 And welcome to the year 2004—hope you're enjoying your visit so far!
Apologies for getting TechTrax out a bit late this month. It's been hectic
around here. Of course, there was all the shopping to do. Then there were
the jobs of putting things up and taking things down, along with the mandatory
moving around of other things to make room for the things you have to put
up so you can later take them down. And then there's all that eating that
needs to get done, as well as all the cooking and cleaning that goes along
with it. Enter flu season and this place is now about as healthy as a petri
dish! And, very sadly, we also had to deal with a tearful goodbye to one
member of the Chapman Barker
Gang. Age and illness got the best of our little Nala
Bear and we had
to make the terrible decision to say goodbye and let her rest. It's just
not fair that the cool, bigger dogs don't live nearly as long as those little
yapping ones. Apologies to all the yappy dog lovers...but it's still not
fair!
And if all that wasn't enough, I was excited as December rolled around...thinking
that I might just make it through 2003 without pulling some major screw-up
out of my hat. But as December 20th rolled around...nothin' up my sleeves...PRESTO!
I trashed this month's drawing database! Don't ask! It was during one of
those moments when you just know you should NOT go near anything
important cos' everything you touch that day turns to...well, you know what
it turns to. You must. I
can't be the only person who has to endure those days!?!?
So, if you entered your name prior to December 21st, 2003...you'd best get
back to the Flight
Sim drawing sign-up page and reenter your name cos' it's gone. If it says
you're already entered, you can trust your name made the cut. When you submit
your entry, the query checks to see if your name/email are already entered.
If you're unsure when you actually signed up...go give it a shot. You have
until this Friday, January 9th, midnight—Chicago time. We'll then
close the drawing and start looking for a winner this weekend. Remember,
you must reply
within 24 hrs or you lose your shot and we find a new winner.
And because of my 2003, bone-head move of the year...we will not be having
a drawing this month. That would mean I'd either have to delay it until after
we finish this one, which would be a logistical nightmare. Or, I'd have to
program dueling drawing sites, which...with my recent luck...has disaster
written all over it. So just stay tuned. These drawings aren't supposed to
be a regular thing, anyway. Although I do have a lot of stuff in the ol'
closet to clean out. In fact, the good folks over at TechSmith.com have
offered up several copies of their wonderful SnagIt screen
capture program (one of my favs!). Yup! They're giving you, our readers,
a shot at winning a copy of their new version. So be sure to check back here
next month. And there's still a copy of Office 2003 Small Business laying
around, as well as a Microsoft Office keyboard. But if you're itchin' for
a copy of Office now, be sure to check out David
Bartosik's article cos' he's giving away some Microsoft software
this month! Although, if you hang in there, I may also have a few copies
of Racing Madness for you gamers.
Hey, and speaking of gamers, if there are any of you out there who would like
to become a famous writer—please
drop me a note. We'd love to have some more
articles about some of  the
cool games out on the market, but none of the geeks here do much gaming.
If you know about some good games, technologies, links, gaming sites, etc...we'd
love to have you write about them and share your knowledge with our readers.
This month, as you can see along the left, we have a ton of great articles.
And be sure to check out the SharePoint
Services article. Microsoft is letting you try their cool web sharing
application, which is great for team documents and event planning, among
many other uses. You can sign up and use their server space for 30 days to
experiment with these services to see just how easy and convenient they are.
Enjoy this months' issue...sign up for Flight Sim before the weekend...and
have a wonderful, safe, happy and prosperous New Year!
As Jamie would say—Peace!
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