First I could not get into that VM remotely as it appeared as offline. This said, VI showed the VM as healthy and online.

Trying to get to it using the Console from VI showed the following error:

As you can see I was afraid that some of the SAN path were down or some kind of painful problem with the SAN. No, no a quick ssh in showed that the mentioned volumes were online, accessible and all SAN paths were up.

So I do power off and restart the VM: no success. Restart the ESX (after vmotioning all VMs): no success.

Eventually I find that in the settings of the VM, there was  a reference of some floppy image pointing to a volume (not even on the same volume). I changed that option to Client Device and voila everything was back to normal.

Looking that information up on the VMware KB or community forum  doesn’t provide any solution.

Enabling HA gave the error:
“Cannot complete the configuration of HA agent on the host. See the task for details for addional information. ”

Without much details I was almost ready to blame it on ESX4i. However after checking everything I found out that my DNS servers settings were wrong.

Changing my DNS to the right IPs and HA configuration worked like a charm.

Obviously my sticky keys did not help but of course stressed out the reminder that HA relies on DNS heavily.

In an attempt to understand, I was able to find the signification for one of them. I hope I find more.

“299″ Line Mechanic call. There are “Line Mechanic’s” posted at Kipling, Keele, St.George, Bloor, Chester, Kennedy, Eglinton, St.Clair West & Sheppard.
“101 – 120″  Supervisors
“122″  Subway Line Supervisor
“199″ Subway Line Mechanic Supervisor
“143″ Chief Supervisor
“147″  Fare Supervisor
“148″ Transit Patrol Security
“201 – 220″ TTC Armored Trucks
“301-310″  Streetcar Track/Overhead Maintenance
“506″ Station Janitor

For this recipe, you will need:

• adrestore, a great tool from our friend Mark
• Admin rights on AD, to perform what you have to do

For your sake, AD keeps deleted record for 30 days by default. If it was an important account, there are great chances you notice it is missing before the 30 days. Past those 30 days, you will need to use the “standard authoritative” AD backup method.

Your application using the deleted account will complain and a query on AD reveals it is not there. Not a problem, just follow the 4 easy steps below:

1. Restore the missing account
adrestore.exe -r MissingAccount
Enumerating domain deleted objects:
cn: MissingAccount
DEL:eab4d5e6-493b-4a64-aae8-360e730a5938
distinguishedName: CN=MissingAccount\0ADEL:eab4d5e6-493b-4a64-aae8-360e730a5938,CN=Deleted Objects,DC=rgare,DC=net
lastKnownParent: OU=Service Accounts,OU=Users,OU=Montreal (MTL),DC=COMPANY,DC=net

Do you want to restore this object (y/n)? y

Restore succeeded.

Found 1 item matching search criteria.

2. Query to check its existence
dsquery user -name MissingAccount
“CN=MissingAccount,OU=Service Accounts,OU=Users,OU=Montreal (MTL),DC=COMPANY,DC=net”

3. Reset Password as restored account comes back empty
net user /domain MissingAccount Password

4. Activate Account
dsquery user -name MissingAccount| dsmod user -disabled no
dsmod succeeded:CN=MissingAccount,OU=Service Accounts,OU=Users,OU=Montreal (MTL),DC=COMPANY,DC=net

At this point and under 3 minutes, the deleted account is restored and ready to be used. It even kept its SID but you will have to repopulate some of its attributes such as Description and so on.

I think it is easier to understand if you look back in the past and see how those were used.

RM systems were first developed to manage paper files. They could also manage other physical records, such as microfilm and photographs. RM systems help you perform the
following tasks:
• Opening, closing and registering files, folders, dockets, and individual documents.
• Tracking the location of files.
• Charging files out to users.
• Classifying records.
• Indexing records.
• Searching for records using keywords and other search criteria.
• Managing the active and semi-active retention of the records.
• Managing the disposal of records.
• Managing access to and security of records.
Newer versions of RM systems can capture and manage finished electronic records.
They streamline many of the most time-consuming records management tasks. Using an RM system makes it easier to search for records, transfer them to the records centre, and dispose of them.

RM systems were created to make it easier to manage paper records. In contrast, DM systems were created to make it easier to use electronic records. DM systems are designed to keep track of changes to electronic records, share them, and route them to different people.
DM systems integrate with most software packages that you use to create electronic records.
Typically, when you try to send an e-mail message or save an electronic record, the DM system will prompt you to fill out a profile form. The electronic record is saved into the DM system and stored on a DM server. You must go through the DM system to retrieve the record.
DM systems have several strengths, including:
• Capturing electronic records at the point of creation.
• Full text searching of documents.
• Tracking of different versions of the same document.
• Monitoring who has viewed a document.
• Capturing document images from a scanner.
• Passing documents along a workflow. This is useful where a document must be passed
through several people for editing, response, review, or approval.
Early DM systems did not manage records. They had limited ability to classify records and they could not apply retention and disposition schedules.

To Sum Everything Up
Records Management:
• Management of the record is more important than the content of the record
• The record never changes (although its properties might)
• Records require access controls, lots of them

Document Management/Collaboration:
• Without content there is no document
• The document changes a lot, that’s the whole point of collaboration
• Access controls restrict and impede collaboration, the fewer there are the better

I liked ING Direct because of their high interest rate, not that high, but usually the higher of all, especially against Canadian banks.

Saving Account at 1.2%

ING Direct is an online bank like PC Financial that only offers saving account (not only, but there is no checking account). To and from where you can transfer money at no fee.

It is very easy to use and their “Goal Set” tools are really made for what it is for.

I have just set 2 saving accounts. One for Vacation saving and the other one to build my emergency fund. Using the Goal tool, I can just initiate my custom Automated Saving Program so that some money is put aside automatically. This can also be done manually between the banks you link ING Direct with.

TFSA at 3%

What really led me towards ING direct is their 3% TFSA rate. I had been looking for “conservative” place to shelter some money but never found anything interest as interest were very low. At least my first “conservative” TFSA sheltering is earning a bit.

Get $25 for opening an account

All they needed was basic personal info along with basic banking info from which the client will be transferring money from.  After that, a personal cheque needs to be mailed in to verify banking information.  From the beginning to end, the whole process took about 3 business days, with about 20 minutes worth of “work”.

You can use $25 using their referral program.

1. Apply for a new account
2. When asked, use the orange key code 33784873S1
3. Deposit at least $100
4. Get $25

After your account is opened, you will see a free $25 in your ISA account (or new ISA if you did not have one).

Very pleased

So far I am very impressed and pleased by the ease of use and competitive interest rates. I think ING Direct does a good job for your saving accounts!

How do you use your ING Direct account? Have you tried their other products?

• 生麦生米生卵（なまむぎなまごめなまたまご）
• 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ（となりのきゃくはよくかきくうきゃくだ）
• バスガス爆発（ばすがすばくはつ）
• 赤巻紙青巻紙黄巻紙（あかまきがみあおまきがみきまきがみ）
• 赤パジャマ青パジャマ黄パジャマ （あかぱじゃまあおぱじゃまきぱじゃま）
• 蛙ぴょこぴょこ三ぴょこぴょこ合わせてぴょこぴょこ六ぴょこぴょこ（かえるぴょこぴょこみぴょこぴょこあわせてぴょこぴょこむぴょこぴょこ）
• 武具馬具武具馬具三武具馬具合わせて武具馬具六武具馬具（ぶぐばぐぶぐばぐみぶぐばぐあわせてぶぐばくむぶぐばぐ）
• 李も桃も桃のうち 桃も李も桃のうち（すもももももももものうち もももすももももものうち）
• 啄木鳥傷付くキス好き好きだから（きつつききずつくきすすきずきだから）
• お綾や親にお謝りなさい（おあややおやにおあやまりなさい）
• 東京都特許許可局局長（とうきょうととっきょきょかきょくきょくちょう）

※ただし、現実には存在しない組織である。

• ブラジル人のミラクルビラ配り（ぶらじるじんのみらくるびらくばり）
• 隣の竹垣に竹立てかけたのは、竹立てたかったから竹立てかけた（となりのたけがきにたけたてかけたのは、たけたてたかったからたけたてかけた）
• 裏庭には二羽庭には二羽鶏がいる（うらにわにはにわにわにはにわにわとりがいる）
• 椰子の実を獅子が食い菱の実を狒狒が食う（やしのみをししがくいひしのみをひひがくう）
• 坊主が屏風に上手に坊主の絵を描いた（ぼうすがびょうぶにじょうずにぼうずのえをかいた）
• 抜きにくい釘、引き抜きにくい釘、釘抜きで抜く釘（ぬきにくいくぎ、ひきぬきにくいくぎ、くぎぬきでぬくくぎ）
• 猫が拝みゃがる、犬が拝みゃがる、馬が拝まぎゃる（ねこがおがみゃがる、いぬがおがみゃがる、うまがおがまぎゃる）
• 新人シャンソン歌手による、新春シャンソンショー（しんじんしゃんそんかしゅによる、しんしゅんしゃんそんしょー）
• 獅子汁、獅子鍋、獅子丼、獅子シチュー、以上獅子食試食審査員新案獅子食七種中の四種（ししじる、ししなべ、ししどんぶり、しししちゅー、いじょうしししょくししょくしんさいんしんあんしししょくしちしゅちゅうのししゅ）
• 鵜が鮎を追い合う（うがあゆをおいあう）

In general insurance is only worth it when it covers events that are very unlikely and which, if they happened, they would pretty much ruin your life or the life of someone you care about. For example, life insurance if you have dependents, fire protection insurance, disability insurance. Those all protect you against things that are unlikely to happen but if they happen and you don’t have insurance, someone’s life gets ruined.

Insurance does not make sense for things that are cheap, or events that are likely. You shouldn’t insure a television (aka buy an extended warranty). Balance protection insurance most likely lies under this category.

To understand why I say this, let’s review how the insurance company makes money. Imagine a world where every house costs $100K and the chance of a house fire is 0.1%. Thus, the “expected cost” is $100K x 0.1% = $100. That’s not very much. The problem is the risk. If your house does burn, you lose your life’s savings. So the insurance company comes along and offers to insure your house if you pay them $120. The company does this for 1,000 houses. One of those houses does burn, so the insurance company received $120,000 and paid out $100,000 for the one house that did burn. The other $20,000 is profit.

The point of the example is that the insurance company will always charge you more than the “expected cost” of the event. You are guaranteed to lose money “in average”. In this sense, you are always “over-paying”. For events that are unlikely and would significantly hurt your life, this extra cost is worth it. For things that either happen very often or are low cost, insurance isn’t worth it.

Let me give you an example of the latter: Suppose that you know with 100% certainty that you are going to lose $100. This is a high-probability event. Would you pay $120 to be insured against the certain loss of $100? Of course not.

Were do you draw the line?

Well, that’s a personal choice. It depends on how risky something is for you and your tolerance for risk. But the basic principle is intact. Decide how you want to define “unlikely” and “significant cost” and make sure you only pay insurance for things that are unlikely and would incur a significant cost.

You may want to check this link for more statistical information:

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/blog/credit_balance_insurance.html

The salesperson had failed to mention that the price on the front page was not the final one and that there were a great many extras not included in that figure.

The more I checked, the unhappier they became. I provided them with a long list of items classified as extras to be paid on closing in addition to the purchase price:

* The unit’s proportionate share of the cost of installation of gas, hydro, sewers and water service and meters, to an unlimited amount.

* Any new taxes imposed on the unit by any level of government after the agreement was signed (think HST) – also an unlimited amount.

* The Tarion warranty enrolment fee of $502.

* An unlimited levy against the unit for parks or other municipal charges.

* Provincial sales tax on the appliances included with the unit.

* An extra $300 for the paperwork to hold the purchasers’ deposits in trust.

* $150 to discharge the builder’s construction financing and give clear title after closing.

* The builder’s $52.50 transaction levy payable to the Law Society.

* $150 to subsidize the builder’s legal fees.

* Interest on the balance of the purchase price from the day of final closing to the next banking day.

* The amount of any increase in municipal, education or transit development charges imposed between Oct. 10, 2008 and closing.

* An unlimited contribution to the builder’s proportionate share of all costs associated with a development agreement entered into with the city.

The total cost of these extras could easily exceed $10,000 to $20,000. And since they are classified as extras or “adjustments,” they are typically not eligible for mortgage financing. Not one of them was mentioned in the sales office.

To make the purchasers’ cash flow even worse on closing, the offer requires that the purchasers prepay to the builder estimated property taxes for the year of closing and the year after – another $4,000 or $5,000 for taxes that won’t even be assessed for at least a year.

Going to my lawyer to check the agreement I am told this is common practice and that no builders will want to amend any of this.

I have no problem at all with builders charging whatever they want for houses or condominium units, and for imposing any extra charges they see fit.

I have a serious problem with the total lack of disclosure of the charges in the sales office – a typical failure in many builder sales offices.

The better builders are open and transparent when it comes to disclosing extra charges in the sales offices. They are a credit to the profession and help support a positive public image for the home-building industry.

The rest of them are the ones who may force the government to step in and require full written disclosure of the total purchase price and all extras in a builder offer.

1. In Outlook, Select View>Folder list
2. Right-click on “Outlook Today” and select “New Folder”.
3. Call the folder whatever you chose to name it or Spam for lack of imagination. When prompted add an Outlook shortcut to the shortcut list. The shortcut will be placed on “My Shortcuts” but can be moved to the other Shortcut lists as necessary.
4. Right click the “Spam” folder, select “Properties”.
5. Select the “Home Page” tab in the Properties window.
6. In the address window type the following URL and select the checkbox labeled “Show home page by default for this folder”:
7. http://login.postini.com
8. Click “Apply” and “OK”.
9. Click on the Spam folder, login to your Message Center and if desired, select “Remember my Address and Password”
10. Close Outlook

The next time Outlook is opened and the Spam folder is selected, the Message Center should appear within Outlook.