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American Express: Leave home without them, because they don’t care.
I have been a customer of American Express for six years. Because it is not my primary credit card (I know, they are a charge card) they have TERRIBLE customer service. I have paid down my balance every month, but because my average spending on their card is lower, they refuse to let me buy…
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Respect the Belt… Respect the Art.
I mentioned in conversation a couple of days ago that I was going to be starting to learn Kyokushin Karate in Japan and that I was very excited. One of the people involved in the discussion mentioned that the first few months of any martial art is going to be less interesting, but if I…
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A Real Trip… Happy Halloween from Japan!
Saturday night was Halloween. Okay, no it wasn’t, but obviously all of the great parties for that occasion are on the week-end. If you can imagine that in Tokyo people seem to dress up in costumes on a regular basis for no good reason, they you will believe that Halloween in Tokyo (and especially in…
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A response to a VMware article… written by someone I respect.
While he may not be very well know to the Microsoft community, Mike Laverick is a legend in VMware circles. Mike owns a blog called RTFM Education, a source of white papers for VMware technology, although he did start out as a Microsoft Certified Trainer. He now works for VMware as a Senior Cloud Infrastructure…
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Neither a Snob Nor an Elitist…
In response to a series of articles I wrote recently about my laptop bags (What IS your laptop bag) and about my luggage (The Price of Quality) I was recently called an elitist snob. “Mitch, it is fine that you want to spend hundreds of dollars on your laptop bags, but in all fairness you…
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Altitude Dashboard
Okay I admit it… it seems I have not been paying attention, because I just found a personalized dashboard on Air Canada’s Aeroplan page that seems really helpful. I wish I would have known about it sooner, because it really does appear quite useful! In fact, I have used it today to prove that fact!…
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Sick…
Being sick sucks. I discovered earlier this week though that it can suck a lot less… if only there were ways of doing things more efficiently. I had been coughing and sneezing for a week, but Monday afternoon, realizing that I was short of breath after a single flight of stairs, I decided I needed…
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Stewing in my anger…
It is amazing to me how rude some people can be while expecting you to be nice and polite. The first week that I was here (or maybe the second) I discovered a little darts pub. Before you get any ideas, this is not like any pub I have ever been in – it is…
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Software Giveaway… just in time for Halloween!
Over the course of the last couple of years I have talked about several promotions from a company called Digiarty Software. I have done so because I happen to like their products, and when they are giving them away (as they occasionally do) I am glad to share that information with you, my devoted readers…
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Big in Japan: The Week That Was…
For those of you who follow not only my blog but my Twitter as well (@MGarvis) you will likely know that I have been walking a lot since I got to Japan, and my FitBit (www.fitbit.com) has all the proof you need. You may also have noticed that Tuesday and Wednesday this week my daily…
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Building the IT Camp with PowerShell Revisited
I always said I am not hard to please… I only need perfection. So when I wrote my PowerShell script to build my environment the other day I was pleased with myself… until I realized a huge flaw in it. Generation 1. Actually to be fair, there is nothing wrong with Generation 1 virtual machines…
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My Japanese Diet
With two notable and disappointing exceptions, I have eaten only Japanese food since I arrived in Tokyo. I have tried the Chinese restaurant one more time – it may taste good, but the food has not agreed with me so I will not be trying it again. Other than that, really I have stuck to…
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A Twist…
If you are a frequent reader of The World According to Mitch then you know that I very often take experiences that I have had (or observations that I have made) and apply them to the world of IT. For a change, I thought I would take this opportunity to go the other way. This…
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Creating a New AD Forest in Windows Server Core (Revisited)
Several years ago Steve Syfuhs and I sat down and figured out how to create a new Active Directory forest in Windows Server Core. It was an interesting experience, and even though I later gave rights to that article to the Canadian IT Pro Team (at the time it was Damir Bersinic) when you search…
The World According to Mitch
The day to day ramblings of an IT Professional (and so much more…)
The World According to Mitch 