Isn't everything bigger in Texas? So we're off to Houston to the National Middle School Association Annual Conference where we will present "Lights, Camera, Action!" to Middle School teachers on Saturday. Of course in order to present a workshop on "How to use Moviemaker" we had to get new toys!! Hence the new Vista install, and the new Macbook. We're hoping to buy a new projector, too. So....the conference in Connecticut was the warm up act.... We now have our act together, and the Keynote presentation is smashing!! No wonder Macs are so popular!! I am trying really hard not to run to the store to buy my Macbook Pro until I, at the very least, open up the brand new Dell that is sitting on my office floor. Yes, I got it aweek ago and it is still in the boxes:(
So while we've been slaving at night to get the documentation and notes finished, I came across some fantastic websites that actually answered the questions in my Presentation From Hell post. The best sight for Moviemaker users is: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net website. Pretty much it is everything you ever wanted to know about Windows Moviemaker, both the XP version and the Vista version. There are forums for EVERYTHING including posts by users named Rehan and Swami who are constantly creating new Moviemaker transitions and effects to download.
One very cool website I found filled with tons of links and ideas as well as downloads is: http://movies.blainesville.com/ Who knew you could do all this cool stuff with moviemaker...a free program?
Another avid moviemaker is Papajohn who you can find hangin' out at http://www.papjohn.org
Well, the answer to the movie that plays audio but no video, is codecs. Codec is short for compression/decompression. I found the answer to my question and a ton of useful information on the MSDN website, (Microsft Developer Network) including the Microsoft Photoblog http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/archive/2007/03/21/movie-maker-vista-file-format-support.aspx
One thing I learned is that just because the format is supported, doesn't mean the codec is installed on the machine There are hundreds of codecs. One of the most popular video formats is AVI..but AVI is not a codec , but a container for a wide range of video codecs! It's all a bit confusing. If you go to Microsoft's Windows Media Player faq page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/codec.mspx you can get an explanation that maybe you can understand.
So that's all for now....I need to go make a movie, and hope that all my codecs are installed. I wish I had this information a year ago! If i had known everyone else was as confused as I was, and that there really is no magic answer, I would have felt a lot better.
The questions just never go away, do they.?..They kind of multiply and take on a life of their own. Some questions are easy and the answers are simple. Sometimes you think you have the right question, but as you look for the answer your question reinvents itself. And sometimes you discover questions you never knew you had.....put it on the clipboard...it will never really go away.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
New England Fan-tasies
So enough about technology.Who has time to get those questions answered with so many New England teams dominating the October weekend? There were a few sports related questions that came up this weekend, however, so it's all good. And, thanks to technology, we not only found the answers to our quetsions...we found an example!!
So, believe it or not, the first question that came up while watching The New England Patriots and Tom Brady on Saturday was, "How many forward passes can a team make?" Thank goodness I happen to live with a real football official! How lucky is that? ANd the answer to my question was, "As long as the pass is a lateral pass, (meaning not forward...side to side or behind the passer)then you can make as many passes as you want....so anyone who watched ESPN or any other news station including utube SUnday morning knows where I'm going..right?
How about that Trinity University College team making 15 lateral passes to win the game with 11 seconds on the clock. Who knew? In case you missed it, here's a link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eeEy060qrA
See for yourself!!
And then there was the Coors Field Humidore question...why are the baseballs kept in a humidore? Isn't that something for cigars? And what differnece does it make? Judging by how many hits the Red Sox got at Coors Field the last 2 days, I really don't think the humidore made that much of a difference.
And who is the tallest Red Sox player? I think it's Mike Timlin, but maybe it's Papelbon...Papelbon definitely has some added hair height. Maybe Timlin just looks taller because of his knickers and knee socks. But at 6'5" it's Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling who are the biggest boys on the team....
Anyways, the Patriots crushed the Redskins...and what about Randy Moss? Maybe he was just looking for the perfect quarterback. Will anyone even give the Patriots competition this year?? That's the big question.
So thank goodness for a laptop and the internet when those sports questions come up. Because goodness knows some questions just need to be answered.
So, believe it or not, the first question that came up while watching The New England Patriots and Tom Brady on Saturday was, "How many forward passes can a team make?" Thank goodness I happen to live with a real football official! How lucky is that? ANd the answer to my question was, "As long as the pass is a lateral pass, (meaning not forward...side to side or behind the passer)then you can make as many passes as you want....so anyone who watched ESPN or any other news station including utube SUnday morning knows where I'm going..right?
How about that Trinity University College team making 15 lateral passes to win the game with 11 seconds on the clock. Who knew? In case you missed it, here's a link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eeEy060qrA
See for yourself!!
And then there was the Coors Field Humidore question...why are the baseballs kept in a humidore? Isn't that something for cigars? And what differnece does it make? Judging by how many hits the Red Sox got at Coors Field the last 2 days, I really don't think the humidore made that much of a difference.
And who is the tallest Red Sox player? I think it's Mike Timlin, but maybe it's Papelbon...Papelbon definitely has some added hair height. Maybe Timlin just looks taller because of his knickers and knee socks. But at 6'5" it's Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling who are the biggest boys on the team....
Anyways, the Patriots crushed the Redskins...and what about Randy Moss? Maybe he was just looking for the perfect quarterback. Will anyone even give the Patriots competition this year?? That's the big question.
So thank goodness for a laptop and the internet when those sports questions come up. Because goodness knows some questions just need to be answered.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Part 2: Maybe we can get a connector from the Apple guys
So where was I? On our way to Connecticut in the Tacoma with maybe 4 hours sleep. The keynote presentation is working great! The Dell notebook has a not so cool version on powerpoint just in case.... I am driving.
Not even 10 minutes into our jaunt I get something in my eye and we need to pull off the highway because I literally cannot open my eye and it's getting worse by the second. Bad karma....So after dowsing my eye with bottled water and wiping the streaky makeup off, we're off.
Great commute! Good karma...we get to the Convention Center in just about 2 and a half hours and pull into the parking garage. It is nearly 10:00. Almost 4 hours after registration. First level Full. Up to the second level. Full. How do you get to the third level? Is there a third level? Round and round we go. "Haven't we been down this section already?" Back down to the first level....to the Parking Garage Office. "You need to go all the way up to the roof." Great. Round and round we go.....Bad karma. Up to the roof, where twenty minutes after we arrived, we park and lug our shit to the elevator.
To the registration desk.....to our room....we have a mic and a sound system. Good karma!! Let's go hang out and relax in the Presenter's Lounge. How do we get there? No signs....up the escalator...down the escalator....back up the escalator...Let's ask this guy!! Back down the escalator..around the corner...there it is. Through the Boardroom Door. Not a lounge. A Boardroom, with a table and chairs and drinks. Is that chocolate on your pants? Bad karma....
Thank goodness for the Tide Stainstick!! Let's go online....no IP....more bad karma. This is why you need to bring a digital camera with you EVERYWHERE you go.
Okay, so let's go to the Exhibition Hall. Apple's here, maybe they can answer our Keynote questions!! Right. No answers there, sorry..Too big a room, not enough people. We were the only ones wandering aimlessly looking for cool stuff. Vendors huddled over their laptops ignoring us...bad karma.
Killing time....let's go get set up. Into the Big room with the Big screen ,the podium, the sound system, the projector with the cable for a pc...not a mac. Crap. Let's call Tech Support. Maybe the Apple guys have a cable! We are, after all, at a tech conference....
So my colleague leaves, and I get my not so cool powerpoint set up, and once I figure out which outlet to plug the speakers into I have Outback Popstar wafting through the room out into the hallway. 10 minutes to show time.....5 minutes to go.....and suddenly this really nice guy comes up to me and says he' s going to get me connected to the internet. "But I don't need the Internet for my presentation, " I say. But I think it must be like when you call for an ambulance and they have to take you to the hospital anyways, cause he insited on helping me set up my wireless connection. Then he whipped out his directions to get my colleague's macbook set up too!!
"Click Keynote" he says....nope, that's not it..." Click File" Nope that's not it....1:00 now, no Marcy. People are wandering in , grabbing handouts, grabbing seats, "Got it!" It' s the Apple. Great. No Marcy. Where the heck is she? What time is it? Almost 1:10...
"Okay, let's get started!" The presentation from hell begins....
Well...the Apple guys...nowhere, pretty useless...the CWD Guy enthusiastically offered a cabel from his car, only to return without it, sorry. No cool Keynote. Only Powerpoint. Not bad, somewhat entertaining. We definitely needed some retail therapy after that one. You know the Master Card commercial? Stopping at the mall to buy comfortable clothes and shoes to change into .....and changing in the truck in the parking lot...priceless.
Not even 10 minutes into our jaunt I get something in my eye and we need to pull off the highway because I literally cannot open my eye and it's getting worse by the second. Bad karma....So after dowsing my eye with bottled water and wiping the streaky makeup off, we're off.
Great commute! Good karma...we get to the Convention Center in just about 2 and a half hours and pull into the parking garage. It is nearly 10:00. Almost 4 hours after registration. First level Full. Up to the second level. Full. How do you get to the third level? Is there a third level? Round and round we go. "Haven't we been down this section already?" Back down to the first level....to the Parking Garage Office. "You need to go all the way up to the roof." Great. Round and round we go.....Bad karma. Up to the roof, where twenty minutes after we arrived, we park and lug our shit to the elevator.
To the registration desk.....to our room....we have a mic and a sound system. Good karma!! Let's go hang out and relax in the Presenter's Lounge. How do we get there? No signs....up the escalator...down the escalator....back up the escalator...Let's ask this guy!! Back down the escalator..around the corner...there it is. Through the Boardroom Door. Not a lounge. A Boardroom, with a table and chairs and drinks. Is that chocolate on your pants? Bad karma....
Thank goodness for the Tide Stainstick!! Let's go online....no IP....more bad karma. This is why you need to bring a digital camera with you EVERYWHERE you go.
Okay, so let's go to the Exhibition Hall. Apple's here, maybe they can answer our Keynote questions!! Right. No answers there, sorry..Too big a room, not enough people. We were the only ones wandering aimlessly looking for cool stuff. Vendors huddled over their laptops ignoring us...bad karma.
Killing time....let's go get set up. Into the Big room with the Big screen ,the podium, the sound system, the projector with the cable for a pc...not a mac. Crap. Let's call Tech Support. Maybe the Apple guys have a cable! We are, after all, at a tech conference....
So my colleague leaves, and I get my not so cool powerpoint set up, and once I figure out which outlet to plug the speakers into I have Outback Popstar wafting through the room out into the hallway. 10 minutes to show time.....5 minutes to go.....and suddenly this really nice guy comes up to me and says he' s going to get me connected to the internet. "But I don't need the Internet for my presentation, " I say. But I think it must be like when you call for an ambulance and they have to take you to the hospital anyways, cause he insited on helping me set up my wireless connection. Then he whipped out his directions to get my colleague's macbook set up too!!
"Click Keynote" he says....nope, that's not it..." Click File" Nope that's not it....1:00 now, no Marcy. People are wandering in , grabbing handouts, grabbing seats, "Got it!" It' s the Apple. Great. No Marcy. Where the heck is she? What time is it? Almost 1:10...
"Okay, let's get started!" The presentation from hell begins....
Well...the Apple guys...nowhere, pretty useless...the CWD Guy enthusiastically offered a cabel from his car, only to return without it, sorry. No cool Keynote. Only Powerpoint. Not bad, somewhat entertaining. We definitely needed some retail therapy after that one. You know the Master Card commercial? Stopping at the mall to buy comfortable clothes and shoes to change into .....and changing in the truck in the parking lot...priceless.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Have I got questions!!
Alright...so the last two and a half days have been a lesson in perserverence, exhaustion, problem solving and patience. Some questions have been answered...some problems have been solved, and some questions are being put on the clipboard for now.
It all began with Jury Duty again on Monday. So what happens if you actually get to go into the courtroom to be a part of the selection process? All rise please, for the Judge. The Judge explains the case and reads a list of questions, to which you must ask yourself....is my answer "yes" to any of these? If your answer is yes, and they pull your name out of the little wooden box, then you must say "Yes" when the Judge asks if there is any reason why you cannot be on the jury. Nine names selected....safe so far...then they pulled my name. "Yes" I said. "Please approach the bench," the judge said. "Judge, I am to present at a technology conference in Connecticut tomorrow...AND I know one of the lawyers."
"You're excused." As I nervously walked toward the back of the courtroom to escape, I really wasn't thinking about much except, "Phew..that was close."
The court clerk blocking the door simply stood there and waited for me to get right up close to him before he said,"You have to stay."
"Right, oops, sorry.." as I scurried back to my seat.
I was in such a hurry to get the heck out of there, I was halfway home before I realized I had left my new book, The PHOTOCOACH, back in the Jury Assembly Room. GRRRRR!!! All the way back to the courthouse, back through the metal detector with my shoes in my hand because they set off the detector every time. Up the stairs, with the guard who unlocks the door because everyone has gone to lunch, into the room where my book is right where I left it. Phew again.
So night time arrives, and my colleague and I prepare to finalize our presentation for the CECA/CEMA Conference at the Hartford Convention Center the next day. We were using a powerpoint presentation we had done once before, with revisions, however.I had my snazzy new operating system, and she had her slick new macbook. And the macbook was running xp as well. So 4 operating systems. 2 Notebooks. 2 presentation softwares.
Let the fun and games begin. Inserting movie and audio files into powerpoint is no small feat on a day when you are rested and ready to go. It is a challenge when you have put in a 10 hour day, and you still have a few hours to go. Let's remember the trick about powerpoint-all the files associated with the project have to be saved in the same location as the powerpoint in order to play properly.
Question # 1: Why doesn't my movie play? It was playing the last time I opened the presentation.
Question # 2: Why is there audio but no video when I click my movie?
Question # 3: Why is there no audio on this podcast?
Question # 4: Should I convert the file from wmf back to quicktime...back to wmf?
Question # 5: Should I convert the video to avi?mp4?mov?
Question # 6: How can I get this to advance to the next slide? The movie keeps playing over, and over when I click it.."
Question # 7: Can you import avi files into powerpoint?
Question# 8: Can you import mov files into keynote?
Some of the random answers we came up with:
Let's make a movie of the podcast and trick powerpoint into thinking it's a movie.
Let's use moviemaker to make a movie of the slide show and then import it into 1 slide.
I know..let's not save the project and just leave the macbook plugged in and the project open until we present...
10 pm..still not working...11pm...still not working. I am knapping on the couch at this point. "Why don't you just stay here tonight?" Did I mention registration for the conference began at 6:30 am??? The next morning. In Hartford. Three hours away.
SO now it's midnight. We don't really know if the project is saved...because the macbook needed to be shut down. The notebook with vista, meanwhile, had a close second to the cool keynote presentation, but not as slick. But it was saved, and would work in the event of a macbook disaster.
"I'm going home for a few hours sleep," my colleague said. "I'll be back at 5am to take a shower and get ready." Did I mention she had no hot water at her house?
So at 5:30 am I awoke to dim headlights in my driveway." Did you sleep in my driveway?" I asked. "No, but I really wanted to stay up all night and come back into your house and finish the presentation. But I was afraid I would scare you."
When the macbook booted up and the keynote presentation opened...it all came together and worked like a charm....EXCELLENT! "Let's bring both, just in case...... by 7am we were on our way to Connecticut to present at their regional technology conference armed with our 2 laptops, 2 presentations, 4 operating systems and a couple of portable speakers...just in case.
Tomorrow....stay tuned to more blogging about the Presentation From Hell.
It all began with Jury Duty again on Monday. So what happens if you actually get to go into the courtroom to be a part of the selection process? All rise please, for the Judge. The Judge explains the case and reads a list of questions, to which you must ask yourself....is my answer "yes" to any of these? If your answer is yes, and they pull your name out of the little wooden box, then you must say "Yes" when the Judge asks if there is any reason why you cannot be on the jury. Nine names selected....safe so far...then they pulled my name. "Yes" I said. "Please approach the bench," the judge said. "Judge, I am to present at a technology conference in Connecticut tomorrow...AND I know one of the lawyers."
"You're excused." As I nervously walked toward the back of the courtroom to escape, I really wasn't thinking about much except, "Phew..that was close."
The court clerk blocking the door simply stood there and waited for me to get right up close to him before he said,"You have to stay."
"Right, oops, sorry.." as I scurried back to my seat.
I was in such a hurry to get the heck out of there, I was halfway home before I realized I had left my new book, The PHOTOCOACH, back in the Jury Assembly Room. GRRRRR!!! All the way back to the courthouse, back through the metal detector with my shoes in my hand because they set off the detector every time. Up the stairs, with the guard who unlocks the door because everyone has gone to lunch, into the room where my book is right where I left it. Phew again.
So night time arrives, and my colleague and I prepare to finalize our presentation for the CECA/CEMA Conference at the Hartford Convention Center the next day. We were using a powerpoint presentation we had done once before, with revisions, however.I had my snazzy new operating system, and she had her slick new macbook. And the macbook was running xp as well. So 4 operating systems. 2 Notebooks. 2 presentation softwares.
Let the fun and games begin. Inserting movie and audio files into powerpoint is no small feat on a day when you are rested and ready to go. It is a challenge when you have put in a 10 hour day, and you still have a few hours to go. Let's remember the trick about powerpoint-all the files associated with the project have to be saved in the same location as the powerpoint in order to play properly.
Question # 1: Why doesn't my movie play? It was playing the last time I opened the presentation.
Question # 2: Why is there audio but no video when I click my movie?
Question # 3: Why is there no audio on this podcast?
Question # 4: Should I convert the file from wmf back to quicktime...back to wmf?
Question # 5: Should I convert the video to avi?mp4?mov?
Question # 6: How can I get this to advance to the next slide? The movie keeps playing over, and over when I click it.."
Question # 7: Can you import avi files into powerpoint?
Question# 8: Can you import mov files into keynote?
Some of the random answers we came up with:
Let's make a movie of the podcast and trick powerpoint into thinking it's a movie.
Let's use moviemaker to make a movie of the slide show and then import it into 1 slide.
I know..let's not save the project and just leave the macbook plugged in and the project open until we present...
10 pm..still not working...11pm...still not working. I am knapping on the couch at this point. "Why don't you just stay here tonight?" Did I mention registration for the conference began at 6:30 am??? The next morning. In Hartford. Three hours away.
SO now it's midnight. We don't really know if the project is saved...because the macbook needed to be shut down. The notebook with vista, meanwhile, had a close second to the cool keynote presentation, but not as slick. But it was saved, and would work in the event of a macbook disaster.
"I'm going home for a few hours sleep," my colleague said. "I'll be back at 5am to take a shower and get ready." Did I mention she had no hot water at her house?
So at 5:30 am I awoke to dim headlights in my driveway." Did you sleep in my driveway?" I asked. "No, but I really wanted to stay up all night and come back into your house and finish the presentation. But I was afraid I would scare you."
When the macbook booted up and the keynote presentation opened...it all came together and worked like a charm....EXCELLENT! "Let's bring both, just in case...... by 7am we were on our way to Connecticut to present at their regional technology conference armed with our 2 laptops, 2 presentations, 4 operating systems and a couple of portable speakers...just in case.
Tomorrow....stay tuned to more blogging about the Presentation From Hell.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Weird Things a Happenin'
So a few weeks ago I had a friend partition my hard drive and load Windows Vista. What fun! It was like having a new computer, but I still had my old XP inside my notebook. I got my updates loaded, reinstalled several programs, and transferred my Outlook files, and was ready to go.
I use an extended desktop with my notebook, my notebook being my primary display on the left, with my moniter on the right. So there I was typing away..trying to keep up with email, web pages, and Im'ing my people. My typing, I must confess, is pretty awful, but it is legible. However, as I looked at my moniter, I couldn't believe my eyes! I can only describe what was flying off my fingers onto the screen as utter gibberish. As I was typing, my curser would move to random locations on the screen so that words became muddled with letters, and sentences became nonsensical.
AHHHH! I thought it was me. I thought it was my keyboard. I thought it was my mouse. My friend insisted it was me. "You must bve doing it. You must be hitting your touch pad while you type. mybe it's the heat from your hand..."????
"Really?" That's weird...it ONLY happens in Vista, not in XP." So I tried typing REALLY slowly.....I tried typing REALLY carefully...delete, backspace, delete. Crap.
SO after a few days of frustration and gibberish, I decided to do a little investigating. I can't be the only one who is experienceing this problem! Can I?
Sure enough, I entered the electronic world of Vista discussion boards and random postings of weird Vista happenings. I was not alone. Someone even went so far as to post a video of their whacky keyboard on utube. Lots of whacky and weird keyboard happenings with Vista, it seems.
Well, it took some digging, but I discovered an updated touch pad driver would solve the problem. To the Dell website...to the driver update...voila. No more weirdness.......for at least a day. Stay tuned for more Vista weirdness.....
I use an extended desktop with my notebook, my notebook being my primary display on the left, with my moniter on the right. So there I was typing away..trying to keep up with email, web pages, and Im'ing my people. My typing, I must confess, is pretty awful, but it is legible. However, as I looked at my moniter, I couldn't believe my eyes! I can only describe what was flying off my fingers onto the screen as utter gibberish. As I was typing, my curser would move to random locations on the screen so that words became muddled with letters, and sentences became nonsensical.
AHHHH! I thought it was me. I thought it was my keyboard. I thought it was my mouse. My friend insisted it was me. "You must bve doing it. You must be hitting your touch pad while you type. mybe it's the heat from your hand..."????
"Really?" That's weird...it ONLY happens in Vista, not in XP." So I tried typing REALLY slowly.....I tried typing REALLY carefully...delete, backspace, delete. Crap.
SO after a few days of frustration and gibberish, I decided to do a little investigating. I can't be the only one who is experienceing this problem! Can I?
Sure enough, I entered the electronic world of Vista discussion boards and random postings of weird Vista happenings. I was not alone. Someone even went so far as to post a video of their whacky keyboard on utube. Lots of whacky and weird keyboard happenings with Vista, it seems.
Well, it took some digging, but I discovered an updated touch pad driver would solve the problem. To the Dell website...to the driver update...voila. No more weirdness.......for at least a day. Stay tuned for more Vista weirdness.....
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Techno-difficulties
So every day there are these annoying little technological discrepancies that slow me down. One really big annoyance was my Geneva Logic classroom management software program, Vision ,which in theory, should make my job easier. The program is designed to allow a computer lab teacher to monitor students from one station, or to demonstrate a lesson or prevent web surfing. Since upgrading to version 6.1 last Fall this program has not performed the way it should, and so I ask why?
"It must be something you're doing. Change your settings. You just need to play around with it,blah,blah,blah."
Why can't I connect to my students' computers? Why can't I see what's on their screen? Why can't I take control of their screens What am I doing wrong?
"I'm sorrry boys and girls," I would say,"this program is supposed to enable me to demonstrate this concept."
And as precious minutes tick by, I click, and click, and give up, exasperated once again.
Until this summer when I attended the National Education and Computing Conference and I ran into the Geneva Logic guys and I told them about their crappy product thatI used to love. "We've fixed that!" They excalimed. "You need to run the upgrade and you'll be happy."
"Are you sure?" I asked, "because right now I'm ready to throw my computer out the window!"
"Yes, " they promised."We know that version was full of bugs. We got rid of the team that developed that version and we completely scrapped it and started over."
So
And so today was the day I got to see the new and improved version of Geneva Logic's Vision program, finally, and my question was answered. I can now connect and disconnect and monitor and control with confidence. It wasn't me after all!
This question took a very long time to answer, and required perserverence. So if you know you have a good product but it just ain't happening for you....try, try again. And if you're lucky, you'll run into someone who has the inside scoop. Thanks Geneva Logic guys.
"It must be something you're doing. Change your settings. You just need to play around with it,blah,blah,blah."
Why can't I connect to my students' computers? Why can't I see what's on their screen? Why can't I take control of their screens What am I doing wrong?
"I'm sorrry boys and girls," I would say,"this program is supposed to enable me to demonstrate this concept."
And as precious minutes tick by, I click, and click, and give up, exasperated once again.
Until this summer when I attended the National Education and Computing Conference and I ran into the Geneva Logic guys and I told them about their crappy product thatI used to love. "We've fixed that!" They excalimed. "You need to run the upgrade and you'll be happy."
"Are you sure?" I asked, "because right now I'm ready to throw my computer out the window!"
"Yes, " they promised."We know that version was full of bugs. We got rid of the team that developed that version and we completely scrapped it and started over."
So
And so today was the day I got to see the new and improved version of Geneva Logic's Vision program, finally, and my question was answered. I can now connect and disconnect and monitor and control with confidence. It wasn't me after all!
This question took a very long time to answer, and required perserverence. So if you know you have a good product but it just ain't happening for you....try, try again. And if you're lucky, you'll run into someone who has the inside scoop. Thanks Geneva Logic guys.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Today I got my questions answered.
So today I reported for Jury Duty. I had a lot of questions; fortunately most of them got answered. When I arrived at the courthouse I was greeted by a metal detector and of course the alarm went off. The old guy with the wand scanned my shoes and I was good to go. Looking around, I was obviously late, as noone else seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. So I got the letter out of my pocketbook that said to report to the court officer upstairs.
Once upstairs, I was directed into the Jurors Assmembly Room, where over a hundred potential jurors were sitting, standing, leaning, reading, and yawning. I looked around and spotted a chair between two people, and had a seat. Shortly we were ushered into the courtroom where the Clerk o fthe Court spoke to us, followed by the Judge. For 90 minutes we were given a lesson on the county court system. Let me say, it is better than it used to be, I guess, but it is still pretty archaic.
The Judge who spoke to us does not believe in cell phones or the Internet. So much for those of us with a short attention span. I started to get antsy after about an hour, and I don't really remember much that was said after that. The judge explained the difference between the courts, the cases, and what our responsibilities would be. He also said we could not take notes. "It's not rocket science, people. Most cases are only 2-3 days long. You just need to pay attention." Great.
So we were finally given the Jurors' Oath and ushered back into the Assembly room where the Clerk of the Court asked anyone that had questions to remain behind. That's me! I had a question! I wasn't going to ask, but since they made it so easy, I decided to stay. We were asked to get into a line, and one at a time we had to walk up to the Clerk and ask our question or state our problem.
When it was my turn, I approached the Clerk and asked if it would be possible for me to attend a conference I am supposed to be presenting at next week. Not a problem! If I am selected, all I need to do is let them know I cannot be there that day. Question answered.
Lots of my questions and concerns were answered today and I learned a lot. But the day is not yet over.....
Once upstairs, I was directed into the Jurors Assmembly Room, where over a hundred potential jurors were sitting, standing, leaning, reading, and yawning. I looked around and spotted a chair between two people, and had a seat. Shortly we were ushered into the courtroom where the Clerk o fthe Court spoke to us, followed by the Judge. For 90 minutes we were given a lesson on the county court system. Let me say, it is better than it used to be, I guess, but it is still pretty archaic.
The Judge who spoke to us does not believe in cell phones or the Internet. So much for those of us with a short attention span. I started to get antsy after about an hour, and I don't really remember much that was said after that. The judge explained the difference between the courts, the cases, and what our responsibilities would be. He also said we could not take notes. "It's not rocket science, people. Most cases are only 2-3 days long. You just need to pay attention." Great.
So we were finally given the Jurors' Oath and ushered back into the Assembly room where the Clerk of the Court asked anyone that had questions to remain behind. That's me! I had a question! I wasn't going to ask, but since they made it so easy, I decided to stay. We were asked to get into a line, and one at a time we had to walk up to the Clerk and ask our question or state our problem.
When it was my turn, I approached the Clerk and asked if it would be possible for me to attend a conference I am supposed to be presenting at next week. Not a problem! If I am selected, all I need to do is let them know I cannot be there that day. Question answered.
Lots of my questions and concerns were answered today and I learned a lot. But the day is not yet over.....
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