Sunday Post #5

It's been a busy week between work and life. My intention was to post a non "Sunday Post" related posting during the past week. Haha...such is life. Continuing on the thread of gratitude here's this week's Sunday Post:

photo: Gabriella Fabbri, Creative Commons License

"Gratitude entails looking at what we have rather than imagining the things that we don't have."
...
"Humility is a great tool for developing your gratitude because it allows you to take many things into consideration that you would not otherwise have taken seriously if you already thought that you 'knew'."
-- "The Great Secret of Gratitude", David Hooper

Have a great

Sunday Post #4

I enjoy what Tony Robbins has to say. He has a very down to Earth and practical approach to problem solving. Learning to ask the right questions is one of the techniques Tony is well known for. So, instead of looking for answers to questions that leave us feeling down, ask questions that lead to feeling self-empowered.

By changing the questions we ask we change our focus. By changing our focus we change our lives. What's great about this is that the questions we ask will change our lives.

photo: Ventileit, Creative Commons License

"If you told me on your deathbed that your life had not been a success, what would be the things you'd wish had happened that would have made it a success?" ... "Turn the wish into a goal, and put it in the present tense, as if it's happening at this moment."
-- "Five Wishes: How Answering One Simple Question Can Make Your Dreams Come True", Gay Hendricks

Thank you for making your way to my blog. I'm thankful for seeing the increase in traffic to my blog from interested people like you - thank you! --steve

Test Lab: iPhone, Ubuntu, and XP in VMware

I recently purchased an iphone. I was totally stoked - but I realized that there weren't any Linux native tools to activate my iphone. Apparently one needs to use iTunes to activate, and iTunes is made for Mac and Windows. Ultimately, to activate my iphone, I had to borrow a laptop running XP.

Now that my iphone is activated, I'm unable to upload mp3's using my computers running any native Linux tools (or XP in VMware). Oh yeah, and in order to jailbreak, from what I've researched, one needs either a Mac or Windows.

The most success I've had is with VMWare Server running an XP Guest on my Ubuntu box.

Here's what I started out with:

• Ubuntu 7.10
• VMWare Server 1.0.4 build-56528
• iPhone (1.1.13)

Within VMware:

• XP container with all of the latest patches
• iTunes 7.6

Before doing anything, I backed up my VMX file for my VM image of XP. Then, I edited the original VMX and added:

usb.generic.skipSetConfig = "TRUE"

The most success I've had is after I do the following:

1. Cable up iPhone to USB port -- Cancel out of camera import dialog box
2. Doing a `lsusb` shows the phone there. Ok, not a step, but a confirmation of sorts.
3. Startup VMware - turn on XP guest. While it boots XP...
4. In VM, go to VM | REMOVABLE DEVICES | USB DEVICES and make sure "Apple Inc. (port 1)" is checked
5. (Warning: Windows Talk) Log into XP
6. Go to the control panel, administrative tools, and launch the services app
7. Click on the "Apple Mobile Device" service. Hmmm..no options to start | stop | restart
8. So, back in VM, go to uncheck "Apple Inc. Iphone (port 1)"
9. Now recheck "Apple Inc. Iphone (port 1)". Windows will detect the new hardware
10. Back in Windows, go to services again and click on "Apple Mobile Device" again. Restart the service.
11. Awesome - iphone detected. Windows pulls up a window asking to import photos.
12. AHHH - blue screen! haha, so typical!!!!!

So, I still haven't figured this out yet. I've gone through the steps uninstalling Quicktime, Apple Software Update, and Apple Mobile Device Support ... and then reinstalling iTunes (which installs everything). I'll continue working on this. Any comments to help figure this out will be greatly appreciated!

Sunday Post #3

Recently I've been making it a point to think about what I'm grateful for on a daily basis. I've found it easier to start appreciating even the little things by starting off my list with, "Today I had the opportunity to ______." I'll think about what I'm thankful for randomly throughout the day. Before I fall asleep in the evening I dedicate time thinking about the things I had the opportunity to do, or say, or think, or feel, and so on. It's powerful!

photo: Good Gbb, Creative Commons License As for this Sunday's Post, I wanted to share a quote that embodies positive self confidence, gratitude, and acceptance:

"Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one." -- Astrid Alaud

Have a fantastic

Sunday Post #2

This is my second Sunday Post and the quotes that I want to reflect upon embody self-confidence and gratitude. Before I get to the quotes, I want to mention that this week at work I was fortunate to pilot the 7 Habits Maximizer class. It was an eight hour program divided into two half day sessions. The maximizer was a follow up to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People course that I had taken a while back. When you have the chance to attend a 7 Habits class, or are simply interested in reading Stephen Covey's book titled The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I encourage you to go for it.

photo: Daniel Steger, Creative Commons License

On Confidence:

"You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down in defeat."
-- Charlie Chaplin

On Gratitude:

"Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot"
-- A Hausa saying (Nigeria)

Have a great week, and thank you for reading and subscribing to my blog!

Grouping Application Windows in Ubuntu/GNOME Taskbar

I just came across a blog posting on Tech-Recipe about grouping application windows in Ubuntu/GNOME taskbar. It's a useful optimization for newbies as well as the old-timers running a GNOME-based desktop. This feature allows a user to group application windows together in a way similar to Windows XP.

The way to enable application window grouping is simple. On my desktop I right click on the dotted vertical line between the quickstart icons and my open application windows. With my setup this is on the bottom taskbar (which is default with GNOME on Ubuntu). Select Preferences. You'll see a window similar to the image here. Under Windows Grouping yo have three choices; Never group windows (default), Group windows when space is limited, and always group windows.

[Enable Window Grouping on the Window List] -- Tech-Recipes Blog