If you are trying to map a new file extension in IIS 5.0, you may notice that the OK button is grayed out and that you cannot select it, and therefore you cannot add a new file extension mapping. There may be two reasons for this:

1) You may be trying to add a new extension mapping at the directory level and adding a * to the extension as in *.newxt - don’t do that. IIS 5.0 won’t tell you why it’s not letting you add the extension (IIS 6.0 will). Just remove the * and add .newxt where newxt is the name of your extension.

2) You have encountered a Windows XP User Interface bug. The button should not be grayed out it’s a well known bug. Just click the first textbox or click around the dialog and the ‘Ok” button should become active.

At the rate I’m currently going. The pace at which I’m buying itunes videos has increased, about 1-2 a day, maybe 10 a week. They’re 500mb each so 5000mb so 5 gigs a week. 25 x 5 gigs = 125gb. So roughly 100~125 GB of videos, x2 for backup. Heh. This is going to get expensive. See my dilemma now. I love the luxury and immediacy of itunes. But it burdens me so. It’s like that monkey trap where monkey trappers create a box with food with an opening large enough for an empty hand, but with a clench fist full of food the monkey is trapped and wont let go. I’m trapped with DRM. :(

If only the monkey knew to let go.

I thought I would celebrate this milestone in my life by taking pictures of my computer and posting them on my bloggeh.

From

Before we get to the good stuff, look at that rascal Leonidas sneaking around on the stove looking for food thinking nobody is watching him. HEH.

From

My home office also includes an ‘integrated learning and programming reference center’ a.k.a. ‘a bookshelf’.

From

Three monitor set up, only a few days after I set up the third monitor I ended up buying a USB keyboard that didn’t work with my ps2 KVM switch, even with an adapter. The third monitor on top there is for my ubuntu machine, and it is off because I can’t switch to it via the KVM switch. I don’t want two keyboards so I’ll have to wait until I buy a usb kvm switch. The book I have propped up there is an ASP.NET book I’m going through.

From

That thing in the corner there is my UPC which helps regulate the power to my PC and let’s me save stuff when the power goes out. It is supposed to last 90 minutes but the amount of stuff I have plugged in, it lasts about 5.

From

My wire nightmare. Someday it will all be wireless. That machine back there is running ubuntu-server. Cable modem, and my main box on the left. Wires. Gah.

From

Another shot of my kitty and books. He follows me everywhere. He’ll sit next to me all night, and when I go to bed he lays next to me and my wife, and then in the morning he’s sitting next to me again. The dog just hides under the covers all day unless she wants something.

From

Distant shot of the area.

From

My new Masters degree! Just got in yesterday. I didn’t want to wait for a frame so I bought a crappy one.

From

Another angle. That laptop on the left is my wife’s.

From

We have a lot of books. They’re mostly mine. :/

From

It’s a small apartment.

And there we go! That’s it! :/

Why not have some Sonofabitch stew to celebrate the occasion.

Life, in my opinion, is pretty pointless. Some may think the objective is to bring glory to God or to accumulate as much wealth as possible. I however think that the universe and our lives are inherently meaningless. Not because I am an atheist, I am not so simple. I am at my core a hypocritical cynic: my cognitive self lives in a bunker ducking the less sophisticated, contemptible, aspects of me – my emotional, physical and spiritual components. These latter few are in a perennial struggle to dominate one another. Whoever’s on top for the moment gets to taunt the bunkered down rationalist with wisps of threats, intimidations, false promises, and insults.

Anyhow, I believe that even the people with the strongest faiths devise for themselves whatever meaning they experience. We bring our own meaning to this world, and that makes us responsible (and I can be very judgmental). Although the universe really is meaningless at its pith, we are not able to completely and willfully redefine it. We as individuals have been built on a foundation of meaning assembled during our development and socialization. We can recognize the foundation, even if we cannot remove it. For me personally, the knowledge that parts of me with powerful influence (such as emotions, first reactions, the tendency to classify in certain ways) are not innate brings me a sense of peace. This is the bunker in which I hide while the rest of me is busy recreating the emotional equivalent of the German western front of the First World War.

So life is pointless, was my point. The days pass, time moves on, and what of it. We did not choose to be here, it simply just happened. We don’t really choose to continue (although a pedantic existentialist might say not ending it is a choice). Time just passes, and we have the option of doing something with this time. We could let it pass indolently or busy ourselves with some activity. Either choice is as good, really, and neither will have any impact on anything ultimately. But that nagging foundation within me has got me inclined to think that I better do something with my time, as a means to alleviate that emotionally painful thought “the man I will be becomes the man I have been.”

And so allow me to introduce my new Goal Oriented Living™ perspective, just in time for New Year’s resolutions. This idea springs in part from my experience this year, where I took it upon myself to accomplish a couple of goals including graduating from the SIRLS program within a year and changing my diet. The successful conclusion of both of these has left me feeling really empty and hollow. Which really wasn’t what I had intended or expected (I mean shouldn’t I feel good?). Instead I just feel dread, a dread more painful than the anguish of trying to accomplish seemingly un-accomplishable goals (that are within my reach if only if I can defeat my terrible self image). And so you see there’s an option I have here: feel terrible dread or less terrible anguish, and I am choosing the latter.

In 2007 I will accomplish the following goals:

Body – Run a marathon (created a training schedule)*, reduce weight to under 200lb (currently at about 215lb – was 250lb a year ago).
Mind – Learn C# and ASP.NET, strengthen my Python, XML, and regular expression skills.
Spirit – Finish Anna Karenina, read the Aeneid, and the Divine Comedies.
Career – Make manager.
Financial – follow my (intensive) student-loan repayment plan.
Relationship – have a child with my wife.
Development – create a new version of my Color Tool.

*I tried it last year and failed. I will succeed this year.

These goals also fit in with my new ‘metrics are important’ outlook. You see I will create plans to succeed; I will measure my progress, and re-evaluate and retool as needed. If I fail at anything I will be able to know why, readjust, and retry. This will set the direction for my activities this next year, center my thinking, and prevent me from going off the path. When I am approached with or develop an idea that may take up resources and time I will be able to evaluate to what extent the idea(s) fit in with my prior established goals, and if they do not fit in, I will discard them. Commitment will be essential, and I will apply the same level of commitment to these goals as I did to my SIRLS graduation in 2006, when fear of marriage failure and bankruptcy motivated me to succeed.

It has been a rough couple of days. The site has been up and down repeatedly. Now however, it is all finished. Search engine friendly permalinks are now working. I have basically created this website from scratch on IIS 6.0. has been absolutely essential. I don’t think I would have been able to get this site running and customized without it. It is a fantastic reference, easy to read and straight to the point. I wish I had gotten an “Administrator’s Pocket Consultant” for Windows 2003 Server as well instead of the massive Microsoft Press behemoth I bought instead. The pocket consultants are cheaper and more helpful if you just want to get things to work (about $30 cheaper). This has been an incredible learning experience, and I am glad I have done this manually. I have learned a lot about FTP, web servers, and Windows 2003 - especially user permissions and IIS 6.0.