I see a few things wrong with this picture
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 4:26p Jim Casale After reading an article about "It's
Clean Out Your Inbox Week"
I felt I had to comment about it.
First item that caught my eye was the
fact that in the process of migrating to Outlook NONE of
the old email in Notes seems to have been brought forward. That is not
the first time I have seen or heard about that type of migration. Is it
really a migration when you still need to use two email clients to view/read
your existing and new mail? Of course it makes the migration go faster
and e [read] Keywords: notes
email
outlook
8
315 hours 33minutes 24seconds until....
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:01a Jim Casale Lotusphere
Idol. As some of you already know
I have been accepted to tryout for Lotusphere Idol. Yes, it's a chance
to break out and try my new comedy...errr I mean technical presentation
skills on unsuspecting...umm I mean eagerly awaiting audience. Seriously
although I am nervous at the thought of presenting in front of a bunch
of Lotus geeks (who wouldn't be?) I am actually looking forward to getting
on stage and giving it my best effort.
I actually thought I wasn't picked for
I [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
blogSphere
8
Giving Thanks
Thu, Nov 26th 2009 5:57a Jim Casale I am sitting at gate D6 in Charlotte Douglas
International Airport waiting for my trip back home to my family, and I'm
thinking about what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving day. I would have
to say I am thankful for many things in my life, but the most important
thing is I am thankful for my family. They are the most important part
of my life (even if they laugh at my jokes just to make me think I'm actually
funny).
But more importantly I am thankful for
my health and that of my famil [read] Keywords:
6
The Power of Social Networking
Wed, Nov 25th 2009 4:55a Jim Casale Or how to get a birthday present for your
son when it's not for sale in the United States. To make a long story short
my youngest son is a pirate aficionado. He is into anything and everything
to do with pirates. And for the last few years he has looked forward to
the Lego
Pirates Advent calendar. Wouldn't
you know it that Lego has decided not to sell it in the US and Canada this
year. I am still not sure of the reason but how could I say no to my son?
Jokingly my wife said "Why don't yo [read] Keywords: networking
twitter
4
I'm traveling 800 miles to be at Tristatelug on November 9th
Thu, Oct 29th 2009 5:58p Jim Casale Yes, that's right. I am going the distance
as they say - actually quite a distance to be at the November
9th meeting of TristateLUG. We
have an awesome lineup of speakers and sessions. As David
Leedy Tweeted earlier today -
Training budget cut? How about a 1
day Lotusphere in New York on 11/9 for free!!!
http://bit.ly/BQlJ8
- Beer is included!. This could be your last chance for a free Lotusphere
like event before the big
one in January.
And don't forget this could be your
last c [read] Keywords: ibm
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lotusphere2010
blogSphere
11
Jetblue knows Lotusknows...you know?
Fri, Oct 9th 2009 2:55p Jim Casale After hearing about the Lotusknows
campaign I was looking forward
to watching the Lotusknows video on Jetblue. I make 2 round trips on Jetblue
per month and figured it would be rather quick that I would be able to
see the video once the program went live. I wasn't sure if the video would
show up during a commercial break on one of the Direct TV channels that
Jetblue provides during their flights or if would show up on some sort
of Jetblue channel.
On a recent flight I was the only pass [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
blogSphere
4
Some banks get it
Tue, Sep 15th 2009 5:55p Jim Casale It is great to see another bank get it
- it being that decisions should be based on real world facts
and not some vendor or analyst hype. As reported by Ed Brill US
Bank has decided to standardize on IBM
for their collaboration software.
Unfortunately, there are some banks
that just don't get it.
It is no secret that my position at
a major international bank was recently "offshored". From a business
standpoint I can understand the decision in order to reduce costs. What
I don't agr [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
lotus
sametime
sharepoint
2
Week 3
Wed, Sep 9th 2009 4:55a Jim Casale Halfway through my third week in my new
position I am pleasantly surprised at what a nice place it is to work at.
The people are friendly and easy going. The infrastructure is setup nicely.
I think the best part of the whole situation is being able to work in an
environment that doesn't repeat the tired statements of how Lotus is legacy,
etc.
Rather than believing everything that's
told to them, it appears management takes an objective look at what is
out there, and then decides if tha [read] Keywords: lotus
48
Lotus Knows where I will be on Monday
Tue, Aug 18th 2009 8:52a Jim Casale As some of you already know my position
has recently been offshored to another country. Not wanting to wait until
the last day before the switch over and not wanting to sit at home doing
nothing I have been looking for a new position in the Lotus world.
Although I have hinted at some possible
good news in the past couple of weeks I was unable to officially announce
the good news until today (Had to make sure the T's were crossed and I's
dotted). Starting Monday I will be working on a lo [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
23
Advice needed for SOHO router-firewall
Wed, Aug 5th 2009 11:55a Jim Casale I am looking for some advice on a good
SOHO/SMB router. I am having issues with an old Linksys "SOHO"
router (RVL200). The firmware has been upgraded but still having random
lockups.
What router/firewall would you recommend
without breaking the bank? I need NAT for multiple Static IP addresses
and strong rule set.
1. Cisco ASA
2. Netgear
3. ZyXel
4. Other?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated [read] Keywords:
2
Really awesome TristateLUG meeting last night
Wed, Jul 22nd 2009 8:59a Jim Casale Last night's TristateLUG
meeting was nothing short of awesome. Declan
gave an awesome session on xPages. During Declan's session I actually found
myself thinking of switching to the "dark" side. We probably
could have used the entire 2 hour meeting just on xPages. After a brief
5 minute break Akiba Saeedi
gave a similarly awesome session on Sametime 8.5 (I am really looking forward
to the new Sametime - very impressive speed and features).
The best part of the night (and I am
[read] Keywords: ibm
sametime
xpages
4
It's official but anti-climactic
Tue, Jul 21st 2009 8:02a Jim Casale It's been a while that others and
myself have known but it is now official that my position, along with more
than a dozen of my colleagues, is being off shored to India. It's been
so long that I've known something was happening that hearing the official
word is sort of anti-climactic. The funny part of this whole thing is the
repeated denials from management that anything was planned or going to
happen. So much for honesty, integrity, and ethics.
I have already gone through the
usual e [read] Keywords: administration
collaboration
domino
blogSphere
development
3
Important Information for TristateLUG - Calling all Lotus Admins
Wed, Jul 8th 2009 7:00a Jim Casale Calling all Lotus Admins in the TristateLUG
area
...actually all Lotus Professionals
- yeah devs too
For all the Domino Admins out there
who like to cross over to the dark side we have a great TristateLUG meeting
coming up on Tuesday, July 21. Our next meeting will feature two great
speakers - Akiba Saeedi and Declan
Sciolla-Lynch. Of particular
interest to me is Declan and his presentation on XPages. Although I am
primarily an admin I do dabble on the dark side with developme [read] Keywords: admin
domino
lotus
sametime
xpages blogSphere
development
security
4
Finally done after 2 years
Fri, Jun 26th 2009 7:54a Jim Casale It's been a long two years but I finally
completed my Masters in Information Systems with a 3.8 GPA. WhooHoo What
will I do with all my free time? Oh yeah, look for a new position [read] Keywords: blogSphere
2
What really matters in life
Tue, May 26th 2009 5:53a Jim Casale This weekend I have spend a good amount
of time trying to finish up some school work. The long process of getting
my Masters degree is is almost over so I was more than a little anxious
to get the work done.
My wife had received an email about
discount tickets for the Big Apple Circus that was performing on Monday,
and she asked if I wanted to go. Part of me wanted to finish my school
work even though it wasn't due for a couple of weeks, but something said
to me "take a break - go out [read] Keywords: ibm
apple
email
3
TristateLUG next meeting
Thu, May 21st 2009 2:51p Jim Casale Next TristateLUG meeting is in the works.We
are looking for a meeting date sometime around the third week in
June. Stay tuned for details.... [read] Keywords:
2
What has happened to common sense?
Wed, Apr 29th 2009 8:49a Jim Casale That is the question I have been asking
myself for the last 24 hours. I am sure everyone has heard, read, or seen
the flyover by a 747 and F-16's
on Tuesday near the Jersey City/Lower Manhattan area. In what seems to
be proof that some people have no common sense whatsoever a flyover was
approved by some government bureaucrat.
I work in Jersey City right on the edge
of the Hudson river - directly across from the WTC site. I was in the middle
of a Gmail migration crisis when I heard [read] Keywords: twitter
3
TristateLUG..less than a week to go
Wed, Apr 15th 2009 8:50a Jim Casale Don't forget to register (it's free) if
you haven't already for the April 21st meeting of TristateLUG
at 590 Madison Ave. The meeting starts at 6 PM. Registration and networking
will begin at 5:30 PM.
And it's not too late to enter our logo
contest. Submit your logo designs to the TriStateLUG
logo contest and we will announce
a winner at the April 21 meeting! Submissions are posted each day at the
Logo
Contest site and you can vote
for your favorite logo. The winner will receive a [read] Keywords: networking
3
GTD Week 4
Mon, Apr 13th 2009 5:51a Jim Casale After my oversight last week of some of
the neat features in eProductivity I made it a point to really look at
all the options in the product. I have found there are more features and
settings than one can remember in one look.
One of the cool add-on features of Notes
is the "Swiftfile" functionality. I have always had good results
with its choices as to where it thinks I might want to folder an email.
Even before I tried eProductivity I had a personal policy of doing one
of three t [read] Keywords: notes
email
5
Kinda makes you want to store your email locally
Fri, Apr 10th 2009 11:50a Jim Casale Another "outage"
for a free email service. I wonder how a "wrong email" can cause
you to lose your Inbox? Yeah, yeah...the messages were still there but
you couldn't access them.
Microsoft said late Thursday night that users' inboxes
— and e-mails —are "safe," and that the problem was due to
an "incorrect message" that was sent out during "routine
maintenance."
I know "cloud" services are the latest and greatest
craze but just call me old fashion - I like to know my [read] Keywords: email
microsoft
3
Can you depend on your cloud service?
Tue, Apr 7th 2009 8:51a Jim Casale A recent email
outage for Comcast customers had
me wondering how an outage would affect your business - more specifically
how accurate would the information you received about an outage be?
"Via
e-mail, however, the same reader who complained of 31 phantom messages--Jennifer
Brasher--said she has "proof" of lost messages. "I called
my sister, and she had sent me three, which I never got," she said.
"I also know for sure that Telecharge e-mailed me a ticket I had purchased."
The [read] Keywords: email
3
GTD Week 3
Mon, Apr 6th 2009 9:51a Jim Casale I have to admit I am finding working with
GTD and eProductivity to be both easy and challenging at the same time.
Easier in the sense that the tools built into eProductivity have been tailored
to the GTD system developed by David Allen. Challenging in that it is hard
to break old habits. Just having the tools doesn't mean you will use them
the way they were designed to be used or use them when you should be using
them.
One of the things I have found is that
you really need to have a [read] Keywords: template
blackberry
email
2
Awesome fund raising jazz concert for Bronx High School of Science
Sun, Apr 5th 2009 8:50p Jim Casale It is no secret that New York City schools
are under funded and the Bronx
High School of Science is no exception.
One way schools are able to provide
the best learning environment for their students is to provide extra funds
through PTA fund raising. For the last four years the Bronx Science PTA
has organized a fund raiser with the help of a group of musicians who have
devoted their time to put on an awesome jazz concert - John
Pizzarelli, Martin Pizzarelli,
Tony Tedesco, an [read] Keywords:
3
Don't forget...less than 3 weeks for TristateLUG meeting at 590 Madison
Fri, Apr 3rd 2009 5:50p Jim Casale There are less than 3 weeks left until
TristateLUG's first user group
meeting at 590 Madison. If you haven't signed up yet go to www.tristatelug.org
and register for the event (registration is free but required).
Don't forget our logo contest is open
to all even if you can't make the meeting. Just submit your logo at Logo
Contest
If you are not a graphic designer
but know someone who is then please tell them to fire up their Photoshop
and enter. [read] Keywords: designer
3
One more perk gone
Thu, Apr 2nd 2009 11:50a Jim Casale I
think this is a reflection of business direction in general
- just hope they don't make things worse for themselves when the economy
improves [read] Keywords: ibm
2
Please raise your hands and cheer for the new TristateLUG
Wed, Apr 1st 2009 7:50a Jim Casale Here is the latest scoop on the new Lotus
user group for the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan area.
Please raise your hands and cheer for
the new
********** ? TristateLUG
**********
Why the question mark you ask? Well
that is our logo until you give us a new one!
Yes, that's right...calling all graphic
designers to come up with a cool, new logo for TristateLUG. Submit
your design for a chance to win a prize
Here are some hints as [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
development
6
For Domino geeks who double as a TSM geek
Sun, Mar 29th 2009 7:56a Jim Casale IBM has released a major upgrade to TSM
- Tivoli
Storage Manager 6.1. Although
not much has changed on the Domino side of backing up with TSM, major changes
in the TSM database make TSM administration and maintenance much easier.
TSM Admin's already know what a pain doing a reorg of the TSM database
is. With the TSM database changing to DB2 painful database reorg's are
a thing of the past. You can even perform on-line database reorg's so downtime
for TSM is virtually eliminated. Besides [read] Keywords: admin
administration
domino
ibm
aix
database
db2
linux
tivoli
4
Why my wife will go to heaven
Wed, Mar 25th 2009 9:54p Jim Casale Aside from living with me and the three
boys, the other reason my wife will go to heaven is the patience she has
with me when I bring home more hardware
No, it's not a home furnace - just an
8 way IBM x370
You can never have enough storage either...now
if I can only convince my wife to put a bid on that LTO library on eBay
I didn't have time to take out my IBM
XT, IBM PCjr, PowerPC Mac, and my VIC-20. As you can see I like to collect
vintage and older hardwar [read] Keywords: ibm
blogSphere
mac
2
GTD Week 2
Wed, Mar 25th 2009 8:52a Jim Casale So here I am one week later after upgrading
my mail template to eProductivity. I have to admit my concerns about the
look and feel of the template are not that big an issue for me right now.
Of course I would like to have the new look and feel of the 8.5 template.
But since the new design and features are being developed I feel it is
just a temporary situation that I can live with.
One of the things I have found to be
a hindrance was having just finished reading David Allen's book. I [read] Keywords: domino
template
blackberry
email
2
My first adventures into eProductivity and GTD
Sat, Mar 14th 2009 12:53p Jim Casale So the dust has settled down after
Lotusphere and I have taken some time to look back on the whole experience.
One thing that comes to mind is how I did not have a chance to attend all
the sessions I wanted to attend. And not being able to attend does not
mean that I valued the session any less than other sessions. It was just
a matter of limited time and too many good sessions to choose from.
One of the sessions I did not get
a chance to attend was BP304 “IBM Lotus Notes and M [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
template
blogging
blogSphere
office
6
This is just getting plain stupid
Wed, Mar 11th 2009 6:56p Jim Casale I feel like I am blogging about the same
Gmail outage over and over again. And for a minute I thought todays
outage coverage was about a past
outage. Silly me. I may have done something stupid and actually commented
on the article. I am waiting to see how nasty the comments get. [read] Keywords: blogging
2
Calling all Metro New York Notes Users
Mon, Mar 9th 2009 2:58p Jim Casale After reading Ed's blog about the revival
of
NEOLUG I started to realize I
haven't heard anything about MYNUG in quite some time. So the question
is
Does anyone know if MYNUG is still active/around?
The website seems to be dead.
Is anyone interested is reviving the
group if it is dead?
One could assume that the New York metropolitan
area is big enough to support a healthy Notes User group (and we don't
have to limit it to "Notes" only). I have to admit I am a little
jealous [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
bleedyellow
email
4
Looks like some rain from cloud computing
Mon, Mar 9th 2009 11:57a Jim Casale Looks like another
issue to consider when looking
at outsourcing your documents. Although it is not as serious as could have
been it does make me wonder why companies are not putting issues like security
at the top of the list of things to consider when looking at cloud computing. [read] Keywords: google
security
6
It look slike they are finally making some progress
Sat, Mar 7th 2009 6:53p Jim Casale On a recent trip from Jersey City into
Manhattan to meet a fiend I was pleasantly surprised to see they are finally
making some progress at the WTC site. The steel for the Freedom Tower is
actually rising above street level. Once it passes the buildings in the
background I will be able to see it from my office in Jersey City. With
all the depressing events in our country lately it is nice to see something
positive and hopeful.
There are more images here [read] Keywords: office
Excel macro to decrypt those IBM file names
Thu, Feb 26th 2009 9:54a Jim Casale Thomas Duff
blogged about an issue that frustrates
many of us. When downloading from Passport Advantage (and I assume other
IBM sites) the file name given to the software is cryptic to say the least.
I decided one day to find a way to figure out which file is "IBM Lotus
Notes 8.5 for MAC English". If you use IBM's download director you
will have a file that contains the download information. I figured there
has to be a way to parse it and output something more useful. I have thought
abou [read] Keywords: ibm
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notes
symphony
application
mac
Adding insult to injury
Sun, Feb 22nd 2009 6:53a Jim Casale You'd think in times like these stuff
like this wouldn't happen. I am
sure Microsoft can cope with the lose of money a lot easier than former
workers can with the lose of their jobs.... [read] Keywords: microsoft
5
It's time to take the politics out of Email
Sun, Feb 22nd 2009 6:53a Jim Casale It's time to take politics
out of the Whitehouse and place
electronic communications into the hands of an independent, audited entity
so no matter who is President ALL electronic communications are
captured for historical and auditing purposes. I would even go so far as
to suggest this be done for the Congress and Senate. I know the logistics
would be tremendous - who would be entrusted with this task? [read] Keywords: email
5
Sntt - Backing up DAOS
Thu, Feb 19th 2009 7:53a Jim Casale I know this took a while to write
but work, school, and home schedules didn’t cooperate with me since LS09,
but here it is
So you want to enable DAOS but
you are concerned about how to backup all those NLO files. More importantly,
you want to know how to restore data when you are using DAOS. There is
no clear cut recommendation for the best way to backup DAOS since all environments
are different. With a little planning, backing up and restoring a Domino
server with DAOS enabled [read] Keywords: domino
sntt
database
email
ideajam
ideajam.net
server
system i
Speaking on the boat/cloud
Thu, Feb 12th 2009 11:55a Jim Casale Was just tweeting some comments with duffbert
about IBM and Microsoft missing the boat/cloud. Funny thing is I just got
this in my school Gmail account. I am not saying this type of issue will
kill the momentum to the cloud but it is something to consider when moving
your email infrastructure there. The names were changed to protect the
innocent.
"Greetings Students and Faculty:
The XXXXXXXXXX is committed to ensuring the security of your accounts
and personal identifiable info [read] Keywords: ibm
email
google
microsoft
password
security
server
2
I guess I did it the wrong way
Sat, Jan 31st 2009 8:53p Jim Casale There has been a lot of chatter
about the ever increasing job losses
and how companies are jumping on the band wagon of shedding jobs (even
when they are not in dire straits). I guess I did it all wrong when I was
a small business owner many years ago (don't ask how many)
As a former owner of a small, family
owned and operated neighborhood Italian restaurant I thought I was doing
the right thing many years ago. The restaurant had been in business for
40 years and had always done well [read] Keywords:
2
Obscene Wall Street bonuses are good for everyone
Sat, Jan 31st 2009 8:53p Jim Casale I read this first on CNN.com
and sat there dumb founded. It appears there are some people out there
that think the outrageous Wall Street bonuses are justified and actually
help the economy. I don't know what planet they are on but that makes absolutely
NO sense on planet earth.
"Bonuses for
Wall Street fat cats are easy political fodder in uncertain economic times,
but former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Friday cutting corporate bonuses
means slashing jobs in the Big Apple."
[read] Keywords: apple
office
9
DAOS backup considerations
Sat, Jan 31st 2009 8:52a Jim Casale I've been doing some thinking about DAOS
backup since my BOF
at Lotusphere on Domino backup. One of the ideas/requests out there that
I never even considered was the ability to backup Domino and DAOS with
no change in the backup procedure. Basically, your backup software would
be smart enough to know it should backup the attachments in DAOS automatically.
Although the idea sounds like a win/win situation, I do question the benefits
of such a system.
The biggest advantage of DAOS is [read] Keywords: adminp
domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
archive
database
ideajam
ideajam.net
6
8.0.1 delegation issue update
Wed, Jan 28th 2009 7:54a Jim Casale Just found out from IBM that the 8.0.1
delegation issue has not been
fixed in 8.0.2 mail template. It seems that you now have to be the mail
file owner to change delegation, not just a database Manager.
What I find disturbing is the fix that
was put in the 8.0.2 template does not fix the issue. It just hides it
by stopping the error message that pops up in 8.0.1 mail template. I have
not tested this in 8.5. Even if it worked I would not be able to upgrade
to 8.5 because of company poli [read] Keywords: ibm
notes
template
database
3
Finally have some time to give my thoughts on LS09
Mon, Jan 26th 2009 7:55p Jim Casale After spending a few days in Disney with
my wife and youngest son (We had a great time!) I finally have some time
to blog about my thoughts on Lotusphere 2009. I can only describe it with
the same words my son used to describe "Test Track" at Disney's
Hollywood Studios.
Awesome!!
As mentioned on many blogs already,
it seems we have a super Lotus advocate at the helm of Lotus. That, in
itself, is awesome news for Lotus and Lotusphere. Then we have the regular
improvements that L [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
lotusphere
notes
blogSphere
2
Good third day of Lotusphere
Mon, Jan 19th 2009 8:56p Jim Casale I put a few names and blogs to the real
person today. Nice to meet them in person
I also attended a session by Gaberiella
Davis and Paul Mooney. Excellent stuff on ID Vault and DAOS. One interesting
thing Paul mentioned about DAOS was "Backup, Backup, Backup, Backup".
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Speaking of backups, if you feel adventurous
and are an early riser you can hear more about backups at my BOF309
IBM Lotus Domino Backup and Recovery Best Practices: What to Do B [read] Keywords: bluehouse
domino
ibm
id vault
lotus
lotusphere
2
Second day at the Sphere
Sun, Jan 18th 2009 9:55p Jim Casale The second day of Lotusphere was a busy
day. I have taken a different route than most as I attended a Certification
focus group in the morning and a Lotus Instructor day in the afternoon.
Both were filled with new and exciting opportunities in Lotus Education,
with an emphasis on quickly following product releases with the information
administrators, developers, and user will need to get the most out of new
Lotus releases.
In the areas of certification I found
the fact that they are [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
2
First day at the Sphere
Sat, Jan 17th 2009 8:57p Jim Casale Here it is, the end of the first unofficial
day at Lotusphere. I have met a few old friends and met a few new ones.
After introducing myself to another Sphereian he said "toilet paper".
I said to myself "Hmmm, ok. I never heard that salutation before".
Then it dawned on me that we both had replied to Gayle
Elgorts posting about which way
the paper should hang. What a small world we live in huh?
Also, at the annual BALD dinner Ed Brill
was votes first annual PlanetLotus.org
Blogger o [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
blogger
php
planetlotus
planetlotus.org
2
I got feedback for my BOF...before I gave my BOF
Sat, Jan 17th 2009 12:52p Jim Casale I am sitting in the All Star Sports waiting
for the shuttle bus to the Dolphin/Swan and I got an email from IBM with
the link to the feedback section for my BOF. Seems I already got
2 feedbacks even though I didn't give the session yet. I didn't know I
was that good.
Update: Looks like they cleared the
testing data now [read] Keywords: ibm
blogSphere
email
2
A hero and a miracle
Thu, Jan 15th 2009 5:53p Jim Casale My wife picked me up from the train today
and I was wondering why she had the news radio station on (Which she normally
doesn't do). She said a plane
went down in the Hudson river.
I figured it was some mechanical problem on a small private plane. I was
shocked to hear it was a jetliner and, even more amazing it, everyone survived.
To say that is a miracle is an understatement.
I
work right on the Hudson river
directly across from the World Trade Center site. To be able to land an
[read] Keywords: lotusphere
office
5
Lotusphere Flight and Hotel Information
Thu, Jan 15th 2009 6:56a Jim Casale I will be leaving work early on Friday
to catch a 4:25 flight on Delta out of JFK. Yeah, yeah, I know..I am a
dedicated employee for going in half a day. I will arrive at the Disney
All Star Sports around 9 PM Friday night. If anyone is on the same flight
or is staying at Disney All Star Sports drop me a line.
Also, I will be moderating a BOF BOF309:
Domino Backup and Recovery Best Practices: What to do Before a Disaster
Strikes Tuesday 7 AM,
SW
Parrot 1. Hope to see you there [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
3
Seems someone is really interested in Lotusphere
Thu, Jan 15th 2009 6:56a Jim Casale It looks like someone is really interested
in Lotusphere. My blog was inundated with searches from Microsoft Live
Search on the term "lotusphere". For those bloggers that have
been doing this for a while it probably wouldn't seem like a big deal.
As I am relatively new to blogging, I found it amusing that I go from around
1 search a day to 34 - all from the same search engine and IP block. I
guess someone in Redmond is curious as to what all the hoopla is about.
For those of you intereste [read] Keywords: lotusphere
blogging
blogSphere
microsoft
4
Free Lotus Certification testing at LS09 with a catch
Wed, Jan 14th 2009 7:52a Jim Casale I am sure everyone has heard about the
free
certification testing for IBM
Business Partners. Even non-Business Partners can take advantage of
reduced test taking fees of $75.00.
The bummer is you can schedule your test taking ahead of Lotusphere if
you are paying the $75.00 but not if you are getting the free voucher.
It's not the worst thing since IBM is going all out to make test taking
perks available to everyone, but it would have been nice for Business Partners
to schedule a test a [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
3
It looks like they are making some progress
Fri, Jan 9th 2009 10:51a Jim Casale On my recent errand into Manhattan from
my office in Jersey City something I saw gave me an "Ah ha" moment.
On my previous trip to Manhattan I saw some steel beams and didn't think
anything of it, figuring it is part of the construction that seems to be
going nowhere. But on this trip I was staring out the PATH train window
and saw some support structures that looked familiar. In an instant I knew
what I was looking at. The beams I saw on my previous trip were the support
beams for the ra [read] Keywords: office
3
Useful map of World Disney World
Tue, Dec 30th 2008 4:56p Jim Casale In planning my trip to Lotusphere, I
have found myself trying to get a better picture of where things are so
I can decide if I can get from here to there in xx amount of time. Like
when I was one day short on my reservation and I couldn't figure out how
far Disney Pop Century was from Disney All Star Sports. Now I have the
task of trying to figure out how far Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature
Golfis from
Disney's Hollywood Studios (I will be meeting my wife and youngest son
there after [read] Keywords: lotusphere
reservation
3
My school says GMail is good for me, and they tell me why
Tue, Dec 30th 2008 9:54a Jim Casale My school has converted all school email
accounts to GMail. They even gave me 9 reasons why it is so much better
than the old system. Well, I may not disagree with that statement in principle
since the old email system was Exchange 2003 (OWA only unless you could
get the information needed to configure a pop client). I do, however, have
an issue with those 9 reasons telling me why it is so much better. Let
me address them one at a time.
Google Mail offers many benefits:
* Ava [read] Keywords: document
lotus
notes
blogSphere
email
exchange
exchange
google
instant messaging
outlook
3
Frontbridge is giving me a break
Tue, Dec 23rd 2008 11:53a Jim Casale Out of the kindness of their hearts
Frontbridge is going to unlist my IP address in their blacklist. How nice
of them. Turns out I have been sending "a large volume or high
percentage of spam" to their network. That's strange as I am only
a small one man operation and do not have any free time to send out spam.
All my PC's have up-to-date AV, my server
is regularly checked for relaying (overkill I admit), all PC's have port
25 blocked outgoing, and I am not on any other public DNS blac [read] Keywords: network
server
5
This might be something IBM might want to look into
Sun, Dec 21st 2008 3:53p Jim Casale After I was ecstatic to get a Friday night
reservation at All Star Sports I had a question about my Lotusphere registration.
I sent an email to lotusphereregistration@experient-inc.com as directed
by the email instructions. To my dismay I received a delivery failure.
Seems Experient has me listed in some sort of blacklist. That's strange
since I have business class Fios, reverse DNS entries, SPF records, and
regularly check my server for relaying. The error message said to forward
the mes [read] Keywords: ibm
lotusphere
email
exchange
exchange
microsoft
reservation
server
7
Friday nights are open at All Star Sports
Sun, Dec 21st 2008 2:52p Jim Casale If you made your reservation for All Start
Sports for Saturday but you should have made it for Friday you're in luck.
In my daily search of the elusive Friday arrival I found it is available
today through Experient.. I should have listened to the Lotusphere
old timers and booked early and
for a longer stay.
If you are looking to get there one
day early hurry and book it now before it's gone again. [read] Keywords: lotusphere
reservation
4
My BOF session is bright and early
Wed, Dec 17th 2008 9:53p Jim Casale Thanks to Ben
from Genii software, I found out
my BOF
session (IBM Lotus Domino Backup
and Recovery Best Practices: What to Do Before a Disaster Strikes) is scheduled
for Tuesday at 7 A.M. Lucky for me I'm an early riser
Grab your coffee early and make it a
point to stop by and share your experiences with backing up your Domino
environment (and maybe learn a thing or two from a colleague). [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
archive
blogSphere
4
My office holiday decorations
Wed, Dec 17th 2008 8:51a Jim Casale What kind of holiday decorations does
your office have? Is it company sponsored or do you put up your own?
Here is my personal office decoration,
complete with blinking holiday lights. [read] Keywords: office
2
A little holiday cheer just when you least expect it.
Wed, Dec 17th 2008 8:51a Jim Casale This morning was the type of morning
I would have rather have stayed in bed for at least another 4 hours. But
being the dedicated employee that I am, I got myself out of bed, and was
at the Bellerose LIRR train station at 6:14 A.M. I was walking up the stairs
at the station, thinking to myself I am too old for this crap as it was
cold, damp, and icy this morning, when I made it to the platform and was
wondering what was on the far side of the platform. The closer I got the
bigger my smile [read] Keywords:
8
It's beginning to look alot like
Wed, Dec 10th 2008 8:52a Jim Casale Lotusphere! You can see the blog posts
starting to pick up on
all things Lotusphere. Dare I
call it Lotusfever? If you can't wait until Lotusphere and love torturing
yourself you can always add the Lotusphere Countdown Widget to your Notes
8 client (Thanks Chris)
Lotusphere
Countdown Widget - 927 hours,
56 minutes, 49 seconds to go.... [read] Keywords: ldd
lotus
lotusphere
notes
widget
2
Whoever invented LED Christmas lights should be made a saint
Sat, Dec 6th 2008 5:55p Jim Casale I finished hanging the outside LED Christmas
lights this afternoon. This is the fourth year of use and still not one
bulb is out or broken. After 20 some odd years of constantly checking and
rechecking before I hang them it is such a joy to know they will work before
and AFTER you hand them up. I have even stepped on some the bulbs by accident,
and being made of hard plastic they have never shattered. It doesn't hurt
that they use 96% less electricity too
So to the person who invente [read] Keywords: blogSphere
4
Was just informed my BOF was accepted :-)
Thu, Dec 4th 2008 3:51p Jim Casale Get your tape drives and note pads ready.
My session - Domino Backup and Recovery Best
Practices: What to do Before a Disaster Strikes - has been accepted for
Lotusphere 2009. Thanks to everyone that voted for my BOF.
I guess all those hours at Toastmasters will come in handy. [read] Keywords: domino
lotusphere
blogSphere
5
Remember those giving up so much...
Thu, Nov 27th 2008 9:51a Jim Casale As we give thanks on this holiday please
remember (do something for ) those that are giving up
so much in service to our country. Make it a point to find an organization
that supports our men and women in uniform and do something to help.
Show them we appreciate all they do for us. [read] Keywords:
8
8.0.1 delegation issue
Wed, Nov 19th 2008 3:54p Jim Casale Just an FYI for all Notes 8.0.1 users.
After a couple days of frustration I finally submitted a PMR for a calendar
delegation issue. The issue is an "Object variable not set" error
when trying to add or delete a delegate. The error didn't seem to be an
issue when we first started the Notes 8 migration, but it seems to have
shown up for a few users in the last few days. IBM has fixed the issue
in the 8.0.2 template. [read] Keywords: ibm
notes
template
Doesn't make economic sense to go to Exchange
Tue, Nov 18th 2008 8:52a Jim Casale I read an interesting article about
Microsoft new cloud offering this morning. The author says
"Funny thing is one customer actually
admits it didn't make economic sense to go to Exchange."
It turns out the customer is several
versions behind on Notes. So rather than investigate all the available
options, they just go with the "me too" mentality and opt for
Microsoft's cloud offering. The question is why? Too many companies don't
take the time and effort to upgrade to the latest versi [read] Keywords: notes
exchange
exchange
microsoft
outlook
5
Notes 8.0.2 CCH1 install problem and new Interim Fix for 8.0.2 CCH1
Sun, Nov 16th 2008 4:51p Jim Casale I am not sure if it has something to do
with the work PC and how it is setup but I ran into a weird problem
when trying to install the Notes 8.0.2 CCH1. When I installed it on my
home PC the installation finished with no issues. My gut feeling is possible
workstation rights issue or Notes policy (I do have admin rights to the
workstation). Will try again tomorrow with the work PC and see what happens.
IBM has also released an Interim fix
for 8.0.2 CCH1 which includes new Sameti [read] Keywords: admin
ibm
notes
sametime
2
Lotusphere Flights
Tue, Nov 11th 2008 6:53a Jim Casale If you haven't booked your Lotusphere
travel yet it may make sense to shop around. After two years of jet Blue
I decide to look around and found $79 fares to Orlando out of New York
City on Delta. Best to book early as the flights are going fast.
Also, as pointed out by Greg
Eldred, the time to book a room
is running out quick. I had a hard time booking the minimum stay at All
Start Sports [read] Keywords: lotusphere
3
You can't make this stuff up
Tue, Nov 11th 2008 6:53a Jim Casale Before I get flamed I know this situation
is dependant upon the admin at hand - but you have to laugh at this
"A
federal judge on Monday ruled against the Bush administration in a court
battle over the White House's problem-plagued e-mail system."
The real kicker is this quote
"In February, a former White House computer
expert told Congress the White House had no complete inventory of e-mail
files, that there was no automatic system to ensure that e-mail was archived
and preserved, a [read] Keywords: admin
administration
blogSphere
security
3
OCS vs Sametime - first impresssions
Mon, Nov 10th 2008 9:53a Jim Casale My first impressions of Office Communicator
vs Sametime is that Office Communicator is a rather simplistic chat program
with video and audio added compared to Sametime (I am running the stand-alone
client of Office Communicator) . It seems to me that Microsoft has dumbed
down the interface to have as few menus and choices as possible - for what
reason I don't know. In order to change options you have to find out where
they hid the options. After some poking around I found a rather small,
[read] Keywords: sametime
interface
microsoft
office
Lotusphere 2009 bummer
Wed, Nov 5th 2008 2:52p Jim Casale I will be attending Lotusphere 2009
but found out I will be paying out of my own pocket today. I had a "Doooohhhh"
moment after I found out I had picked a Birds of a Feather" choice
instead of a session (Birds of a Feather speakers do not get conference
passes to Lotusphere). Oh well, I will still be going and plan on having
a great Lotusphere 2009.
Note to self: Picked the right choice
next year! [read] Keywords: lotusphere
3
If you have Fios Internet you need to know about this
Sun, Nov 2nd 2008 1:55p Jim Casale I have been conducting a security scan/audit
of my home network (Yes, I have more than a couple of PC's ) and found
a rather disturbing issue with the Fios
supplied router. My neighbor graciously allowed me to use their Internet
access to perform some external testing - what I found was rather scary.
It seems my Actiontec router had multiple ports open to the Internet even
though I never opened them to begin with. It is a default setting that
one can only assume is for remote access/troub [read] Keywords: network
php
security
2
IBM Research has done it again
Wed, Oct 29th 2008 4:52p Jim Casale Pretty cool technology from IBM. As
someone who is concerned about personal information and identity security,
I think this is a step in the right direction. I might just do on-line
banking one day.
Banking
security on a USB stick [read] Keywords: ibm
security
18
Domino compact options and fragmentation
Sat, Oct 25th 2008 4:58p Jim Casale There have been many discussions around
the compact task on Domino databases and how it affects disk fragmentation.
The most recent discussion
is by Adam Osborne and his company's
new product, Defrag.nsf.
I think it is safe to say that compacting Domino databases is not the same
as defragmenting databases. I agree with Adam's assessment that compact
with -c will lead to fragmentation. Compact with -B would also lead to
fragmentation as the Windows file structure will change.
So the [read] Keywords: domino
database
I am not an economic expert but...
Thu, Oct 9th 2008 8:52p Jim Casale I wonder if short selling is contributing
to the recent stock market crisis. When the incentive to make money by
lower stock prices is gone will investors (or should I say hedge funds)
still be motivated to drive stocks prices even lower? Is outlawing short
selling a good idea? I have to wonder if it is morally right to make money
by short selling stocks. Doesn't the American way of life of constantly
trying to improve, grow, and do better run contrary to making money by
betting something [read] Keywords:
3
And I was going to blame Verizon
Wed, Oct 8th 2008 8:51p Jim Casale I was checking my email this afternoon
and got a "server not responding" error message. After doing
some initial testing I found I wasn't able to connect remotely to any of
my servers. Without physically being there I assumed it might have been
a temporary glitch on the network. When I arrived home and it was still
down, I immediately thought "Uggh it has to be Verizon!". After
dealing with ridiculously lousy DSL service for years I jumped at the chance
for their Fios service when it was [read] Keywords: blogSphere
email
network
server
5
Can't they get this done right?
Thu, Oct 2nd 2008 6:55p Jim Casale You've got to wonder about politicians
and government. You can say greed is driving the current financial crisis,
but what excuse do they have for the lack of results and the amount of
money spent at the World Trade Center site. It makes me wonder if we, as
a country, have any future.
Progress
At WTC Site Behind Schedule, Over Budget [read] Keywords:
3
The old lady is back
Thu, Oct 2nd 2008 6:55p Jim Casale It's not everyday you get to see an aircraft
carrier being pulled down the Hudson river during your lunch hour. My coworkers
and I were surprised to see the Intrepid being pulled by tugboat to its
pier in Manhattan after two years of repairs and improvements.
Intrepid
Returns To Manhattan Pier [read] Keywords:
2
Lotusphere on a budget
Sun, Sep 28th 2008 5:52p Jim Casale There seems to be a few people out there
(Duffbert, Turtle, and the Notes Apprentice to name a few) that are going
to Lotusphere on their own dime. I will also be one of them. I was wondering
if anyone was trying to figure out how to get to Lotusphere and not spend
a small fortune. Before anyone gives me grief I feel it is totally worth
every penny - I would just rather not spend any pennies I don't have to.
In looking for ways to save some of
those pennies I have been trying to dec [read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
4
I may have to try this
Sat, Sep 27th 2008 4:57p Jim Casale I might have to try this on my way to work
as I cross the East River and Hudson River.
FusionMan [read] Keywords:
2
How NOT to rollout Notes 8
Sat, Sep 27th 2008 4:57p Jim Casale You've got to wonder what people are thinking
when they do the things they do. Take a recent incident in our Notes 8
rollout for example. An "important" person was migrated to Notes
8 with not so successful results. When I say "important", I mean
it's someone in upper management that you really shouldn't piss off. Well,
needless to say, I got a call that this person was asking why he was migrated
to Notes 8, and that he wanted to go back to Notes 6.5. Seems he didn't
know how to use all o [read] Keywords: notes
7
It's all IBM's fault
Tue, Sep 23rd 2008 9:52p Jim Casale There is no one else to blame except IBM.
It's their fault I am hooked on Loutsphere and have to figure out how to
justify going to the wife :-P If they didn't have great sessions, great
speakers, and a great atmosphere (not to mention competitive boat races)
I wouldn't be inclined to go. Problem is I have just recently started a
new position, and I am at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole. And
just like many others out there, the company is not really keen on paying
for me to go.
[read] Keywords: ibm
lotusphere
7
Something you should know if you don't have mail limits in ND8
Sun, Sep 21st 2008 8:48p Jim Casale If you don't have limits on mail you need
to know about a hotfix for the folder object issue in Notes 8. This nasty
little issue pops up when the number of folder objects (not the number
of documents in a folder) reaches 50. An internal reorganization is supposed
to take place when it reaches 50. When it doesn't reorganize for whatever
reason you get the "folder is larger than supported" error. There
was a hotfix in 6, and possibly 7 but 8.0, and 8.0.1 do not have the fix.
You can get the [read] Keywords: ibm
nd8
notes
2
Like a fly on an elephants butt
Sun, Sep 21st 2008 8:48p Jim Casale I now know what it feels like to be a fly
on an elephants butt (I am using the nice term here). I recently had an
experience with the local gas and electric utility that shows that the
little guy can fight the big bad utility. It all started about a month
ago when a neighbor called the local utility to report the smell of gas.
The utility and fire department came and they investigated by checking
the street and a whole bunch of houses for any trace of gas. After a few
hours, they said it [read] Keywords: blogSphere
email
leak
2
It's not Paris but it will have to do for now
Sat, Sep 13th 2008 12:51p Jim Casale The wife wanted to go to Paris for our
25th wedding anniversary but we couldn't go right now because of job obligations.
It looks like a trip to Paris will be in the spring, so I planned a secret
get away to the Borgata in Atlantic City for the weekend. I got the inlaws
to watch my youngest son, read the riot act to my other two sons that I
don't want to get calls about wild parties while we were gone, and setup
the all important spa appointment at the Borgata ahead of time. I had planned
[read] Keywords: atlantic
blogSphere
Always a sad day
Thu, Sep 11th 2008 6:15a Jim Casale It's that time of year again. Although
it is never really out of sight or mind, the days leading up to September
11th are always a sad time for me. As much as I try each year to not let
what happened 7 years ago get to me it still does. For months after September
11th I would cringe whenever I would walk down a Manhattan street and hear
the sirens - the wailing sound of urgency would give give me the feeling
of being punched in the gut. Often times it would take all my strength
not to she [read] Keywords:
4
Does this make sense?
Sun, Sep 7th 2008 4:49p Jim Casale This question is for all the Domino security
experts out there. I know some people might say running Domino on the Windows
platform is a security risk to begin with, but I question the wisdom or
advantage of running Domino on Windows with a certain twist. I have had
the opportunity to work in an environment where the Windows host
name does not match the Domino server name. An example would be running
a Domino server called Domino1/FakeCo on a Windows server whose host name
is SomeOtherNa [read] Keywords: domino
security
server
2
Passport Dis-Advantage
Sat, Sep 6th 2008 3:48p Jim Casale Before anyone thinks I am complaining about
Passport Advantage let me be clear that I am not. I am, however, a
bit frustrated at my new employer since it seems to be a bigger project
than it needs to be to add me to the Passport Advantage site. I guess I
was spoiled in the past as I was the technical contact for my former employer.
You may ask "What's the big deal?"
Well, for one thing, it shouldn't be such a big project to be added to
the Passport Advantage site. If I were added t [read] Keywords: blogSphere
2
I've decided to take the plunge
Thu, Sep 4th 2008 9:41a Jim Casale As some of you may know, I have recently
taken a new position at a global financial services company as a Senior
Lotus Notes Administrator. With this new change in my life I have decided
to change a few more things. In the past I have often thought about starting
a blog, but the time was never right - another way of saying I didn't have
the time or desire. With Lotusphere 2009 just right around the corner I
have decided there is no better time than now to take the plunge.
So here I am [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
blogging
