Happy Monday Because …

Kittens! :)

Momma’s Momma was a Blue Point Siamese with an unknown Papa. In this case the kitten’s Papa is our male black and white cat “Two Face”.

The black and grey tabby and the calico are females while the fully black and white one, like the Papa, and the cream coloured one are males.

There are many things in life that can bring a smile to our face. This is most certainly one of them.

Happy Monday everyone and thank you for reading! :D

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Crazy Week - Time to Take a Break

We have had one of the more challenging weeks in our business and family life this last week. It probably ranks in the top 3 for the most challenging.

On the lighter side we have a new little friend at home:

She's a fuzzy six week old Calico that does not have a name yet. We brought her in because our own Calico unfortunately did not make it giving birth to kittens and neither did the kittens. :(

From pipes bursting at home through to servers crashing and needing our full attention we've run the gamut this week.

Time to relax and take a break. Hopefully the weather is nice tomorrow so I can enjoy a cold citrus wheat on the deck.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Thanks for reading. :)

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
Find out more at
Third Tier: Enterprise Solutions for Small Business

Labour Day Long Weekend!

We won’t be taking too much of a break this weekend due to a lot of projects on the go.

But, there may be a day or two that we can take aside and enjoy some peace and quiet and maybe a cold one. :)

Hopefully you will be able to take some time off and enjoy the fruits of your labours!

Have a great and safe long weekend everyone.

Thanks for reading!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

Too Cute For Friday :)

We have a few additions to the “family”.

They are now about 2 weeks old and we are really enjoying having them around.

All I can say is four kittens is good therapy! :D

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

The last few weeks . . .

. . . have been very stressful.

We have had a lot of new business as well as ongoing client needs creating a real crunch on our time.

So, with the need to stick around and wait for the Xplornet installer at home I've managed to get some long awaited To Do tasks taken care of and now take a bit of a mental health break. :)

That picture was taken from a parking lot yesterday afternoon in downtown Edmonton.

Keep in mind we had a very cold December with –20C temperatures being very common (and our just landed heating bill showing for it).

So, it was really neat to see a rainbow in January. :)

Oh, and the other day it was +6C here in the Greater Edmonton Area while it was –5C in Las Vegas Nevada! W00t!

All of this hard work has lead to some very intense play sessions with the kids! A local hobby store had boxes of UberARC 3200 kits on sale so we picked up a few. The four of us jumped right into putting some projects together. The first was via the building plans that came with the boxes. The second was a free-flight construction project.

Using the first box we built the UberARC 3200 tower:

We had to trim the top a bit to fit under our 8' ceiling. :)

We then moved on to the following tower project:

The above is the base for the tower incorporating four pillars with the internal walls supported by the cathedral style columns shown.

This is the finished product:

And:

The tower stands pretty close to 7.5' tall and is roughly 22" long by 18" wide. It took two and a half UberARC 3200 boxes to build.

And, some Father/Son time:

My eldest son is right into anything mechanical with LEGO Technic being his real draw right now. He has three kits he built on his own with the above being my first kit. Together we have done some neat things for setups. We are starting to build a Technic collection of spare parts via eBay for some self-built projects we are talking about.

We have a newly purchased Technic 8070 Super Car waiting to be built too.

As tough as it is to make time, it is ultra important to keep in my mind that they come first and that sometimes, especially when things are as nuts as they are now, I need to hammer down and allocate time to spend with my family.

That work/family/life balance can be so hard to keep at times!

Thanks for reading and your support over the years. It is muchly appreciated.

Speaking of life . . . Monique and the kids are in town ... so maybe it's time for some Jet Li window rattling! :D

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Try Filling an Air Swimmer–Helium is in Short Supply?

The first time we saw one of these videos we put getting one of the Air Swimmers on our To Get list.

Air Swimmers Are Kewl!

We just picked one up this week and low and behold we found out that Helium which cannot be synthesized is in short supply around the world (Bing Search)!

We ended up calling around to the various party stores and party rental places see if we could find some helium to fill up the balloon portion of the Air Swimmer with mixed results.

Apparently no one sells the standalone bottles of helium anymore. We can “rent” a bottle to fill it up and then some but the cost for that was quite expensive.

A gentlemen took the time to fill me in on all aspects of helium and the struggles the party industry has with obtaining it from The Balloon Gang here in Edmonton (Yelp page). He gave us a price to fill up the Air Swimmer that was pretty reasonable.

Since he took the time to explain things we will make sure to support his store when it comes time to fill up the Air Swimmer.

It makes us wonder whether our grandchildren will have the chance to get helium filled balloons for their birthday?

Or perhaps we will see Hydrogen making a comeback? Probably not given its volatile nature.

Another option may be to make a Chinese Lantern and light it outside to watch it float upwards.

For now we will make the trip to The Balloon Gang to fill up the Air Swimmer. :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Monday Morning Science Lesson: Quantum Levitation

We had a speechless moment in our family when we saw this:

A really _neat_ science experiment

The video is nothing short of amazing!

Happy Monday and thanks for reading! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Just Another Day – Carpe Diem

Today is just another day, and yet it is one that has great significance for my family.

Dominic Jacob Elder was born and died one year ago today. Rest in peace my son.

Life is both precious and fragile.

Carpe Diem! :)

Thanks for reading.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

DNT TXT N DRV – Remember Alex Brown Foundation

Not being one for “Reality” shows, I was caught by the message of last night’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition show.

• DNT TXT N DRV – Remember Alex Brown Foundation

The r.a.b. was founded by a mom and dad that lost their daughter to an accident because she was texting. Alex’s truck rolled over several times and she did not survive.

During the show there was a segment where a couple of well known NASCAR drivers were put to the test to text while driving and they failed.

While I “know” that texting while driving is not a good idea, even trying to troubleshoot a problem with a client while on the phone is bad. Any distraction from keeping the vehicle on the road and not in contact with another vehicle or object is a bad thing.

Both of our vehicles have built in Bluetooth for cell phones. The GMC’s works well while the Dodge’s U-Connect taps right into the phone and its address book providing full hands free dialling straight from the phone’s address book. Ford’s new Sync apparently has the same abilities as the Dodge’s with even more hands free options.

This post is both a reminder to me to _not_ type a text, read a text, or do any in-depth troubleshooting, but to keep both hands on the wheel and stay focused on the task at hand – driving! :)

This is especially true of being aware of what the other drivers are doing. We do a fair amount of local on-site support so it is almost a daily experience trying to avoid folks doing everything _but_ driving

I will be signing the r.a.b. Pledge, though by E-mail since the online version is for the US only at this time.

Be safe out there! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

One of the things that kept me busy this week.

In the various parts of Canada we have had all sorts of whacky weather. Out West here we have have a lot of snow.

In our area we had about 24” (60cm) of snow in a very short period of time. The snow was fine and densely packed everywhere so my concern was towards the weight of it on our home’s roof.

A friend and I took care of removing all of the snow off of the roof of our small bungalow this week when the weather warmed up from –25 Celsius temps we had been seeing the previous weeks.

Here I am digging out the front door’s pile. We used that pile to heighten a pile I had already made just to my right. The kids have been using that other pile for a sled run. By the time we were done shovelling out the front door out the kid’s sled run was well over the eavestroughs . . . that brought a huge smile to their faces! :)

We figure that between the three huge piles we created that we pulled at least a couple of tons of the snow off of the roof. About half of it averaged around 2.5’ (45cm) while the other half averaged about 3.5’ (105cm).

Supposedly things are going to cool off again as it is a balmy +3 Celsius right now and we are going to get a lot more snow! Yay! :|

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

Our family will be celebrating Christmas over the next 12 days or so.

And, our schedule will be fairly relaxed as projects we had lined up have been moved into January. It will be nice to actually not have to run around working a number of projects this year! :)

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

One of Life’s Curve Balls

Last week very early (3AM) Tuesday morning Monique woke me up. What began then was eventually the loss of our fourth pregnancy by miscarriage.

As a result, I have not been posting as of late.

This week is the first week back up on my feet so-to-speak, but I am nowhere near ready to put too much energy back into our business or this blog.

Posting will continue to be low for the next little while as we take time to heal and discover just how much our lives have changed both good and bad since last week.

Thanks for reading.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

A Perfect Cup of Coffee Every Time

As mentioned in our Thanksgiving post we are pregnant with our fourth child. One of the adventures with each pregnancy has been the various cravings that Monique will have.

One of my favourite cravings was during our first pregnancy’s second trimester. We had Monique’s pancakes, whipped cream, maple syrup, and all of the fixings _every day_ for close to four months. I gained quite a few “sympathetic” pounds during that period! ;)

Lately, one of Monique’s cravings has been for a cup of coffee in the morning. Monique was normally a tea drinker up till then. Since we generally made coffee with a stove top percolator to “cook” the coffee grinds to our preferred strength, we needed a coffee maker that would make a decent single cup of coffee on short order.

We looked at a number of coffee makers that used a pre-packaged cup or disk with the coffee grounds in it. After evaluating the various machines we ended up purchasing a Cuisinart Keurig Single Server Brewing System (SS-700C) (Canadian product site).

We chose the Cuisinart model because it has the ability to use an included My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter which meant that we were not locked into purchasing the pre-packaged coffee cups. This feature was critical because we absolutely love Tim Hortons coffee with a close second for Starbuck’s Verona or Sumatra blends.

So, after working through the various water volumes (8oz, 10oz, and 12oz) and coffee grind scoops we have managed to come up with a near perfect cup of coffee every time:

• Keurig Settings
• Water Temp: 194 Degrees Fahrenheit
• Default cup size: 8oz
• Tim Hortons Fine Grind
• 2.5 scoops of coffee.
• 8oz water setting.
• Add the required cream and sugar to taste (or black).
• Starbucks Sumatra and Verona Espresso Grind (ultra-fine)
• 2 scoops of coffee
• 10oz water setting
• Add the required cream and sugar to taste (or black).

When we purchased the bag of Starbuck’s coffee the Keurig was new so we did not know what grind level would be best. When it comes time to replace the Starbuck’s coffee will will step back the grind setting so that the grind is not so fine.

We only use osmotic water for our coffee.

IT Professionalism

So, what does brewing a perfect cup of coffee have to do with our own IT business?

Drinking a lot of coffee to figure out the needed coffee to water configuration brought us to the point where we could _document_ the required process to make that coffee _every time_ a cup of coffee was required. Thus, our “client”, Monique, was able to enjoy her morning coffee consistently.

Not only do we need to take the time to work out the best process for configuring our IT Solutions, but we also need to take the time to consult with our fellow IT professionals to see if there are ways that we can improve our IT processes and/or IT Solutions.

In the end, when it comes to implementing an IT Solution we must have the right documentation in place, checklists to guide us through the set up procedures, and key vendor representatives on-call to help us out if we get into a pinch.

These processes are an absolute must to providing our clients with a Professional long term trouble free IT Solution.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Our family is growing by one, everyone is healthy, and our business has had a banner year.

Thanks to all of you too for your ongoing support!

Thanks for reading and enjoy those turkey sandwiches! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

We start a large client physical to virtual migration on Saturday. The virtual environment will be running Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 clustered on an Intel Modular Server.  It will be running for the next couple of weeks, so posting may be a bit sporadic.

Enjoy and hug the ones you love! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Hug the ones you love!

Monique was in a bad accident this afternoon.

Fortunately, the Caravan took the brunt of it and she is okay.

It could have turned out a lot differently.

It sure gave me the need to pause and realize the value I place on her and the kid's presence in my life!

Hug the ones you love because we just never know. :)

Philip

Sent from my SBS Integrated Windows Mobile® phone.
--

ExchangeDefender Message Security provided by MPECS Inc: Click below to verify authenticity

http://www.exchangedefender.com/verify.asp?id=n9L0FesT000396&from=philipelder@mpecsinc.ca

MVP Insider – MVP Profile for Philip Elder

A little while back I was asked to provide some answers to a number of different questions for the MVP Insider.

There are questions about things like what I would ask Mr. Ballmer, what kind of software and hardware tools are in my tool bag, favourite software, and my hero.

In the case of the question about who is my hero, I could not choose just one person as there are many people both inside and outside of our industry that I look up to.

The two key heroes that I chose are:

• In Business: Clive Bedoe (Live Search) is the former President and CEO of West Jet which started out as a small regional airline based out of Calgary, Canada. He, and is team, took West Jet from a regional player into what is now a national and international airline. In the mean time, West Jet continued to turn a profit during the early part of this decade when other airlines were not.
• In life: My wife Monique Elder. For those of you that run your own I.T. shop business, you know the time involved in building a business. She does an incredible job managing our home life with three kids, as well as keeping my life balance just that: balanced. She is truly amazing and very supportive!

The rest of the answered questions can be found on the IT Pro Connection blog: MVP Profile – Philip Elder.

Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement as well as for subscribing and continuing to read the blog! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac!

Windows Live Writer

A tired Papa...

This will be the last in the Family series for now ;)

Jean-Luc and a tired Papa

All is well in the Elder household with Monique pretty much at 100% and Jean-Luc eating, sleeping, and seemingly growing like crazy!

Thank you all for the well wishes, cards, flowers, and gifts.

Off to Tim's for more Rocket Juice! ;)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

The New Family Member

At about 04:56 on the morning of September 27, 2008, Jean-Luc Philippe Elder joined us. He weighed in at 8lbs 15ozs or about 4,055 grams.

We were fortunate that Monique's mom could be with us since Tuesday which really helped to reduce the stress around not knowing when the baby would be born and what to do with Anne-Marie and Raymond when the time came.

Here we are:

Philip, Raymond, Monique, Jean-Luc, Anne-Marie, Marie

When Monique let me know it was getting close to the time Friday evening, the T-Shirt, I AM READY Launch 2007, was totally appropriate! ;) I was! The nurses sure got a kick out of it.

Once we had the green light to leave the hospital later Saturday afternoon, in went Jean-Luc into his car seat and off to his new home after the other two were put to bed:

Jean-Luc Philippe Elder

Now that's what I am talkin' 'bout! ;)

Our children are what it's all about. There is no other way to describe it for us.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Jean-Luc Philippe Elder is here!

We are truly fortunate to welcome Jean-Luc weighing in at 8lbs 15ozs.

Everything went very well!

Happy Saturday! :)

UPDATE: It is Jean-Luc Philippe not Philip as I put in the original title.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/

Sent from an SBS integrated Windows Mobile Device.