Work sent me to a class on repackaging software ("Repackaging with Wise Products" by Wise Solutions, in case you're looking for a class). Basically, when you repackage a product you take snapshots of a system that you install the package on - one before the package is on there, and one afterwards. The trick is to find all those file, registry, .ini file, file association, data source and what-have-you changes that take place from the first to the last and wrap them up in your package.

Of course, I have been building these things for ages now - I've been building scripted (WiseScript and SMS Installer) installations at my current workplace since I started there about a year and a half ago. I'm an old hand at this, and basically all I learned was a bit about Windows Installer, a bit about the Conflict Manager portion of their product, and got to screw off for a week.

If you want more details, email me your questions, but my basic review is:

• If you strictly want to learn about repackaging, period, start doing it. Only use what you make in small test environments for a while (when you know your stuff is good, you'll know it's good - until then, test, test, test! Lots will blow up and come back and smack you in the face.) You learn a lot more in the trenches than you do in class;
• if you want to learn to use Wise Package Studio to do repackaging, especially the enterprise edition (which we don't use), definitely go to this class;
• if you already package but want to learn Windows Installer technologies, depending on how you are with learning from a book, you may be better off visiting Amazon;
• if you want to screw off for a week, at least take the class out of town. I went to the offering in town, and not only did I not get all out of it that I wanted, plus I didn't get to see any cool stuff.

On the upside, I did find out that my coworker Dan (who went to class with me) is the complainer everybody says he is. Oh, did I say upside? Sorry.

I turned the ripe old age of thirty-two last month. Marilynn likes to say I'm a year older; I like to point out the more accurate fact that I'm only three and a half months older than her. Either way, I'm still thirty-two, so why argue about it?

Around here, when there's a birthday we have a tendency to call it "Monkey Birthday Week". This requires a bit of explaining. Marilynn, my better half, loves monkeys. She even identifies herself with them. However, she also identifies the cat with monkeys, and identifies me as one, too - thus, when one of the three of us has a birthday, it's Monkey Birthday Week (hereafter called MBW).

Well, it makes sense around here, anyway.

During MBW, you basically get to do what you want to do, hang out, and so forth. It beats the hell out of one day, anyway!

I was in class from Monday through Thursday of the week of my birthday, and my birthday fell on that Thursday. Therefore, I took the Friday following off, and just called it a three-day weekend. On that Friday we went to the Zoo; I got a few nice pictures, but nothing I'll be putting up. What I did get was sweaty. We decided that the feed pellet dispensers by the duck pond at the zoo are a screw job, since Marilynn put a quarter in one of them and it didn't actually dispense anything.

The next day we went to Galveston with my mother and toured Bishop's Palace and then ate at Gaido's on the seawall. I was feeling okay in Galveston until I got sweated down and then I started to have a horrible allergic reaction to the shrimp. I don't usually... hmmm.

Oh, and a tip - never go to the bathroom at Bishop's Palace. Just a warning.

Well, sweating down caused me to break out something awful. I broke out all over my back, actually - I've been fighting this for about three weeks now. Antihistamines and calamine has been fixing it, plus some less chemically-enhanced soap. However, I still itch like the dickens.

One last note before I call it quits on talking about the birthday - the guys at work filled my cubicle up to about mid-chest level with balloons in "celebration" of my birthday.

They put a lot of my stuff in balloons.

They wouldn't tell me which balloons had stuff in them.

They wouldn't help me pop and dispose of all the balloons, but took pictures in the process of me doing that. (Bitches.)

They turned my entire desk around, and set my stuff up facing the same direction. (At least they helped turn the desk back around...)

It's funny, and they said, "you didn't see anybody else going through this much trouble on anybody else's birthday, did you? People like you!" (With love like that, who needs hatred?)

That's okay - I'll get my revenge... oh, yes, my pretties...

Other than that, I'm just living life. Nothing really off the deep end, just busy with the day-to-day events that constitute having a life.

Of course, I still miss writing. I write in my head all the time, which then disappears into the dust of all the other thoughts that swirl through with the happenings of the day. I must code, I must build. In a way, I feel like I'm losing my life because I never write about it.

Thus, I have to write. I just have to find time.

One last note before I go. It's always fun to look at the logs of my websites. You can see where people come from, what they're looking at, what have you. However, the interesting thing is that you also see attempted exploits coming from here and there.

Every site should have customized error pages - I am considering adding to the script for the customized error page that if it sees a request coming in that is a common vulnerability (like the many FrontPage vulnerabilities, formmail.pl spammer vulnerabilities, etc), it automagically takes that information and sends an email to abuse@lt;their ISP> with the necessary information (like, watch the logs for fifteen minutes, send all the interesting snippets, send all recorded information on them, etc.).

My view on this is that even if they didn't bust my site, they may bust somebody's, and it gives the admins of the ISPs more information on who's doing what on their network and/or boxen. If a lot of people used these, we could probably lock down on more than a few spammers and script kiddies.

Any interest in this?

restlessmind