SPSite spSite = new SPSite("http://greenfire:21544");
ServerContext context = ServerContext.GetContext(this.workflowProperties.Site); UserProfileManager upm = new UserProfileManager(context);
UserProfile userProfile = upm.GetUserProfile(employeeName);
return userProfile["Manager"].ToString();

}

Cannot have items in Excel Server

2006-07-10T17:03:00.000-04:00

The file you selected cannot be opened because it contains feature(s) that are not supported by Excel Services. The following unsupported feature(s) were detected in the workbook:
Comments, ActiveX controls, Clip Art (pasted or inserted), Pictures (pasted from clipboard), Digital signatures, Embedded OLE objects, or Ink Annotations.

So much for digital signatures.

Internet based operating system

2006-07-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

Check this out. Forget about buying a big expensive OS, instead buy a cheap ol' computer, install a free OS like Linux and use YouOS and you're all set. This may be the future of computing.

Welcome to YouOS.

InfoPath 2007 Contact Selector Control issues

2006-07-05T16:09:00.000-04:00

Forget about the SDK for MOSS, this is how you add the contact selector control to your infopath form and associate it with a group. First, create the required group, in this case, MyGroup with all of the required controls under it. Person being a repeating Group, DisplayName, AccountId, and AccountType being text/string fields in this group. Then, now this is the important piece, right click on the MyGroup data source and select Contact Selector from the context menu that appears. This is a hell of a lot easier than doing it following the sdk.

MyGroup
Person //Repeating Group
DisplayName
AccountId
AccountType
/Person
/MyGroup

InfoPath 2007 Contact Selector Control

2006-07-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

WSS v3 email smtp server

2006-07-05T11:22:00.000-04:00

Here's how to get the smtp server that has been assiged to the SharePoint application. You should no longer use SPVirtualServer or SPVirtualServerConfig classes from Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration as these are now obsolete in v3. They will still continue to work but best practice is to use the new way below.

///

/// Returns SharePoint smtp server
///

///
private string GetSmtpServer()
{
SPWebApplicationCollection spWebApplicationCollection = SPWebService.ContentService.WebApplications;
SPOutboundMailServiceInstance smtpServer = new SPOutboundMailServiceInstance();

if (spWebApplicationCollection != null)
{
foreach (SPWebApplication spWebApplication in spWebApplicationCollection) {
smtpServer = spWebApplication.OutboundMailServiceInstance;
return smtpServer.Server.Address;
}
}
return string.Empty;
}

Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park

2006-07-05T08:20:00.000-04:00

Hiding within a forested area just north (and a titch east) of Muskegon, an amusement park has taken root and is growing... just not quite fast enough. Oh, don't get me wrong, the lines are growing at an alarming rate; the number of rides, however, is not. As an amusement park, Michigan's Adventure is a few hours' worth of amusement with three wooden coasters, a corkscrew, and the typical slew of permanent temporary carnival rides. This year Grand Rapids has been introduced--Thunder Canyon's baby brother with fewer soaks, yet a more open, pleasant environment. Unfortunately, the ride was not worth the well-over-an-hour wait, and they require you to wear shoes... even if they're leather. Skip this one 'till next year when it is no longer the latest craze. In fact, you may want to skip the dry park altogether in favor of the fabulous waterpark! Three wavepools, enough slides to always find one without a line to speak of, a lazy river, a kiddie zone, and the wet and wild Funnel of Fear will keep you entertained all day long! Keep an eye on the weather and launch yourself onto the waterpark the first sunny day you get; you're sure to have a great time. Just remember to bring some towels, sunscreen and ten bucks for a locker (4 for the locker, 6 for refundable deposit).

Hallucinate without drugs

2006-07-02T20:16:00.000-04:00

This is way cool. I thought I was trippin' on some sort of drug after viewing this video.
Opitical Illustion causes Hallucination

OneNote Powertoy Contest Update

2006-06-29T13:22:00.000-04:00

I have received an update from Daniel Escapa about the contest I won last year. Very very soon the Word2OneNote powertoy will be released. This blog entry from Dan explains the items that sort of slowed the progress of the contest. Definitely worth a read if you are interested.

OneNote Extensibility & More.. : OneNote Powertoy Contest Update

Naturally Hypoallergenic Cat?

2006-06-22T22:05:00.000-04:00

"ALLERCA has produced the world's first scientifically-proven hypoallergenic cats. These cats allow some of the millions of people with feline allergies to finally enjoy the love and companionship of a household pet without suffering from allergic symptoms" (allerca.com).

With all of the recent talk about Allerca's hypoallergenic cat, I found myself pining for a kitten of my own. This is a problem because, of course, I am highly allergic to cats. So is a four thousand dollar genetically engineered critter my only option? After some research, I've found that the idea of a hypoallergenic cat isn't really all that new; apparently, Siberian cats (photo right) are naturally hypoallergenic! Remember, hypoallergenic simply means: "Having a decreased tendency to provoke an allergic reaction" (The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary). That means that even Siberian cats can produce an allergic reaction in some people, but the majority of cat allergic people do not have problems with them. I can't believe that I didn't know about this sooner! A purebred Siberian kitten can still carry a hefty price tag--$600-$1400--but that is considerably less than an Allerca pet. I am in the process of scheduling a test to see whether or not a Siberian cat would set off my allergies, and if it doesn't then I fully intend on introducing a new member to my family. Finally! I may no longer have to be a "cat person" without the cat...

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0

2006-06-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

.NET 3.0 already, whoa Betty let's slow down a bit.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Community (NetFx3)

Also on this site is Windows CardSpace. Sounds interesting but will it fly with companies.

stsadm.exe -o verifyformtemplate FatalErrorNoThrow:This form template has not been correctly published to be browser-enabled.

2006-06-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

Ignore this error, in fact take out the stsadm.exe -o verifyformtemplate line from your install.bat file because this error does not seem to affect the workflow.

There were 1 errors and 0 warnings when verifying this form template.

FatalErrorNoThrow : This form template has not been correctly published to be browser-enabled. Open the form template in InfoPath Design mode, and click Publish Form Template in the Design Tasks task pane. Follow the steps in the Publishing Wizard to republish the form template, and then try again.

SharePoint 2007 Workflow Beta 2 Starter Kit

2006-06-06T13:43:00.000-04:00

Just been released today you can download it from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=38ca6b32-44be-4489-8526-f09c57cd13a5&displaylang=en

Create custom sequential and state machine workflows for SharePoint 2007 using VS 2005

From the download details:

The Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Starter Kit for 2007 Office System (Beta 2) contains ECM feature extension code samples, supplemental developer white papers, and Microsoft® Visual Studio® project templates for workflow in Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 (Beta 2 version).

Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts

2006-06-05T09:01:00.000-04:00

Festival of the arts... or festival of the food? Brad and I visited the festival on Saturday for a few hours, and, for the most part, enjoyed the event. On the main stage we viewed some children dancing, followed by an excellent ballet of Snow White presented by a talented youth company, and finally we watched a series of Asian costumed dances. It rained part-way through the Asian dances, but otherwise the performances were entertaining and oftentimes beautiful. Another highlight of the afternoon was watching a most likely retarded woman dancing directly in front of one of the smaller stages... her choreography and facial expressions made for a hilarious comic act! The musicians were quite good. Aside from the music and dancing, there wasn't much else artistic to enjoy, and the overwhelming number of food vendors incited me to wonder, Could grilled braats be a form of art? In a nation that seems to be starving for art and bursting with obesity, the omnipresence of the deep-fried and dripping with fat seemed merely to be the perfect representative of what Americans value most: FOOD. Not to say that I wasn't drooling every time I caught a whiff of the elephant ear tent, but I wouldn't have missed a moment of that ballet to partake in a little supersaturated indulgence.

But aside from the incredibly dangerous heart clotting foods, the artistic community does indeed touch the heart. There is a rumor (or fact?!) that, due to heavy annual rain, the festival is losing valuable businesses (cough, cough... food vendors) and will need financial support to continue. It would be a terrible shame to lose such a visual smorgasborg. To support the festival, please go to: http://www.festivalofthearts.org/support.php

Add content database to WSS v3

2006-06-03T19:54:00.000-04:00

Here's the situation I found myself in the other day. I ended up uninstalling WSS v3 but kept my content databases on SQL Server. My WSS installation became corrupt and I needed to restore my content to another web server. Hoping this process would be as straightforward as it was in WSS v2 I decided to give it a try. Here are my steps on how to add a WSS v3 content database.

First, extend a web application with SharePoint extensions and choose the defaults for the content database when you do this. After successfully extending the web app with SharePoint add your existing content database to the web application. Verify that the number of sites on this content database is at least 1, hit the url for the web application and verify that your site is running. You can then go back to the Manage Content Databases page and remove the default content database that SharePoint created for you. You should also then go into your SQL Server instance and remove it from there as well because I don't think SharePoint actually gives you the option to delete a content database when going through this type of process.

What I found was that this procedure is a lot easier in WSS v3 than it was in WSS v2. All of the niceties included in SharePoint version 3 is sure going to make my life easier.

Removing MOSS also removes WSS v3

2006-06-03T19:49:00.000-04:00

Unlike SharePoint Portal 2003 which you could remove from a server that also had WSS on it without removing WSS, MOSS doesn't seem to give you that ability. I'm not saying that it doesn't and that it won't in the future but beta 2 caused problems for me.

I had a WSS v3 installation and site running on a server, then wanting to add MOSS to it, I decided to install that as well. After installing that my WSS site was still running fine. Well turns out I made a mistake during the install, I chose Web Front End only instead of Complete. So I decided to remove MOSS assuming it would act just like Portal 2003. I was sadly mistaken because the removal of MOSS also removed WSS from the server and wham my WSS site was gone. Beware...

Thinking this over I'm wondering if this occured because I chose to install MOSS as a Web Front End only and if I did it in Complete mode and removed it, would it do the same thing? I'm not planning on trying it anytime soon, but if you're interested be my guest.

QMEnable issue when repairing a WSS v3 installation

2006-06-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

Somehow WSS v3 managed to become corrupt and it was reporting an error when trying to read/write the QMEnable registry key. Didn't find much info on it and had to start from a new server. Maybe you can figure this one out.

QMEnable issue when repairing WSS v3 - Ignore has to do with Customer Experience Participation see http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=3&qhttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx%3Fscid%3Dkb%253Ben-us%253B887588&e=15235&ei=vO5-RJ-fAbicigH495T8AQ

SharePoint v2 to v3 migration, get rid of those unghosted pages

2006-06-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

After performing an in-place, gradual, or any type of upgrade from your WSS version 2 site to WSS v3 you notice that some of the pages don't look like they should. What I mean by this is that some of the pages don't have the look-and-feel of the normal WSS v3 site. This could be caused by someone making changes to your WSS v2 site or pages within your site with FrontPage 2003. So now you would like to discard all of those changes because they just don't match the nice version 3 look. Well here is how you do it.

Click on the "Site Actions" link on your new WSS v3 site that you'd like to fix. Choose the "Site Settings" option from the drop-down list that appears. Then on the Site Settings page that opens, simply click "Reset to site definition" and your site will discard all those nasty FrontPage changes (unghosted pages) and will give you the great look of WSS v3.

Note: This seems to work only on the site you perform this action on, it does not seem to trickle down to subsites underneatch the top-level site, so you will probably end up doing this for all the subsites. At least it will be a good way to go through and clean up the sites that aren't being used.

Add SharePoint workflow activities to your VS 2005 workflow project

2006-06-03T13:02:00.000-04:00

So you've installed SharePoint version 3 and would like to start creating custom workflows in VS 2005 and you know there are some out-of-the-box activities for SharePoint because you remember seeing them somewhere before. Well look no further this is how you can add those activities to your workflow project.

In your workflow designer page, right click on the Toolbox pane and select Choose Items. Select the Activities tab and click Browse. Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\ISAPI\ .
Select the Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions.dll.
Click OK. In the Toolbox pane, you should now see activities specific to workflows in Windows SharePoint Services.

Drag-and-drop them onto your designer, set their custom properties and methods, and you're good to go. Figuring out how to deploy your custom workflow is a whole other story. Check the MOSS sdk along with the WSS v3 sdk for a start, it won't get you all the way but it will get you 80% of the way.

Microsoft taking out Adobe feature of Office 2007

2006-06-02T17:13:00.000-04:00

Will Microsoft be taking out this feature? What a disappointment that would be?

Office, Vista changed in wake of Adobe threat Tech News on ZDNet

Hamilton Middle School Interview

2006-05-30T15:45:00.000-04:00

I really liked this one... in particular, the principal seemed like a really great person and I would have liked to have worked for him. But, of course, that's not gonna happen. Adding to the joys of the wedding I was in this past weekend, I missed the call for my second interview and therefore missed the opportunity altogether. I did get to speak with the principal after-the-fact, and he assured me that he thought I was absolutely fantastic and was certain that I would be hired this summer. Sigh. So easy for others to say, and yet, somehow, it doesn't seem to happen. [The following should be read with a pathetically whiney voice:] And I really, really liked this one!!!

Windows Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Available

2006-05-24T20:39:00.000-04:00

Notice the slight change in the name of the application when installed. It's now longer Microsoft Internet Explorer but seems to have been renamed to Windows Internet Explorer. Interesting!!

Download the latest today. Internet Explorer 7: downloads

New Microsoft Office 2007 Home Page

2006-05-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

You can only get to this new page if you have one of the Office 2007 beta 2 products installed. I would highly suggest you download and install them and check out the new site. Microsoft Office Online Home Page

Instructions on how to install SharePoint (WSS) v3 beta 2

2006-05-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

Here are some more instructions on how to install just WSS v3 beta 2. Hopefully, like version 2 this one should be free along with Server 2003. Install Windows SharePoint Services version 3 (Beta 2) on a single server

Instructions on how to install SharePoint 2007 beta 2

2006-05-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

This is a great article explaining the step-by-step instructions needed to install SharePoint 2007 beta 2 on a server. I was a little hesitant that it wouldn't work on a domain controller but I had no problems with it. Anyway, this is the place to go for the instructions, that is if you are a beta user. Shame on you if you aren't because it is public now. Microsoft Office Online: Office System TechCenter: Deploy Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Beta 2) on a single server

Problems activating Office 2007 beta 2 products

2006-05-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

I was able to finally complete the download of Office 2007 Beta 2 last night and get it installed. However, every application would not let me activate it over the internet. It was very frustrating. It kept popping up the activation screen and would try to connect but never did and reported back that I did not have an internet connection. Of course, I had a very good one because I could get out but the Office apps weren't seeing it. I tried repairing them, reinstalling, still the same issue.

I finally said screw it and found some volume license keys which didn't require me to activate the products. I'm good to go now. I've been waiting to use Beta 2 for awhile and especially get my hands on the SharePoint products.

Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 released today

2006-05-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

Go get it. I'm having trouble downloading it already and I just found it was out there. It's available to the public today. I'm going to install it as soon as I get it downloaded.

2007 Microsoft Office System Beta 2: Get the Beta

5/3 Riverbank Run

2006-05-16T10:36:00.000-04:00

On May 13th, Kristen ran in the 5/3 Riverbank Run 5K race. Last year, almost fifty pounds heavier, she ran (and walked) it in 32:54. This year she improved her time by almost six minutes, running it in 26:59!!! Considering that there was nearly 12,000 runners and who-knows-how-many spectators, Brad wasn't able to get any shots of Kristen crossing the finish line. However, she did come in 52nd place for her age division (with well over 300 partipants in the division), so the accomplishment is more important than any picture. YAY KRISTEN!
(Photo was taken right before the 5K race began)

Forest Area High School Interview

2006-05-16T10:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I drove two hours up to almost Traverse City for an interview at Forest Area High School for an English position. I'm very sad about the whole situation because I really like the position. The school is smaller than my own high school (and I graduated with 42 kids) and in a rather, well, UNwealthy community in the middle of--can you guess?--a dense forest. Upon arrival I discovered that the position would be for English, theatre, journalism and health. Aside from the quirky health class (although I know I could teach that and it would probably be fun to try something new), it was basically my perfect line-up of all of the things I love to teach. I know that I could make a difference in that school, and I could be ultra-involved with extracurriculars and the students' lives. Even though teaching at this school, even with a Masters degree, I wouldn't be paid as much as I made my first year teaching, I would take this position because I love teaching. And I would truly be able to make a difference. With six classes of five different preps, I would be busy ALL the time, and yet I would still take this position. Unfortunately, that's not to be.

Considering the salary, there would be no way that Brad and I could afford to live, as he would have to leave his job so that we could move up north. Who knows what kind of IT or programming jobs could be found in Traverse City? We wouldn't be able to pay our bills as he tried to find a new job! We're doing fine right now, but he is currently making twice what I would make in this district, and cutting that in half would leave us impoverished. And that doesn't even take into consideration the troubles of moving, etc. It's like a cruel joke--I find a job that I think would be a great fit for me ethically, but I can't have it. If I were living alone, I would totally move up and take it, but since I am only half of a family unit, I must consider all of the angles. I'm not complaining, I'm just stating what's up! At any rate, here's another job I won't be getting... and the search continues.

Holland Michigan Tulip Time Festival

2006-05-16T10:02:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went to the Tulip Festival. Although Brad has always lived on this side of the state, he had never been to the festival before... almost needless to say that I had never been either. The best, and pretty much only, thing to see was the Klompen dancer performance. It seems that every single female in the city converge on the festival dressed in Dutch costumes and dance to Dutch music. I saw one man. It was totally weird, but entertaining to say the least. There was also a carnival (oh, the scent of elephant ears!). And, of course, the tulips. There had to have been millions (or at least a million) tulips of every color combination and shape lining the streets and filling the parks. The place certainly smelled nice! My recommendation? If you have nothing better to do, go to the Tulip Festival next year... but probably once is enough. The temptation to rip the heads off the flowers is overwhelming, and considering the $50 fine for destroying any Holland tulips, anyone would be better off avoiding the situation altogether.

Grand Rapids Apartments Townhouses Good

2006-05-11T21:19:00.000-04:00

Visit this complex if you are looking for a nice place to live in GR. The apartments and townhouses are reasonably priced and are much better than any others you will find around the Cascade and/or Kentwood area. It's a quiet community with a great staff, pool, turkeys, deer, nice wooded area right off of 28th street close to everything. Please mention our name when you visit they will be able to give you a good deal if you do.

FOOTE HILLS APARTMENT
4630 COMMON WAY DR SE
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 49546
(616) 942-0450

Kristen on Cranium Website

2006-05-01T21:40:00.000-04:00

http://www.cranium.com/club/craniac_stories.asp

Visit the above link to read a little snippet that I sent in to the Cranium website about how I use the game. Cranium contacted me and asked me to send additional information and pictures of my version of the game for a May feature on teachers and Cranium. They may or may not actually publish the feature, but at least I got my name onto the site somehow, haha.

Chris Daughtry Rocks!

2006-04-26T08:16:00.000-04:00

If you missed it, let me just fill you in: Chris Daughtry was still able to rock the house even on a tender love song. Go figure. The competition is crushed!!! If for any reason this phenom is defeated for the coveted title of American Idol, it would only be because voters are less concerned with pure talent, and more with amusement (Hicks) or pathos (Pickler). Because when it comes to rockin' vocals, no one beats The Man. Go Chris!!!

Please Identify This Fish!

2006-04-25T19:50:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we had a much more successful sucker fishing trip... this time we were both able to catch suckers of a good size. We caught a couple of the really ugly chub suckers (first pic), and one standard red-finned one. We were also lucky to have a crowd of cheering children who all wanted the opportunity to touch the fish before we let them go; that's always so cute. Near the end of our profitable trip, Brad snagged some kind of mystery fish (second pic). If anyone can identify it, please leave a comment. It kinda looks like a long, thin perch (and, no, it's not a pike, sheesh). We're thinking that it might be some kind of invader fish; perhaps we should've killed it. Yeah, right, like I could ever intentionally kill anything.

Mary and Carrie See Grand Rapids

2006-04-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

Last Friday Carrie and Mary were kind enough to drive across the state to spend some time with me, so I made sure to prepare a great day of fun! First, we went to the John Ball Zoo... the temperature was absolutely perfect, so all of the animals were up and active. The bears even seemed to be putting on a show for the small crowd. Of course, my favorite zoo exhibits are the otters and the prairie dogs, and fortunately both were busy and amusing. After the zoo I took them to the riverside park in front of the Gerald Ford Museum for a picnic lunch and we played the Worst Case Scenario game. Afterwards we went over to the fish ladder (photo below) and watched the suckers desperately try to leap the mini-falls; I even saw some pretty big bass in the mix! As if that wasn't yet enough fun, then I took them to the Frederick Meijer Gardens for the Foremost butterflies exhibit, and we also enjoyed walking through the sculpture gardens. We followed that up with dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse with Brad, where we were given a free appetizer (I think they were excessively generous since it was their grand opening weekend). To cap off the day, we went over to Target to get some digital photos printed and put together some scrapbook pages as souvenirs. All in all it was a wonderful day... I don't think it could have turned out any better. If anyone reading this is considering taking a trip to Grand Rapids sometime in the future, I highly recommend the activities that I set up for my guests... especially the butterfly exhibit. However, the butterflies are only available in the spring, and for this year, this past weekend was the last showing for this year. Anyway, thanks gals for making the trip!

Grant High School Interview

2006-04-20T12:03:00.000-04:00

I had my first interview of the hiring season yesterday at Grant High School for a Theatre teaching position--just Theatre, no English. I'm not really sure how it went, as it was only a thirty minute interview and I don't feel like I was really able to give them a sense of who I am as a teacher. They asked mainly experience based questions rather than pedagogical, and the committee of six had poker faces like you wouldn't believe! I can usually get a sense of how others in the room feel about me, but I really had no clue in this case. At any rate, the position and district sound like a great fit for me. The school is rural, 700 students, small staff, enthusiastic atmosphere; they have a fine arts center with an activities director (hooray!); they even have my favorite schools colors (orange and black) and favorite mascot (tiger). It took me 40 minutes to get there, so the distance is certainly commutable... even if Brad and I were to move to any of the places we have been considering. Sure, it would be a loooong commute from Lowell, but not any more than an hour. I suppose that would be the biggest downside, along with completely different preps for every period. But that's the roughest the first time around, a second year would be much easier because then I would only be adjusting my plans rather than starting from scratch.

If they call to offer me a second interview, etc. I would be very interested to know how much my salary would be and whether or not I would get a stiped for the additional duties of directing the plays. As much as I love doing that, I would not be willing to do it for free--it's truly harder than anything I've ever had to do (only other underfunded, undersupported drama advisers could ever understand) and literally would consume my life. That kind of sacrifice deserves a little something in return, ya know?

Bottom line, I could be very happy in Grant! I'm eagerly awaiting a call!!!

Law & Order

2006-04-11T20:36:00.000-04:00

Is a great show to watch, much better than CSI (Can't Stand It)

Blogging from Minneapolis

2006-04-11T20:27:00.000-04:00

Yes I'm back in the Twin Cities hopefully for the last time. The client has probably had enough of me by now and if not I now have Nick to take my place. It was a warm day here today too bad I was stuck inside all day listening to some IT people complain. Never been in a meeting before where I've seen two people so upset. Well sucks for them because we're here and we're doing the job you can't do.

Pickler loses her appeal

2006-04-11T20:25:00.000-04:00

Just caught Kelly singing on Idol in some sort of rocker leather outfit. What a shame! She was the cute girl from some po dunk town but now she's just terrible. Go back to your home on whore island!

Turkey Hot-to-Trot

2006-04-09T20:43:00.000-04:00

This just in! We got to see some of our wild turkies mating this evening! The Tom danced around his harem of four until one of them laid down and... well... you can guess the rest. We were even able to get a little footage of the last few minutes. It was like watching the Discovery Channel, but for real! Coooool.

Sucker Run

2006-04-09T18:49:00.000-04:00

Since the weather was kinda decent, we went sucker fishing today out on the Thornapple River. Not too much success, but we did each catch a fish. Kristen caught the first fish of the year, a smallish full-sized sucker. Fairly docile, but still exciting to hook! Not too much longer afterward, Brad caught the next one... if one might call it a fish. The itty-bitty baby sucker made for a good laugh--note the picture above. At first glance, the fish appears to be normal, but that's only because I had to get in so close to take the shot. The whole critter could fit in Brad's palm. Anyway, after the thrill of the miniature fish, we didn't catch anything else (except maybe for some sniffles from the just-barely-warm-enough weather). To continue our delusion of springtime we also went for a walk, fed some ducks, chased a ground hog, and barbequed some chicken for dinner. Good times, good times.

Ditzy Moment for Kris

2006-04-06T08:46:00.000-04:00

Last night, while we were watching Scrubs, I said the silliest thing! One of the little stories within the episode was about a man who was giving up part of his liver for his brother. Brad mentioned that pretty soon people won't have to give their livers away because we will be able to grow them in labs -- apparently, it's been in the news that a lab was able to successfully grow nine or so bladders and transplant them into people. I was so excited about this news that I blurted out, "Wow! I betcha pretty soon we'll be able to grow food, too!" The best part was, I didn't even know why Brad was laughing at me for like a full minute. Wokka, wokka, wokka!

Scrubs, by the way, is an excellent show -- if you're not watching it yet, you should start immediately! It's strangely produced by the same people who made Teachers. I'm still counting down the episodes until that monstrosity is cancelled...

NBC’s New Show "Teachers" Breaks My Heart

2006-03-28T22:28:00.000-05:00

Sick, sad, sorry, pathetic, cognitively impaired… no matter what choice term one uses to describe this steaming pile of dog defecation, I’m pretty certain the point comes across loud and clear: THIS SHOW SUCKS!!! As a high school teacher, I couldn’t help but give the show a shot... I had hoped that it could be the perfect show for me the way The Office is the perfect show for Brad (and anyone else who works in an office). But of course not. Because, truth be told, teaching just isn’t right for television. I have never met any teachers who would say they “hate” their job… or who would bring beer into the building… or who would wear a dress that bears Victoria Secret caliber cleavage (or any administrator who would allow that to happen). The insinuation that teaching is as easy as telling a kid to “relate to Hamlet” and sending him on his way is sickening. That a fellow teacher—even worse, the one who is supposed to be the most responsible—congratulates the main character on a job well done makes me want to vomit. If this show is successful in any way, it is this: the media has once again clearly revealed the misinformed and callous beliefs of the masses. No wonder teachers do not get the respect they deserve—this is apparently what the nation thinks teaching is like. Just pondering all of the extra hours I’ve spent really touching lives and making a difference can bring tears of joy to my eyes… but seeing a show like this—a show that understates the magic a teacher makes by touting the bottom of the barrel as acceptable—fills my eyes with tears of pain. I am so deeply offended and dismayed by what I saw this evening on NBC that I really am crying. I know that other teachers who read this will understand what I mean, and for those of you who are not teachers, please… please… please… do not believe that this is an even remotely accurate portrayal of life within the walls of any school.

Blogging from the GR airport

2006-03-28T18:43:00.000-05:00

GRR has something other airports do not have, no I don't mean pleasant TSA employees because their all serious and rude, I mean free wireless access. No other airport around the Midwest offers it for free but GRR does.

Anyway it seems that if I were to fly from GRR to San Francisco from July 11th to July18th that the average ticket prices is around $250 roundtrip. That's around $500 for two adults roundtrip from GRR to San Fran. Wonder how much it is to visit stuff around San Fran? like the bridge, alcatraz, gays USA...

I wonder how much a flight would be to Alaska. It might be nice to cool off in the middle of the summer instead of stay in the hot and humid weather of Michigan.

West Michigan Pet Expo

2006-03-28T11:50:00.000-05:00

This past weekend Brad and I went to the West Michigan Pet Expo... yeah, we really didn't have anything to do. It was smelly, but I still had fun. I was expecting more information on different kinds of pets, but mostly there were vendor booths selling pet related items. The coolest moments of the whole trip were: 1) seeing my first live mastiff, 2) seeing a guy get kicked by a cow, and 3) holding a tarantula. My hand was shaking so bad when I held it, but it really wasn't so bad. I pet its silky butt, and when the keeper picked it up from my hand, its little claws (very little) felt like velcro peeling off my fingers. After holding it, the keeper showed me its fangs... yipes! I'm glad he didn't show them to me before I held it or I probably wouldn't have been so brave.

Tamagotchi Version 3 Codes

2006-03-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

To use secret codes, go to the shop owner and tap the A button several (3-5) times... it will suddenly look surprised, and then you can enter the codes. The first time you enter a code, you will be offered a specialty food or item for free, but all subsequent visits you will be charged. Try visiting each twice, as I was offered more than one free item (different items) for one of the passwords.

ACBBBACC, BCABACBC, ABBAACBA, CBACCABC, BCBCCABA, AABBCACB, CACABABC

How Bad Does Kristen Need a Pet?

2006-03-23T22:01:00.000-05:00

I ordered the version 3 Tamagotchi off Ebay before it was even available in the United States... and, yes, my nine and ten-year-old friends are very jealous of me. Okay, so a Tamagotchi is pretty childish, but it's fun for me. I remembered how much I enjoyed the one I had in high school, so I just had to get another one. This version has more games, items to "purchase," more possibilites for critters, and all kinds of new features. For the time being, it seems like the perfect pet for me. Brad likes to roll his eyes every time I get excited that Lucy (my current virtual pet) poops and I get to "clean it up." Today, Lucy even had a baby! How much more fun could a virtual pet get? If I knew anyone else who had a version 2 or 3 Tamagotchi, we could connect using the built-in infrared technology and become "playmates." When I showed Lucy to Will, he chuckled and said, "Wow. You really need a cat." Hmmm... perhaps that's true. But if you can't be with the one you love..........

If you are also a Tamagotchi fan, let the world know! If you think I'm nuts, then let me know what kind of pet you think I should have instead. Take my little poll:

What kind of pet would be best for Kristen?

Cat (that she's allergic to) Click here!

Dog (that she'll probably be afraid of) Click here!

Fish (ie. pet rock that swims) Click here!
Ferret (pick this one!) Click here!

Hamster (sticking with what works) Click Here!

Tamagotchi (she can't really kill it) Click here!

None (Brad is enough to care for) Click here!

Other (please respond what) Click here!

Brad, the Sweetheart!

2006-03-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Brad thought he would be spontaneous and take me on a surprise trip to the planetarium, hooray! We saw a fascinating presentation on "The Stars of the Pharohs" where I learned that stars do look different from what they looked like thousands of years ago, and our north star has changed three times. Apparently, the planet doesn't just tilt, revolve and orbit, it also "bounces" in a way that changes our view of the stars every 15,000 years (or something like that). Anyway, that's not why Brad's so sweet. After the planetarium show, we wandered around the museum for a couple hours, I read every plaque that interested me, and I played with every hands-on activity. When we finally left, Brad breathed a huge sigh of relief and said, "Thank God that's over." I was a little confused. Why would he take me to a museum and not want to go himself? Well, he had to buy a museum ticket to see the planetarium show, which was all he really wanted to do. He only put up with the museum because I started to look at the exhibits and he didn't want to tell me "no." So he literally watched me read plaques for two hours just to make me happy. Thanks, honey!

And that's not all. Even though my scale at home told me that I made my weight goal over a week ago, I wasn't going to really count it until the Weight Watchers scale said so. So I weighed in within my goal on Monday before I left for class at EMU and immediately called Brad to celebrate. When I came home last night, there were banners and balloons up and a giant congratulatory card waiting for me (and some York peppermint patties, my low fat treat!). I told him that I had just told Brittany how rather lame making my goal had been, since the earth didn't quake and balloons didn't fall from the sky... but as it turned out, I did come home to a celebration. Losing 58lbs wasn't easy and is definitely something to celebrate, and I appreciate that Brad understands that. I love my thoughtful Brad!!!

Simpsons More Important than Freedom?

2006-03-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

BBC News appears to prove that, to Americans, The Simpsons are more important than freedom. The link below will take you to the news article... but before you go, ask youself if you can name all five Simpson family members. Okay, easy enough. Now ask yourself if you can name all five rights protected by the first ammendment. Hmmmmm...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4761294.stm

Oldsmobiles Rock

2006-03-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

It's too bad that GM stopped making them because they were by far the best car on the road and if you own one you know it. Unfortunately my '97 Cutlass Supreme started overheating the other week so I got the coolant replaced and a thermostat replaced. Worked great for a week and now the problem is occurring again. It's going to cost $1200 to get something called a head gasket fixed. I attribute this only problem that I've had to the fact that a refurbished engine was put into it in '03. Of course, the previous engine had a block crack. But this is unusual for Olds as they are the best car on the road today. The best mileage, best control, and best overall car. If you would like to purchase mine, let me know. It runs great and is less than 10 years old.

Two Adventures in Disappointment

2006-03-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

The past twenty four hours have been twenty four of the most unpleasant hours I've had in a long time! I guess I should start around 9:10pm last night, when I got back my midterm paper in my Chaucer class... the paper that will from here on in will be referred to as "The Terrible Paper." Yes, it was awful, yet more awful than I could've imagined. The assignment was to analyze a Canterbury tale of my choice using a theoretical framework of my choice. Easy enough. My big mistake was choosing a theory I knew very little about--Amazon Feminism--and attempting to ram it into The Miller's Tale where it clearly didn't fit. I accept full responsibility for that, and when I received the lowest grade I have ever received on a college paper, grad or undergrad, I wasn't terribly surprised. Just how low is that, you ask? Well, let's just say that it's low to me, not necessarily to most people. But all of this still doesn't explain why this is The Terrible Paper.

When handed back, the professor asked me to talk to her after class... of course, that's not a good thing. In this case, it was a Terrible thing! She not only didn't like the substance of the paper (which I knew was not the best), she also did not like my writing style! Now that's a first! In the past, even when professors didn't necessarily like what I wrote, they at least liked how I wrote it. I was flabbergasted! But it gets even worse... She actually asked me if I knew anything about theory! I didn't know how to respond to such a strange question--I mean, DUH! Of course I know theory, this is my eleventh--and final--graduate course! I almost have a 3.9 GPA! So here's the coup de grace: she smiled a kind and pitying smile, and said that since this was my first graduate course ever, perhaps I didn't really know what to expect from this level of academic writing. Waaaaaay off, prof! I found this to be the biggest insult of all--that apparently my paper was SO terrible, she assumed that I had never written a graduate paper before! I could just die, seriously. Fortunately, I get to write an all new paper to replace it, but I don't know if I could sluff off this embarrassment. I'm not saying that this professor is wrong or anything like that, but I can at least take solace in knowing that, in four years of graduate school, almost all of my professors thought my writing was exceptional. I guess a Terrible Paper was bound to happen someday.

But that's not the end of my adventures in disappointment. Today I spent most of the day dealing with a broken car that caused me to miss work, miss working out, and miss bowling. On my way back home Brad's car overheated, forcing me to pull over in Howell. I couldn't drive more than two minutes without it overheating again, and after the work we'd had done on the car in the past few weeks, I was not willing take any more chances. I had to make many a phone call to find a substitute leader, a safe location to store the car, transportation back home, a tow company, and calls to keep Brad in the loop. So, of course, my phone died. Eventually, all was taken care of, and the evening culminated in a two hour trip across the state (two, rather than one and a half, due to a traffic jam) in a tow truck. Brad's parents lent us a car for him to use while the broken one is on holiday in the shop, so the whole deal won't cause us too much more grief (until we see the bill). It really only cost me a day's worth of trouble, but compounded with The Terrible Paper, it's all amounted to a very unpleasant adventure in disappointment.

I must add some special thanks to my mom, for picking me up in Howell; to Dad, for dropping me off in Howell and hooking me up with his AAA free towing service; to the tow truck driver, for a couple hours of good conversation without discomfort; and to Brad's parents, for lending us a car. Thanks a bunch, everyone... this is just one more example of why I'm such a lucky person.

Should Kristen go to church?

2006-03-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

Should Kristen have to go to church?

YES!
Click on: poll closed... 2 votes yes

NO!
Click on: poll closed... 9 votes no

MAYBE (if maybe, please add a response as to why)
Click on: poll closed... 2 votes maybe

Grand Rapids Women's Expo

2006-03-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

Last night I worked the Weight Watchers booth at the Grand Rapids Women's Expo. I wasn't sure what that was going to be like before I went, and a co-worker told me horror stories about how boring and lame it was when she did it a few years back. That made me nervous that it would be a waste of my time... especially on a Friday night! But of course, I could have fun with a piece of string and a lint ball. It was a blast!!! I would've loved to have spent more time there. I arrived 15 minutes before I had to take over the booth so that I could wander the expo, but I must say that I actually preferred to stand in the booth. I had so much fun giving away prizes, samples and coupons, and I absolutely loved talking about the program and shocking people with my before and after pictures. Listening to people's life stories, some sob and some triumphant, was pretty cool, and probably the best part of all. And without volunteering to work the booth, I probably would have never gone within ten feet of a women's expo (I must admit, it does sound pretty lame). However, I am really glad I did because it turned out to be a great time!

On Being a Big Loser

2006-03-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

So it's now one week until my one year anniversary with Weight Watchers and I've lost 56 pounds! Officially, I am no longer overweight... and I've been overweight since, like, third grade. It's a pretty strange feeling. In most ways it's great: I can wear basically anything and buy it in size small, I can jog for miles without having to walk, I can cross my legs under a desk, I have collarbones and hipbones, I have %15 body fat, and, best of all, people can't call me FAT!!! I wish everyone could feel like this. Of course, I never make fun of someone because they're overweight, but for the jackasses that do things like that, I would love to shove it in their faces. When I was obese I didn't hate myself at all--I really did love myself, but it's those people that make you feel bad that hurts so much. I lost weight because I didn't want to buy clothing in any larger sizes and I didn't fit into any of the clothes I had. But I lost this weight mainly because I was just plain tired of feeling uncomfortable around judgemental people. I could say I did this for myself and that would be true, but I did it for myself ultimately because of other people.

But I guess it doesn't really matter why I did it, just so long as I did it. And it feels great! If anyone else is interested in finding out how they can do it to, I am always glad to share and help out in any way I can. Sara asked me the weekend before last to get her going on a Weight Watchers program, and so I did. After the first week, she lost nearly 9 pounds and Chris (her fiance) lost nearly 19 pounds! I'm almost too proud and happy for words! I know that they'll be able to keep it up and achieve their goals. But of course, I love them either way. I just want them to be happy, and, since Sara asked me and I never suggested it to her, I know that this is something that would make her happy. I wish that I had taken these steps before I got married so that I could've looked better in my wedding gown (instead of having to order one size up with a couple weeks of the big day).

I will mention that being thinner can be annoying, too, because I get cold so easily, the bones bump things and hurt, I can't lay on my belly without my ribs and hip bones getting sore, and I can't sit on a hard seat for very long before becoming uncomfortable. Thin people who have always been thin probably don't notice those sorts of things, but I sure do! It also costs A TON to keep buying clothes in new sizes. Does it sound ridiculous to complain about weight loss? Only to someone who hasn't experienced it. I did love myself before, and I can't help but be annoyed by some of the things that come along with losing weight. Of course the good points outweight the bad, but I don't have to be appreciative of anything. I worked my ass off to get where I am! It took time, money, suffering, and will power to do this, and I deserve to relish it without reserve.

The credit goes to me. And for anyone else who can do this or has done this, take every ounce of the credit that you deserve. Don't say it was easy and don't play it off like "it was nothing" just to make others feel better. You're a superstar. And if you have not done it and don't plan to, then that's fine, too. Don't let people get you down. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just finally wanted to, that's all... and I'm still unsure if I wanted to for me, or if it was really for other people. Does it matter?

At any rate, I've only reached the point of no longer being overweight. I still have a few more pounds to lose to get to my "happy number," so that if I gain a few sometime I won't get back to being overweight. I expect to sorta float around between where I am now and my happy number, and that way I can feel secure about my good health. I have no intention of becoming a skinny-minny; that would not be being true to myself as the unique individual I am. In fact, I'm quite content now.

I babble. The point is, I made it. It took 16 years of being overweight/obese and 1 year of working it all off, but I made it. And I'm pretty darn pleased with myself.

Rockford Position Revisited

2006-03-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

I got a call yesterday from Judi's daughter that lasted all of two minutes maybe. She won't be leaving until May 15th and doesn't really know what's going on. She told me to send in my resume, and that's about it. On the upside, I have some insider information on an opening at a school. On the rest of the sides, this really wasn't that exciting. I know Judi was really excited because she cares about me and thought that this could work out for the best for everyone involved, but Judi isn't the one who is in charge of the whole situation (which is too bad for me). I'm getting very used to getting all puffed up over something and then getting popped (i.e. every interview I had last summer, every sub job that opened during the course of this year, the weight watchers coordinator position, etc.). I guess it's good to be excited about things because it keeps me from becoming depressed about my job situation, but it's also very painful to be let down time after time after time. It's also causing me to lose some of that confidence in myself that's so appealing to anyone who would want to hire me... it gets harder to go into an opportunity with a smile when you're already thinking that you won't get it. And with the hiring politics of teaching (that just didn't seem to be there four years ago), I stand little chance. So what if I'm highly educated, highly qualified, have sparkling references, and accomplished so many amazing things in only three years of teaching? I cost too much, and therefore am undesireable/unhireable. It's a real shame, 'cause I am absolutely fantastic. I really am an excellent teacher; I love and care about my work.

Confessions of a Reject of the Working World

2006-02-27T15:57:00.000-05:00

So what about Kristen's career? Inquiring minds wanna know, I'm sure. Well, it doesn't look like Caledonia high school is going to need me back next year... after the superintendent scandal and general money crises, it appears that there just won't be any money left to fill the gaping hole in the English department. C'est la vie. I wish the school the best of luck in getting back onto its monetary feet, though I can't really hide my disappointment for my own situation. However, there was a li'l bit o' luck recently that has helped to keep me smiling...

Judi called me last week (my former co-English 9 teacher at CHS) to inform me that her daughter (who teaches at Rockford HS) is moving to Ohio suddenly and has been asked to find suitable interviewees to full time sub 'till the end of the school year. And they've asked me to apply (even better, they have no one else). This is a THRILLING possibility! Not only could I get some teaching in during this school year, but a full time subbing position could act as a long term interviewing opportunity; they will need to fill that position next year and I'll be right there when they start the process! I'm so pleased I could pop! I am eagerly awaiting further instruction on the matter. So this development is pretty exciting, but it becomes even more amazing considering the events that occurred just prior to Judi's fateful phonecall...

At the end of January I went to a Weight Watchers Leader Training convention; I felt that it was very important to go considering that I had only been a leader for a couple weeks and could certainly use the additional training. Plus, I just love conferences! Only a couple days after the conference I received a call from the Senior Operations Manager asking if I would like to interview for a Leader Training position, and then setting me up with said interview. Wow, was I shocked! I didn't even apply--I didn't even know such a position existed!--and yet I was being asked to interview based solely on my behavior and presentations at the conference. To make a very long story short, I went through a couple interviews, and was offered, and I declined, the position three times. The job was really very exciting--I'm certain I could've been wonderful at it and I would've enjoyed it--but the process helped me to get back in touch with my feelings about teaching. I just love teaching too much to consider any other career track. Now, here's the best part.

The day after I declined the position for the last time, Judi called to ask if I would be available to teach. Just imagine how sick I would've felt if I had had to answer no because I just took that other job! But I didn't take the job, and I was available for teaching... the career I truly love the most. Like so many other creepily lucky events in my life, this was clearly meant to be. So although I am still not a full-time worker yet, I may not be a reject of the working world for too much longer. :)

Create a List in a Portal Area

2006-02-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

Create a list in a portal area based on a list template

OneNote PowerToy Contest Update

2006-02-01T14:18:00.000-05:00

OneNote PowerToy Contest Update: Send To OneNote From Word

Microsoft has yet to release my Power Toy to the public. It's been a month now since I sent back my bug fixes and am awaiting them to sign it and release it. Come on MS, let's go.

Seinfeld in Grand Rapids

2005-12-26T18:05:00.000-05:00

Jerry Seinfeld comes to Grand Rapids.

On February 3rd Jerry Seinfeld, one of my favorite comedians will be performing at Devos Performance Hall in GR. Tickets for Jerry Seinfeld in GR are still available so get them while you can it should be great. I'm very excited about it. I'm a big Seinfeld fan and can't wait to see him live. Thanks Kristen for getting us these great tickets.

I'm a Winner!

2005-12-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

Power up OneNote: Send To OneNote From Word Power Toy

I have an announcement to make. I have won the Grand Prize from Microsoft's OneNote PowerToy contest. For my prize I received a brand new Toshiba M200 Tablet PC. This is going to be our new home computer, Kristen will be using it during her final Graduate class at EMU next semester and will be the coolest kid in her class. I can't really (and don't want to) use it at work, doesn't have enough power for my job, but it's a great computer for home and classroom use.

A Very Covelle Christmas

2005-12-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

After four days of xmas parties we are finally back home. Thursday night we went over to Kelly's house for some xmas fun. I enjoyed the time spent there, I ate a lot of cookies and dips, and probably the best thing is they had a friggin Yankee Swap from The Office, although none of them liked or watch that show. That's the best show on tv right now.

We then headed over to Aunt Karilyn's house for the Morrison family xmas party. I always enjoy getting together with them, I get to learn how they all interact with each other, eat, and receive gifts. For some reason they all give each other gifts, which is odd to me since my family cut that out awhile ago. It's just too much giving.

After that party we went back to Mom and Dad Morrison for a xmas eve party. Will got me Metroid Prime 2 which I can't wait to play, I got some nice Snoopy comics, a vibrating shaver, along with a slew of other gifts.

Then it was back to GR for xmas where I got a nice new watch, some nice khakis and shirt from Eddie Baur, some candy, ping pong balls, new tennis shoes... after that we went to my Grandma and Grandpa's house with the rest of my family and aunts. Come to find out Nick and Kim are pregnant, go figure. We aren't planning on a little one for awhile, need to get a house and dog first so quit asking. We then went to my parents house and got a new dvd/vcr combo, tv trays, more candy, body washers, linen spray, a nice leather laptop case...

We received and gave so many gifts this year, it's just unbelievable. I hope your xmas time was fun too. Merry Christmas, we'll see you next year Santa.

Welcome to our Blog!

2005-12-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Brad and Kristen's blogspot! Covelle Corner is a family spot where Kristen or Brad can post the latest on their wonderful lives--and no doubt will. So drop in periodically to check out our updates, and feel free to respond! :)