The World According to Mitch

It occurred to me that thanks to the US Government (and my wacky travel schedule) 2008 is the first year that I have 'sprung forward' twice. I am of course referring to the fact that North America switched from Daylight Savings to Standard (or is it the other way around… I never remember) a couple…

The following is a comment I made to a blog article on Network World on the topic of certification exam security.  The actual post can be found here:  http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/26502 Using the MCP ID card as your security poses a number of downsides.  To mention two severely opposite issues: 1) A new candidate, or one who…

'The End is nigh!  A big stakes suit to save us all.' That is the Page Two headline in today's International Herald Tribune.  It is the story of how two men – Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho – are suing the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), or rather are suing for a court-ordered…

I got to Sweden on Tuesday and it did not take me an hour to be fleeced by a taxi driver (A four minute taxi ride from the Kista subway station to the Microsoft office which was not my intended destination cost me 195SEK, or about USD$33).  Later in the evening I was speaking with…

I arrived in Sweden on Tuesday on a Lufthanza plane filled with a Canadian hockey team coming to play a tournament here.  Good luck Canada! Getting to my hotel was a little tricky.  Fortunately there is a great tourist information counter at Stockholm/Arlanda airport which pointed me in the right direction, starting with the fact…

Tuesday evening was the inaugural meeting of the IT Professionals Community of Greater Toronto (www.itprotoronto.ca).  The event was hosted at Nexient in Mississauga. The evening's presentation was entitled 'Virtualization Fever… Catch It!'  Although the main focus of the evening was on the advantages offered in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, I decided to present…

So I have raved to anyone who will listen about my HTC Tilt PDA… I bought it in November, and although it was pricey I have not regretted it for a minute.  If there is a function that a phone or device an do, it does it.  It has a great CPU that really shows…

Jacob, our Boston Terrier/Beagle cross (often called a Boggle) has been with us for nearly five months now.  As any of you who have spoken with me will know he is the absolute love of my life, and will always hold a very special place in my heart, along with Theresa's.  He has grown from…

I have a confession to make: I was a bad kid.  I was rebellious, I was anti-authority, I did or tried to do what I thought was cool without much concern for what was right.  Up until my eighteenth birthday and probably a bit beyond that I was more than a handful, nearly getting expelled…

On Wednesday I got together with five thousand of my closest friends at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto for the launch of, among other products, Windows Server 2008.  It was one of those events that you had to be at to believe! Most of you know that I wear many hats wherever I go,…

This past Monday I had the opportunity to present what I call a 'Let's Get Excited' presentation to an architect audience at Microsoft Canada.  I was asked to showcase several new features of Windows Server 2008, due to launch on February 27th. While preparing for the presentation I thought back to the first time I…

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server is a great solution for small businesses of any size, from two to seventy-five seats.  The standard package offers the complete functionality of Windows Server, along with a web server, mail server, SharePoint Services, and much more for a small business price.  It allows small companies to bring their IT…

A couple of months ago I effectively moved in with Theresa; that is to say I have not yet vacated my apartment, but have relegated it to being little more than a drop box, sometimes office, and place to store things until we actually hire a truck to move the lot down to Oakville.  Other…

One evening this week at the dinner table Theresa and I were discussing some of the steps that we took to protect Aaron (our nine year old) while he surfs the Internet.  He piped up that he did NOT like any of these measures, and I told him that he had better get used to…

So for those of you who haven't been following along, I am in pretty decent shape for a man of my size and stature, that is to say for someone who is quite large.  I have not skied this year but I did last year, and I do walk my dog (from time to time)…