Bnpositive's Blog

Here’s the plan suggested by Dave Ramsey for improving the economic situation in our country and doing it for far less than $700B.

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three steps:

Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE

A. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

B. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:

   1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.
      a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.
      b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower?again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

   2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don?t do their jobs.

C. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion?a small fraction of the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET

A. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate.

B. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks?and it costs the taxpayer nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX

A. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous?and immediate?liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.

B. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down. This is not a time for envy, and it?s not a time for politics. It?s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

I’ve always loved Dave’s way of handling and teaching basic economic principles. Most of his focus for me has been around personal finances, but given his history in real estate and as a business man. I’d say these ideas are at least worth a serious look as an option for Congress.

As the ongoing saga of me recovering my computer to a pristine, clean install of the OS and conscious effort to only install apps that I need and use regularly, the latest challenge to my success is getting my laptop reconnected to our Small Business Server machine and attached to the Exchange e-mail account that’s already setup.

Whenever I try to go in and join the computer to the domain I get the following error.

The text of the error message is:

The following error occurred attempting to join the domain "RAPIDRESULTS":

Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again..

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems you can really mislead people in the 140 characters allowed by twitter. I’ve now heard from my brother and sister-in-law and an old college friend regarding one of my earlier twitter updates today:

gotta pack up and head south. Look for a blog post later about my current situation.

I work on the northwest side of Indianapolis and at the end of my day before shutting down my computer, I’ll do a quick sign-off tweet mentioned how I’m shutting down, packing up and heading down to the south side of the city where I live.

It just so happens that today I was having an ongoing conversation with someone else about some computer issues. I had taken a screen shot of the error messages I was getting and was letting him know I would be posting screen shots on Microsoft Weblog with those error messages.

Guess those two tweets should have been separated, and the second one directed specifically to the other person that was helping me with my computer problems.

Sorry folks for any confusion.

Mark Mahoney e-mailed me about a week ago and told me I should check-out the ZOHO website. I was familiar with it as a site, but have never really used it. I’ve always just considered the investment cost of having the latest version of Office just one of those expenses that would pay back through a variety of different avenues. I’ve also been lucky enough to win copies of Office 2000 Premium and Office 2003 at some tech conventions or Microsoft events. If that weren’t the case though, checking out some free options for office productivity suites would enter more boldly into my realm of reality.

Mark said this about ZOHO though.

I think you should do a post on some free sites like http://www.zoho.com, an online word processor, slide show creator and much more that allows you to write a paper, with spell check and all, and access it online from any computer. This saves you from having to attach a Word file to your emails, which some computers can’t even open correctly.

Mark, I’ve done as you suggested and taken a look at the ZOHO website. All I can say is that this site seems to have added loads of new features and applications to its list of available solutions for users.

Just look at this list of features:

web-based email, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, document management, notes, wiki, file share, organizer and planning, chat, CRM, invoicing, web-conferencing, database apps, reporting and business intelligence, recruiting and HR management, and more.

I’ve not used any of these services, but I can tell you this, the next time somebody asks me about some alternatives to Microsoft Office, I’ll think about ZOHO first now instead of Google Apps.

Even if you already own Office though, there are plug-ins that are available that allow you to integrate some of the features and functionality into Office from ZOHO. It also works with your iPhone, Facebook or Windows Mobile device.

What’s been your experience with ZOHO apps? Have you loved it? Too many problems to mention? What do you think?

The post stems from my previous post discussing the value of whether or not Microsoft should have developed a "Classic View" navigation option in Office 2007.

Let us know what you think in our current reader poll.

You can add a different choice if one of the ones displayed don’t quite fit your opinion of the situation.

I’m finally glad to report that Windows Live Writer is finally back in full-effect on my computer and I can’t tell you just how happy that makes me. It’s amazing how much I’ve come to appreciate this piece of free software from Microsoft.

It isn’t so much a question of dependent, as I was able to use Word 2007 to blog from, or ScribeFire, or just the WordPress Admin itself.

The question comes from more of the features that became so comfortable with using and familiar with having at my finger tips ready and waiting when I needed to fire off a few posts.

One of the biggest benefits is having a central location that I can manage multiple blogs. Since the issues started with my computer I really picked up another blog that’s using the TypePad interface. Windows Live Writer picks that blog up as well and lets me manage it right along side my WordPress blogs as well.

Just in time for my needs though and Microsoft releases a new beta version of the software in Build 14. The basics haven’t really changed much, but there are a few new things that have been cleaned up that just further improves the regular use of the tool.

Here’s a couple of things that I wish were different though. These may also be issues that are bugs so I’ll list them here and see if everyone else is experiencing similar problems.

• interface doesn’t seem to remember my image inserting default settings. I’m thinking that I can save default settings for each blog, but this doesn’t seem to be working.
• Colorizing the user-interface isn’t really important by any means, but it’s something I’d like to do just to soften the interface for my use and set it apart from the other windows I have open. The colorize option doesn’t let me get the interface dark enough on the color I’ve chosen.
• I couldn’t figure out a way to insert a special character into my posts. I ended up having to use the Character Map application that comes with the Windows OS.
• I’d like to change the background color of the "Sidebar" and "Properties" section. The white background blends in too much with the post area.

Those are just a few, I’m sure I’ll come up with some more items as I continue to use it more.

Image: Screenshot © 2008 Jason Bean

One of the errors I regularly came across during my recent computer issues was an error that occurred when I tried to reinstall programs from scratch.

Microsoft details the problems and error experienced here on their Microsoft Help and Support website.

Basically what happens is that when you try and install he product, the installer can’t find the installation files it needs to finish the installation.

No problem right?

You receive the error message and then just hit the browse button to tell Windows exactly where the installation files reside and you’re on your way. You think it’s even more perfect because the browse mechanism displays exactly what it says you’re missing.

There’s the problem though.

The browse function doesn’t really work for some reason. The problem lies deep within the registry. Here’s Microsoft’s statement of the cause:

The MEDIAPACKAGEPATH property wasn’t properly set. MEDIAPACKAGEPATH is a public property that enables you to define where on the removable media the MSI file is located. This can happen if the media that is currently being used and the media that was originally used to install the program have the MSI file at different relative paths.

For example, this error can occur if the original media had the MSI file in a folder called App1, and the current media has the MSI at the root of the media. This error will not occur if the same media is used for the original installation and the current install operation.

Here’s the further problem I ran into though when I tried to follow their solution for fixing the problem.

The guidance they provide for trying to fix the MEDIAPACKAGEPATH you need to look for registry keys that look something like the following:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products\<Compressed ProductCode>\SourceList\Media

Did you notice the "<CompressedProductCode>" part? How do I find out which product is the one I’m looking at with the error easily? I’ve got hundreds of products installed, at the time, most of which were having problems and errors.

Image: Screenshot from Microsoft Word 2007 ©2008 Jason Bean

Could the Office Ribbon be going away? No, not really but I just read about it being called something else.

The new name is "Office Fluent User Interface".

Can that be right? I’d think the ribbon was developed for people that weren’t as fluent with the Office applications as those users that were probably considered "fluent" in the first place.

In fact, I’ve had a couple of conversations with people that have suggested that the people Microsoft left behind with their Office 2007 user-interface redevelopment were those above-average and "expert" users.

History tells us that it is a bad idea to change the interface of an established word-processing application. A similar act of folly caused the demise of Wordstar, for example. Word’s menus and shortcuts had been learned by its users for eighteen years, so forcing them to adopt a different metaphor, without the choice of the ‘classic view’, seems reckless.  At least we could switch off the ridiculous animated paper-clip (TFC), their previous attempt to dumb down their flagship applications. However, unless you buy one of the many applications that are designed to put back the classic menus, you are condemned to haunt the Ribbon UI (TFR), looking for that elusive Word Count menu item.

Simple-Talk uses Microsoft Word as the de-facto standard for article submission, and most authors I’ve spoken to are united in their dislike of the new ribbon UI. It may help the novice, but those of us who have the old menu tattooed into their cerebellums are disinclined to thank Microsoft for suddenly changing all the rules.

I for one actually like the ribbon interface. That can also be accurately interpreted to mean that I don’t consider myself above-average or "expert" in the Office applications prior to 2007.

I believe the real question is whether or not Microsoft really made the mistake when they didn’t offer a "Classic View" option to the interface. The comments on the article link below share quite a number of good thoughts, opinions and suggestions for what should have been done on both sides of the argument.

Source: Application Usability and Standards by Tony Davis on Simple-Talk

We’ve College Students Can Get Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95 but I figured it was probably time for a reminder with most high school and college classes being back in session.

If you’re a student you can get the Office Ultimate 2007 version at a price at almost 10% the total cost.

There are some programs in the package that I don’t really use that often, but for the price on this package I don’t see how you can really turn this down if you’re a student.

Microsoft Office Discount for Students: The Ultimate Steal

Do you have kids?

If your kids are anything like my daughter, then they spend all kinds of time laying on the floor or at her table and coloring pictures. She’s quite the artist and it seems like she’s always looking for something new to color.

The Crayola website has loads of printable pictures she can download and print-off for her enjoyment. She can also get loads of new ideas to spark her creativity.

Here’s a little bit about the brand we’ve all grown-up with and come to love.

From its earliest beginnings, Crayola has been a color company. We came into being when cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith took over Edwin’s father’s pigment business in 1885. More than 120 years later, color – along with creativity, learning and most of all, fun – is the hallmark of our company.

Crayola has called Easton, Pennsylvania its home since the early 1900s. Today, the company’s world headquarters and major manufacturing facilities are located there. And downtown Easton is the home of The Crayola FACTORY® , a one-of-a-kind celebration of creative fun for everyone!

If you go visit the Crayola site now, they have plenty of special offers and contests you can enter as well.

Uncover some great new Crayola products and creative activities for yourself or your kids at the Crayola website. How long has it been since you’ve picked up a pack of crayons. Take some time now and go color a picture with your kids.

You know what they say about guys with big feet don’t you? They usually have a hard time finding shoes that fit them. That shouldn’t be a problem anymore with finding sites like 2BigFeet.com.

During our years in business, we have shipped countless pairs of shoes to happy customers around the world. We’ve made friends on every continent (except Antarctica.) We credit our success to our business concept, which is the same today as when we first envisioned 2BigFeet.com: we work hard to find shoes that are made in large sizes, establish strong relationships with manufacturers, keep as much inventory on-hand as possible, make our store available to everyone via the Internet, charge a fair price, stand behind what we sell.

I met the owner, Brandon Eley, while I was in Vegas at Blog World Expo 08 and figured since I could probably take advantage of his site, along with my brother and a couple of friends, I should share it with the rest of the world too.

I’m at the small end of their scale, their sizes start with 14. Depending on the shoe I wear between 12.5 – 14, but my brother has larger feet and a have a number of friends that could take advantage of the site.

Uncover some big shoes for yourself at 2BigFeet.com

Image Source: flickr

Oh the carnage and the massacre. Numerous packages of hot dogs were recently detonated outside of Citizens Bank Park last night.

It seems that the staple food of sports parks everywhere now has a little bit more of a threatening power than just in your stomach after ingesting them with your favorite beverage.

Bomb squad members further investigated the packages and determined they were simply several hot dogs in foil wrappers. Sadly, the wieners were detonated as a precaution.

Not sure what else were on these dogs, but I’m guessing if they had chili, cheese and onions on them we may have had to call in the National Guard.
Story source: CBS News