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Showing posts from 2008

ParaPlan 4.0 Beta Unleashed!

I will soon be installing our newest version of ParaPlan at Kendal-Crosslands today ( www.kcc.kendal.org ).  Steve Cooper is the transportation director at KCC and will be our first beta tester of ParaPlan 4.0.  Steve provided numerous requests and comments during the development of ParaPlan 2/3 and he will be a great resource for us as we roll out the new version.  Steve will be testing it on a copy of his ParaPlan 3.8x data. PP 4.0 is in written in C# .NET 3.5...Tim has been working on it for quite some time and we are excited about beginning its release cycle! This new version is no longer dependent on Microsoft Access which has always caused us various issues. Stay tuned!

KU vs Kent State

Allie and I decided late to go to the game in Lawrence and a couple cool things happened at the game last Monday. #1 With just 0.2 seconds left in the 1st half, KU had an inboud alley-oop to Cole to end the half and we all went nutz of course.  Then as the teams left the court for halftime, they put the following clip on the jumbotron... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4STTYu-wkU Then right after Farley says, "That was awesome!", they replayed Cole's dunk several times.  Kinda sweet. #2 During a 2nd half timeout... they played the now infamous 4th&7 play by KU vs Mizzou at the 08 Arrowhead game.  After the crowd went crazy, they zoomed the jumbotron to Todd Reesing who was in attendance and we all gave him a standing O for a couple minutes.  Kinda sweeter.

Coldplay in KC 08

The show was truly amazing for me and Allie. Me, Allie, Crash and BC hit the Sprint Center for Coldplay 08!  They put on a great show across the board, but a sweet moment occurred when they ran up into the croud just 6 rows from me and Allie.... they played 'The Scientist'...which was our first dance at our wedding.  It was so so cool... Sorry about the pic quality...but whatever.

Election 2008...Obama v. McCain

I generally agree with every Republican philosophy, but I no longer have faith that they can properly deliver it to us.  That is pretty much all I need to say on that.  This election is historic and exciting...I voted early and here is a pic of the voter line in Johnson County, KS one day before the election...

A Moment To Post...

I missed October somehow, but a lot has been going on.  Allie is pregnant!... and I will have some sweet ultrasound pics in 3 weeks.  We are due on April 16 09.  I also went to the Arkansas Transit trade show by myself for the first time in Little Rock, AR.  It was an awesome experience for me because I was the only software vendor at the show and I am also good friends with the regulars.  Here is a pic of me and Russ Parish of the ATA.... Russ and I became friends back in 2001, when Carl and I first attended the Arkansas Transit Show.  Russ is a trainer for the ATA and drives his state daily to visit transit sites and train their clients on everything from drug and alcohol testing to wheelchair tie-down instruction.  He received a national award from the FTA for his service this year too!  very cool We also had a ParaPlan Pro  install at Sheridan MiniBus in Sheridan, WY!

UCATS ParaPlan Install

On September 8-10, I visited UCATS in Marysville, OH to install ParaPlan Lite.  The install and training went very well thanks to Mike Baird.  UCATS was the first sale for Anne Richards, our fantastic new Sales & Marketing Director...

Latest ParaPlan Install

We just got back from a week long install of ParaPlan Pro at KART ( Kingman Area Regional Transit ).  They operate 6 fixed routes and deviate from those routes for paratransit service.  I added a new layer to ParaPlan to support this requirement.  This process did of course grant me 4 hrs of sleep per night, but it was well worth it and they are happy with the results.  They will be going live with the system this week.  To get to Kingman, we fly into Vegas and drive down over the Hoover Dam on Hwy93.  They are building this awesome new arch bridge over the whole thing to improve traffice flow and for national security concerns...

AutoNumber Reset in SQL 2005

This post is pretty much just a note for myself, but it might help someone too.  When appending rows from an Access Database table to a SQL Server table of the same structure, sometimes SQL will not retain the ID's for AutoNumber fields.  This can be a big problem for our ParaPlan application.  In Access you can compact and repair to reset your autonumber fields back to 0 or 1 obviously.  However, I never really figured out how to do that in SQL 05 until now. To clear a table's records and reset the autonumber in SQL 05, just use the following syntax in a query on SQL db: "truncate table dbo.drivers"

Pandora Sidebar Gadget for Vista

I just love it... click here to download

Interior Painting Gets Started!

Allie and I are so far very pleased with our paint color and the work being done here by JB Paint Company.  We are using Benjamin Moore Paint from Gragg's and Frank (Allie's Dad) got us a nice deal on top of the internet special.  The color we (i mean Allie) chose for pretty much everything is Monroe Bisque.  We had several other options but went with this after Allie and I compared them by actually painting samples on our walls.  Here are a couple pics of how it looks! The previous owners were K-State'ers so the lavendar you see in the dining room will soon be replaced by this awesome Blue Spruce. The color is this basic nice soft yellow-tan and we really like it!  and yes...i am a tool.

The RockBand Video Game

For us 30-'somethings'...this thing rocks for parties... Burgers/Dogs and RockBand in Lenexa Kansas last weekend.... All girls killin' it at Jodi's birthday party... \ Tim Shroba (aka Tommy Lee) Brian, Tim and I had a somewhat video-worthy version of... Weezer's 'Buddy Holly'...whatever

EnGraph On The Road Again

I just arrived in Kennett Square, PA where I will be upgrading Kendal-Crosslands Communities from ParaPlan Lite Access to ParaPlan Lite SQL.  I am excited to finally meet Steve Cooper, the director of KCC, because he has been a ParaPlan user since 2004.  His recommendations and testing of our system has been invaluable to me.  I am really looking forward to the two of us bouncing around ParaPlan ideas this week. Carl and Anne are currently in Oberlin, OH training new ParaPlan clients as well. ParaPlan is growing and the future is very bright!

Simulating A Right-Click From The Keyboard

I have been doing quite a bit of LogMeIn (IT Reach and Rescue) lately and sometimes my mouse right-click does not work to get context menus.  Therefore, if you ever have this issue, just select the icon or item you need and press [Shift] [F10].  I am sure Tim could have told me this, but he wasn't here :)

The New Google Earth 4.3 StreetView is Ridiculous

I just installed the new Google Earth and it now features enhanced StreetView, which exists in Google Maps, but it is now even more high-res and wonderful.  Once you turn on StreetView in Google Maps, then drill down tight, you will see the following shiny balls to click and enjoy :) ha ha Once you click one of these, you get an impressive and dynamic view of the street you are now standing on.  (e.g. 1428 Grand in KCMO)... Download Google Earth 4.3 here:  http://earth.google.com/

acrosstheboard blog and twitter

Last night at the Kentucky Derby Casino benefit for visually impaired children in Kansas City, I met Ramsey Mohsen. Ramsey is a KU grad who writes my all-time favorite blog: http://acrosstheboard.blogspot.com/ I subscribe to him on http://feedblitz.com so that his multiple daily posts just flow into my inbox every morning and I can start my day with a nice chuckle. His blog is obviously geared towards men in their 20's and 30's...so beware. I felt like a I had met a famous person and he is a very cool guy, here is a pic from last night: On another note, Tim thinks twitter is fun and set me up on it. Tim says it is 'like shouting into the crowd': You can follow me here: *i may start using this more i think! http://twitter.com/kylejarcher You can follow Tim here: http://twitter.com/timhibbard You can follow Ramsey here: http://twitter.com/ramseym

The Jayhawks Are NCAA Champs!

I don't really know how to write about the past season of college hoops, but I will try my best to put it into perspective for those who are part of the Jay hawk fanhood and those who are not.  It has been 3 weeks since KU won it all and now I think I can put my thoughts to paper. This is obviously a monster post...so look out! ***I have many fun pics about the final four etc down below*** I was in high school in Olathe when KU won in 1988.  I liked the Jayhawks, but I never truly appreciated that win because my brother Craig was currently at KU, my Dad graduated from KU in 1964 and my Uncle before him..  At the time, I remember it being 'their' championship, not mine... if that makes any sense.  I was flooded with KU my entire life and for some reason I fought that a little bit (stupidly, btw).  I visited several Kansas universities my senior year in high school except KU: (Wichita State, K-State and Washburn).  I think I was excited about WSU and just wanted to be diff

Recent Client Visits

I went to Society for Equal Access ( SEA ) in New Philadelphia, OH to give them some advanced ParaPlan training:   Carl and I also had a pre-install meeting at Kingman Area Regional Transit ( KART ) in Kingman, AZ.  They operate 5 fixed routes that deviate up to 3/4 mi for Paratransit service.  Carl and I rode the YELLOW route to see this in action!

Birthday Parties

Peez turned 34 this month: Spoada met me, P and Patrick in Lawrence for some old school fun! *RED LYON   Tauni B turned 30 this month! Lindsey and BC getting their party on in OPP! *FOX N HOUND

2008 Royals Home Opener

Cold and wet, but the new scoreboard at The K is ridiculous!  We made it here after partying in Lawrence after the amazing Jayhawk National Championship win! The opener is an old Burns & Mac tradition and even some out-of-towners showed up! Allie, Stacy and Margie (April 8, 2008)

New ParaPlan Pro Install

Carl and I are headed to Cincinnati, OH today for a ParaPlan Pro install at Inclusive Solutions.  Visit their website here . My beloved Jayhawks play for the Big 12 Tourney title at 2pm today.  Carl booked our flights and we take off at 2:05 pm today :(  I guess we know who is the true fan.  Ha ha.  GO HAWKS! Stay tuned for more information on our week-long business trip.

Introducing Tim & Chelsea Hibbard!

They actually did it!  They tied the knot at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina last weekend.  Allie and I had a wonderful time with them, their families and friends.  They had a few obstacles pop up while pulling this thing off, but all worked without a hitch and they had a beautiful wedding. The wedding party: Matt, Allen, KJ, Tim, Chelsea, Rachel, Jody and Robin More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjtothea ...and more coming soon!

Tim Joins The Rest of Us

Allie and I are flying to Charleston, SC tomorrow for Tim and Chelsea's wonderful wedding on the beach!  We are fired up and so happy for them.  I am so proud to be his Best Man.  Here is their wedding website: http://www.timhibbard.com/wedding/ Pics coming soon!

My Civic Makes Google Maps

I just looked up my boyhood home on Google Maps and saw my car parked out front in their StreetView.  They must have been by this summer.  Too cool.  - click here -

Blogging From Florida

I am in Naples with my Dad, brother Craig and Uncle Ross right now.  My Uncle has an amazing condo on the 11th floor on the beach here in Naples, FL.  We played golf yesterday at the Golf Club at Del Webb, which is a brand new course in this incredible Catholic community called Ave Maria.  Here is a pic of the course: I have not played since November when Peez beat me at Adam's Pointe, but I played fairly well and shot an 86.  Craig and I lost by 1 stroke to Dad and Ross....boo hoo.  Here were the rules:  Craig and I played best ball from the back tees and they played a scramble from the middle tees.  We also gave them 9 strokes and 8 mulligans. Here is a pic from the condo: Today we are playing the Mustang Club at the Lely Resort and then we come home tomorrow.  Rock Chalk!

My Fun New Mobile Music Devices

I have been talking about HD radio for a long time, but never pulled the trigger. Tim (who is now engaged ! btw) got me this perfect new DUAL HD car radio for Christmas...*probably so I would shut up about it all :) It is perfect for me because it does everything I want:  supports HD radio, displays song info on HD stations, plays CD-R/RW CD's, plays MP3/WMA CD's, has a front USB connection to play MP3's from a mass storage device and it is Bluetooth capable.  Nice! I had it installed at Best Buy and bought myself some nice new Alpine speakers too!  Anyway, the ability to plug in a thumb drive and play music is awesome.  However, I wanted an MP3 player that i could plug into my computer in a USB port, then transfer files easily using Windows Media Player, then take it with me when i go 'run', then also plug it into my new car stereo...and so Tim help me find the SanDisk Sansa Express 2GB MP3 Player for just $50 on amazon... All this in time for my long drive