When I installed OO.o 2.3 on my sister's computer, I was disturbed that it kept offering her admin account as the single account it would install under, even though we were not running the installer under that account. 

At my XP SP2 system at home, I installed the same version and I did not have that problem.  This time it did name the account I was using, even though it was not my normal administrator account.  It was, however, the first account that had been set up on my machine, as was the case for admin on my sister's machine.

So I tried again, this time on my Tablet PC and Windows Vista Ultimate.  For variety, I also used the OO.o 2.1 Novell edition, installing from CD-ROM.  There, I ran into exactly the same problem.  I was presented with this dilemma:

Once again, me is not admin.  I am doing this install from my standard-user account (SUA).  But just to see what would happen, I took that option anyhow.  Guess what: This dialog is lying.  It will install only for the account being used.  The bug is that it doesn't present the correct account name.  The behavior is actually correct.

So if you are attempting to install OpenOffice.org 2.3 (or the 2.1 Novell Edition) only under the account you are running in, you can ignore the incorrect account name.  It will do the right thing. 

The next time I assist my sister in adding an OpenOffice.org update, I'll be sure to uninstall the current version and then install the new one only for her standard account.

Now, you might wonder what the fuss is all about.  If you are as obsessive as I am about computer security, you might want to omit all but pure administrative applications from the administrative account, and only ever use the administrative account for essential administrative operations.

This means that to have ordinary applications install properly in the ordinary accounts where it is safest to run them I elevate my standard-user account to an administrator account just long enough to install the software and run it the first time under the standard account.  This gyration is required because many programs expect to perform final administrative setup operations on the first execution.  Setting of registry entries and creation of application data, plus other details, may be specific to the account that is used for the install.  I will usually discover the firewall conditioning that is required upon the first execution.  From then on, I can use the program as a standard user.

When certain programs (e.g., Second Life) install for all users with no other option, I will remove the shortcuts and links placed on the "All Users" desktop and startup menu and place them in the profile information of my standard user account.  This is just a little preventative against my foolishly using recreational software from my administrative account.

Usually when I am working close with my 105mm lens, the cats don't give me eye contact long enough for a clean photograph.  This one (cropped here) shows my good fortune.  I love that the surrounding fur frames the eye of little Princess Psyche. 

I think some of the clarity of this image is attributable to the Nikon SB-600 flash with Omnibounce on a side bracket, the closest I could match the pistol-grip flash handle used with my analog camera (shown to the right in a photo taken with my webcam).  I looked for a digital-camera-qualified version of that flash and none of them work with this handle.  I may end up scavenging it and kit-bashing it at some point, turning it into a bracket for shoe-mounted flashes like the SB-600.  I might even use a Nikon cord to for the extension from my D80's hot shoe. 

This shot doesn't qualify as a Strobist submission because the SB-600 is tethered and not far off the camera.  It also has an interesting defect, although Vicki thinks it adds something to the image: the photographer, camera, and speedlight are all visibly reflected in the cat's eye.

But I do like the result.  Yes I do.

Reflections: My 1992-purchased Nikon 8008s (pictured) was already smarter than its owner, as was almost the case with the 2020 before that.  This year's purchase of a D80 shows me how much smarter it is than the owner: It embarrasses me with the raft of features and settings over which I have no comprehension.  Once I obtained the SB-600 speedlight, it was clear that the flash is smarter than me too.  I have lots of practice to make up before I can again utter that I once (over 50 years ago) fancied becoming a photographer.

Modern photographic equipment: Whether or not the D80 and newer high-end cameras like the D3 are too feature-laden with too many options (sort of the Microsoft Office of its breed), it is clear that the digital era has revolutionized photography and creation of other electronic media.  In addition to easy entry levels, the affordability of high-powered equipment for amateurs and enthusiasts is telling.  There is another phenomenon.  The capabilities and economy of competing high-end Nikon and Canon digital SLR lines is leaving little room for after-market suppliers.  I don't think anyone can price-compete with the SB-600, for example, and the loss of functionality for lower-priced alternatives is pronounced.   I think this has a giant impact on the market, even in the (vanishing) stores where professionals shop.  (The difference for the pro seems to be ruggedness, durability, and extreme optical quality.)  OK enough pontification. What's needed from me is more pictures and more experiential mastery of my tools.

Yesterday, I gave my tale of woes around installation of OpenOffice.org 2.3 on my sister's (and then my) computer.  Here's the key take-away as a Hot Tip!

1. When you are installing OpenOffice.org 2.3, the current latest-and-greatest from the download site, you will eventually run into this dialog.
     
2. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.  YOU NEED TO PUT THE INSTALLATION FILES IN A SAFE PLACE.  NOT YOUR DESKTOP.  The  installation of OO.o is going to remember where the installation files have been placed.  OO.o software depends on being able to find the Installation Files in the future if you ever want to uninstall or upgrade your OO.o software.  Be warned!
       
3. Use the Browse ... button to find a safe place to keep the installation files.  Do not accept the default as I am doing in this screen shot.
     
   I recommend a location that is backed-up and restored and is otherwise in an out-of-the-way place. 
     
   I keep all of my downloaded software in folders of a special directory, so that I can reinstall if I ever need to rebuild my system.  I changed the destination folder path to be under that directory, in an "\OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files" subdirectory. 
     
4. It is a great waste of space to keep all of this around when apparently it is just the .msi file that will be needed in the future.  But to be safe, I recommend keeping all of the files.  You might want to delete or archive the downloaded .exe file that the Installation Files are unpacked from, though.
      
5. Update 2007-09-27-12:22: Another option is to back up both the downloaded .exe file and the folder of OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files onto a CD-ROM or a backup service.  When the Installation Files are needed again, it should be sufficient to access them directly on the backup CD or remote folder.
     
6. An Alternative: [added 2007-09-27]:  The OpenOffice.org 2.1.0-12b Novell Edition downloads as a CD-ROM .iso image.  You can burn this to a CD-ROM and install it whenever and wherever you like.  The setup.exe of this version does not require your cooperation in creating and preserving an Installation Files folder.  I don't know whether uninstall requires the CD-ROM, so hold onto it, but I somehow doubt that will be a problem.
• I don't know if this variant of OpenOffice.org 2.1 is subject to the TIFF exploit that applies to the Sun-sponsored OpenOffice.org 2.1 release and that does not apply to their release 2.3.  I am willing to risk that because I am not expecting to be receiving and ODF documents containing TIFF images.  Also, I don't use office productivity software in anything but limited-user accounts.
• My interest in the Novell version is the greater attention to Microsoft interoperability and the availability of an early OOXML-conversion plug-in.  I also have an interest in products that support ODMA.  Novell is adding that to their Windows edition with initial presence in the OOo 2.1 Novell edition.

[listening to: Pink Floyd, The Wall (1994 Digital Remaster) from Amazon MP3 in Windows Media Player 11 on Windows XP]

This is just the little Technorati claim maker making a claim for my Technorati Profile.

The Qwest tech came out and installed my sister's broadband (and changed her standard user account to an administrator account, but more about that another time).  On my next visit I went over all of the Qwest-branded MSN and Windows Live software to get it to work for her (more about that and about Vista inanities another time too).

Her OpenOffice.org Sweet Spot

I did not include any Microsoft Office software when I ordered the computer.  It came with Microsoft Works by default.    My sister, a retired elementary-school teacher has an occasional need to interchange Word documents and, on rare occasion, documents of other Microsoft Office applications.   Even though Works no longer includes a version of Microsoft Word, she didn't find it worth increasing the cost of her system from its under-$600 sale price just to have a version of Microsoft Office.  I suggested that we set her up with OpenOffice.org for her routine use and as a way to open and create the simple Microsoft Word and other documents that she encounters in her volunteer work.  Now that her system is up and running on broadband, it was time to install OpenOffice.org.

Uneasy Moments Installing OpenOffice.org 2.3

I took her through the download (the site is not novice-friendly and she was thrown by the donation appeal) of the recently-released OpenOffice.org 2.3 version ( a reminder to me that people come to sites for a particular purpose and distractions are unsettling, especially when they are not sure what is going on).  It was also distracting to me that the download page says the current stable release is 2.2.1 when I know the download is 2.3 

The download went well over her 7.5 Mbps DSL connection.  We created an Internet Downloads folder in her Documents, and added an Open Office sub-folder to store the download and anything else in.  It was my sister who asked for the folder organization and named the folders that would help her know what's what.  I don't use my documents folder for this, but I realized this would work for her: We already set up Windows Live OneCare to save her entire Documents folder on backups, so the downloads of installs would be backed up too.  That's handy.

There were a number of odd things in the installation process.  But we worked our way through it.  I think she might have balked if I hadn't been piloting.  She actually reads through EULAs (hey, she's my sister), and the LGPL 2.1 is weird enough for a normal user that she might have been distracted by it.  The LGPL 2.1 is not really addressed to users that don't develop software and have no particular understanding or concern for the manifesto that occupies most of the text.  (She also knows how to create strong passwords and is very careful visiting web sites and installing software.  I am very impressed with what my sister has taught herself about safe computing.) 

When the option to make Open Office applications be the defaults for .doc, .xls, and .ppt files, we checked those boxes because this is going to be her only means to operate with those documents. 

Then we stumbled on a bug where OpenOffice.org would not install for just the account we were doing the install under.  It kept saying that the "this account only" case was for the admin account and not the personal account we were logged into and performing the install under.  Not wanting to have it installed only under admin, we finally had to allow it to install for all users to be sure she could use it from her ordinary account.  That is not what either of us wanted.

The installation completed successfully. The first-run of OpenOffice.org Writer (with even the names of these applications, with the .org extension, being too geeky for plain folks) forced her through a second acceptance of the EULA (just the LGPL 2.1 license and disclaimer) that requires you to scroll to the end before the "accept" button is activated.  If you didn't know that, you'd be stuck right here.  Anyhow we did that, and went to the OpenOffice.org site to "register."  At the invitation to complete a survey, she closed the browser instead.  All right, sis!

What's This Crap Here?

We did some display-setting adjustments and admired our handiwork on the wide-format LCD display of the new system.  I suddenly noticed that there was a folder on the desktop left over from the install.  When the downloaded "OOo_2.3.0_Win32Intel_install_wJRE_en-US.exe" file announced that it was going to unpack the installation setup into a folder, I failed to notice that the default choice for the setup files was on the desktop.  So we had a stray "OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files" folder cluttering up her desktop.   [If Dare Obasanjo reads this on return from his honeymoon, he'll know exactly the trouble I'm about to get my sister into.]

Oh Professor, Don't Touch That Button! ... Oops

Having one geek gene (but not two), I saw no reason to keep 109 MB of installation files lying around, especially on the desktop.  We are already keeping the original 120 MB download file so that can be used to re-install OO.o 2.3 if necessary, right?

I deleted the folder from the desktop.  Nothing bad happened (yet).

Satisfied, we went shopping, had dinner, and I returned home.

Emergency, Emergency, Please Read My Letter!

Two days later, after my usual weekly tune-up process, I decided to update my OpenOffice.org 2.0 configuration to OpenOffice.org 2.3 also.  I wanted to see if the same glitches happened for me, and confirm that the default for Save and Save As ... of documents opened from Microsoft Office formats was to store back in Microsoft Office format.  It is, so my sister won't have to do anything special to round-trip Microsoft Office Documents that land on her computer.

But I also found out that those folders of Installation files are needed (well, about 6MB of them are needed) if you ever want to remove or update a version of Open Office.  I didn't save mine and my OpenOffice.org 2.3 would not install.  Before I managed to get that to work, I had even crippled the existing OpenOffice.org 2.0 software and I could neither remove it, upgrade it, or use it.  Three hours later I stumbled back from my near-death experience with a correct upgrade.  It was a close call.  It is also a very stupid installation procedure.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So, here is how my sister gets out of having any future update or removal of OpenOffice.org 2.3 crippled:

From: Dennis E. Hamilton
To: Sis
Subject: OOPS!  Need to do something

I was a little uncomfortable with silly things that happened when installing Open Office 2.3 on your machine.

So I installed it on mine (I had an older version already installed) and discovered some difficulties.

Here is what you need to do.

1. While in your regular account, open your recycle bin.  Just double-click on the icon on your screen.

2. You are looking for a folder with name "OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files"

3. When you find that folder in the recycle bin, don't look inside.  Just right click on it.

4. On the little menu that comes down, click "Restore".

5. The folder should then appear on your desktop.  That is where I deleted it on Thursday.

6. You need to keep this folder. 

    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   

It is just stupid that they put it on your desktop and it is also stupid that you need to keep the whole thing around.  However, we will do the easy thing and hold onto it.  Otherwise, you may have trouble updating OpenOffice.org or even removing it in the future.  (I learned this the hard way on Saturday.)

Here is my recommendation for putting it away out of sight in a place where it can be found later.

7. Open your "Documents" folder.

8. In that folder, open the "Internet Downloads" folder that we created.

9. Open the "Open Office" folder that we created there (I don't remember its exact name).

10. Shrink or adjust the window that you have open so you can also see the "OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files" folder icon on your desktop.

11. Drag the folder icon into the opened-up "Open Office" folder.  (Dragging is by putting the mouse over the icon and holding down the left-mouse button.  While still holding down the button, move the mouse cursor over to the document area of the "Open Office" folder above an open space.  Release the mouse button.  In a moment, the folder should show up inside that folder and no longer be on your desktop.

Problem solved.  You will need to remember this the next time you install an update for Open Office.  We'll worry about that then.

12. If your recycle bin has been cleaned up and the Installation Files folder is no longer there, something more elaborate has to be done.  I'll want to come over to work through that with you.  For now, I'm hoping that you find it in your recycle bin and that the above procedure makes sense and works for you.

If you are uncomfortable doing this, I can talk you through it on the phone and confirm what you are seeing at each step before going onto the next. 

Love,

- Dennis

  Princess is the female of our two litter mates.  She and her brother are celebrating their 13th birthday in the month of September.  Their mother, Cleopatra, was a beautiful Burmese with golden eyes and rich brown coat.  These black cats have sable highlights in their coats from mom, who has kept dad a secret all these years.  (The blue cast is from the lighting.)

Princess is showing her age here.  The crow wandered outside my office window and she was alerted enough to hop up onto one of my computer towers for a better look.  She has learned that diving at the window doesn't accomplish anything and was content to observe.  She's still playful and she is also a scold.  Every morning I am scolded until I pet her until one of us can't stand it any longer.  I don't know why she is scolding me, but petting is what we settle for.

I have been practicing capturing their eyes, which I find so intricate and beautiful.  The cats are a bit camera shy, so it is difficult to get the view and lighting just right.  Sometimes I get close to what I am after.  The whiskers are turning white and thick, with a little salt in the pepper of her black coat. 

At six pounds, Princess is the smallest of our three cats.  She has lived indoors her entire life.

I'm still practicing with my recently-acquired digital camera and struggling with indoor lighting and color balance for these photos.  These images have all been tweaked from the raw files using Nikon Capture NX.  I think I need to spend some time with test images and the Help system.

My snapshots from the casual dinner meet-up called by Scott Hanselman with swag by Charlie Owen. Here I play with the thumbnails that Flickr provides, along with the ease of using photos in posts via Live Writer.  I do fancy my Live Writer, yes I do.

[update 2007-09-13: Arun Bhatnagar has put his photo set on Flickr.  They provide a great demonstration of how the Crossroads Mall building is unusually inviting for socialization and informal meetings.] 

I finally took Yuji's advice and tried hiding my sidebar modules.  This was to stop the crashing of page loads and refreshes on this Live Space.

The first one I hid was my primary suspect: the Pandora Radio module.  It appears that was it.  So if you are really dying to see my Pandora profile, you'll have to follow this link.

Swallowing Windows Live Whole

I know better than to have done this.  I really do.  In a carefree moment, I decided, "What the heck, let's see how this integrated installation of Windows Live 2008 (beta) works out."  So I asked for it.

The inducement was pretty impressive.  Now there are a number of things I was concerned about.  One is installation of a suite of applications that I haven't reviewed individually.  (Can you say crapware?  I knew you could.)

The other niggling concern has to do with beta and whatever that means, especially for those applications that I have and use in earlier non-beta versions.  Am I clear that I want to have beta installed, regardless of the Web tradition of perpetual beta applications? 

Still, I did want to get the latest version of Live Writer, which I am very happy with, even in beta.  And it works great with Windows Live, and why not try the complete experience?  Live it up!

When I got to the moment of choice, I did read the Release Notes.

In terms of selections and options, everything was already checked except the box for "One Care Family Safety."  There are no children in this household.  I already use Windows Live One Care and Windows Defender for computer security and privacy protections.  I don't want to mess with that arrangement, so I left the box unchecked.

I do not want MSN.com as my home page.  I don't like those pages as my default, not even my myMSN page.  So I'll leave my Yahoo default home page, with myMSN and MSN.com lurking in my favorites.  That was the only check box I changed. 

I did see that I would get a beta version of Windows Live Messenger.  I was prepared for that.  I am hoping that the warning about "One Care Family Safety" simply doesn't apply to me.

All of our household and home-office computers are also operated in Limited User Accounts.  We do not ordinarily operate in administrator accounts and, in particular, we don't explore the Internet as administrators.

So when the installer started to download, I did not click "Run."  I clicked "Save" and tucked  the file away in a folder I created for Windows Live downloads, along with all of the other download copies that I keep.

I figure the installer is going to require me to be an administrator, so I will arrange that after I download the application.  I also suspect that this is not everything and it will download and install more.  I'm bending my principles to go through that, although there is some reassurance that this software is coming from download.microsoft.com and I don't feel any more vulnerable to that than when I run Microsoft Update on a regular basis.

Stepping Into the Valley of the Shadow

I am installing on a Windows Media Center Edition 2005 system and the way I perform installations is by the following devious path:

• I log out of my normal (LUA: Limited User Account) account.
• I log into my administrator account
• I use the Control Panel's User Accounts applet to change my LUA account to an Administrator just for a while.
• I log out of my administrator account.
• I log back into my LUA account, which is now elevated to an administrator.

Sometimes I immediately use the LUA administrator privileges to change the account back to LUA.  This won't have any effect until I log out of the current session.  Because I don't know how many reboots I will need to perform, I don't do that yet. 

The point of all of these gyrations is to make sure that installation happens under the account that I will be using the application(s) under.  If I'm lucky there will be no residual gunk that attempts to run and configure itself when I am back in my administrator account doing administrator business, none of which has any need for Windows Live in any capacity (except maybe to download updates).  I won't know how well that works out until later.

I am now ready to locate the downloaded file in its hidey-hole.  I am close to the point of no-return.  The file is nicely identified as to source and version and I will take the plunge.

I did mention that I run OneCare.  One nice feature is that it always wants my approval before allowing a new program to access the Internet.  This happened immediately with the Windows Live Installer.  No surprise here.  I am always gratified when OneCare demonstrates its impartiality by detecting Microsoft software.  (It even allowed me to block the Windows Genuine Advantage automatic call-home service.)

Having permitted the installer to access the Internet, I now get to decide whether I am comfortable with the privileges it reserves for itself (especially the ability to update itself).

No, I did not read the terms of use.  Sometimes I do, but today I am playing fearless power user.

I'm actually happy to see that the software uses Microsoft Update.  That is the one activity where I use the Internet while an administrator, and I'm pleased that I won't have to put up with yet another automatic-update arrangement.  That's my hope.

At this point I expect the downloading and installation to commence.  In fact, there is more to decide.

There is this nice reminder of what is about to happen.  I don't see any way to take action, so I am a bit puzzled.  I don't check the "Family Safety" box, having already decided I don't require it.  Everything else is as expected.  I am not sure what the Sign-in Assistant is.  I'm willing to learn.

I just watch this display until the installation actually happens.  I received a phone call in the middle of this, so I didn't capture the additional times that I needed to give permission to OneCare for accepting access to the Internet as the different installs were run.

After restarting and verifying that all of the applications seem to be working fine, I also decided that it was time to upgrade my MSN installation for broadband, too.  So I went ahead with that update, which, unfortunately, ran entirely from the Web, with not even an installer for me to download and control.

One thing that I do after installing new applications in my elevated LUA account is run everything once to make sure that any special first-time operation that relies on administrator privileges has a chance to run.  I was satisfied that I had accomplished that and I restored my LUA to non-administrator privileges and continued with normal operation.

For a time.

What Others Have To Say About It

Here's more information and some tips on Windows Live (Suite) 2008.  I didn't need to rely on any of this.

Kip Knistern: Cleaner, Faster: First Impressions of "Windows Live 2008."  LiveSide - News Blog, LiveSide.net, 2007-09-06.

Dare Obasanjo: The Windows Live Suite is Here.  Dare Obasanjo's Carnage4Life (web log), 2007-09-06

Amit Agarwal: Download Individual Installers for Windows Live Programs.  Digital Inspiration (web log), 2007-09-05.

Scott Lovegrove: 64 Bit Systems and the New Live Installer: A Solution.  LiveSide - News Blog, LiveSide.net, 2007-09-06.

Tim Anderson: Why Doesn't SkyDrive Integrate with Office?  Tim Anderson's ITWriting (blog), 2007-09-07

My sister's cat Streaks is 21 years old.  She is not so kittenish, but she still has her moments and is a loving cat.  She sat still for me setting up a new Vista Home Premium PC in the room where she usually spends most of her time undisturbed.   Now her human has found more games to play.  Wait until the broadband is installed, Squeaks.

[update 2007-09-11 Uh, the cat's name is Streaks, not Squeaks.  I must have Smalltalk on the brain.]

Beginning July 1, I engaged in the Zen Habits monthly challenges forum, a technique for putting some useful activity into practice.  The desired activity becomes, through steady and faithful repetition, a habit. 

One habit I have definitely established is daily reporting of my promises for each day along with progress and completion posts each day.  I'm ready to continue in September, but there is no September Challenge folder yet.   So I'm looking for another place to manage the existence of my challenges.  This seems like a likely temporary spot.

My September Challenges

I need to continue my August Challenges because they continue to need reinforcement.  These are in three areas:

#1 Fitness.  Daily exercises that continue to improve my flexibility and my level of fitness.  I alternate, from day-to-day, between a Yoga practice and a rowing-machine workout. 

#2 Get out.  This is about getting away from my desk for at least 45 minutes a day, usually out doors and ideally around other people.  I have been using this to provide consistent yard work and, on rainy days, household maintenance of one kind or another.

#3 Organization.  Started in August, I got my in box and my unread RSS feeds down to 0 daily, then branching out to other Getting Things Done organization tasks.  I am working on reducing clutter gradually.

My September 6 Promises [2007-09-06-09:35]

I'm starting today with {5 of 5 for September}.

#1 Fitness: Row 300 strokes, push on oars 3 minutes, alternate-arm pushing on oars 3 minutes, do 8 leg lifts at hanging bar in stairway.

#2 Get out: Take my son to the airport for the continuation of his trip to Friday Harbor.

#3 Organization: 60 minutes reducing the stack of papers on my desk.  Also keep my e-mail in box and unread blog posts to 0 (ongoing).

September 6 Completion [2007-09-06-18:26]

#1, #2, and #3 are complete.  I built up an RSS backlog of 45 articles to do something with though, in part because an update to the MSDN Forum site corrected a feed error and I now have a large number of correct re-feeds that I want to take action over.

The Zen Habits Forum now has a September Challenge section opened up and I will continue this activity there.

I am now at {6 of 6 for September, 2007}.

My September 5 Promises [2007-0904-18:08]

I'm starting today with {4 of 4 for September}.

#1 Fitness: Perform the Yoga for Inflexible People Hip-Opening Basics practice.

#2 Get out: Meet my son's train and take the bus to the house, doing some photo-walking and small errands.

#3 Organization: 60 minutes reducing the stack of papers on my desk.  Also keep my e-mail in box and unread blog posts to 0.

September 5 Progress [2007-09-05-12:41]

#1 is complete.  I had one of those yoga sessions where I made some sort of small progress jump in the ease of the poses and flexibility.  I'm considering going to another level of Hip Opening poses when this next comes up in the rotation I make between three yoga practices.

There is still no September challenge over on Zen Habits, and some participants have been discussing it.  I will persevere here for now.

September 5 Completion [2007-09-06-09:32]

#2 and #3 are also complete.  I am now {5 of 5 in September}.  I didn't get my unread blogs to 0, so I will continue on that for 09-06.  Some participants in the Zen Habits August Challenge have started their own thread for September reporting as an interim measure awaiting the host's creation of an official place for the September Challenge.  I will continue here until the official place shows up.

My September 4 Promises [2007-09-03 21:53]

I'm starting today with {3 of 3 for September}.

#1 Fitness: Row 300 strokes, push on oars 3 minutes, alternate-arm pushing on oars 3 minutes, do 8 leg lifts at hanging bar in stairway.

#2 Get out: 45 minutes weeding the parking strip on the North side of the lot and also more weeding in the rockery.  If it rains (likely), replace the failed fluorescent fixture at the door between my office and the garage.

#3 Organization: 60 minutes updating accounts, getting my unread RSS feeds back to 0 and reducing the stack of papers on the corner of my desk.

September 3 Completion [2007-09-04-18:03]

#1, #2, and #3 are complete.  I got to spend some time listening to Pandora while rowing and counting strokes while pushing against the oars (because the rowing-machine doesn't count when the seat doesn't move on the rails).  It rained dramatically and the replacement fixture makes that end of my office so light that I'm not quite accustomed to it yet.  This should make webcamming nicer though.  The unread posts section of my RSS aggregator is at 0 as is my in box.  Now I have writer's block on something else!

My September 3 Promises [2007-09-03-09:53]

I'm starting today with {2 of 2 for September}.

#1 Fitness: Yoga Zone beginner practice 2

#2 Get out: 45 minutes Go back to trimming and clearing the front corner sidewalk and the parking strip on the North side of the property.  Also, cut up the last box from the new window coverings and put it in the recycle container.

#3 Organization: 60 minutes updating accounts, getting my unread RSS feeds back to 0 and reducing the stack of papers on the corner of my desk.

There is still no September challenge up on Zen Habits, and I notice that being consistent with these activities is harder without that community listening to report into.  Doing it here is more like writing on a chalk board that nobody else has a concern in. 

September 3 Completion [2007-09-03-21:50]

#1, #2, and #3 are complete.  I spent more than 60 minutes on #3, which was satisfying, but my backlog is now at 32 articles after I just did an All-Feeds refresh and made a quick pass through to eliminate all but those I want to do something with.  More tomorrow when I am rested.  Also, I have many pent-up blog posts that I must start kicking loose. 

I'm now at {3 of 3 for September}.

My September 2 Promises [2007-09-02-08:48]

I'm starting today with {1 of 1 in September}.

#1 Fitness: Row 300 strokes, push on oars 3 minutes, alternate-arm pushing on oars 3 minutes, do 8 leg lifts at hanging bar in stairway.

#2 Get out:  Mow the lawn.  Weed the rockery where the brambles are returning.  If weather doesn't cooperate, do some inside household work.

#3 Organization:  1 hour organizing accounts, writing bills, and reducing the stack of papers on corner of my desk.

[I decided to keep updating this post rather than tag this promise onto other posts.  When the September Challenge shows up on the Zen Habits Forum, I will move over there.]

September 2 Completion [2007-09-03-09:50]

#1, #2, and #2 are complete.  I did mow the lawn.  That and cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle pick-up consumed that time.  The organization work devolved into working on my RSS Feed backlog, the ones I had marked for active follow-up (rather than, remember to look at this one in the future).   Reducing those often means I need to write something, and I did that too.

I ended September 2 with {2 of 2 for September}.

My September 1 Promises

I am starting out at {0 of 0 in September}.

#1 Fitness: Do the Yoga Zone beginner practice 1

#2 Get out: Today that involves putting up new vertical blinds in the living room, replacing the draperies I took down yesterday.

#3 Organization: 60 minutes getting previous months and follow-up items out of my day-timer binder and dispensed with, with any remainder spent reducing the stack of papers on the corner of my desk.

September 1: Progress

#1 is complete.  I noticed some places where I do have more flexibility after putting in every-other-day yoga since July 1.  I get deeper into some of the poses and I also am slowly, very slowly, loosening my hamstrings.

I am not sure about cluttering up this blog with this every day, so I hope the September challenge starts soon and I can continue on that forum.  Meanwhile, my thinking is that if I do this daily, I will do it on the tag end of some other blog post (leading to daily posts on other topics) sort of like what some people do to share the music they are listening to or the book they are reading.  Actually, this means a post at the end of the day where I create my promises for the next day and then update it until that day is completed.  I have to see how that is going to make sense as I get into it.

September 1: Completion [2007-09-01-19:02]

#2 and #3 are now complete. My day-timer binder is now much thinner and I can put in the pages for the remainder of 2007.  The new blinds look great and we are very pleased.  We need to do something about valences and other touches to have them not seem so severe, but the quality of the light and the way they work is very pleasing.

Now, if a September Challenge folio doesn't show up soon on the Zen Habits Forum, I will need to start some sort of post that also carries my promise for September 2.  Hmm...

I discovered an interesting problem.  Any time I come to Orcmid's Live HideOut and I am not signed in, the page serves up and hangs.  The common feature of the hang is that the advertising banner at the top of the page is empty -- there's a big blank there.

This makes it difficult to view my Live Spaces site to verify how it appears to visitors.  (I trust that visitors don't all hang on arrival!)

So I have to manually shut down the browser, or else wait for the not-responding message to come up so I can kill it from there.  I'm currently logged out too.  I wonder what happens when Live Writer attempts to launch the site to show me the results of my posting.

Later: No, the page still comes up with an indication that I am in an Unknown Zone (mixed) and there is nothing in the top ad banner.  Funny, it looks like a security and privacy settings problem.  Definitely funny.

Oddly, I could use the "Edit your space" link in Live Writer to get to a page that did serve up properly.  I then was able to log in.  Now maybe everything will work.  Let's take a look.

Still Later: Well, the launch from within Live Writer worked just fine, even though the site doesn't show me as signed in. I have a theory ... No, that wasn't it.  One more thing to try ... and that wasn't it either.  I have no idea why the problem has now disappeared.

Later than that:  It did it again.  I have no idea what the pattern is.  I will endeavor to stay logged-on to the site as much as possible.

[Update 2007-09-10 I finally repaired it. Operating on the hint from Yuji that it was probably one of my modules, I finally disabled my personal likely suspect: the Radio plug-in that shows my Pandora station list.  I figured it could also be my list of movies, but that seems too popular to be the likely culprit.  Since I "hid" the radio module, I have not been able to cause the page to crash.  If that holds up, I'll be happy enough.  It just means that my station list is visible only on Facebook, which is some sort of karma thing for Windows Live Spaces, it seems to me.
 Update 2007-08-29 This is getting serious.  The crashing of IE7 can happen on any page visit or refresh.  For example, I just went to the Movie List to see the details and then used the back button to come to my main page here.  And IE7 hung.  According to my friend Yuji, in a comment below, IE7 crashed on him too, and Firefox doesn't crash but it shows the page as continuously serving up.  It might be one of my modules, but I am more suspicious of the ad server, which doesn't serve up anything when the page crashes.  Fortunately this blog is an experiment, but it is very annoying to have to shut down the browser, report it to Microsoft, and then re-open the browser (which usually works the second time).]

I already see that the Live Spaces and Live Writer combination is a wonderful way to easily prepare and post blogs with images, text, and other wonderful things.  The ability to populate modules and to perform other customizations very easily is also commendable.

If I had to choose between a Blogspot-hosted blog and a Live Spaces blog, there is no doubt what I would do and what I recommend to others who are willing to have a blog with content in someone's silo: Live Spaces is more fun and is easier to monkey with. 

My "serious" blogs are hosted on sites that I control and back up, so that the content is in my custody.  Even though I use blogger handling the posts, archiving, and creation of the RSS (Atom) feeds, the final materials are all on server accounts that I have control over.  That has a number of advantages for me and it is the only way I want to place serious content on the Web.

The restriction on involvement here is the same as the one I impose on myself on Facebook: I shall not create any content that I am unwilling to have completely disappear at some point in the future.  The tie-breaker in favor of Live Spaces is that the content is visible on the open web and I don't have to induce anyone to be here too (although having a Windows Live ID may be necessary to interact in certain ways, not much differently than via Blogger).  Of course there is no presence and activity river about my friends and contacts here, although I suspect that may change.  It is one more reason I am sticking around.

Appropriately, my throw-away content is going to be about the Windows Live properties and my experience with those and the related software.

I can make it so easy to incorporate images in my main blogs, I won't be so tempted to spend so much time here.  I shall see how much help LiveWriter can provide.

It seemed to me that Windows Live Writer would be optimized for Windows Live Spaces, just as my Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 has extra smoothness and operability with Windows Live Messenger (or perhaps vice versa).

It was with great anticipation that I fired up my Live Writer 1.0 (beta) and selected Windows Live Spaces for a new blog to author:

You can see what Live Writer favors here.  All of my choices to this point have been for "Another weblog service."  Those work well, but I expect this to be special, especially with the ability to upload images and other goodies.  I'm all set for my new Live Spaces blog to be set up so I can take it for a spin.

  Oh my.  What can possibly be going on here?  If I follow the link, I do get to my Live Spaces page.  That is the URL that shows up in the IE 7.0 address bar too.  I start wondering if my having to create a different nickname has anything to deal with this.

While I am thrashing back and forth in search of a straw to grasp, I see a little message that says I need to give my Live Space a web address for certain features to work.   So I find out that I can be http://orcmid.spaces.live.com.  I set that up.  And then adding the Weblog Account with that URL simply works.  I'm in business.  And I can stop playing Johnny River's "Secret Agent Man" in my head.

Oddly, Internet Explorer does not detect any RSS feed for the My Spaces blog and I had to look it up and enter it manually into RssBandit.  I do that so I can see what my own feed looks like.

There's a little tweaking to have images show up well, and I am still experimenting there.  Oh, and there is one more bonus on the Live Writer - Live Spaces axis of nepotism harmonization.  Using "Another weblog service," the features end with "View your space."  None of the other goodies are available.  Narcissist that I am, I will be clicking the little stats button a great deal, for a while.  Hmm, I wonder if I can get a ClustrMap onto my Live Spaces presence. 

- orcmid

[Update 2007-08-29: My "axis of nepotism" slam was uncalled for.  In a comment below (sorry, no permalink), Microsoft's Joe Cheng points out that the Live Writer plug-in features for space-specific functions are available to all web log providers, as announced with the Live Writer Beta 2 (which I am running).    I also want to point out that it is normal for Microsoft to produce applications that serve as illustrations and encouragement for the adoption of functionality by others.  This goes back to the original Windows Notepad and Cardfile, and it continues with the sidebar gadgets on Vista today.  Finally, I don't see any way to edit a post at my Windows Spaces blog page, but I can do it from LiveWriter, which is very cool.  Being able to monkey with the HTML in LiveWriter is also valuable.]

I went to Windows Live Messenger to see whether the Live Spaces cid that I was told applied to me was different than this one.

I used the connection to "my space" and, unfortunately, it brought me right back here.  I fooled around signing in and out, but none of that made any difference.

Yes, I did set up Windows Live Writer for posting to this blog.  See the purty picture?

So here I am, cid-33894f6489994ba7.  Who knew?

1. One challenge is to use Windows Live Writer with this blog.  Maybe I can put up images easier than with my self-hosted Blogger blogs. 
     
2. Another challenge is to see if I get to be orcmid here and not run afoul of the Live properties bug that insists I can't be orcmid (so they call me orcmid1 or something) because there is another one.  Hey, that's me, dork!
      
3. And then there's wanting to see how this will open up as a social network.  I admire Dare Obasanjo's themes on this topic, but I find it a little difficult to grok the magical association of this endeavor with those ideals.
     
4. I wonder if I could associate a URL that I own with this place.  I bought (well, have a lease with option to extend) orcmid.tv and it would be nice to have a special place for that.

And I must do something about the color scheme.  Pink is just not my color, you know. 

There are other things that have me go ickkk about Windows Live too, but if Herb Sutter can stand it, why can't I?

 - orcmid