Outlook 2010 hangs on loading profile

I found that my Outlook 2010 would sometimes hang when I opened it on the “Loading Profile” screen. After searching Google, I found a mix of things that helped me. I could simply cancel out of the loading profile and go to control panel, delete and recreate my Outlook profile. This worked, but was only temporary. Eventually the issue came back. Of course a reboot also temporarily fixes the issue as well.

I am using Shoretel Personal Call Manager (PCM) and it hooks into Outlook. For some reason, PCM causes Outlook to hang up on occasion. What I found is that if I close Outlook and then close PCM (sometimes forcing it closed) and then stop the process called Agent.exe (which starts when Outlook starts). I had multiple instances of Agent.exe. I closed all of them and restarted Outlook. Then I reopened PCM and life is good again.

Next thing to figure out is WHY Outlook and PCM don’t play nice together. I am using Outlook 2010 32bit on a Windows 7 Enterprise 64bit. PCM is version 15.41.3005.0. If anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to post them.

20 Years Is Long Enough

A twenty year drug addiction comes and goes like the tide
Recovery starts and stops like a roller coaster ride
It starts off and you’re on a roll
But oh that addiction, it sure takes a toll
This is the last straw and I hope you win
You lie, cheat, and steal, even from kin
You think you don’t need treatment, but oh my how you do
Your friends are like water but your family is glue
So while you were out here’s some things that went down
Your son walks around with a great big frown
Your daughters only one and really has no clue
Yet she sleeps here with us instead of with you
The kids are both sleeping and are doing well
Until they go home and your life turns to hell
So please get some treatment, I know it’s not cool
But if you are dead then who is the fool?

Christmas for my Brother

Twas’ the month before Christmas, and the water heater broke

When Sharon got home, I thought she might choke

The dryer, the termites, the roof with a leak

My brother and family have had a bad week

An ipod and three games and DSI case

Were all taken away from my brother’s place

His kids are upset that some money was taken

This is for real, so No I’m not fakin’

A gift card from Brody showed up in the mail

It was actually from Tina, now that is a tale

Paul is at home and we have the rug rats

We are so lucky that his kids aren’t brats

No hot water at home, Sharon’s here to shower

She’s finally clean, but it took nearly an hour

When I stopped by her house to help out my bro

We carried a washer right out the back doe’

The house is just trashed, it’s really a mess

Sharon will clean it, that’s OCD I guess

Now don’t you worry, they’ll all rest well

Til Murphy comes back and it all goes to hell

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you enjoyed that.

Collaboration—-What is this stuff?

Defining collaboration does not need to be very difficult. It is simply the act of working together. The hard part is explaining what tools are available and how they work. There are many different collaboration tools on the market. Examples are Microsoft’s SharePoint, Box.net, Wiggio, Doodle, and Groupswim are just a few. Each of these have their own little niche features, however, the basics are similar.

Collaboration tools have certain basic items that the users need. Examples are shared calendaring, discussion boards, contacts list, and document storage. Let me explain each one.

Shared Calendaring-simply put, it is a calendar that is shared by many people. Typical collaboration sites will have a calendar that all members of the group have access to. This enables all group members to add appointments to the calendar. Everything from regularly scheduled meetings to group members availability can be placed on the calendar. As a benefit, many of these online collaboration tools have a way to “tie” into the users existing calendar, making it easier to manage.

Discussion boards-is a place to capture group conversations. There are so many ways a discussion board can be used. It can be used to help replace those long email threads. You know the ones where everyone is copied and it is forwarded around to 40 different people, then everyone starts responding to all and the thread turns into knot very quickly. Using a discussion board as a replacement to this keeps all the information in one central location. Members of the group simply check the discussion board for content and respond accordingly. The discussion board can keep track of each “broken thread” and keep it in order, making it easier for the group to follow. A discussion board can also be used to submit questions in order to obtain feedback. One use can be trying to schedule a meeting with multiple group members. Simply post the date/times that are available and let everyone post their availability.

Contact Lists-this one is easy. A list of contacts, period. You decide which contacts. Maybe there are several lists on your site. One for all group members and one for vendors that are used by the group for the project. Keep track of address, phone, email, IM, whatever fields you want. Many of the collaboration tools allow customization of the contact list enabling the group to really capture any info about the contact they want to capture.

Document Storage-shared storage space for the group members. Generally, members may need to share documents with each other while working on their project. Document storage allows the members to post their work, view other member’s work, and even edit other member’s work, depending on how the security is set up.

These are just a few of the features that are available with collaboration tools and by no means an exhaustive list. Other features that exist are things like texting, emailing, IM, video conferencing, phone conferencing, and more.

Hopefully this makes collaboration a little easier to understand and explains why more and more people are using it.

Til’ next time.

Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging……oh my

As you know, social networking is a big thing right now. I am finding it very challenging to try to explain to some people what exactly social networking is and why people use it. I have used some of the social networking sites; however, I have not started twittering yet. Not sure I really have the time and frankly am too busy to tell you that I am having coffee or just tripped down the stairs. However, I get it. I understand what it is and why some people, make that a ton of people, use it. This is actual my first blog post publicly. It’s kinda scary when I know that I am writing for the masses. I have blogged privately on MySpace before, but nothing like this. I am excited to finally start doing it. I don’t have a Facebook account yet, but I am LinkedIn. So many networks, so little time.

So how do you explain what all this is and why it’s used? I was recently explaining what blogging is and the person I was speaking to said, “you mean people write about their personal lives and post it on the Internet for the world to read?” Yep, that’s right. Of course, YOU have control over what YOU blog about. It’s not like I will wake up one morning, check my blog, and see that there is a new post about something stupid or embarrassing that I have done.
Blogging is interesting. Blogging is simply a small write up about whatever you want to write about. It could be political, emotional, nonsensical, or anything really. It really allows the writer to say what they want to say without being interrupted by others. I mean, you can get a full thought process down, re-read it, edit it, and finally post before anyone else has the chance to attack you, change your mind, or otherwise state their own opinion. Of course, your readers can post comments about your blog and you can respond to keep the conversation going. You should remember the rules though, never type anything that you would not say in person. Don’t blog about your best friend and how fat she is if you would not say it to her face. On the other hand, blogging is a great way to get your thoughts down “on paper” to help you think things through. Meaning, maybe things are hard for you to talk about so blogging about them gets it off your chest. It could be very therapeutic. Just remember, others read what you write so be sure you mean what you type.

Social networks like MySpace and Facebook are very popular. Again, how do you explain what these are to people? I have a MySpace account that I set up simple to find old friends. Since I went to school in Germany (military brat) many of my high school friends are scattered all over the world. Through the use of these social networks, I have been able to reconnect with many of them. Now I don’t spend a lot of time “managing” my social networks, but you have the ability to really customize your page and make it your own. These sites typically allow you to post pictures, videos, blog posts, and other content. Basically, it’s your own personal website. These sites are usually free as well.

Twitter-what’s all the rage? Well, to be honest, I don’t know much about it yet. I know it’s another way to communicate with your friends by sending out short blips about you and what you are doing. In fact, David Gregory from NBC was filling in on the Today Show the other day and as they went to commercial, Meredith Vieira commented that he was “twittering”. There he sat with his smartphone in hand. I guess with all the smartphone apps that are out there, it really makes it easy to twitter. You can also “subscribe” to your friends twitter so you don’t miss anything. Subscribing simply means follow your friends posts and make them easy to find for you.

Well, that does it for now. I am going to re-read this int he morning and see if it still makes sense. Next up, I think I will take on explaining collaboration.

Til’ next time…..