The biggest problem I have with gmail (at the moment) is that you can only setup one signature. If I am sending out an email from work (Tresware), I can’t use the same signature as an email I would send out from home (foyleman). I’ve written before about a great Firefox Extension I found called Gmail Signatures. It might even still be linked in the right column of this site under my list of extensions. However… AND THIS IS BIG… I’ve found it to be the cause of why I sometimes can’t save downloaded files from Firefox. Yeah, I click a file to save it, select the folder to save it in and nothing happens. I end up having to restart Firefox to get my download to save.

So with that new bit of information, I set out to find an alternative. I first came across a Greasemonkey extension that would do the same thing as the extension I just got rid of. However, it hasn’t been updated in some time and I didn’t feel like messing around with a script that might or might not work all the time.

My next find is something I am trying out now and is the reason for writing this post. It’s program called AutoHotKey. This porogram will allow you to create a key combination that automatically causes another action on your computer to happen. That action could be to run a program, open a website, or in this case enter a specific signature into my email.

The instructions for use are this:

• Download and install AutoHotKey
• Create a new plain text file anywhere on your hard drive.
• Rename this text file with an ahk extension. I created one in MyDocuments and named it gmail_sigs.ahk.
• Edit this file by right clicking it and selecting ‘Edit this Script’.
• For each signature you want to create, enter this combination:
  ::short text for gmail::signature to be inserted
  In your case this might be:::/foyle::Thanks,{ENTER}foyleman{ENTER}http://www.foyleman.com
  The entire thing must be entered on a single line, so for line breaks insert {ENTER}
  Note: Make it something you don’t type too often or the signature will start appearing everywhere. For example, I had to shut off the script in order to type this entry without my signature being inserted. lol.
• Save the edited script.
• Double click the edited script to run it. It will show up in your taskbar when running.
  Note: You may need to put a shortcut to this script into Start > All Programs > Startup to ensure it starts up with your computer everyday.
• Then when you want to enter your signature, just type /foyle (in my case) and your signature will automatically appear.

Even though you may share all of your files on your XP computer, when you attempt to access those files from a Windows Vista or Windows 7 OS you may get an error that reads one of the following ways:

• Not enough server storage is available to process this command.
• Not enough memory to complete transaction. Close some applications and retry.

The solution is quite simple, even though odd that you have to do this at all.

1. Go to Start > Run > regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > lanmanserver > parameters
3. Create (or edit if it actually exists for you) a new DWORD value in this folder.
4. Name the value IRPStackSize and make sure to get the spelling and case correct.
5. Right click it to modify.
6. Select the Decimal Base on the right.
7. Enter a value of 16.
   Note that some people recommend entering 15 first, but I always get an error and wind up stepping it up to 16 and it works after that.
8. Click OK to close the little window.
9. Now you need to either restart your computer or, an easier method, restart the Server service which I will now explain.
10. Go to Start > Run > services.msc
11. Scroll the list of Services (Local) to find Server.
12. Right click and select Restart to restart this service.

That’s it. You can now access those files. Hooray.

The add-on allowed me to syncronize my bookmarks, cookies, etc across multiple computers. All I had to do was install it and setup my login information. The rest was seemless.

So I am off to find an alternative, one of which I am already testing. I came across a letter from Google that stated the following:

For those of you who want to continue to use Firefox 2, we’ll maintain support for old versions of Google Browser Sync through 2008. After that, we can recommend a few other products that scratch a similar itch. We hope that one of them works for you:

Mozilla Weave [labs.mozilla.com] from Mozilla Labs—Offers bookmark and history synchronization across computers.

Google Toolbar for Firefox [toolbar.google.com]—Store your bookmarks online and access them from any computer online.

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer [addons.mozilla.org]—Synchronizes your bookmarks across all computers where it is installed.

Regards,
The Google Team

I’m giving the last choice (Foxmarks) a shot at winning over my heart. If it fails, you’ll be sure to hear about it.

If anyone else out there uses my CopyforNotes extension (add-on), I have updated it to work with the new Firefox browser. You can grab it here: CopyforNotes version 1.8.

What extensions do I have installed?

• ColorZilla (not working)
  This plugin allows me to use an eyedropper pointer to select colors on any webpage. It allows me to easily select the color values when programming a website either from an image or the html.
• CopyforNotes (working)
  With this, I can select text on a page and copy it plus the url of the page for placement in my notes. I wrote this for MODSonair topics creation. It will either take the url of the current page or that of the link I am hovering over. More details are somewhere in this blog.. give a search if you want to know more.
• Dummy Lipsum (working)
  When programming a website, sometimes you need text to fill in an area here and there. This allows me to create filler text on the fly that doesn’t actually say anything. However, it looks like real sentences and paragraphs so the client can get the overall picture.
• Google Browser Sync (not working, damn it all!) (read following blog post)
  This extension that I love so dearly allows me to carry my bookmarks across computers without thinking about it. Whatever my bookmarks are at work are at home, which are on my laptop, etc.
  Wait, there’s more. It also saves my cookies, passwords and other authenticated business. I don’t have to keep typing in all that junk when going from work to home or any browser I have installed and setup with this plugin.
• Google Notebook (working)
  I use Google Notebook for taking my initial notes for MODSonair. This allows me to quickly save anything I see online for review later in the week. I then use CopyforNotes to turn those links into topics that easily paste into the final product.
• Greasemonkey (working, but not working) (now magically working without my intervention) (broken again)
  This is an interesting add-on that allows you to program and use Greasemonkey extensions. It’s like a platform of pre-made functions so that you can more easily program your own extensions. I use it for a Greasemonkey add-on that automatically inserts a custom signature into my different Gmail email addresses. I’m not sure what I’ll do without it that feature which isn’t working
• Gmail Signatures (new and working) (link)
  I found this as a replacement to the Greasemonkey add-on crossed out above. With it you can insert a custom signature for any of your gmail email accounts. Since you can send out your gmail from any account that you own (like from gmail, foyleman, or modsonline), you can now assign specific signatures to each.
• IE View Lite (working)
  Right click the screen and have the option to open your current page or selected url in IE. As a programming, websites need to work across multiple browsers.
• MeasureIt (working)
  Measer the width and height of a selection within your browser window. Great for figuring out the size of an area you have to work with to properly size the image you plan on putting in there.
• Screen grab! (working)
  Two clicks and you can copy or save the webpage you are looking at as an image. You can copy the select, entire page or what you see.
• Web Developer (working)
  A necessary tool for web programmings to hunt down problems on any web page.

I have about 5 primary email addresses between MODSonline, Tres, and the rest. Each account requires a specific email signature. I’ve always copied all of my email to Gmail in the event I want to check and reply when I am away from home. Gmail has good spam filters and makes an excellent online interface for all your email. You can even send your email via Gmail as if you are sending it from the person who received it.

I’d now like to make it easier for me to have my archived work email and home email all located in one place. If I can switch to Gmail, that would mean all my email is available where ever I go. Therefore the experiment is on. I am going to see if I can survive without a desktop client to deal with email.

Some issues that I’ve overcome:

• Gmail doesn’t really let you have different signatures for different email addresses. However, there are Mozilla FireFox addons (extensions) that resolve this. A combination of Greasemonkey and Gmail Signatures fixes that.
  One bug though… to save each signature I have to add one sig, restart FireFox , then add next sig… repeat. This also has to be done on each machine you plan to use your signatures on. Oh well. Still works.
• I’m not sure how to synchronize my contacts and calendar with my phone. Using GooSync, I can synchronize my phone without needing a desktop client. It’s all done over the air.

The steps to un-mute the microphone meant that I had to:

• load the game
• go into the audio configuration to trigger the mute
• exit to the main screen
• Alt+Tab out of the program
• open my sound devices
• un-mute the mic
• try to get back into the game which sometimes doesn’t work

It would be so nice if there were only a way to create a keyboard shortcut to perform this operation automatically. Oh wait… there is! Yes, I found such a program to make it all happen and here is what you need:

• Download NirCmd. Unzip the contents someplace permanent such as in it’s own folder somewhere on your hard drive.
• In this same folder, create a .bat file (text file renamed to something like unmute.bat).
• In this text file, paste the following command as outlined on this page.
  .\NirCmd.exe mutesysvolume 2 microphone
• Create a desktop shortcut to that .bat file.
• Right click the shortcut and select Properties.
• Create a Shortcut Key such as M which will be created as Ctrl+Alt+M
• Save and play.

Now, when you press Ctrl+Alt+M, your microphone volume will either mute or un-mute. Tada.

*Update: This doesn’t seem to work within the game. The shortcut works outside of the game, but apparently the binding system of the game overwrites the shortcuts for the desktop. I need to find a way to bind a key I guess?

I like to host Thanksgiving for the family. When my Grandmother moved out of state, there wasn’t anyone willing to go through the effort of creating a big meal and getting everyone together to enjoy it. So I decided to step up to the task.

Aside from Thanksgiving dinners, I enjoy making soups. Chicken, crab, vegetable, bisque, etc… they are all fun and taste great.

Last year I decided to add soup to the Thanksgiving repertoire. I came up with a great Fall soup called Butternut Squash Crab Bisque. The downfall was that last year I put a little bit too much cayenne pepper into the mix and it came out feeling like fire on the throat. You could put it in your mouth and taste it and it tasted great. But you couldn’t swallow or you would really feel the wrath of God.

Over the past year I ran some experiments on the soup to find the right blend of spices. This year at Thanksgiving I revealed the new and improved soup and it was perfect.

In case you’re interested in the recipe, I’ve pasted in the next page for you.

Recipe: Butternut Squash and Crab Bisque

The ingredients:

• 1 pound of crab meat. The lumpier the better.
• 1 large butternut squash, or 2 small ones
• 2 cups dry sherry
• small container of heavy cream
• 2 small cans of chicken broth (or one large can)
• 1 stick of salted butter
• 1 cup diced white onion
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 1 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper (LORD NO! TOO MUCH!)
• 5 shakes of cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• salt to taste (but at least a tablespoon)

The algorithm:

This recipe is a conglomerate of ideas I pulled from various places. This recipe may look familiar to others, but it has been tuned to what I think is perfection.

You can try your pre-pulled crab meat or artificially flavored whatever, but it will never taste as good as if you pulled the meat off of the crab yourself. Go out and purchase 1.3-1.6 pounds of King crab legs and spend an hour or two pull the meat from that. It really makes all the difference in the soup.

With the crab done, start peeling the butternut squash. Once peeled, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. It looks and smells like pumpkin so scoop that stuff out with a spoon. Chop it into small cubes. I find the small cubes soften better and are easier to puree later. This might take a little while because this vegetable is often hard. This is why I recommend doing it before you start your work on the stove. Put this aside for later.

Put a large stockpot on the stove, and add about a cup of the sherry. Turn it up to high heat, and leave it there until the liquid has almost entirely reduced. In the meantime, start chopping your onion. I like to chop the onion small as the smaller pieces will take less time to soften in the mix.

When the sherry has almost entirely reduced, turn the heat down to medium, and add a stick of butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is soft.

Add one can of chicken broth. Then sift in the flour and whisk casually. Then add the other can of chicken broth, and the other cup of sherry, whisk again. Add the butternut squash but don’t over fill the pot. leave some liquid in there or the soup will be too thick. Add bay leaves, and half of the crab meat. Let the mixture boil on medium heat until the butternut squash is soft, about 30 minutes. Stir at least every two minutes, making sure to scrape the bottom, lest the flour burn.

Once the butternut squash is soft, you must puree the entire mixture. This can be tricky. In the amounts listed, it should just barely fit into a standard blender. If not, you must do it in batches. Remember when pouring to and from the blender that the liquid is still boiling hot. Be careful, do it over the sink, and make sure to completely cover the top of the blender while it is on. You probably want to puree for about ten seconds, then take the top off and stir, then puree for another ten seconds or so.

Make sure there are no clumpy bits left in the stock pot, including flour stuck to the bottom. If there are, wipe them off. Then pour the pureed mixture back into the stockpot, and simmer on medium-low. Now you taste it and add the spices to taste. I use roughly the proportions listed above, but feel free to vary those. Make sure you use enough salt, which really makes the whole thing work.

When the whole thing is spiced to deliciousness (and really, it doesn’t absolutely need anything but the salt), add the remaining half pound of crab meat, and keep simmering for about five minutes. You are ready to serve now. Drizzle cream on the top of the soup as you serve to create a nice presentation. The cream also adds a nice flavor to the soup.

What you need:

• A smart phone
• Google Calendar
• Thunderbird (link) with
  • Lightning Calendar Addon (link)
  • Birdie Sync (link) (search this blog for details)
• Google Calendar Provider Addon (link)
• Two additional files to fix syncronization as described in this Birdie Sync forum post (link)

One problem, however, is that recurring appointments in google are not yet properly supported. Only the first in the series will display. Hopefully that will be patched somewhere down the line.

In taking notes for MODSonair, I regularly copy come text from a web page that has an interesting topic for discussion during our show. I copy this text along with the link of that page. I copy it in plain text format so that it doesn’t take on the color or size attributes of what I am copying. Then I paste it into my notes. Here’s an example of what I do about 25 times a week for the last 84 weeks:

- site update – harumph
http://www.foyleman.com/archives/107

Well, I decided to try and make things a little easier for myself by creating an add-on that would do this for me. Basically, the add-on will copy any selected text as the title of the notes and also copy the URL of the current page. The content will be formatted as you see above. All that’s left for me to do is paste it into the actual show notes and perhaps hyper-link (so it goes to the link when you click it). I am calling this new add-on ‘Copy for Notes’ since that’s the whole purpose.

* Update version 1.7 allows you to select any text on the page. Then right click the page not on any link on the page and ‘Copy for Notes’ to copy the text with the current page URL. OR right click the page on a link found on the page and ‘Copy for Notes’ to copy the selected text with the right clicked URL instead of the current page URL.

Note that Ctrl+Shift+M is the shortcut associate with this add-on.

You’re welcome to play with my new add-on. You can grab version 1.2 1.5 1.7 right here:

Copy for Notes 1.7