By Chad Voller on 3/11/2008 11:45 PM

1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. -- Work

I would go into a detailed description of just exactly what it is that I do at work, but then I would have to kill you.  Ok, I wouldn't have to kill you, but it wouldn't be appropriate for me to share too much information about what it is that I do, so I'll share a little.
First, before I DO any work, I arrive at work.  Since I'm a contractor for my company, I'm not always at the same location, even though I could be working on the same contract for several months at a time.  I even worked one place for a full year.  So, I get to the building and head up to the 3rd floor where my team sits.  The team I work on now is migrating a large amount of data for one of the larger banks in the northeast Ohio area.  Actually, this bank has locations in several Mid-West states, so they have a LOT of information.
The first person I walk by is Megan.  She's the receptionist who moved up from some southern state to live with her boyfriend who plays for the Akron Zips.  She's nice and can be occasionally swindled into giving me a Charleston Chew (the mini size, all you diet hounds).  I walk past her toward the back of the office and on the way I pass the two unfriendly sales people.  They might just seem unfriendly, but they always bury their heads when I walk past.  I greet them with a hearty "Good afternoon," then proceed around the corner to where the team sits.

We have a counter-top type of area along a wall in the back part of the office area.  So, we all get a small space on the counter along this wall.  I think it's made of formica (sp?).  Everybody else works in a cube or an actual office and we get the command center style seating.  This is where it gets interesting.  We sit close to the developers, who are all working on a big project for Kroger.  Yes, Kroger needs computer programs, too.  Developers, though, are a unique breed.  This group is very quiet and keeps to itself.  They like to work with the lights off, so that all lighting is coming from outside (not bad, but what if it's not exactly bright outside?).  The funny thing is, we need the lights that light up where they sit in order to see what we're doing, so we usually come in and turn on all the lights.  When we do so, we are met with the look of death from the developers.  They collectively, silently moan, because we have just ruined their entire existence by turning on the lights.  HELLO, this is a business office, and lights tend to be a normal part of something like that.  They just don't undertand.

Usually, right around the time that I arrive at work, the Looney Lunch Lady arrives.  She has her own business of selling home-made lunches to all of the businesses in this area of town.  She purchases and makes everything at home, then packs it up the next day in coolers galore to take all around town for business people to consume.  It is not drastically expensive, but it probably costs slightly more than the average lunch-time meal that an average person might purchase during the average day at work.  The Looney Lunch Lady carries a wide variety of foods, from soup and sandwich to stir fry and dessert.  The quality is high, and if you don't like the price, might I remind you that this lunch was hand made and came delivered to your cubical?  You ask, "Why do you call her the Looney Lunch Lady?"  I respond by telling you that she always seems to be talking to herself under her breath and she always talks about the same thing: weather.  There is something about her that just makes you think, "Hmmm, I wonder what exactly is going on in her head."  She also seems to be in a hurry all the time, because she probably IS in a hurry all the time.  No matter, I bring my lunch nearly every day, so I think I've only purchased 1 thing from her in 3 months.
Throughout the rest of the day I'm typically working on updating information or some other type of work that helps the team get ready to move data from the Novell world to the Microsoft world.  Again, we're moving lots of data, so there is plenty of stuff to do.  Although, lately things are winding down a bit, as there is only 1 more month on the project.  Migrations are fewer and fewer, but more and more complex.  It should be an interesting month finishing out the project.

10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. -- drive home, settle in at home, go to bed

The drive home is usually quiet and meditative, or I'm listening to Delilah.  Sing it with me... De-Liii-Laah.  Ha!  If you know that tune and just sang it, then I got you.  Phffllght!  I arrive home close to 10:30.  When I walk in the door I am greeted by two people: Allyson and Myles.  Myles does a nicer job of greeting these days than he used to.  He has begun to truly get it through his head that we are not out to get him, so somewhere deep down he's allowing himself to enter into the joy of life with us.  Allyson has hugs and kisses to bestow upon me, since she is the love of my life and the designated snuggler.  We embrace and soon after begin discussion of how our days went.  I might plug in one last time in order to check all of my email and make sure there are no fires that must be put out right away.  If I'm really engrossed in a project, I'll probably spend an hour working on a customer's new website, or updating my local servers at home, or downloading some patch for a program on my computer, or something I.T.  We might catch one of our favorite shows that we have waiting for us on the DVR (Bones, CSI).  More often than not, we are both very tired at this point during the day and we simply head up to bed.  This brings us clear up to 11:00, typical bed-time. 
So, now you have been an audience to a day in the life of The Rook.  Perhaps your curiosity was satisfied.  Am I as normal as you thought I would be?  Is my life so much different from yours?  Would you be willing to write about your life and share it here on the site?  I'm looking for more contributors to the site, so drop me a line on the contact us page if you're looking to write.  Otherwise, keep lurking, keep reading, and when something strikes a chord with you or offends you, write back!  Bunch of sicko's.  Lighten up, it's a joke.

By Chad Voller on 3/9/2008 11:55 AM

Have you been setting up WSUS for the first time?  A little frustrated?  Looking for documentation?

Look no further.  In my administrative days, WSUS has not been the easiest thing to setup.  So here's a site I thought I might share with everybody, in case you were looking for a good place to find help for WSUS.  http://wsuswiki.com/Home

By Chad Voller on 3/5/2008 11:54 AM

I am planning to do a series of tutorials for absolute DNN beginners, primarily revolving around the stuff you want to do immediately following installation of a new portal.  There is a lot of help on the web about installation and things like that.  However, I haven't really found a great central location for stuff geared toward that phase of DNN that occurs right after you get it installed for the first time.

So, I'm trying to pull together a top 10 of sorts.  Suggestions?  Ideas?  What do you think would fit into the "Top 10" things people need to know how to accomplish right after they first get a DNN portal up and running?

Thanks for your input!  I will use the information from the community to build a useful set of Top 10 Beginner Tutorials.

- Chad

By Chad Voller on 3/4/2008 5:48 PM

Welcome back, my fellow on-lookers.  It's fun, you've got to admit, isn't it?  I mean, watching everyone's life unfold online is kinda cool.  You get a voluntary look into what makes people tick, what they do with their spare minutes, a glimpse into their formerly private life.  Some of us like to share, most of us like to read.  So, here's how the rest of my day plays out... at least during this phase of my life.  :-)

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. -- grab a light lunch, get ready for work, touch base with allyson, pack my light-weight dinner

Wow, I twice used the word "light" to describe this part of my day.  Some of you know that I have been on a diet recently.  Honestly, I don't know if you could call it a diet in the conventional sense.  I guess it depends on how you view the word diet.  I have not been following south beach or atkins or anything else potentially funky.  This is my diet plan:
1) Eat Less
2) East less junk
It has worked like a charm over the past 2 months.  Just last night Allyson and I went shopping, and I have lost over 2 inches in my waist.  Anyone who sees me on a regular basis can easily tell at a glance that I have lost a lot.  Now, I must say that I had the "fat" view of myself before starting this plan of mine, and now I am feeling skinny.  Well, I'm the skinniest I've been in years.  It feels great, and I know I could probably still stand to lose a few more pounds.  So, how much have I lost, you ask?  I have no idea.  I made a deal with myself when Joe and I started our friendly competition that I wouldn't weigh myself until the official weigh in (it doesn't hurt that we don't own a scale).  I just know I've slendered down in my face, tummy, and buttocks.  Yeah, I said buttocks, what are you going to do about it?!  Ha!

So, anyway, during this part of my day I get my light lunch packed (probably some soup in a can, string cheese, an orange, maybe a bag of microwave popcorn).  I also reconnect with Allyson, find out how her day is going, and chat with her for a few minutes.  By 12:30 I'm heading out the door, because I work from about 1 p.m. to about 10 p.m. every day. 

12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. -- drive to work

I won't include the door to door driving instructions, but I head out to work at 12:30-ISH.  The first part of the journey begins by getting through our stop sign and past the square in Medina.  Let me tell you, this can be interesting.  Do you live somewhere in a town that everyone coming in or out of that down drives by?  We do.  I tell people that everyone and their dog drives into Medina or out of Medina by way of the stop sign at the end of our street.  Not only do I have to get through that stop sign, but I also have to make my way through/past the square (indirectly).  It is so significant, in terms of driving, that it deserves its own section of this post.
 
People do not make very good driving decisions at our stop sign or at our "light."  We call them ours because they are the first two driving obstacles on our way to most of the places we travel from our house.  First of all, at the stop sign, people turn into complete idiots.  People run this 4-way stop sign in so many different ways that I could probably write a book about it...literally (i say "literally" so i can be like bill marras).  Needless to say, you need to keep your head on a swivel while driving up to and through this stop sign, because your life could be taken from you at absolutely any moment.  Then you have to make it through the traffic light.  Now, this is worth describing, because it's one of those lights... you know, THOSE lights.  There are LOADS of people going through this intersection, and there are major problems with the older design of the intersection.  For instance, there is no left turn while driving north (the direction we drive through this intersection).  What is the impact of this design flaw?  The primary effect of not having a left turn lane and only 1 lane each direction is that people turning left cut off any straight or right-turn access for the people behind them.  So, imagine a very busy road with 1 lane each direction where cars are stacked up several deep and the person in front is turning left.  Naturally, they must wait until people driving south make it through the intersection, because you can't just turn left in front of oncoming traffic.  So, people behind must wait, because there really is no other way around (well, not within reason).  It is NOT an exaggeration to say that sometimes it can take 15 minutes to make it through this light.  Note the reason for this being potentially frustrating:  We live less than 1/4 mile south of this intersection!  So, now you can imagine that if you leave in what might normally be "plenty" of time to get somewhere, then you get 15 minutes added to your travel time (whereas it normally takes 1 minute or less to travel that distance, you might be slightly frustrated!  But no matter, I make it to work within 1/2 hour, get settled in and start work...
Well, I'm out of typing breath, so tune in next time for A Day in the Life: Part Three.

By Chad Voller on 3/3/2008 3:48 PM

So, installing the latest version of the DNN blog module?  Getting excited because of everything metapost CE has to offer?  Now you're going to need to tweak a few things to make it work right.  Well, trust me, it's worth reading post just to learn 1 or 2 things on how to customize the appearance of your main blog listing page.  This tutorial discusses how to customize the title font size and the vertical space between entries for the Blog 03.04.00 module, both settings able to be changed by editing the ViewBlog.ascx file that is found in DesktopModules\Blog within your DNN installation.  The DNN Blog module's official forum page is here: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Forums/tabid/795/forumid/92/scope/threads/Default.aspx.

The trick to a lot of is figuring out which CSS and ASCX files are determining the look and feel of the page.  Then tweak the files according to your wild dreams of how you want your blog to look.  HINT: Don't forget to check the files for your skin, as well as the files I suggest in this tutorial.  Sometimes those files are bringing the styles to your page, and you might not need to do quite as much editing as you would think.  I, for one, found that I had to get nitty gritty with the code just to get the font size of the blog entry titles to be correct, and to increase the spacing between entries.  This obviously comes from the ASCX page (which I found after digging through the blog module's code files).

note: even though you can edit .ascx, .css, .html, etc. files by using notepad or another free text editor, in order to more easily edit code files, i find it best to use a full featured editor, such as microsoft's visual studio express, or some such software that allows you to see the code in color and therefore navigate your way around the code a bit easier.

GENERAL HINTS:

1) HINT: Assuming you have FTP access your dotnetnuke portal, go ahead and download everything from the DesktopModules\Blog folder to your local computer.  It's always easier to edit your module's code if you have a local copy on hand.

2) Download and install Firefox, and if you already have it, go ahead and grab the Firebug extension for it.  Once you have downloaded and installed the Firebug extension in Firefox, you can proceed to the next step.  (you can use another tool of some kind, perhaps an IE plugin or otherwise, in order to review the CSS and HTML from directly within your browser.  This is one of the most helpful tools you can have in order to truly figure out what's "going wrong" with your site when you have a problem.)

CHANGING THE LOOK AND FEEL

1) Changing the size of the title on each entry:

Open ViewBlog.ascx from the DesktopModules\Blog directory (which you should have downloaded).  You simply need to add a font-size attribute to the

2) Changing the vertical space between entries.

This is simply a div to add vertical space between posts.  By default, there is no space there.  I included a very simple div like this:

{div style="height: 25px"}{/div}

However, if you're inexperienced with this type of stuff, you probably need a hand finding out just where to add this code.  Oh, and change the # of pixels to suit your needs. 

Add the sample line as in the picture below.  In my ViewBlog.ascx file, I added the code on line 59 (a full-featured editor helps with line numbers).

Hey, if you have any questions, just post a reply here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

- Chad

By Chad Voller on 2/29/2008 8:31 AM

Yeah, not exactly technical here, but it makes for good reading... you bunch of sickos.

You know, t