Many of us in Redmond and the Seattle area have been recovering from a severe winter storm. After four days, we’re finally back in the house, but many of our friends are still camping out in hotels and huddling by fireplaces.
When the power was finally restored on our block late last night, the house thermometer read 40F.
Now, back to my email backlog. I’m thankful that I was able to keep up (somewhat) via my PocketPC phone.
Not since I rode through the Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area have I been in such a power outage… this time couple that with freezing cold temperatures. Due to a windy December storm in the Seattle area, the news reports that many people are still without power. This from the local news:
“Utility crews were working nonstop through the weekend to restore service to hundreds of thousands of people still without power after a windstorm hit Western Washington.
“The storm was the worst in more than a decade, claiming four lives and sending several dozen people to a local hospital after they suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.”
As noted in a previous post, we have all our canned goods, bottled water, spare batteries and misc supplies for more than three days to ride out just about anything that Mother Nature might throw at us.
But we woefully underestimated the impact of the cold.
This afternoon, when the norm is usually around 67 or 68 inside, our house was a balmy 48 degrees F (that’s 8C for my Canadian friends), as compared with the temperature outside at 33 degrees (which MSN weather says feels like 29). (And it’s supposed to be in the mid 20s tonite.) The living room fireplace at home doesn’t cut it and it’s just plain cold. So we dined on pizza tonite (thanks, Jon & Stephanie!) and watched TV (Elf, followed by The Santa Clause) in the office. Clearly, a number of people are in the same boat, given the number I’ve run into at the office microwaving nearly thawed dinners and hot chocolate.
PSE (the local power company) said that “380,000 (are) still without power. 250 crews are working to restore power instead of the typical crew of 60. And 150 more crews are on their way to help, from as far as Kansas. Most of the transmission lines have been repaired.”
Very cool. Applause for the people in the trucks fixing the power lines tonite. You rock.
If you have power and you’re wondering what you should keep and what to throw out, check out the Red Cross site on Food Safety in a Power Outage. And if you’re planning on making some end-of-the-year donations, give to local Red Cross — they have done a super job helping people in the area — or your local United Way.
Nuff said, I’m turning out the light to see how comfortable this office chair really is in a pinch.
As I mentioned in my previous post on Daylight Saving Time changes, there are updates available now and some scheduled to come down. Here’s the info from the latest KB article:
Update for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP (928388)
Locale: All
Deployment: Windows Update, Microsoft Update, WSUS, SUS 1.0, and Catalog
Classification: Updates, Non-Security
Target platforms: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows XP
Approximate file sizes:
- Windows XP Update: ~514 KB
- Windows Server 2003 Update: ~522 KB
- Windows Server 2003 IA-64 Update: ~1056 KB
- Windows Server 2003 x64 and Windows XP x64 Update: ~717 KB
Description: Installing this update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2007 because of revised Daylight Saving Time laws in many countries. After you install this update, you may have to restart the computer. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388
Also see this reference in the update for Australia…
Australia has implemented Daylight Saving Time in the West Australia (Perth) time zone starting in December 2006 for a trial period of three years. Install this update to enable your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date. After you install this item, you may have to restart the computer. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929120
Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, Vista, Daylight Saving Time, DST.
I received an email today asking where they could find more information on some of their Zune questions. So I sent them a link to the support site for Zune, now up and running.
The site has how-to pages…
… and quick links on the site:
And some of the top items on quick help:
And the answer? Daylight Saving Time. Let’s just say it’s been a popular discussion topic around the office this week.
For the history of how this came to be — and to know who you can thank for the extra hour of sleep once a year — look to none other than our multi-talented founding father, Benjamin Franklin. You can read more about DST on NPR’s site. Note that it is not “Daylight Savings Time” (with an extra “s”) as it’s often referred: according to the Wikipedia, this is a “common variant… frequently heard in speech and appears in some dictionaries.”
Now, back to our story. As reported in the news, there’s a change coming in the calendar as we will all be asked to move to Daylight Saving Time a full three weeks earlier than in previous years. This year, we’ll move our clocks on March 11 rather than on the first Sunday in April. To be precise: “daylight saving time (DST) start and end dates for the United States will transition to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DST dates in the United States will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November).”
You can also thank the US Congress for enacting the Energy Policy Act of 2005, much to the joy of one industry in particular: candy manufacturers, who reportedly lobbied for an extension to DST. This sunny extension will allow trick-or-treaters to scream “trick-or-treat” and collect candy for an additional hour. (Or, as we said in Canada, when I bantered about in the Northern dark, ringing doorbells and crying out “Halloween Apples!”) See also this article in the Provodence Journal for more perspectives on DST.
So what does this have to do with Windows?
Glad you asked.
A change to DST means a change to many Microsoft products, including Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003: for these there is “a single global time zone update which will include changes for the United States DST change,” including changes that have been released as hotfixes and noted in various KB articles.
For end-users customers, updates for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 will be available via Windows Update, Automatic Update, and WSUS starting on December 12, 2006.
For our customers and partners, we have a section on our website dedicated to helping you prepare for daylight saving time changes in 2007. Watch the site over the next couple of weeks as it is being updated regularly with information.
“Microsoft will be producing an update for Microsoft products affected by the new United States daylight saving time transition dates. These updates will be released through a combination of channels including Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS), hotfixes incorporated in Knowledge Base articles, Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and the Microsoft Download Center.”
For Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007, I believe no updates will be needed, as updated time zone definitions are already included in the products.
Here’s the real fun: Congress may decide to move back to the old schedule. They retained the right to fall back (pardon the pun) to the old 1986 law if after the study period they find that this new change is “unpopular or if energy savings are not significant,” according to the Washington Post. If I were a betting man, I might just take that bet.
More information: We’ll be updating the content on the DST 2007 information page, providing links to key documents and articles that provide more information on DST adjustments for other Microsoft products, including…
Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, Vista, Daylight Saving Time, DST.
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