Category: Administrivia

Administrivia

Coming off the busiest few months in, like, evar for me, I’m finally getting around to finishing up a number of blog posts on various topics that I have been meaning to put up but have languished past the point of being relevant (for instance, my belated Neil Gaiman birthday post).  Now that the server is moved over to my ISP and I don’t DDOS my home Internet line every time I post I can resume a more regular blogging schedule, finish actually configuring some things on the server, and repost things like my photo albums, etc.  So bear with me a bit longer while I tweak and fiddle.

In the meanwhile, enjoy almost an entire hour of w00tstock Dallas!

Stepto.com Back on the Air

Ahead of the co-location for the site at my ISP, I took the opportunity to do a complete rebuild from scratch with all new software.  So I wiped the Stepto.com machine in my house, and laid on Windows Server 2008 R2 x64, SQL Server Express 2010 r2 x64, and SharePoint 2010 x64. Everything laid down just fine, but I ran into many unexpected problems migrating my old Windows SharePoint Services content database over.  Too many things changed in the SharePoint 2010 blog template.  Content editor web parts changed function, themes changed completely, and many items flat out refused to carry over.

Luckily the Internet is around.  I was able to fix my authentication and content mapping problems, as well as search issues with the site.

One thing still to fix is the fact the color scheme is still a little messed up, for instance this text should be much brighter but I cannot find a way in the new SharePoint theme editor to get granular control over the *entire* color scheme without diving headfirst into CSS editing which I am loathe to do. Comments are currently turned off too until I figure out how to integrate Disqus or Intense Debate into the new SharePoint. 

But so far I am really pleased with the speed and performance of the clean install on the little Dell Studio Hybrid that makes up Stepto.com.

So here’s the first post on the new platform.  I’ll be updating soon with news on my w00tstock performances in Dallas and Austin as well as a very special announcement coming soon. 

 

EDIT: Oh yay I found out my blog writing software will change the text brightness for me. So.  Yay.

Where’s Stepto?

Today marks my 15th anniversary as a full time employee of the Microsoft Corporation.  I celebrated yesterday at work, and I have spent the past month working on a very important work thing, and a very important personal project.  I hope to say more very soon about both things.  But meanwhile now that most of the work is now out of my hands I’ll be back to posting here.  :>

Where’s Stepto?

Today marks my 15th anniversary as a full time employee of the Microsoft Corporation.  I celebrated yesterday at work, and I have spent the past month working on a very important work thing, and a very important personal project.  I hope to say more very soon about both things.  But meanwhile now that most of the work is now out of my hands I’ll be back to posting here.  :>

I’ll see you in The Year We Make Contact

It’s weird, but it feels like I’ve been waiting all my life for this year, immortalized in the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

2009 was an incredible year. I discovered Songsmith.  I watched Barack Obama’s inauguration with a thousand excited friends in downtown Seattle. My awesome Mom turned 60! I invented a new word. The Dallas Stars beat the LA Kings at least once. I totally embarrassed myself with some old college poetry. I went to e3! I got an iPhone. I gave a speech at PAX! I was officially in the credits for my first video game, Halo 3: ODST. I bought a cow! And lastly, I put on an auction item for the Child’s Play dinner this year and raised $2,000!

I feel incredibly lucky to get to do what I do, and incredibly thankful for all the readers of my blog and followers on Twitter.

I hope you have an amazing New Year. Stay safe, and we’ll see you in The Year We Make Contact.