A large part of my job involves testing websites for various things. Most often, I use a series of Firefox add-ons and some other external tools (proxy server, for example) to perform the tasks I need to do.

Regularly, this involves clearing all cookies and personal data from my Firefox profile. I need to ensure cookies are set correctly and it’s tough to do that when all of my regular browsing cookies are there too. Moreover, clearing them all when I need to perform testing requires that I then log into each site I go to regularly again. This makes me a sad panda.

I began browsing the Firefox Add-ons site to try and find an extension or other tool that would allow me to switch profiles on the fly so that I could keep my regular Firefox profile, and all the sites thereunto visited, safely tucked away and ready for my usage at my command all the while maintaining a profile that I could mercilessly abuse in the name of testing.

Of course, such a thing does not exist. However, all is not lost. The Mozillazine has an article on profile management that essentially outlines the method by which the built-in profile manager can be accessed.

As noted above, I am a whiny Firefox user. I do not want to be prompted by the profile manager each time I start Firefox. The solution to this is to have a separate Firefox shortcut with the -profilemanager flag set. I store this in with my regular application shortcuts so that it is easily accessible when I need it. Your profile selection is persistent across sessions, meaning that normal Firefox shortcut will open Firefox with the last profile you selected in the profile manager.

This allows for completely separate add-ons, themes, home pages, connection settings, security settings, and toolbar setups. I’ve found this incredibly useful in my work and it might service those of you who develop web applications or otherwise tool around on the Internet.

Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain has issued a press release outlining his new bill to prohibit the FCC from issuing binding rules on how the Internet is operated in the United States.

Now, I am a fan of Net Neutrality from a philosophical standpoint. I firmly believe that Internet backbone carriers as well as end user ISPs should not be allowed to implement network practices that limit users based on the amount they pay for service or how much of a service they use.

But, to me, the issue is much broader than basic FCC regulation over the physical network itself. This is a problem for the FTC in how data networks and Internet access is marketed to a strikingly dumb population, and it is an issue for the Justice department to been involved in when companies consort with one another to stifle competition in broadband markets.

Since the early days of 56k V.90 dialup service, ISPs have shouted from the mountain tops that their service offerings were unlimited. Both myself and several of my friends (Bone_Enterprise can attest) took the ISPs to task on this by remaining connected for weeks at a time. Many times, accounts were disabled and we were informed that we were abusing their network. Despondent, we replied that they advertised the service as unlimited. The response was always, “it is unlimited, but you can’t use all you want.” The incongruity of it all was something that irked us to no end.

As it turns out, what they were advertising is, “unlimited ability to access,” and not, “unlimited usage.” I believe this is false advertising in sheep’s clothing. Regularly the FDA requires pharmaceutical companies to issue new profanely long commercials clarifying their claims about a particular drug and its side effects. Where is this watchdog mentality about the Internet and the trillions of dollars in GDP that it fosters?

The answer is most assuredly money and power. Companies like the toolboxes over at Comcast (which launched this lovely new feature today) throw tens of thousands of dollars at politicians like Senator McCain and his fellow Congressmen (clogged tubes, anyone?) who are uniquely and egregiously unqualified to be making suppositions about global networks, much less binding law.

Were the understanding of how networks function at an organic level and how an Internet free of corporate bullying drives innovation and economic prosperity truly understood by those with the power, I have a feeling that Net Neutrality would’ve been a reality some time ago. Of course, the blame is not solely on our elected officials; no, the blame is also shared with our fellow citizens. As a nation, and more specifically as a generation, the vast majority of us have become technology gluttons and demand that everything we interact with be simple, perfect, and require little to no effort from us. I believe this attitude is dangerous and stifles the inner need in each of us to grow and better ourselves through learning.

If we can have such stringent oversight of things like pharmaceuticals and stock market actions, things that require significant time and effort to understand and master, why can we not expect the same from the shepherds of our technology? While I generally advocate less government interaction in our daily lives, I do believe that there are some roles in which government must serve, and this is one of them. When companies get so large and their services so vital, they must be cared for to ensure that they do not take advantage of their customers. It is my hope that, in a limited form, Net Neutrality quickly comes to pass and that companies are forced to fairly market their services to an unsuspecting populace.

But something tells me it may be a ways off.

Today I started a new job after being out of work for nearly five months. As a part of this job, I’ve been given a laptop and, like most companies these days, there are both wired and wireless access methods available for the company LAN.

While the access points are secured, the laptops issued to everyone utilize the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Tool in Windows XP to manage access to the access points in the building. Because I am a task bar minimalist, the ever present icon and information dialogues that appear as a result of connection and disconnection to the access points drive me nuts.

Many current laptops have mechanical switches to enable or disable the WiFi adapter, but the model used by my company is considerably older and predates the widespread deployment of this feature. As such, heretofore, I’ve always gone into the adapter properties and disabled the WiFi adapter and then followed the same method to enable it the next time I needed it. This process takes two or three clicks and while not difficult, can become cumbersome if you find yourself doing it multiple times during the day.

While taking a break from reading the reams of documentation I’ve been given, I pondered the question of controlling the adapter hardware via batch script. Lo and behold, Microsoft has created a tool for this very purpose.

The tool is called Devcon and is free to use. It is a command line utility that essentially replaces the GUI Device Manager offered in Windows. There is extensive documentation on it but the important information is thus:

To affect change on a hardware device, you must know its device ID. Devcon provides a flag for this called hwids:

c:\>devcon hwids “*” > c:\hardware.txt

This will create a list of all hardware devices currently recognized by Windows along with all pertinent details. In order to not have the information scroll outside the purview of my command session, I dumped it out to a file called hardware.txt.

When the hardware.txt file is opened, you’ll see listings like this one for my WiFi adapter:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&SUBSYS_10108086&REV_05\4&AD1B67F&0&10F0

Name: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection

Hardware ID’s:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&SUBSYS_10108086&REV_05

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&SUBSYS_10108086
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&CC_0280

Compatible ID’s:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224&REV_05
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4224
PCI\VEN_8086&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0280
PCI\VEN_8086
PCI\CC_028000
PCI\CC_0280>

The important thing to capture here is the device ID, which will be DEV_XXXX. So in the case of my WiFi adapter, it is DEV_4224.

The next step is to create batch files that have the enable and disable commands in them. You could setup a menu system to select the operation you would like to carry out but I think that defeats the purpose of single click automation. Create a batch file with the following command:

devcon disable *DEV_XXXX*

Obviously, to enable it is the same command utilizing enable instead of disable.

And it’s just that simple. Devcon will print some text after the process is complete but launching a batch script with just that command it in will kill the command window as part of the cleanup process. I have both files in my custom quick launch menu and it works well.

Facebook has exploded in the last twelve months. Leaving MySpace, Orkut, and the rag tag group of other social networking sites in the dust, it has single handedly surmounted the world of telling everyone everything regardless of whether or not they actually wanted to know. Only Twitter is able to stave off the blitzkrieg of Facebook, and then only because stupid people haven’t figured out how awful it is.

I joined Facebook a few months ago at the incessant urging of small people from Scandinavia. Upon further inspection, I acquiesced to the request because Facebook looked like MySpace without the dumb. It was friends connected to other friends and there was some writing of stuff back and forth. It had a pretty clean interface and, minus the AJAX fetish that seems to permeate the site, it works pretty well.

Oh my, how wrong I was.

You see, on Facebook lies the concept of applications. These applications are about as varied as they come, but they all share one defining feature: they are all completely stupid.

Share a round of drinks! Send a hug! Give a smile! Take a quiz! Become a fan of crab people! Most of this crap isn’t even possible, much less a passing excuse for social interaction. Never in all my life have I been more thankful for the, “block this application” feature than I am with Facebook.

Sure, Facebook is a lot less intrusive than MySpace, and certainly looks less like a drunk monkey vomited all over my computer screen than MySpace, but it is still sheer crap.

In a clean package.

As I write this, Gallery Furniture in Houston is on fire and, by most reports, close to completely burning down. Anyone who grew up or spent much time in the Houston area is will versed in Houston’s various furniture stores and their often crazy commercials, but Gallery Furniture has been somewhat of an icon over the last (almost) three decades of my life. Of course, I never shopped there because I’ve been heretofore exceedingly poor. That, and I don’t live in Houston anymore.

My wife’s father had a heart attack last week. And of course no heart attack is complete without the matching quadruple bypass and the upcoming stent to be placed in a carotid artery that is more than 90% blocked. I chose now to blaim the lack of writing on those events and the ensuing emergency trip to Phoenix last week, though it wasn’t completely responsible.

In the aftermath, though, it has set me upon thinking about things in my life that need to change. Combining these events with what Kevin went through last year have started to hit home. That effort was aided by my wonderful wife who was in tears at the thought of not being able to grow old with me. I thought then as I do now that the later would’ve negated the need for the former altogether, I think. But then, some of us are slow to listen sometimes and need several hints before we get the message. I’m not able to do things as I did ten or fifteen years ago. Those times are gone and while I certainly don’t miss them, their affects on habits and thought processes still linger.

In travel news, I was delighted to learn that my single night three room reservation at a Marriott property near Disneyland was turned, by the property, into three separate reservations that each earned an elite qualification night. Combine that with the double elite qualification night promotion that is all the rage of hotel and airline programs these days, I’m sitting in a great spot to qualify again for Marriott Gold at a bare minimum for 2010. I may actually be able to hit Platinum depending on how my business travel goes.

The move to Austin is still on the road map and my loving wife is continuing to make great strides in preparation for it. While it is certainly a good thing, I think my first task at the moment is to move myself into a position to stave off the impending myocardial infarction when I think about the amount of money that will be disbursed in the move effort. I’m not complaining about it or saying it’s a bad idea by any means, but it is a very real and very large expenditure for us right now. I suppose there is some solace in the fact that it will all be tax deductible, so I’ve got to remember to focus on that.

It’s been too long since I’ve been on an airplane. Thankfully I will remedy that in a couple of weeks.

One of the nice things about having a web hosting account that gives you statistics about the visitors you have to your site is that it also reports what search engines were used to locate your site, and what people were searching for when they stumbled upon it.

So far in May, I’ve had a few hits for my post on Continental’s usage of the 737-900 aircraft. But am I very pleased to report that Down To Zero is, amazingly enough, the number one source of beef prices in April 2009. My innocuous comment about angsty beef in the byline is probably to blame. I’m proud, disturbed, and somewhat hungry.

I’ve begun to rethink our moving plans again. Not whether or not we should move because we’re locked and loaded on that, but rather the actual implements that will be employed to perform the move. I’ve got a couple of quotes out to some local moving companies that have BBB accreditation. I have a feeling that they will still trump the costs that I’ve already calculated to move ourselves by half an order of magnitude. Still, I enjoy having options and exploring the road not traveled. I suppose it helps me give a reason for not traveling that road.

In other news, my wife’s birthday is this weekend so I’m taking her to Croce’s for dinner (one of her favorite places) and then over to the San Diego Marriott & Marina for the evening where flowers and a personalized Tiramisu will be waiting for her. Should be a good time.

Finally, this week has taken forever to pass by. I guess forward is progress, and progress is good.

Technically speaking, moving day is 44 days away, but it is certainly on my mind as of late. My wife and I are moving from the sunny skies and cool breezes of San Diego and into the somewhat oppressive heat and decidedly severe spring storms of Austin. We’re both excited about the move and everything that it involves, but generating the plan has taken considerable effort.

All in all, it means paying off our wedding a bit faster, being able to save and actually afford a house, and being able to travel more. I am particularly interested in the travel more aspect. I’m hoping to actually qualify for the lowest tier of elite status with Continental by the end of the year, so that I can purchase economy tickets for work travel and be automatically upgraded to first class, where I actually fit (somewhat).

But for now, the focus is the next six weeks and all of the stuff it entails. Misty’s birthday is coming up week after next, as is my sister’s first visit to San Diego. Tommy and his wife are also coming out to help us with the move, so we’re going to treat them to some touristy Southern California staples before we go. I’m looking forward to that as well.

And then, the 1350 mile drive across the desert southwest in June. That’s going to be just a super time, I’m sure. Gives me an excuse to dust off my ham radio skills for the trip. And really, it’s just one more thing in a series of totally unexpected but completely awesome life changes that would’ve never been possible without my wife. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

After sepnding the last couple of days at work in close proximity to our development team who all run Ubuntu on their computers both at work and at home, I found a renewed desire to resurrect my linux box at home and make an earnest effort to move from Windows to Linux for most of my daily tasks. I think I’ve mostly accomplished that goal, but the road to freedom was not the easy one.

There has long been a debate between Linux fanboys and, well, everyone else about why and how one operating system is better than another. At the end of the day, most sentient people agreed that while Linux had some pretty clear advantages over Windows, its fatal flaw was that it was too bloody difficult to use for the uninitiated user.

Now, I am anything but an uninitiated user. But, I cut my teeth with DOS and the Windows environment. Aside from an extended experiment with a Comodore 64 in the late 1980s, Windows was how my computer world was oriented. Because Linux has such a dramatically different structure, translating operations between the two is somewhat difficult, at least for me.

Ubuntu set out to change all that, and to some degree they have. I was trying to find a GTK+ compiler last night to compile the source for xchat but then realized I didn’t need to because Ubuntu has a wonder Add/Remove Applications manager that downloads and installs additional applications for you. This is a huge step forward in getting the home user acclimated to a Linux environment.

But it is not complete. I had a bad video card driver and it took three hours and some help from an extremely gifted Linux guru friend of mine. I was relating to Tommy that I felt very ignorant and meek in using this operating system. I haven’t felt that way around a computer in quite some time.

But things are moving forward. I’m making a conscious effort to use the command line where possible because I believe that an understanding of the power involved with the effective application of the command line is crucial to further understanding the GUI’s role in managing the overall system. That same principle applies to DOS: it is often easier and faster to accomplish some tasks in the DOS command prompt than it is to use a Windows GUI.

It’s a little exciting to move to a new OS where the tumbleweeds roll freely across the plains. Oh wait, that tumbleweed is lagging a bit. I think I need more RAM…

Apparently I’m not able to be seated at the cool kid’s table, so I get my information from a reliable second-hand source. Apparently my friends over at Continental have begun the process of adding their 737-900ER fleet to semi-long haul routes previously reserved for the 757 series of aircraft.

What does this mean for you, dear traveler? There is a high chance of being stuck on a 737 for trans-Atlantic flights in the future. I claimed this three years ago when the 737-900ER first came out, due to its range and ability to reach from the east coast of the United States to western European locales including Iceland, Ireland, and even the UK with some weight restrictions.

I don’t know about you, but the 737 is not something I enjoy being incarcerated in for longer than about four hours. Continental is rolling them out on the five hour LAX – HNL leg, and offering service to Maui’s OGG airport. As part of this process, the premium cabin offerings usually associated with the 757 and 767 aircraft normally flown to Hawaii are also off the table. And no word has come down relating to complementary upgrades, but I don’t get to enjoy those so I care slightly less.

In any event, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I’ll still be seeking out widebodies for my long-haul flights, thank you very much.

I’m not entirely sure what’s been going on the past couple of days, but I haven’t done much online. I think it might stem from a great deal of effort being put forth in the office. Apparently others particular failures to plan on their part actually do constitute an emergency on my part. Who knew?

I’m starting to get more requests for travel advice lately. I am fairly comfortable discussing travel options for almost any locale, and fairly comfortable explaining the ins and outs of airline travel, hotel bookings, and car rentals. But I am firmly in reality as it relates to the awesome amount of knowledge contained in the minds of some folks I know over at FlyerTalk. It’s like a whole other league. Even still, I enjoy discussing travel options and have a tentative plan to send one of my coworkers and his girlfriend to Mexico for her birthday next month.

Speaking of birthdays, my wife’s birthday is next month and I am at a loss as to what to get her. Wedding bills and potential moves have sucked cash reserves dry. Not that they were terribly wet in the first place. Though the weekend after her birthday, my sister and one of her friends are coming out to visit for the first time since I’ve lived in California. I’m out $350 and have 29 miles left in my frequent flier account, but they’re going to have a great time. And I got to book airfare, which is almost as addictive as gambling for commercial aviation nerds like me.

Even still, big things are around the corner. And for the first time in my life, I’m not worried. Well, I am, but only because I don’t have a clear plan of action yet. It will come soon though. Since getting married, some of that stuff has been a little easier for me than it has been in the past. I suppose it’s just one more blessing.