Yet frustrating.

Windows SharePoint Services is a collection of services for Windows Server 2003 that you can use to share information, collaborate with other users on documents, and create lists and Web Part Pages.

[ Sharepoint Products and Technologies ]

Clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into WSS and SPS. Clearly it allows some great collaboration. And clearly there is much to learn.

I just want to know how to import and export from a Discussion Board. I'm sure I'll eventually want to know how to import and export from all sorts of Lists, Document Libraries, etc. And I'm sure this is one of the first things that everyone has to figure out, so why don't they make it a wee bit easier?

I have a PC that seems to have a horrible clock in it, and it's always running about 5 minutes slow. It's certainly possible that something on the box is messing with the date and time, I'm not sure. I do know that the Windows XP time sync that's built in just doesn't run frequently enough to fix the issue, so I went looking:

TimeSync is an NT service that keeps your system's clock in sync with an accurate network server.

[ TimeSync ]

I'm actually surprised I never found this one before. It's easy to install, works great, has tons of options, runs as a service, seems to be freeware, and seems to have correctly my clock issue for the short term.

I did disable the XP service that was syncing time, to ensure that this program was doing the work, which I think I'd recommend for anyone else.

This is Reggie Fils-Aime's response to an interviewers question about the upcoming E3:

We want them to leave feeling that “Wow, Zelda is going to be as huge hit and I want it now. And I’m going to go to my local retailer and put a deposit for the super premium edition of the game,” which we’ll make available. We want the fans to walk away saying, “Wow, look at all this great GBA product and I’m going to be a two-handheld consumer, having both my old-time GBA as well as my brand new DS.” I want the consumer walking away just totally blown away with all the great product coming out for DS, especially Mario Kart, Metroid Prime Hunters, and Animal Crossing. So, in total, I want our fan walking away saying, “Yes, I need to be a three-system household, SP, DS, and GCN.”

[ 4 color rebellion Gamespot Interviews Reggie ]

But who isn't like this already? Just let me know when reservations are taking place, I'm ready to plunk down a deposit on the new Zelda. And who doesn't already own a GameCube, GBA, and DS? Could I be in the minority there?

(As the fan boys already know, Reggie is Nintendo's Vice President of Sales and Marketing)

This looks like a ton of fun:

From the entry of the 800-pound o-daiko drum on a cart illuminated by Japanese lanterns to the extreme physicality of the playing positions, the Kodo Drummers are all about ritual performance. Two dozen Japanese musicians man their taiko drums, fues, and shamisens in a performance that includes choreography and vocals.

[ Washington Performing Arts Society ]

But all studies show you will eventually return to normalcy.

[ iloveegg ]

And interestingly the UK version seems to be less abstract, and the Korean version requires a software installation so I didn't go there.

Props to the Persian Dispersion.

My family has a mailing list. I believe it just may be my primary means of communication with most of my family. Is that wrong? Please don't judge, at least not yet:

Iwata announced that the Wi-Fi protocol for Nintendo DS will provide users with a link to other players across the country or around the world. Once the service begins later this year, Nintendo DS users will be able to connect to the service wirelessly at Wi-Fi hot spots, whether they’re at home, in a hotel or at a coffee shop. As one of several Wi-Fi games, Nintendo’s in-house development team is creating a new Animal Crossing game for global Wi-Fi play.

[ News : Article ]

Once Animal Crossing DS over WiFi becomes my primary means of communication with the entire world, then you can pity me. That is if you have Animal Crossing DS and can mail me your ridicule, or a fossil...

And I can't wait to tell the first client, instead of using a conference call, let's all just meet in my Animal Crossing DS town, mind the weeds!

If only Yaty was here, and I wasn't so sick, I'm sure I'd try and catch part of this:

Once again this year we at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital have embarked on the exciting journey of presenting a diverse and engaging array of films from around the globe to challenge and broaden our audiences’ perception and understanding of the complex world that surrounds us.

[ DC Environmental Film Festival ]

Think I'll just go hug a tree instead.

Gmail claims "you'll never need to delete another message" but I'm 9 months in, and I've used 12% of my 1GB. A little math will tell you that I've only got 5.5 more years left, according to Google.

Unless Google has some nefarious plan to rid the world of email in 5.5 years, and I'll be stuck at 98% usage or so, forever...

Or possibly they just haven't thought that far yet, and will worry about it when the first person (with real usage) hits 75% or so, and then they can devise a plan to deal with it. (which will likely be to postpone that by increasing sizes to 2GB or 5GB or whatever, as I'm sure storage will be that much cheaper in 5.5 years).

Or, maybe that's just a marketing slogan, and when my space fills up they'll say "so, what did you expect for free?".

At least that's my guess. She was recently in Japan promoting her hand bags or something, and I think she convinced Nintendo to write this game for her to promote:

[ nintendogs ]

I'm sure she's just waiting for the new pink DS before using it in public.

I don't know why, but I always seem to like a cover, good or bad. Long story short I was in the mood for the Turkey Song this morning, and remembering how Elliot used to drive us crazy with that song I sent the Rhapsody link to Tom. Good call too, he clued me in to the most excellent cover CD ever, "Pigs Fly CD":

Dari has once again come through. Based on the recommendation that his father enjoyed the Philips Senseo, I picked one up for a coffee solution at work.

...the SENSEO® Coffee Machine brings great taste - in both design and coffee - to your kitchen. The patented system uses perfectly balanced proportions of coffee and water. Mild pressure and a special spray head produce an optimally balanced coffee filtering process.

The problem at work is the big industrial machine we have just doesn't make that good coffee. I'm not a big fan of drip, there is so much to clean up, and the coffee is decent, but frequently a bit weak for my taste.

Let us review some of Philips' claims about the product:

Each cup is perfectly brewed and topped with a rich, frothy coffee layer

Note here that Philips does not claim the "layer" is crema. It's not even really crema-like. However for the price, and what you can expect from this type of machine, it does meet their claims.

Quick and easy one touch brewing system brews a cup in 30 seconds.

Absolutly does this. It's not crazy loud like some would have you believe, although I did find the instructions a bit confusing, not mentioning anything about waiting for the power light to stop blinking before selecting 1 or 2 cups for the brew size.

Convenient, no worry auto shutoff after 1 hour

I guess it does this, I've never left it on that long. I'm not even sure why you'd want it to stay on, there is no hot plate or anything. Perhaps just a safety feature, which is always nice.

Clean up is simple with dishwasher safe removable parts

Clean up is simpled. Dead simple. Everything is neat and tidy, and for me that is a super big plus.

1450 watts of power

Well, yes, it does have that much power as far as I can tell.

All-in-all for an under $50 coffee solution (after rebates and if your shipping is free and there is no tax) it's possibly the best I've ever seen (all things considered).

The coffee selection is a bit limited, though, and although I've seen Kona pods, I've yet to see Maui pods (sorry Dad).

Do something stupid:

...the Guy Who Was So Into Super Monkey Ball Deluxe That He Decided To Live in a Ball.

[ The True Adventures of Chad... ]

I'm still not sure if this is stupid funny or stupid stupid, but if he ends up dating the ponytail girl, it could lean more toward funny.

Courtesy Doug:

A caulk gun? Hey, if it’s good enough for Taco Bell guacamole and sour cream, it’s good enough for a fine and delicate espresso, right?

[ How-To: Make a cheap portable espresso machine - Engadget ]

However, I'm not too convinced. The parts are not detailed well enough for me. If they had the part numbers so I could ensure that I had exactly what was needed, perhaps. Plus I'm not sure that everything he uses is food-grade or has been tested with the type of pressure that is required for espresso. I think I'll agree with a few of the comments and look into a COTS product that I can just stuff in my pack like:

or:

Update: Some site called Firebox also carries this Presso Coffee Maker, but has sexier images and a little movie showing it in action.

Update: Both of these are so tempting to add to my collection of coffee and tea paraphernalia, except I just dropped a couple bucks on a Philips Senseo. Perhaps I'll have to treat myself for my birthday with yet another coffee making device that I never or rarely use...