Microsoft Vista

Here are some personal Vista updates:

1. Office 2007:  Well, I saw a new video on Microsoft Office 2007.  It showed a whole new menu structure that doesn’t involve drop-down menus as we know them now.  It makes all the functionality more accessible and viewable.  The only way to really understand is to go see it for yourself here.

2. IE7 Beta Update:  I installed this beta a few weeks ago, and I’ve really loved the features of it (tabbed browsing, rss feeds, multiple home pages, etc.), especially the fact that it is SO much faster than Firefox.  I have recently discovered a major flaw (in my opinion), however.  I’ve found that when placing web orders in certain places (Chronopay, Woot), IE7 causes some fluky behavior that either breaks the server’s order process or causes it to halt completely.  So, if you are using IE7, be sure to watch out for that.  I keep Firefox on hand to place my web orders now.

Incorporated?

What do these three things have in common:  1099, TEKsystems, convenience?  Absolutely nothing.  Here’s the story:  My business is needing some extra revenue for the next couple of months to fill in some gaps.  So what do we do?  We go out to some recruiting agencies to get some short temp work.  We wanted to do it on just a 1099 basis (1099 is IRS-speak for independent contracting) so we don’t have to mess with getting our employees on a W-2 basis with the company (TEKsystems).  That would make it a nightmare to transfer that money to the business then.

Ok, bear with me.  TEKsystems says they have two options: W-2 or Corp-to-Corp.  What, no 1099?  Who doesn’t do 1099’s?!?  Its the easiest thing in the world to do; no taxes, no hassle.  Well, apparently they don’t.  They would require each of our employees to set up their own corporation in order to be paid on a 1099 basis.  Can you say Jeppys, Inc.?  I can’t, and I won’t. 

Bottom line:  They would be great to work for if I just wanted some money for myself (good money at that), but they won’t work with businesses.  It really makes no sense that a company that provides employees for needing companies won’t provide employment opportunities to needing companies.  Geesh…

Tabs and Giants

Hi everyone.  Its been a couple of days, and I’ve been meaning to post this:  IE7 Beta 2.  I was pretty excited to see this.  I know its not really all that new as far as the world is concerned, but its new to me and maybe anybody else reading this.  It features tabbed browsing, rss feeds, more viewing area, etc.  It will only be available on Vista, but the beta will work for XP right now.

Also, I posted a semi-permanent link to They Might Be Giants Podcasts.  30 minutes of so of new music by TMBG for your listening pleasure.  They’ve got a goal to reach 1 million subscribers (they currently have over half-million), so lets help out the cause, eh? 

That’s it for now, but I might come up with something good before the weekend hits.

FireFox Myths

I was working a little today in the admin section managing this blog, and I noticed a link to browsehappy.com.  It is a site that tries to influence people to stop using Internet Explorer and switch to any of 4 different browsers (FireFox being at the top of the list).  I read on, and they feel that Internet Explorer (IE) is 1. Unsafe and 2. Not as efficient.

I’ve used FireFox, and I don’t agree with them, but I wanted something substantial to validate my opinion.  Enter FireFox Myths, a site that debunks a lot of the fanhype that surrounds this browser.  It also shows that IE really isn’t all that bad and isn’t lacking in anything FireFox has.  I feel so strongly about it, I’ve put up a semi-permanent link on the sidebar. 

Quotes and Mars

This is just to inform everyone that I added a “Quotes” page (under “Pages” on the right) where Jessica and I will be putting any cool quotes we run across.  I’m hoping that over time, you’ll be able to read through them and get a good feeling for who we are and how we feel about things. 

On a different note, check out http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov for an interesting look at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a new research vessel that will give us an unparalleled look at Mars’ water history, terrain, mineral traces, etc.

First Entry

I know no one is reading this (except for you Jessica, Hey!), but I wanted to make it official.  We’re live!