We (that's the "Royal We", of course) sometimes have to fix errors in our ramblings. Yes, although it is surprising (but not to my wife and family ... and perhaps just about anyone else that knows me), we are not perfect. Close, but no cigar.

I mentioned last week (that link especially for John) that John Dominik's visit counter hit 10,000. Oops -- missing a zero in there. He's actually gone over 100,000 ... at least, according to his counter. It would appear that he has more readers than the two regulars I have here (you know who you are). Brian C., the unofficial editor, fact checker, and apostrophe king, found the missing "0". (Which brings to mind the fact that there never is a missing "0" in my checking account balance.) He emailed me the "0", which I cleverly pasted into the correct number above. You may have noticed that the number he sent me was red. There may be some symbolism in all of this, but darned if I can figure it out.

So, that takes care of the missing number "0". We can all hope that John didn't notice the missing "0" in that post. I suspect that his eyes were a bit foggy due to all of the layers of paint and varnish (no, John, I don't know the technical terms) that he put on his (and his son's) Pinewood Derby racer. Unfortunately, due to some technical errors (caused by gravity, no doubt), his racers failed to make the finals. You can read all about his Pinewood Derby travails here (there's another link, John). Complete with pictures, along with his tale of woe.

Now, John and I are having a running discussion about page links. (OK, two mentions. But it seemed like a good enough topic to write about. Unless you want to hear about the cute grandkids. Which is the usual drivel I write about on Sundays. But I digress.)

For those of you that are just joining us, you can put what we'll call 'sub-links' on a page. Those are pointers to the current page. For instance, on John's pages (and most other Daynote-type pages, including this one, until I changed the format, which caused John to complain, which is probably circular logic, or ill-logic), there are links to each day's post. If you click on the link, it will be the page address plus a "#" and the sub-link name. For instance, I could create a target called "lookee here". Now, you can't see where I put that sub-link 'target' -- unless you look at the source code of the page. Or until I put the actual link somewhere else. For instance, this link points to the 'lookeehere' target, which you can see by moving the mouse over that link, and looking at the bottom of your browser. Try it (don't click), and you should see something like:

http://www.digitalchoke.com/daynotes/2004/2004-01-18.htm#lookeehere

And if you click on the link, the page displayed will jump to the place where I put the "lookee here" target. (Go ahead and try it -- it will open up a new window, as usual. I'll wait until you get back....)

Now, all of that is well and good. But, until I give you the link, the only way to know that there is a 'lookeehere' target is to look at the "source code" of these pages. There is no visual indication of the "target's" name if you look at this page.

Which is, I think, is my point that I probably didn't make very well. Although it is nice to have links, they aren't easy to find. Unless you are willing to look through the source code of the pages. (Which is how I found this link here that John put at the beginning of his second post on Friday. And the only way that I found that was to look at his source code. And, although I really wanted to point you to his massive exposition on his Pinewood Derby extravaganza, the nearest link was the one at the beginning of John's post.

Which I think is what John was complaining about...that I don't have a "day of the week" target on my pages. Which you couldn't find unless I told you about it (or you looked at the source code). Which was my comment about all of this from last week.

Which is probably more than you wanted to know. But it did take up some of your time. And that's our purpose here. To take up your time.

How'd I do? (email here: )

By the way, I just noticed that McAfee (Network Associates) released a new anti-virus data file today (Sunday). Their normal release day is Wednesday. They did one just last Friday, and an extra one today. Must mean that there are some extra-nasty nasties out there. Hang on while I look....

(a short time later) Well, it seems that the "Bagel" virus is on 'medium' watch, which is Network Associates way of saying "There's a lot of them out there". Full details here; the other anti-virus vendors have also released updates also. You'll know you have this one if the Windows Calculator program pops up all by itself. Which means that someone clicked on an attachment in an email. Which all of you (yes, even you in the back) should know by now not to do. But you might want to spread the word around. "Attachments bad. Stop opening them. And go out and get that anti-virus program installed (or updated)."

Around here, we check for anti-virus updates once an hour. And Windows updates once an hour. If updates are found, they are automatically installed. And, since we have a DSL connection, the firewall is installed (ZoneAlarm). As mentioned before around here, all three things (Windows update, Anti-virus update, Firewalls) are all important on anyone's computer, especially if you have cable or DSL connection. To get all of that installed, wander over to Microsoft's site (www.microsoft.com/protect), and follow those instructions. To check out your firewall protection, go to www.grc.com and run the "ShieldsUp!" program. The results should be all "stealth" or "closed". If you got any 'opens', then you are vulnerable to hackers....even if you don't open attachments.

If you want to point people to this warning, here is the link (did you see it, John?). And the only way that you know to find that 'target' I put up there was that I told you (or you looked at the source code). But, we already covered that, right?

In the "spammer news" front, I noticed this (from the Internet Storm Center; you'll need to find the entry for 1/19/04):

The US Government is asking for feedback on sentencing guidelines in regards to spammers.

With the implementation of the "CAN-SPAM Act of 2003", they are asking the experts for feedback on punishment.

An article by 'The Register' (link shown below) gives a good summary of the Sentencing Guideline.
The Reister story is here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/34951.html, the US Gov't site 'request for comment' (written in typical government language is here: http://www.ussc.gov/FEDREG/fedr0104.htm

Interesting...

Let's start off today's drivel with this picture. I don't know the original source, although this guy's web log is one of them (found it with a Google). And just for John (who I enjoy harrassing), there's a target that he can use, although he'll have to look at the source to find the name. I'm not an HTML expert, as you can tell by these pages, but there ought to be a way to make "targets" more visible for reference by others.

Had a day off yesterday, which we spent on errands and a few fun things. We started out by going over the Pam's parents to take down their fake Christmas tree. A bit of a delay in that, but we didn't want to pass along our cold germs to Pam's father, who is weakened by his cancer fight. So, there wasn't a problem in the delay.

Then we wandered down towards Christine's house so we could meet her and the grankids at the local Golden Arches. Then off for a bit of shopping, and home in time to kill off some weeds in the back yard with some chemicals.

A quiet evening at home; although we did the "geek potato" bit, Pam and I did play a game of Monopoly, which I lost. That's reasonable, since she is the accountant in the family. I just buy everything I land on, and went to jail about four times. (No comments about my criminal past.) I did get the "Free Parking" money. Our "house rules" say that all fines and payments (other than properties and houses) go into the center of the board, and if you land on the "Free Parking" spot, you get all of that money. It still didn't help. I landed on a four-house spot, and didn't have the cash. I could have mortgaged just about everything, but I figured that would just delay the inevitable.

I spent the morning working on some mail questions. Our blocking of the Bagel/Beagle virus worked out quite well. Since we block all mails with executables, we were able to catch a couple of the 'zero-day' Bagel messages. For you amateurs out there, a 'zero-day' catch is when you get to block a viral message before the anti-virus guys come out with their blocks. Three Bagel messages were caught because we block executables. Then our hourly update of the virus data files got the anti-Bagel blocking. I looked at the blocking stats today, and we got about 60 "Bagel" messages. That's an indication of a large number of those messages floating around. The usual warnings apply.

Maintenance mode this morning: I forgot to upload the Mars picture...it's there now. (This error correction brought to you by Brian C.) And I also didn't move the "current" pointer. Both fixed now.

Brian also sent along the Canadian version of the Mars picture. I suspect there are more of these floating around the 'net. Brian says "Here's our Canadian version of what would happen if Canadians were to land on the moon first. (FYI, Tim Horton's is our home-grown coffee & donuts chain, now expanding into the States in affiliation with Wendy's - it was started by a sixties-era Toronto Maple Leaf player of the same name.)" (And for anyone outside of the "States", Wendy's is a big burger chain around the US.)

If you are interested in a comprehensive Incident Response Plan, you might wander over to the Computer Security and Resource Center of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. They have released the final version of their incident response plan. Here's how they describe it:

The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 directed NIST to produce this publication. This publication seeks to help both established and newly formed incident response teams respond effectively and efficiently to a variety of incidents. More specifically, this publication discusses the following items: 1) organizing a computer security incident response capability, 2) establishing incident response policies and procedures, 3) structuring an incident response team, and 4) handling incidents from initial preparation through the post-incident lessons learned phase. Additionally, it discusses these steps (prevention, preparation, containment, eradication, and recovery) for handling a range of incidents, such as denial of service, malicious code, unauthorized access, inappropriate usage, and multiple component incidents and potential scenarios to examine in preparation for major incidents.

Their web site is here at http://csrc.nist.gov/ (new window, as usual). You'll find the document listed on the right side of the page; it was released 1/16/04. It's a big PDF file, about 150 pages worth, but it could be a really good start (or at least a good tutorial) on an incident response plan. There are also some other interesting papers described on that main page. Since we need a comprehensive plan at work, I plan on plagiarizing (with attribution; and it is allowed by them) it as a starting point for our plan. The boss was working on one, but then she went away, so it is probably a good project for our Information Security section.

I also worked on the auditing document I'm putting together for Win2K Servers. Probably a good idea, since I have one scheduled for Friday. That audit will be a good test of my document.

Tomorrow is the jaunt down to see the electrophysisist (that's a heart doctor that specializes in the electrical functions of the heart). The facility is down in San Jose (Brian Bilbrey's old haunts), about a two hour drive away (as long as it's not during rush hours). The plan is to see what is best, given current research and practices, to deal with my "lone atrial fibrillation" problem. The medication I am on now (amidarone) seems to be controlling it, as I haven't had an a-fib episode since the last week of December. Considering I was getting them about once a week, that's probably an improvement. It seems like there have been a few times when there was the starting of an a-fib, but the medication may have stopped it. And sometimes it feels like I'm at the edge of an episode. And then there are the long-term effects of that particular medication (lung and liver problems), so alternatives might be a good idea. It should be an informative visit, giving us some ideas that we can take back to my regular cardiologist.

Brian C sent along an interesting link. Both of you regular readers might have noticed that this site also contains a short story called "Digital Choke", which is about how the Internet died, the effects of the 'death', and how 'our hero" figured out why it happened.' It will probably never make the best seller list (or even get published), but it was an interesting story to write. Brian's link is to a story in ComputerWorld about how it seems that we are heading towards such an Internet meltdown (a "Digital Pearl Harbor"), and what might occur afterwards. Some of what that article mentioned are the same types of things that are in the "Digital Choke" story. I enjoyed the article. And, if you are bored, you might enjoyed my story.

Tonight is some 'geek potato' exercise. I actually did go to the gym last night, which is probably a good thing to do. And I may work on updating the "Digital Choke" story, since it is about two years old. If you happen to read the story, your comments would be welcomed.

Today was the trip down to a different facility to see another heart specialist. After the two-hour drive, Pam and I had a nice discussion about treatment alternatives for my "lone atrial fibrillation". (The "lone" means that there are not any underlying causes for the problem. According to the research that I have done, and that was verified by the good doctor, it seems that my problem might be extra electrical signals from the pulmonary veins (lungs to heart veins) that sometimes cause interference with the normal electrical signals of the heart.

One technique to fix that is a procedure called "pulmonary vein catheter ablation". A special probe is inserted into your vein, up to the heart, and through the heart (poking a hole in a thin wall in the heart -- which heals nicely in about a week) into the pulmonary vein. Then a radio-frequency signal is used to scar the vein tissue where it the vein connects to the heart. This is done to all four pulmonary veins. When it's all done, the scarred tissue blocks any electrical signal that comes from the pulmonary vein.

The technique is a bit new, just a couple of years. The advantage is that it is minimally invasive (compare to opening up your chest), but it is not totally without risk. There is the possibility of damage to veins as the probe is threaded through (from your leg vein), clotting risks (for which you take anti-clotting medicine well before the procedure), or damage to the heart muscle walls. It is about 65-70% successful, although sometimes it takes a second procedure. And since it is fairly new, there isn't any data about the long-term effects.

The alternative to that is medication, which doesn't stop an a-fib attack from occurring, but will help prevent the attack from occurring so often. Some of the drugs they use (like amidarone) have long-term effects. Others (like flecamide and propafenone) may work better, and don't have the long-term problems of amidarone.

So, it's decision-time. Although the ablation procedure looks promising, it may be too early (since it is a relatively new procedure) to consider that before trying out a different medication. So, in addition to doing a bit of Googling, we're going to talk to our local cardiologist to see what she thinks is best for now.

So, that trip took most of the day. Two hours to get there, and almost three to get home (we ran into a bit of rush-hour traffic along the way). We didn't get home until after 7pm.

Last night, after sending up that post, Pam and I watched "Dragonfly" (Kevin Costner movie). It was pretty good; we both enjoyed it.

And John Dominik weighed in on the big "link-hiding" discussion. It's a bit too late to respond tonight; but I have some ideas on how to write way too many words on the subject. That link should take you to the correct area of his pages.

Wherein you might notice that my name has a link. But the link strangely takes you to an index of this week, rather than here. Which may mean something, but I am not sure what.

Today was moving day. With the old boss gone, the new boss wanted me to be a bit closer to his office. It was only at the other end of the building, but there is another department in between the two sections of our department. So, I grabbed a cart, loaded it up (four times), and moved things to the other end of the block. I got everything down there except the filing cabinet (two-drawer, wide model); it can wait until next week. I was able to get the computer set up and connected to the network, and the VoIP phone. And part of the desktop is clean. The rest is covered with a lot of stuff that I'll work on next week.

One of the advantages of a VoIP phone is that when you move it, your phone number moves with you. The phone number is assigned to the IP address of the phone. That can save a bunch of money, since it can cost $100-200 to move a 'regular' phone around. We are using the phones made by Cisco. They are the same ones that you can see on "24" and "Alias".

The moving took up most of the afternoon. I did a security audit of a new Windows 2000 Server, using my draft copy of the configuration/auditing guide. I got that from the NIST site (I think); it was distributed by the Dept of Defense. I merged that with the stuff that I learned from the SANS conferences, and a couple of Windows 2000 security books. The result seems to be a pretty good setup/configuration document, with a good security base. I ran the GFI "Languard Network Security Scanner", which is a good tool for finding out a lot of the settings on a WIndows system (server or workstation). There is a free version on their site, and the full version is fairly reasonably priced. The pricing structure is based on the number of IP addresses you want to scan. It creates a pretty nice auditing report, and runs the audit pretty fast.

After work, we went over to the Jensen's house (daughter, husband, 4 yr old girl, 2 yr old boy), and grabbed (with permission) the granddaughter, who was all excited at spending the night at "Poppa's and Grandma's house". We stopped by the Golden Arches restaurant for dinner, then to Old Navy and Target for a bit of shopping (aka "spoiling"), picking up a set of clothes (on sale) for Joelle.

Then home to watch "Clifford" and "Arthur", a bath for Joelle, and off to bed for her. I watched the new "Monk", and "Magnum, P.I." (on now).

Speaking of Target, I was glad to hear that John D. wasn't at the same one. His experience there tonight almost required an evacuation of the whole building...the whole thing caused by an evacuation.

And, if you have one of the new Kyocera Wireless model 7135 smart phones sold between September and December, I wouldn't recommend carrying them around in your pants pocket, according to this news article.

We also got a call from Stacy (youngest daughter, in Rexburg, Idaho for college). It's cold and snowy there (although not as cold as some other Daynoter's residences). She is enjoying school (although her Nursing classes are pretty intense), and the weather (mostly), and has a good group of roommates and friends. She's very focused on her school (last semester GPA was 3.96), but does take the time to relax a bit.

The weekend's here. Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow, as it is raining here as I write this, and is supposed to rain tomorrow also. But I am sure it will be exciting.

The day started out rainy, with a grandkid snuggled in bed with us. We didn't get up until after 7:30am, and then Pam (with Joelle helping) fixed pancakes for breakfast. They used syrup, I used boysenberry jam. It was quite yummy.

Then Pam and Joelle made some valentine cookies. They made just a little mess, but they were quite tasty. Christine came over with Liam this morning, so both of the kids decorated the cookies. Then they went shopping while I stayed home (good plan, I thought). I replaced a couple of the brackets holding up the window coverings in the family room.

By that time, everyone was home, so it was nap time for Liam, and couch-cuddling time for Joelle and I (while the girls went off shopping again). So it was a pretty relaxing day.

Not much else to report. No clever stories. No links to anything interesting. So, if you haven't already, you can read the story.