The World According to Mitch

I have long believed that a computer is a tool that should do what you need it to do.  The whole Mac versus PC debate is interesting in that if you step back someone who has never used a either will have to learn one of them, and frankly both are…(read more)

I am a member of a private community of Microsoft Certified Trainers on a well known networking site.  In the last couple of days one of my colleagues complained that his students were passing their exams by using Brain Dumps, and that these tools…(read more)

During the 2009 MVP Global Summit we recorded a video of the lot of us – fifteen hundred MVPS! – proclaiming that we are PCs.  Of course they recorded it, and here it is… the booming voice that you hear in the second run through is Steve Ballmer…(read more)

As I sit in the MCT Summit this week I am blown away by what’s coming down the pipe.  These are the things that I will be focusing on in the next little while: Virtualization Of course I have been talking about Hyper-V for over a year now… and System Center Virtual Machine Manager is…

I came across this piece in the 180 Systems Blog (www.180systemsblog.com) this evening and found it fascinating.  Please feel free to visit them for more insightful pieces.  -M A man sat at a subway station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces…

Sunday morning I woke up to find a foot of snow in my driveway; time to break out the shovel!  I dressed up warm (the thermometer read -9°C / 19°F), grabbed my shovel, and opened the garage door… and was flummoxed.  Where should I start?  There was a wall of snow all along both sides…

 On Sunday I was shoveling my driveway, and quite enjoying myself.  I had decided ahead of time to only do one side of it that day, and  finish it Monday or Tuesday. As I stood at the base of the driveway admiring my work someone came up to me and said ‘It looks like you…

It happened again… over a three day period nearly a foot of fresh snow fell on Oakville.  As I usually do I ignored it for a bit until it got too bad for my car to drive through, but this morning I decided to get out there and clear it.  I actually discovered in December…

The following message appeared in my Junk Mail box today. (These are only the first few lines… it looked complete and quite official) From: paypal.support@520838.com Security Center Advisory! PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by screening accounts daily in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need you to verify information to…

The Ctrl-Alt-Delete key combination has been a piece of computer trivia and lore for years… it really is the most famous ‘Easter Egg’ of all time.  Here is an interesting video of the father of the feature (Dave Bradley) explaining its origins. http://www.flixxy.com/computer-history-ctrl-alt-del.htm

I just got an e-mail from the Microsoft Company Store confirming they were shipping my recent order… which I read as this: ‘We wanted to inform you that your most recent order of DOG TREATS is en route.’ This week’s ‘Gingit’ toll: 1 pair leather shoes (mine…) 1 Xbox 360 wireless controller 1 Wireless Notebook…

I was looking for an e-mail from years ago when I came across this letter I wrote to the Senior Editor (Careers) for TechRepublic.com nearly six years ago.  Although the circumstances hardly apply to me anymore it may be interesting for IT Professionals just starting out, weighing the pros and cons of leaving their cozy…

New Years Eve… December 31st, 2008.  We left our hotel at 1pm and did not stop having an incredible time for over twelve hours!  I started to blog when we came home last night, but it was a lost cause.  It is now New Years Day, and I have a lot to remember from last…

Actually it was our first full day in the city to be sure… but that’s just a technicality.  We drove in yesterday – after sitting in traffic waiting for the Lincoln Tunnel for two full hours; boy are we glad that we drive a hybrid!  It took another 45 minutes to get to the hotel…

I cannot remember exactly when I started using Microsoft Office Outlook over the free Outlook Express product, but I do remember preferring it over OE, at least when I got used to it… and when I really started using it. I do remember that when I installed my original Small Business Server 2003 server at…