Gmail and Shaw email over POP

This post is mostly about how Gmail seems to know how to set up POP access to my shaw.ca email account better than I do. Not that it is really news to anyone.

You see, I decided to try using Gmail as my central email storage. My ISP is Shaw, so I have a shaw.ca email account. When I started the process of configuring Gmail for POP access, it asked me for the Shaw's POP3 server name - and pre-populated it with 'pop.shaw.ca'. Now, I have had my Shaw email address for some time, and have set up numerous desktop email clients to retrieve my email over that time - and I was pretty sure that the Shaw POP server name was 'shawmail' (or the appropriate FQDN name as described on Shaw's online help). So, I replaced the pre-populated value with the shawmail value. Well, when I finished the configuration, Gmail wasn't able to access my Shaw email account (something about a connection timeout). A quick Google search and I found out that I was not alone. Looking through the Google search results, the consensus seemed to be that Shaw does not allow external access to their POP servers. I was sure that someone must have found a work-around, so I spent the better part of an hour following the numerous search results, without any real solution (other than forwarding your Shaw email to your Gmail account). Then, just as I was about to give up, I came across this handy Shaw support page - lo and behold! Shaw does support external POP access using the server name 'pop.shaw.ca'. If only I had trusted Gmail at the beginning and not changed the POP server name, I could have saved myself some grief...Hopefully, this post saves someone else from a similar fate.

Note to Game Developers: Gamers are Competitive

The title of this post may be a little harsh, but it was the first thing that came to my mind when I read this forum post from a game developer. I do understand that the author is looking at the issue of Xbox Live achievements in more of a  philosophical light. But I don't think that the situation is as deep as he makes it out to be. Achievements are so popular with gamers not because of what they add or take away from the game play experience itself - but simply because they provide some more tangible way to compare your skillz with other gamers.

via Joystiq

www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts

Inside joke for fans of "The Office" - In the words of Ryan the Temp:

"Even for the Internet ... it's pretty shocking"

Blame Facebook

It's a lame excuse really, but I have been spending a ridiculous amount of time on Facebook lately - so I have been really struggling to find time to post stuff to this blog. I don't really have anything new to say about Facebook that hasn't been said by others who are much more articulate that me. Suffice to say that I have been having lots of fun connecting with friends that I haven't been in touch with for a number of years. Now that the initial rush of excitement is over I am hoping that I will have more time to write here.

Caffeine and Espresso

After looking at this chart, I guess that my extra "energy" after a grande mocha from Starbucks is probably more from the sugar than the caffeine!

BTW - I never realized that such a simple question could have so many answers.

"The Office" Extras - For Americans Only?

I am a big fan of the US version of the TV show "The Office". (disclaimer: I never watched the original UK version - I believe it when people tell me it is great. I have no opinion on which version is "better" - I just watch the US version.). So I was quite excited to hear that NBC was posting "Producer's Cuts" versions of some of the episodes, which included a bunch of content that simply didn't make it into the original broadcast episode for whatever reason. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed to see the following message when I actually went to view the video on NBC's "The Office" website:

Apparently, the video is only available to US residents and NBC uses your IP address or something to guess where you are accessing the site from. Now I am sure that there are plenty of reasons why NBC believes that restricting access is necessary - but this kind of thing just drives me crazy and flies in the face of Net Neutrality. So, I can watch the show on broadcast TV, but some extra content is unavailable just because of where I happen to live?! The sad part of the story is that this kind of approach doesn't even work - there are plenty of alternative means to find the content online.

More Winter Weather

Honestly - this isn't a weather blog - but with all of the "significant" weather that we have been having around the Greater Vancouver area this winter, I can't help but take some quick snapshots. I found this small plant looking rather cold just outside our front door.

(Did you notice how I conveniently didn't mention the fact that I haven't posted anything to the blog in over a month! There are a dozen excuses, so I will save some space and just move along)