Christmas Listing

What are you doing to manage your Christmas listing this year?

Me?

I just make a list, value balance it, and then buy the things. :)

On seeing the future

I stare A LOT into my crystal ball, trying to analyze the best course of action. I have found that having two calendars really helps.

One is high-level, and shows the course of the months, and my defined all-day events.

The other is weekly, and shows my commitments by the hour (or half-hour, depending)

Cutting your losses

When is the right time to cut your losses?

Generally, when the input exceeds the output over some period of time, right?

What about when it's a person? How then do you measure your staff development?

Lines of code?
Cases processed?
Amount of some-other-trackable number?
(i.e. Ambulance runs)

Test with images

To send a test message from SQL Server 2008 Database Mail:
Open the server via Object Explorer, and click through to
Server >> Management >> Database Mail
Right click on Database Mail.

You should see a dialog box like the following:

The email address should already be filled in for you! If everything looks good, click the button, and you should see a pop up like the one below.

VHD Expansion

I couldn't use the tool & sequence mentioned in last weeks post.

That was a bummer, on the one hand, as I had to rebuild my favorite VPC image.

On the other hand, it's been cool, because I can now REALLY expand the VHD size.