If You Give a Communist a Cupcake

Found in Sam's school papers:

If You Give a Communist a Cupcake

by Sam Berman

If you give a Communist a cupcake, he'll eat it. If he eats it, he'll ask for another one. He'll plant a camera in it. Then he'll give it back and say he doesn't want it. He will make sure you are in the military before he gives it back. If you are in the military, he will spy on you. And then he will tell the Russians about our attacks and they'll drop a nuke on us. We'll lose the war and die. And that's why you don't give a Communist a cupcake.

Quiet an interesting and cautionary tale. I wonder what lesson preceded this writing assignment.

On a side note, I'll bet you'll agree that he'll use contractions anywhere they'll fit.

Jeremy Lin

What is behind the current obsession of Linsanity? Jeremy Lin represents all of us who were not given a fair chance because we did not look like what the coach was expecting. In my case, it was the high school tennis team. Go Jeremy, you are playing for all of us.

H&R Block Taxcut Installation Failure

I was trying to install H&R Block Taxcut 2011 software on a 64-bit Windows 7 system and got the following "Installation Failure" message:

If you get this message, it may be because you tried to run "tcauto.exe". Try running the file "/installers/HRBlock_Basic+Efile_2011_CD.exe" instead. This worked for me.

By the way, I had precisely this same issue last year. I guess the folks at H&R Block did not read this blog and try to fix the issue.

Astaro VPN Adapter Issue on Windows XP

There is an issue with running the Astaro SSL VPN on Windows XP. I have seen that this has affected other people, and have not seen any solutions (short of the drastic step of running "netsh int ip reset logfile.txt" and "netsh winsock reset catalog" to wipe out the entire winsock configuration), so I thought I would post this combination of steps that seems to work for me.

The symptom is if you get the following error message when trying to log in to the SSL VPN:

"Warning: route gateway is not reachable on any active network" or

"route gateway is not reachable on any active network adapters"

You will not be able to access anything on the network, even though you are logged in to the VPN with a valid IP address.

These steps resolve the problem for me:

1. Make sure using wireless connection (not ethernet)

2. Log in to the VPN

3. Open Network Connections (Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl , and then click OK.) and see which adapter is "Connected" (e.g. "Local Area Connection 5")

4. Right-click and select "Disable". This will log you out of the VPN

5. Go to the Device Manager (under Control Panel / System / Hardware) and under "Network Adapters" locate the Astaro SSL VPN network adapter and right-click to uninstall it

6. Run "C:\Program Files\Astaro\Astaro SSL VPN Client\bin\addtap.bat"

7. Observe a new adapter in the Network Connections panel. Under Advanced / Advanced Settings, make sure the new adapter is at the top of the list (use the arrows)

8. Try to log in to the VPN again.

This seems to work about 75% of the time. If not, repeating the steps a second time sometimes works.

Notes

• In step 7 or 8, if the new adapter says "Connected, Firewalled" under "Status", right-click and go to Properties, select "Advanced", click "Settings" under "Windows Firewall" and turn off.
• To delete an adapter from the registry (not sure if this works, but can try as last resort if step 5 above is not working), go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}. This didn't seem to be working, but may require a re-boot after deleting for the list to refresh.
• If you get the message "All TAP-Win32 adapters on this system are currently in use", this means you need to do step 6 above to add an Astaro SSL VPN adapter.

New Years Resolutions

2012: If you agree to do something for someone, do it right away

2011: Hear everything that people say

2009: Make use of the things I have

2008: Be mindful of daily goals list every night

2007: Watch a maximum of one sporting event per week (week runs Sun-Sat). There are two exemptions: watching with others in a social setting, or watching while exercising.

2006: (1) Do not watch the 11:00 local news (2) Finish reading the Sunday paper by Tuesday night

2005: Never place anything in a location where it could cause a problem if left there

2004: Perform any activity immediately if it will take less than 1 minute

My daily goals (which I update every morning on http://www.joesgoals.com/):
(1) 10 pushups
(2) Review Pete's school papers
(3) Be a good example for the kids at all times
(4) Perform one task on home "To Do" list
(5) post to petesammemories blog
(6) 20 min physical exercise
(7) Kids clean up all toys taken out that day
(8) Read two section of Washington Post

(9) Watch one saved item on DVR (if any)

(10) E-mail inbox completely to zero

(11) Review nightly list of discussion and small action items

(12) Chore on house clean-up list

(13) De-clutter one item

(14) Do not watch any sports on TV

(15) Be mindful of goals list before turning on computer

(16) Never turn on TV, other than to watch single a item on DVR

Retired resolutions:
(1) Maintain an even and calm temperament
(2) Think without deceit
(3) Tell the truth at all times
(4) Do right by others
(5) Temperance in food/drink
(6) Moderation in all things
(7) Tranquility

Golf Strategies

One thing I've learned from Pete's baseball games is that you can't get a hit every time, but you can have a good at bat most of the time. This means, for example, that you batted aggressively and swung at the strikes and didn't swing at the balls. This seems obvious, but I see so many at bats where kids go up there unprepared and watch several good pitches go by and then strike out on a bad pitch.

This got me thinking about playing golf. I can think of some similar strategies that I can start to put in place.

Goals / Strategies For a Full Round

1. I will not let a bad shot affect my preparation for the next shot

2. I will maintain my composure and goodwill

Strategies For Each Shot

1. Things I Can Completely Control

- I will go through my routine on every shot

- I will consider and assess the various options for a shot

- I will know my specific plan for the shot before I swing the club

- I will try to accurately determine the necessary characteristics of each shot:

- Distance

- Lie / Slope

- Break of green (walking around the full green)

- I will select a shot that I can reliably execute (e.g. more than 50% of the time)

2. Things I Can Work To Improve

- Error of execution (e.g. did I start the putt with the correct speed and line. if not, how close was I to what I wanted)

The key observation is that category 2 errors are acceptable and should account for my score being over par. Category 1 errors are not acceptable and should be reduced as close as possible to zero.

iTouch Free App Download Without Credit Card

I was setting up an Apple iTouch for my 7-year old son. I wanted to allow him to download free apps without a credit card. I created an Apple ID for him. But when trying to download a free app, the iTouch would insist that a credit card is required, even for a free app. There was no way to work around this.

Here is the solution I implemented for this:

1. Log in with my son's Apple ID

2. Enter my credit card information. This validated the account.

3. Download the free app

4. Connect the iTouch to the computer

5. In iTunes, log in to the Store with his Apple ID (select Store / Sign In)

6. Select Store / View My Account

7. Click "Edit" under Payment Type

8. Change Credit Card type to "None". The credit card information is deleted.

Now he can download free apps without a credit card.