It may seem a little odd that after all these years Microsoft is finally doing something about Explorer and File Management.  Explorer has been pretty arcane compared to tools like Directory Opus, and Total Commander which are highly configurable, and extensible alternatives to Windows Explorer. It seemed like Microsoft just didn’t care or weren’t  paying any attention to the most used feature in Windows, or just letting third party software developers plugin so many extensions into explorer that it became almost un-useable.

It’s a refreshing breath of air to see Microsoft now paying  attention to these areas, even at this late stage of the game. It shows that the Windows Team is going back to it’s roots and putting a nice polish on  so many areas in Windows, and still introducing new features in the operating system! Steven Sinofsky where have you been all my life?

While I don’t image “Explorer 8”  will feature  all the sophistication and power of say Directory Opus but it’s a huge step in the right direction for Microsoft. Thank You!

- Justin

Acknowledgement: Thanks to WinRumors.com for the  linkable YouTube Video.

Well Microsoft is staring to come out of the closet with the features surrounding the next version of their Windows OS. There have been several video’s all over the net from partner and developer meeting showing some things to come.

Microsoft has also launched a “behind the scenes” blog discussing some of the aspects of building windows 8 from a developer  point of view.  B8  which is the name of the blog, right now has an initial post by Steven Sinofsky the Windows team head, discussing how they are re-imagining windows from the chips right up to the interface. Also along with the website you  can follow the Windows8 team on twitter @BuildWindows8

All of this is mostly the Microsoft Media machine gearing up for it’s Build Windows  conference staring September 13th where most likely the first Beta or TechPreview of Windows 8 will become available. There has been a lot of secrecy around this event, at one point the Agenda was posted and then taken down because the Windows team didn’t want to reveal anything by the session names. 

Windows does look like it’s going to attempt to take on the tablet market, and instead of throwing a scaled down phone OS into a tablet it would be a little awesome to have the full power of windows in a tablet form factor. There are arguments both for and against this idea, but I am really curious to see what Microsoft comes up with in this new version of Windows.

Well something mostly my close friends know is I have really bizarre dreams. They normally contain celebrities and/or known actors but mostly they are just really out there or really funny.  So I decided to sort of  begin to document them and maybe put the really good ones in a dream journal. Now these dreams don’t happen ever night, or maybe they do and I just don’t remember them but in any case the notable one’s I’ll put here on this blog.

I hope I don’t get sued or anything… but on to last night’s weird  dream.

In my dream last night I was traveling the country with my new buddy no other than actor and personality Matthew McConaughey!   And before you get your hopes up, no it’s not that kind of dream. Anyway we are buddies and were traveling the back roads of America in a very old station wagon, for some reason I got the feeling we were running from the law.  So we hook up with this other group of vagabond types and form sort of a loosely collected gang.  So Matthew decides that he’s hungry and signals to the gang that we need to stop at the next supermarket we come across.  So were going along happy as can be talking and laughing and joking around after a few miles the group happens along to a market and we pull in our cars and descend upon the place hungry and looking for trouble.   Matthew and I are picking up a number of items that make no sense like, salt, boxes of cereal, twizzlers, popcorn, butter and other just strange items.

So something starts to happen, I am not sure what but the lights go out in the market and the rows of shelves start to get smaller and close in on themselves. People in the market begin to panic and scream and everyone is heading for the cash register.  Anyway Matthew starts packing out items into bags he finds on the floor and begins running to the door.  I am trying to keep up and keep insisting that we have to pay for this stuff we can’t just run out and take the groceries with us.  So this is where we get split up, for some strange reason the side of the building collapses and half the people in the market head for the open hole and the other half head towards the cashiers.  I of course head towards the cashiers and Matthew heads towards the open hole and disappears outside. Ok so there I am terrified that the building is falling down around me, terrified if I get caught stealing twizzlers, soap and salt that I’ll get time in the big house, but mostly terrified that I am going to loose my buddy the wonderful Matthew McConaughey, who allows me to call him “Mac” btw. 

Anyway I give in and head for the hole in the wall. I get outside and first thing I see are these huge dudes dressed in brown uniforms. Ok right away I figure I am toast and they are going to arrest me. But I realize it’s just UPS delivery guys and it’s ok.  So I head over to the parking lot, all you can see is people running and panicking and fighting over cars.  I see a few people in our group, that have broken into me and Matthew’s   station wagon and loaded it up with food and strangers and I signal to them to pick me up but they just drive right past. But no sign of Matthew anywhere.  I am looking around and the parking lot is slowly becoming a ghost town and cars and people head out onto the road. And eventually there I am standing alone in this huge parking lot.  All of a sudden I hear a strange  noise and I look over to my left in the very far corner of the lot nearly camouflaged by the trees is a green and yellow helicopter. Standing outside is Matthew signaling and yelling my name. So I grab my bags and run full out across the lot  over to the helicopter and Matthew says get in. I am like, when did you learn how to fly something like this? He’s all I don’t really know how but it can’t be that hard. Anyway we get in and he’s starts pressing buttons and pulling up on the handle and the thing actually starts to go up and we get a little airborne.  In any case we end up flying down the road about literally 5feet off the ground.  I am terrified and holding on for dear life and Matthew is just having the time of his life  singing some song I don’t know, and going on about how he  can’t believe he’s flying this thing.

So we get to a hill in the road and of course we spill out of the helicopter into what seems to be a swamp. We climb out of the wreckage dust ourselves off and realize were are in the middle of nowhere, nothing for miles in ether direction except a small church. So we walk over to the church we knock but no one comes, we can clearly see and here people moving around inside but no one will come to the door. So we go around to the side of the church where there is a smaller side entrance and we open the door  and Wayne Knight is standing in the doorway  dressed in full out Mormon  garb (or what I imagine would be)   and holding a shotgun.  Of course all I can think is, “This is my Children of the Corn moment and I die here.” Wayne threatens us and tell us to get off his property or he’ll put buckshot in out asses, or something like that.  But we plead and beg on our knees if he can take us to the next town because we’d die out here if we don’t get a ride. We end up working out a deal with Pastor Wayne and his congregation, where I give them my twizzlers and some butter and they give us a ride to the next town.  They pack the three of us into a tiny version of a VW bug but it’s like a clown car version. I was sitting in the back with my knees up to my chest and Matthew had to hang one of his legs out the window.  So we get to the next town and that of course was when I woke up…

Anyway that was my crazy dream last night…  stay tuned for more, as I have them.

-J

Well without much fanfare we have returned…

Our Disneyland vacation is an exercise in patience, wonder, fun, and excitement.  I have to admit going in such a large group was a bit “odd” but the positives outweighed the negatives by far.  And of course we are all exhausted and still getting our bearings.  We thought once leaving CA that we would escape the heat, but we touched down back in NJ to 101° F weather.

Shawn took literally hundreds of pictures with his shiny new DSLR that he’d been waiting for just an occasion to give it a workout.  So photos to follow, but until then I need rest, from my vacation.

Love is the message, for us all,

-J

Dear Friends, 

I am awake early this fine Friday morning not for work, or some important appointment. But for the simple need for escape well at least temporary escape. When I spent my time in the hospital I made a promise to my adoring steadfast  and loving husband that we would go to Disney if I survived my ordeal.  So Away we go to the magical mystical kingdom of Walt Disney to bask in amazement and wonder of the land of  giant mice, speech impaired ducks in sailor suits, and floppy eared dogs.

Darius is literally out of his mind with excitement, but I know the second he realizes how huge Mickey Mouse is in person he’s going to literally climb up inside me, at least until he gets used to the idea. We are going with a group of family and friends which I imagine will be either a wonderful experience or a nightmare but nothing in between.  But I hate to admit it deep down inside in that boyish part of me I still hold dear  I still have that spark of wonder and excitement.  Now some may opt for summertime and others for wintertime, there are those who like time alone, but I have discovered there is nothing more exhausting and precious than family time.

See You on the Flip Side,
-J

This is a pretty sad and morbid way to begin the re-launching of a blog with this kind of post, but that’s the reason I did this, to get things out. Tuesday I came across this poster of a missing little boy. It so completely rang a chord with me because of  his age, stature, and the fact that he lived not far away, just a neighborhood away.  It scares me how one day a family’s entire world can be shattered simply because a little boy took a wrong turn down the wrong street and became lost.

With deepest regret, I found out this afternoon that Leiby was found dead and dismembered. A gruesome and horrific end for a little boy. Tonight I am in a somber mood and I can’t get this off my mind,nor  what his family must be going through. I just wish them my deepest condolences and pray they have the strength to go on, because I am not sure I would have it, if I were in their place.

Missing Boy’s Dismembered Body Found; Suspect Says He Panicked

Decided to do what I do best, go against the grain.

Right when everyone says blogs are dead or dying in favor of social networks and mini-blogging like twitter. I have decided to re-vamp my little place on the web and start posting again.  So coming soon more from me.