Joanna from Millionaire Matchmaker

Joanna from Millionaire Matchmaker - if you ever want to go on a date, let me know.

Windows Vista 64-bit, Realtek, and (apparently) more than 4GB of RAM have issues

Today I received an additional 4GB of RAM for my 64-bit installation of Vista. I shut down my system, installed the RAM, and while booting up I decided to go into BIOS and play with settings related to WOL because I've been trying to save more energy at my house and figured not having my computer on all day would be a good idea, but having WOL capabilities would be nice. I committed the changes, and when I started up Vista with my 8GB of RAM, the network wouldn't connect. I couldn't ping my gateway address or anything.

Long story short, apparently *something* within my Realtek RLT8168B NIC drivers did not like the additional memory, or most likely the fact that there was now more than 4GB. After installing the latest drivers, I was able to gain connectivity again. If you need the latest drivers, check out the Realtek website. Hopefully you've found this article short in your journey and this saves you the headache. I must have spent a solid two hours on this problem!

Automating logins with KeePass's Auto-Type scripting and Firefox

First off, if you haven't been using a password database tool, I highly recommend using one. This forces you to stop using the same password for each account you have out on the Internet, and lets you keep the list centralized in an encrypted file. I highly recommend KeePass, as it is open-source and free.

I have enjoyed using KeePass to store my account information, but for logging into web pages I wanted it to be a more automated process, having it login for me instead of copying the URL, username, and password into the appropriate fields. I started playing with the Auto-Type feature within KeyPass, and after some tinkering I was able to login to my credit card company's interface. The way it works is you tell it which application to gain focus on, which URL to go to, and lastly to type in the username and password. An example Auto-Login script that logs me into my bank looks like this:

Note before proceeding: You must be have Firefox as your last focused window, otherwise your data will spill into another window.

In my example below, Auto-Type opens a new tab (^t) in Firefox, types in the URL ({URL}), hits enter ({ENTER}), gives the page some time to load ({DELAY 4000}), types in the username ({USERNAME}), tabs over to the password field ({TAB}), and lastly types in the password ({PASSWORD}).

Auto-Type: ^t{URL}{ENTER}{DELAY 4000}{USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}

Warning: If you do not have Firefox your last focused window, KeyPass will not know which window to gain focus on and most likely spill your details to your friend you're chatting with (or whatever window has focus). For this reason, I have left out having Auto-Type hit {ENTER} after my password, just for safety reasons. You've been warned!

For more information about Auto-Type, check out the KeyPass Auto-Type documentation.

You receive "The RPC Server is Unavailable" when trying to add IPs via netsh

If you receive an error when attempting to add IPs with netsh on Windows Server 2008 (this may apply to earlier versions as well), if you do not have the DHCP Client service enabled, you will receive the error:

"The RPC Server is Unavailable."

This unfortunately took many hours, including many hours from Microsoft (which were unsuccessful), to figure out. Hopefully someone finds this post and helps them out.

Polynesian (Hawaiian) Chicken Recipe

This is a recipe that my mom provided to me that's been a favorite in our family over the years. Please let me know if you like or dislike it!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Margarine
1/2 cup Flower
2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 small Green Pepper thinly sliced
1 small Onion thinly sliced
1/3 cup sliced Green Olives (stuffed with Pimento)
1 13.5 oz can of Pineapple rings
1 10.5 oz can of condensed Tomato Soup undiluted
1/4 cup Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Pineapple Syrup (from can of Pineapple rings)

Instructions:

Use 13"x9" baking pan
Preheat oven to 375F

In baking pan melt butter. Roll chicken in mixture of flower, salt, and pepper, then place skin side down in pan. Bake 20 minutes. Take pan out, turn chicken pieces over, and top with green peppers, olives, pineapple rings, and onions. Combine tomato soup, chili sauce, and pineapple syrup, and pour over chicken. Cover pan with foil, and bake 30 more minutes, or until meat thermometer in one of the breasts reads 170F.

Goes well with a white wine such as a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.

My initial review of the P90X workout program

P90X is a video workout program instructed by Tony Horton that incorporates various workout routines to strengthen your whole body, seeing amazing results in 90 days. P90X attempts to be better than other programs by creating "muscle confusion". Muscles are very efficient at repeating movements that have been learned over time, which is why runners can run 26 mile marathons, and only burn about twice the normal caloric intake in a day. I'm currently nearing the end of week three and I can confidently say that I have more endurance now than I did on day one with all of my workouts. Yes, I still have to take some mini-breaks, but nowhere near what I had to do when I first started. I also feel that my love handles are starting to slowly go away (I'm not a big guy, but I've got a slight spare tire). If anyone is interested in trying a workout routine and willing to give it their all, give P90X by BeachBody a try. You've got to "Bring It!" as they say or else you're not going to get the results you want. It's a 6/7 day a week program (depending on whether or not you wish to watch their Stretching X video (optional), or rest that day) so it's not a cake walk, but many people have had amazing results after 90 days.

Globat.com Wins Worst Domain Registrar Award!

Congratulations Globat.com, you've won my award for worst domain registrar of 2007, and ever for that matter! Here's a little story as to why you have received this award:

Back in 2006 I registered several domains at the introductory price of $1.99 a domain (or somewhere in that price ballpark). For each domain I had to create a username and password, so I kept a file of all of my usernames and passwords, and explicitly remember logging into each account and turning off auto-renew features, as well as having to change DNS settings. Fast-forward ahead 11 months down the road, and I start receiving notifications via e-mail that my domains are expiring. I attempt to login to change the auto-renew settings (again), but guess what? I'm unable to login! Alright, that's fine, perhaps I was drunk and typed all of my usernames and passwords wrong (no, this didn't happen) - I'll just request the information to be sent to my e-mail address. You guys obviously have my account information somewhere since I keep getting notifications, but yet when I attempt to retrieve my information, my e-mail address does not exist for any of my registered domains - how clever of your automated system! I then decided to attempt to call your 800 number, only to be sent to voicemail. I left a voicemail, and never received a response. I also sent a support e-mail via your online form and never received a response. After contacting my credit card company, they suggest to call an alternate number that was on my statement, which actually gets me talking with a human. After they suggest that I use the online chat system, I receive a promising e-mail with a list of my domains that I wish to cancel. However, after my response back to them to cancel the domains, and several follow-up e-mails every few days later, I have yet to receive a refund. Thus, here I am, with me graciously handing this award out to you, Globat.com! By the looks of things (from others complaining), I'm not the only one that's giving you this award. Keep up the good work!