CUPS

Ok it has pretty awful documentation, but i'm actually starting to warm to it. I just set it up for a customer with seemingly minimal fuss and happiness is in the air. Can't wait to get hold of version 7 and combine it with Mobility Advantage! I'm waiting for all the software and i'll try to do a bit of an article with Callmanager 7 whenever it arrives!

Presence

I really hate CUPS.

Really.

Cisco CUCM 5 and 6 bug

The latest bug to hit my inbox is that apparently when CUCM 5 and 6 hits 248 days of uptime, it can crash horribly. Cisco's advice is to reboot the CUCM servers before they hit the 248 day uptime counter. Resetting them effectively resets the counter.

Very very worrying.

Cisco Presence

It's been a while since we tackled Presence due to the instability of older clients and the CUPS server behind it. However now we're starting to see that the client especially, has come a long way.

I've always believed that CUPC is the pinnacle of how Unified Communications (from a Cisco point of view at least) should work, and just so happens to be the tool of choice to sell other Cisco products into a customer's network because of it's ability to tie everything together.

Below is a brilliant video of how it works.

Cisco Unified Personal Communicator Video Data Sheet @ Yahoo!7 Video

caller-id enable

Hi all,

Just an interesting case that came up very recently where a customer had 'caller-id enable' on all of their FXS ports on a VG224. The result was that calls to analog phones on the VG224 would not answer correctly if you picked up the phone during the first two phones. This is because the gateway is incorrectly configured to send caller-id signal in the analog stream. Turn it off to alleviate the symptom.

How to channelise PRI circuits with MGCP

MGCP doesn't properly support channelised E1 or T1 circuits, in that you can only specify circuits that have the full 30 or 23 channels respectively, rather than an E1 that only has 8 channels from the TELCO.

You can use the following guide from Cisco to get channelised PRI to work in CallManager, simply by creating a full T1 or E1 with the full amount of channels, and then use the guide to busy out the channels that aren't required/available from the TELCO. You can also use the same feature to disable individual channels when troubleshooting:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/products_configuration_example09186a008076f8d2.shtml

iPhone vs HTC Touch Diamond

Hey all.

I felt compelled to write about this as I am now the (proud) owner of both phones - as work saw fit to give me a work phone!

I felt quite angered at some of the reviews i'd seen of certain presenters views on these devices, because it mainly comes down to what people think of them on first impressions. I feel it's very wrong of the presenters to review a phone in this way! Asking most people in the street about which device to go for, they'll pick the iPhone 95% of the time because it looks swish. Just because it's a nice interface and the buttons wobble in a funny way when you hold your pinky on it, does not a great phone make.

I would even go as far to say that they're pretty biased in favour of the iPhone. It may be a pretty off-the-cuff thing to say but if you think about it, loads of businesses will now go for the iPhone as a business tool based on what the media has said about it (Plus it now 'does' Activesync), and when it gets filtered down to techies like me, we'll be bitterly disappointed...

So here's some views/criticisms from a technical perspective:

• Google Maps on the iPhone is great, but I have full blown TomTom on my HTC Touch Diamond and it works brilliantly. People keep wanting to go on about how great a free app is on the iPhone when the Diamond has had it for ages too, and has an uncomplicated method for installing better apps for the job.


• Everything costs money on the iPhone. I went out and got Mobile Putty, a command line program, and some ping/test tools for the Diamond for free. Most important of all I got RDP for the Diamond for free too. All of the above for the iPhone costs cash.


• The iPhone hides all the important settings. For instance I want to change the behaviour of the auto-lock feature when on battery compared to when on charge? Nada. I could have fettled with this stuff on the Diamond to my heart's content.


• The iPhone is massive. Why on Earth does it have to be so big?


• I don't think I can tether my iPhone to my laptop and use it as a modem - if I can it'll probably cost cash again. With the Diamond I simply plug it into the laptop, start ICS on the phone and woohoo I have HSDPA internet without running anything more than Activesync.


• I can take the battery off my Diamond when it cocks up. The iPhone has locked up more times than my Diamond has.


• I can't write my own apps for the iPhone easily.


• No integration on the iPhone with OneNote.


• The signal strength on the iPhone is simply awful. We're sending the Sales team out with these phones and all they do is complain that while the phone has lots of whizz-bang features, you can't actually make a phone call.
  

So there you go, a techie-biased view of the iPhone's faults.

Buy a diamond instead.

CallManager 7 revs up

News has just hit my inbox that the SRND for CallManager 7 is now available:

CallManager 7 SRND

If you're lucky enough to have Partner E-Learning, there's 35 hours of free video training on it :)

If only I had that much time...

proji.co.uk

Cock a doodle doo! My good friend's site www.proji.co.uk has now gone live and unleashed to the world! Expect some great posts on technology and commentary/reviews on everything you should know about when it comes to gadgets, software, hardware and other cool stuff.

The link on the right also takes you there. Peace be the journey.

Yet more issues with CallManager 6.0

Yet another bug with Cisco CallManager 6.0. Sigh. This was identified in version UCOS_ES_6.0.1.3103-1.

We found similarly to a previous post that when we tried to dial out, we got the following debug with "Bearer/channel not available". However we found in that this instance, changing the CLID made no difference, we verified that the customer had specified the correct number of B channels on their PRI, and attempts to use commands such as "bchan-order ascending" made no difference.

*Jan 26 09:01:29.606: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Calling num 01234115200*Jan 26 09:01:29.610: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Called num 07989163892*Jan 26 09:01:29.610: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> SETUP pd = 8 callref = 0x0117 Bearer Capability i = 0x8090A3 Standard = CCITT Transfer Capability = Speech Transfer Mode = Circuit Transfer Rate = 64 kbit/s Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Progress Ind i = 0x8183 - Origination address is non-ISDN Calling Party Number i = 0x0081, '01234115200' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown Called Party Number i = 0x80, '07989163892' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown*Jan 26 09:01:29.822: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- CALL_PROC pd = 8 callref = 0x8117 Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Notification Ind i = 0xE8*Jan 26 09:01:33.614: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- ALERTING pd = 8 callref = 0x8117*Jan 26 09:01:33.654: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> DISCONNECT pd = 8 callref = 0x0117 Cause i = 0x80AC - Requested circuit/channel not available*Jan 26 09:01:33.830: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- RELEASE pd = 8 callref = 0x8117*Jan 26 09:01:33.834: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> RELEASE_COMP pd = 8 callref = 0x0117

As it turned out, we were using 7945 and 7965 phones (Which id never seen before, though are worth the money over a 7961 etc!). Turning off G.722 Wideband codec on the phone fixed the problem! You may wish to think about changing the Enterprise parameter and resetting all phones if you aren't going to use this codec in your enterprise.

First impressions of the new HTC Diamond

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have yet again upgraded early due to my irrational attraction to shiny things.

I'll try to keep this brief as I have a steak under the grill (And you can find stuff like this all over the web):

• This device is sexy! In fact it's the first HTC device that I really think will attract the consumer rather than the businessman. It's feature-packed, easy to use, has a much better camera (though still no flash), and it doesn't cost iPhone prices...
• The built in GPS is somewhat fiddly to get going with TomTom but is a great addition
• The device attracts scratches - you'll find it difficult to sell this on Ebay "scratch free" after you've owned it for a while. Bear that in mind!
• The battery life is terrible (I think i've got a phone from a bad batch) and has lasted as little as a day with light useage. Some are suggesting that this is down to the ROM being used and it may be updated soon if enough people complain about it.
• Internet Connection Sharing works brilliantly with Vista, and allowed me to get up to great speeds on my laptop using the phone as a modem.

More issues with CallManager 6.0

I recently rolled out CallManager 6.0 for a customer and rather disappointingly we ended up having to apply an Engineering Special patch to fix the problems. Rather alarmingly, we found these bugs in version 6.0.1.3000-7:

• Attendant Console is unable to allow you to select a Device Profile (Unable to change MAC address) however Attendant Console works fine when you choose to use a phone that is statically configured rather than using Extension Mobility.
• Adding a new Device Profile to CallManager causes ccm.exe (or the Linux equivalant at least) to hang. Symptoms include CFWD state unchangeable, and attempting to log in/out of Extension Mobility causes the phone to endlessly say 'registering'.
• Device profile Service URL is being overwritten by the actual devices' SURL. The symptom presents itself as the service URL that was being shown on the phone when the phone is EM logged out can still be seen when the phone has been logged into EM.

What's disappointing is that all three of these bugs were fixed in previous versions of CallManager 6, and somehow Cisco has allowed these bugs to get through to a later version. Does it have something to say about their Quality Control procedures???

Anyway. These bugs are all fixed in ES UCOS_ES_6.0.1.3103-1 or CallManager 6.1. Speak to Cisco TAC for further assistance.

The CUCM 6.1 moan

We recently upgraded to CUCM 6.1 and 6.0 - and the main reason for this was the fact that 6.0 was full of bugs. 6.1 is no better sadly and we still have "interesting" things happening:

• Pressing the DND button leaves a "???" on the phone screen.
• Call Pickup Group notifications have randomly stopped working (for certain people)
• Calling certain numbers results in a "fake display" appearing on the phone screen in the CLID area.
• The BAT tool is still a bag of crap.
• Sometimes faxes stop working randomly.
• System slowness

Grrrr! They're fairly minor issues but if I can try to sort them, will post up!

Been a while!

As always a busy guy, and have been installing 6500's over night for customer's and a few other bits and bobs. I also got to go on a Palmersport day which was incredible! Being able to drive a single seater sports car similar to a Formula 3000 car was just mind blowing - though I proved I had a lot to learn if my driving skills were to be as high as Louis Hamilton!

Just a word to say that I treated myself to an IBM X41 Tablet PC! I found myself using the UMPC less and less due to the speed of the unit and I can now safely say that the X41 has replaced my T60 in the office! I can now grab my PC and start writing when a support call comes in. I also plonked Vista SP1 and it's pretty quick (suprisingly!).

My ex missus went a bit mad though and decided to snap my UMPC pen (lol!), so if anyone knows where I can buy an Asus R2H Stylus please let me know!

Handy hint for 6500 switches

If you're looking to find out the serial numbers of SFP's installed in your chassis, but can't be bothered to find out by unplugging everything, you can use the following command in IOS. This doesn't include CatOS (it's a different command). Don't forget to no shut your interfaces before checking:

show idprom interface gigabitEthernet 1/1 include Vendor SN

The include part is optional. :)

Getting intimate with some 6509 switches :)

Well it had to happen - I finally got my hands on some real expensive kit! Allow me to show you:


The kit arrived on pallates, lots of them! And blimey they're huge!





After we finally shifted through all of the boxes we were left with 4 beasts (3 pictured):





Once we had all of the components unwrapped we started to assemble the chassis. I didn't include any pics of the dual 6000W PSUs (Hot swappable, dual input, essentially made up of two 3000W PSU's internally) because they were quite boring. The box can be powered up from a single input on a single PSU. The below Sup720 with 10Gigabit Fiber however, is definitely not boring:

The Sup720 is made up of a a PFC and MSFC for both forwarding and routing engines. All intelligence of the chassis is run from here, and the box won't boot without it installed. The box also won't boot without a fan tray:

The Sup720 can only be installed in slots 5 or 6 of the 6509 switch. Notice from the pic below that the backplane for slots 5 and 6 is wider than all the others. Slots 1 and 2 buses are wider too (apparently for when Sup cards used to reside in these slots) however no advantage can be gained by installing any cards in these slots.

In the other two slots we installed some new 48port Gigabit line cards and 24port SFP Gigabit line cards. Each SFP card had 14 Fiber SFP's installed in it. We had both cards set up with a DSFC which means that they are able to make their own decisions (instead of using the PFC on the Sup720). Which ultimately means less pressure on the Sup card.

Fully loaded baby! Time to play!

First post in a while!

So I doubt I have many avid readers but I may as well update on personal things too. I guess that's what it's for!

Since the ISDN word problem I set up a cucMBE system for u customer, broke up with my girlfriend, did another job in Scarborough (God it was cold), and finished up with a job today in Illinois USA. One busy guy!

I have a couple of bugs to write up here but I felt that sorting out my expenses and other affairs was more important! We also take delivery of 4 6509 switches tomorrow! Fun! Can't wait to get hold of those!

We are now a Nokia accredited partner so hopefully will update soon on some advanced phones to come into the office. Check back soon for that.

Mike out.

ISDN (wierd) problem

Well today I discovered an odd issue with a new customer network. For some reason, if the External phone number mask on a phone was anything else than what was deemed "valid" such as when (example numbers used):

Trunk number: 01234 115115
DDI number: 01234 115200
Valid EPNM to send is "200"
Invalid number such as 01234 115200 results in CLI presented to called party as 01234 115115.

...then the call would not complete. IE, if I sent 01234 115200 to the PSTN then the following symptoms would occur:

• IP Phone gets busy tone
• My mobile phone would ring out for half a ring, presenting 01234 115115 before hanging up. Odd!
• What's more is the debug isdn q931 from the Cisco router:

*Jan 26 09:01:29.606: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Calling num 01234115200*Jan 26 09:01:29.610: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Called num 07989163892*Jan 26 09:01:29.610: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> SETUP pd = 8 callref = 0x0117 Bearer Capability i = 0x8090A3 Standard = CCITT Transfer Capability = Speech Transfer Mode = Circuit Transfer Rate = 64 kbit/s Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Progress Ind i = 0x8183 - Origination address is non-ISDN Calling Party Number i = 0x0081, '01234115200' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown Called Party Number i = 0x80, '07989163892' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown*Jan 26 09:01:29.822: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- CALL_PROC pd = 8 callref = 0x8117 Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Notification Ind i = 0xE8*Jan 26 09:01:33.614: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- ALERTING pd = 8 callref = 0x8117*Jan 26 09:01:33.654: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> DISCONNECT pd = 8 callref = 0x0117 Cause i = 0x80AC - Requested circuit/channel not available*Jan 26 09:01:33.830: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- RELEASE pd = 8 callref = 0x8117*Jan 26 09:01:33.834: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> RELEASE_COMP pd = 8 callref = 0x0117

Yes that's right! The call completes, yet the Q.931 debug says the bearer isn't available! It did make me wonder whether i'd configured too many bearers than the customer had paid for, but by a stroke of luck I determined that sending the correct CLI to the PSTN allowed the call to proceed:

*Jan 26 09:04:53.326: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Calling num 200*Jan 26 09:04:53.330: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: Applying typeplan for sw-type 0x12 is 0x0 0x0, Called num 07989163892*Jan 26 09:04:53.330: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> SETUP pd = 8 callref = 0x011A Bearer Capability i = 0x8090A3 Standard = CCITT Transfer Capability = Speech Transfer Mode = Circuit Transfer Rate = 64 kbit/s Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Progress Ind i = 0x8183 - Origination address is non-ISDN Calling Party Number i = 0x0081, '200' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown Called Party Number i = 0x80, '07989163892' Plan:Unknown, Type:Unknown*Jan 26 09:04:53.534: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- CALL_PROC pd = 8 callref = 0x811A Channel ID i = 0xA98399 Exclusive, Channel 25 Notification Ind i = 0xE8*Jan 26 09:04:56.770: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- ALERTING pd = 8 callref = 0x811A*Jan 26 09:04:58.538: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> DISCONNECT pd = 8 callref = 0x011A Cause i = 0x8090 - Normal call clearing*Jan 26 09:04:58.706: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: RX <- RELEASE pd = 8 callref = 0x811A*Jan 26 09:04:58.710: ISDN Se0/0/0:15 Q931: TX -> RELEASE_COMP pd = 8 callref = 0x011A

Blackberries

We lost the blackberry's!

WAH

:-(

Jed get's a Blackberry...

Sadly at the moment all the techbods at Nowcomm have to carry the Support phone on a rota basis. I don't mind being on call, but when you have to carry round a Nokia E60, the embarrassment factor is through the roof! I mean, just look at it...

So as a demontration for a customer what Blackberry is like (And furthermore, how well it works with Cisco Unified Messaging - the new curve is able to play voicemail WAV attachments!) we ended up with a couple of Blackberries to play with for an undetermined amount of time. The two devices are the BlackBerry 8120...

...and the BlackBerry 8310:

Personally I felt the 8120 felt quite tacky to feel, put perhaps i'm used to using re-assuring heavy devices? Both BlackBerry's were very very light!

Once i'd figured out the interface on the 8310 (Now the support phone) I was very impressed with the features, format and battery life of the device. Though the viewing of attachments such as Excel files didnt work as well as i'd hoped. If only we had Push Email working on Windows Smartphones...

Musings...

I've spent the last few days pondering several things, such as the UMPC form factor, ink blogging, and the price of devices in the marketplace. Hmmm...

The first thing to say is there are some fantastic ink blogs out there, from the likes of Sumocat and various others - but while i'd like to give it a go it does present various problems:

• Without a decent UI (Such as the windows live ink interface) for blogger.com (Or your blog weapon of choice) inkblogging is really really painful. If i'm on my UMPC then i'd have to write the blog in OneNote or Journal and then do either a printscreen or some kind of export - and then upload it as a JPEG to the blog site. I wrote two inkblogs last night and just couldn't be bothered to follow it through. Kudos to the other bloggers out there that do all their work in ink.
• If it's all in ink, how do Search engines spider the pages??
• Certain blogs out there that use Ink just don't display things correctly.
• I like URL's in my text, but I would guess doing this in ink would prove to be difficult.

...which is a real shame!

One other trouble with what I attempted to do last night was the whole concept of printscreening on the UMPC, and further more, using the UMPC for various things that I know will be a chore.

Printscreening my InkBlog just proved to be impossible on the UMPC because the screen is too claustrophobic, and i'm finding this for quite a few things lately - even OneNote could do with the extra screen real-estate.

So is moving to the Asus R50A a good idea? I don't think so! Judging by what i've seen, even the OQO2 sized devices that everyone seems to love aren't going to cut the mustard. The only device that really fits the bill, is the new Fujitsu (P1620) unit or maybe even the older P1610.



I guess i'm still dreaming of the ultimate UMPC:

The Amtek u560

Mmmm !

A nice alternative to the Asus on my shopping list would be this little baby. I think judging by forum posts I've seen that this device has come under flak for it's specs but most people don't realise that the CPU in this platform is pretty impressive, as is the battery life. There's also been criticism for the device being a shameless rip off of the Sony device. But hopefully if the price is right then things can really start to get interesting in UMPC land. There is a hands on video of this device on the net somewhere but I cant find it!

Another wow post!

I love news like this. Hopefully this story has a fairytale ending - because then there would be no reason to put a ULV CPU in a UMPC...

Linky.

CES Highlight - The Asus R50A

The Asus R50A sure is a pretty little beast and was by far the most interesting device to crop up from CES this year. There were alot of MID devices to be shown off but i'm not convinced that an MID device is going to be a big hit with consumers - I don't think they're useful enough to warrant their cost. I know that personally, a "lifestyle" device means I need to do more than just play music and browse the Internet!

But anyway, Gottabemobile's Asus R50A video drew a crowd round my PC when I played it at work! It has the potential to get me to sell off my R2H as long as the price is right. The screen size will be a bit smaller but i'm hoping that better battery life and lower weight will be a big bonus.

Big problem though - it doesn't have a stand! And they only cost pence to make!

Click To Play

HD-DVD on it's way out?

Let's face it, it wasn't too long before we saw something like this link on the inquirer.net show up. But what should we make of it?

I personally don't think that the war is over yet! Being a Briton all I see is adverts on TV for Blue Ray (Maybe I have seen a HD-DVD advert? But obviously it didn't make that much of an impression on me!).

There are still alot of deals out there on HD-DVD products and I think there's alot to be said about cheaper products and HD-DVD could still be the market's choice...

I just wouldn't go out and buy that HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360 in a hurry!

HTC Phone models

Has anyone else noticed HTC have gone a bit quiet when it comes to releasing new model specifications? I'm not sure whether it's the season, or for any other reason, but I was used to reading on CoolSmartPhone or MoDaCo about the new phone models to be released.

But there aren't any?

The last I remember reading about was the HTC Polaris and the HTC Shift - and now all seems to be silent!

Not that that's a problem - the HTC Touch is the best phone i've had in years!

An update to previous post

This link is perfect! JKK is a God, and has managed to get the Eee PC a Touch Screen! I think the only problem is the lack of Tablet PC XP Software for handwriting, and a Swivel screen. But at least it's a start!

2008 - the end of the UMPC?

Well it's certainly what Warner Crocker over at GottabeMobile has predicted, and it's an interesting prediction that I thought was worth touching upon.

Nicely enough GottabeMobile put up this link regarding their prediction on the rise of the UMPC in 2008 though they refer only to the Asus Eee PC as the basis of their predictions.

For me, there have always been attractive bits of equipment on the market that satisfy mobility requirements. For instance a few years ago (around 2004) I owned a Dell X1 laptop, and it was awesome. It had a 12.1" widescreen TFT screen, 4 hour battery life, 1.1GHz ULV Centrino CPU and 1GB RAM/60GB HD. Ok I got a bit lucky on this one as I bought it new from the Dell online warehouse for £660. This was 4 years ago!

Move forward to the present, and I paid £575 for a 2nd hand UMPC that has a 900MHz Celeron, 512mb RAM/60GB Hard Drive and a battery that lasts 3 hours if i'm lucky. So aside from a Touch-screen and GPS, i've lost power and performance - I really miss that X1 you know!

So what has defined the (Origami project specifically) UMPC? I'll divide this into subsections:

Market: While the UMPC had a difficult birth due to market confusion (and I suspect it still does judging by sales) the UMPC is a very flash note taking device, capable of showing a few films and brilliant for browsing in front of the telly. The reason why i'd miss the device so much by far is the form factor. While the Asus R2H could do with losing some weight I just love the one handed freedom, or the Sega GameGear double handed control for reading PDF's. I love the stand, the "grab and go" functionality and obviously the ability to use your finger to do stuff is just ace. I think the problem is that the market doesn't think the touch screen niche is worth the extra cash because the majority of people can't think of a reason to use it. That reason is OneNote 2007...

Handwriting/Inking: From the Origami project perspective this is the big point. Once you ink you just don't go back! Though how important inking is to you will have a big impact on what you buy. If you don't ink often, buy an Eee PC.

Price/Technology: As I talked about above with the Dell X1, the price and technology of UMPC's is a disaster. I just don't understand how I could buy a laptop 4 years ago that's more powerful and had better battery life (and was almost as light as the UMPC) for around the same price as a UMPC nowadays. Price will be the death of Origami.

So is the Eee PC a UMPC? It's a cheap, note-taking device that's capable of (probably) watching a film and is light enough to sit in front of the telly and browse. Sound familiar? The only real difference is about £400 and the ability to ink. I don't think that 2008 will be the death of the UMPC, but I think now that the Eee PC has broken the ice with it's price point, i'd love to see touch technology end up on an Eee PC-like device for £350-£400 ish. Fingers crossed that the form factor doesn't disappear!

Over 1000 visits!

It may be small dice to most, but I hit the 1000 views mark - woohoo! Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year to all.