I beat StarCraft II on normal mode, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven’t tried multiplayer yet, but I have gone a few rounds against the AI. It’s a very fun game.

I went back to Windows 7 64-bit on my desktop (after beating SCII), though I’m probably going to rant about the drivers for my PCTV USB HD Tuner at some point.

I started work on the web project I was thinking about. It’s a license management system that I’m using to keep track of the various license keys that I have all in one place. It’s still pretty basic, but it’s working for what I need it to do right now. I’d like to add some import features and maybe I’ll put the source out if it’s not too embarrassingly bad.

I did not wipe my Macbook Pro because I couldn’t find my Snow Leopard disk. I was able to get a new disc free through Pitt’s software licensing people because students get a copy free, but haven’t had a chance to reinstall yet. I did some major cleanup and also deleted my boot camp partition so we’ll see how it runs for a while.

I also didn’t do anything with iaconhub.com. I really need to see if anyone in the hub wants to take over the web stuff because I don’t have the time to do it, especially with classes starting up again.

I also got a new job during the break, and I started this week. I guess I’ll count this as one of the more successful breaks I’ve had. Not that I did much other than play a game and reinstall Windows, which I probably would have done anyways.

1. wipe and reinstall everything on my MacBook Pro
2. play starcraft II
3. clean up desktop at home (probably wipe and reinstall this one too)
4. play starcraft II
5. Finally fix up iaconhub.com’s website
6. play starcraft II
7. work on a web project i’ve got an idea for
8. play starcraft II

I think most of that list can be accomplished in a month.

The image to the left is my iPhone with the cables I’ve been using. I have a window mount I occasionally use, but it’s mainly for long trips when I’m using a GPS app. It’s frustrating to have to deal with the two cables all the time.

The “Audio and Sync Cable for iPhone / iPod” from Monoprice eliminated my frustration. Because I have one cable now going into my iPhone it’s much easier to use (while the car is stopped of course). The dock connection is the older style that has releases on the side you need to push, but I prefer those connectors to the new ones. Another benefit to this cable is that it sends audio through dock connector’s line out. There will be no more constantly adjusting the audio on the phone, then on the car, then on the phone again. The car audio system now handles all volume, and it sounds great.

All that said, the best thing about this is the price. I paid $5.63 including shipping (it retails for $3.90 for a single cable). Compare this to $19 for a standard sync cable from Apple. I definitely recommend this cable for anyone trying to get audio into their car’s aux jack.

This was odd because this VM was primarily used for my school coursework and had Office 2007 installed, but I never tried 2010 on it. I had opened some documents that were created in 2010, but that was it. I searched my installed programs and updates and found nothing with the number 2010. Reading through the Technet forums, I saw other people with similar errors. One suggestion solved the problem for me. Running the MSI Cleanup Utility, I discovered that there were some 2010 bits installed.

As you can see from the image, there are two MUI packs from Office 2010 installed. How they got there, I’m not sure, but I suspect it might be due to opening the documents that originated in 2010 on another computer. I removed the two 2010 items with the cleanup utility and Office 2010 installed without any other problems. Hopefully this posts helps other people running into this problem.

In short I needed to use the variable %~dp0 before the items on the distribution point share. For example I changed “\\SCCM\packages\MozillaFirefox\Firefox Setup 3.6.3.exe” in the script to “%~dp0\Firefox Setup 3.6.3.exe.” I tested it with a test script that echoed out the commands instead of running them, and the paths were correct.

The myITforum article goes into further detail about the other uses of this variable. It’s actually a modification of the %0, %1, %2 convention of dos batch files for referencing command-line arguments. %0 references the script itself, including the full drive and path, %1 is the first argument, and %2 is the second, and so on. The “~d” modifier before the number 0 resolves the variable to the drive letter only and “~p” would resolve it to the path only. Combining the two into  “~dp” resolves it into drive and the path, or in this case the full UNC path. More information can be found by typing “FOR /?” from a command prompt.