Austin's School Flashcards

Here is a quick post with some links to help some of Austin's (my 3rd Grader) classmates get access to the flashcards that I create for him.

Apple portable device - iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad - This is the ideal method, because you will get access to some multimedia flashcards if I get ambitious and create them :) I use a program called Mental Case on my Mac, and with that I can export the "Study Archive", so that you can easily import it. For directions on this method click here *Note you can also use the method below with an iOS App that allows presentation of the information in additional formats such as matching etc.

Austin received a Kindle Fire for Christmas (which he really likes), so in addition to providing the Flashcards on his iPod which is really easy (with the Application I use) I also need to provide them on his Kindle. I use a site called Flashcard Exchange to provide the medium, and an Application from GABYSOFT to download and present the flashcards. They have apps for Apple, Nook, Android, and Amazon devices, so these should work for most people. Click here to read my instructions on how to download the flashcards I have created using these applications.

If you don't have any devices whatsoever, then feel free to view the flashcards themselves on the Web via Flashcard Exchange here. You should be able to bookmark this location for future flashcards as I get them created.

Extension Mobility Login/Logout

Here is some information about what I did for Extension Mobility during an upgrade from 4.x to 7.x, and then a Python script I used for maintenance afterwards. I don't have a CUCM cluster to validate this all on, but this should get you started :)

As part of the upgrade it was indicated that the users should be logged out of EM before the upgrade, and then logged back in after the upgrade. I think I did a report from CUCM that included the logged in user's name, and MAC Address of the phone. I then used Excel and Notepad++ to manipulate the file until I had a file with the following format that I could run as a shell script:

#!/bin/sh

curl -v "http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEPDDDDCCCCAAAA&doLogout=true"
sleep .5
curl -v "http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEPBBBBCCCCDDDD&doLogout=true"
sleep .5

I then ran that as a shell script to logout the phones, and piped the results into a text file. It was a few years ago, so what I did from here looks a little sketchy, but it looks like I for some reason had run the logout script against all phones (maybe I couldn't get a report in 4.x that included logged in user) and then I worked through the output results to get the phones that had actually been logged into, and determined who's they were based on their description.

Here is the script I used to log them in to the phones in version 7.x - I made sure to set all the PINs to the same value.

#!/bin/sh

curl -v "http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEPDDDDCCCCAAAA&userid=jdoe&seq=12345"
sleep 5
curl -v "http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEPBBBBCCCCDDDD&userid=jsmith&seq=12345"
sleep 5

I then ran that shell script, and piped the results into an output file for review... Let me know if you have any problems, because I did this several years ago, and like I said I couldn't test it against a CUCM.

After the upgrade I knew there were times that I would need to swap a user's phone, and being able to log them out, and log them in without interaction was going to be useful, so I created these two Python scripts... You will need to modify the IP Address, and the PIN (set to 12345 in the example). Again, I pulled these out of my Dropbox and wrote them at my previous employer, so couldn't test them. BTW - I believe these were setup for Python version 2, but I will try to validate that...

emlogout.py

#! /usr/bin/env python
import urllib2

mac_addr = raw_input("Enter the Mac Address of the Phone: ")
print "You entered: ", mac_addr

emlogout_url = 'http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEP' + mac_addr + '&doLogout=true'

print emlogout_url

urllib2.urlopen(emlogout_url)

emlogin.py

#! /usr/bin/env python
import urllib2

mac_addr = raw_input("Enter the Mac Address of the Phone: ")
print "You entered: ", mac_addr
username = raw_input("Enter the User Name in all lowercase: ")
print "You entered: ", username

emlogin_url = 'http://CUCM/emapp/EMAppServlet?device=SEP' + mac_addr + '&userid=' + username + '&seq=12345'

print emlogin_url

urllib2.urlopen(emlogin_url)

Again, let me know if you have any problems, and I will do what I can to help :)

Cisco Live 2011 Schedule

I haven't been to Cisco Live in a few years, but I am excited to be going again! Here is my current schedule...

Saturday - Fly to Vegas, Arrive around 7:30 PM

Sunday
1:00-5:00    LTRUCC-2150    Cisco Unified Communications SIP Trunking, Session Management, and Service Advertisement Framework
6:30-8:30    GENCOL-1002    Collaboration Welcome Reception

Monday
8:00-9:30    CUG-4663    IP Communications Product Direction
10:00-11:30    CUG-4665    Unified Communications and Messaging Product Direction
12:00-1:30    CUG-4662    Customer Contact Product Direction
1:45-3:45    Cisco Certification Test
4:00-5:00    CUG-4667    Cisco Collaboration User Group Open Forum

Tuesday
7:00-8:00    CUG-4720    Cisco Collaboration User Group Business Meeting
8:00-9:30    BRKUCC-2542    New Product update for Unified Communication - Commercial Segment
10:00-11:00    GENKEY-4700    Keynote and Welcome Address
11:00-12:30    TT-8035    Table Topics: Tuesday
12:30-2:30    BRKCCT-2012    Cisco Unified Contact Center Express: Advanced Reporting and Scripting
2:45-3:45    GENSSN-1005    Innovation and Accelerating Change: 10 in 10
4:00-6:00    BRKUCC-2301    Cisco Unified Communications at Branch Offices: Deployment Scenarios, Managem...

Wednesday
8:00-10:00    BRKUCC-3000    Advanced Dial Plan Design for Unified Communications Networks
10:30-11:30    GENKEY-4701    Cisco Technology Keynote
12:30-2:30    BRKUCC-1903    Migration and Co-Existence Strategy for Unified Communications (UC) or Collab...
2:45-3:45    GENSSN-1006    Cloud Computing and Virtualization: Getting Ahead of the Curve
4:00-6:00    BRKUCC-2501    Cisco UC Manager Security

Thursday
8:00-10:00    BRKUCC-2062    Enabling Mobile Workers with BlackBerry Mobile Voice System Integration to Ci...
10:30-11:30    GENCOL-4641    Town Hall: Collaboration
12:00-2:00    BRKCCT-2015    Troubleshooting Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
2:30-3:30    GENKEY-4702    Closing Keynote: William Shatner
4:00-5:30    BRKARC-2091    Branch and Head-end of Tomorrow: Deploying Cisco ISR G2 and ASR 1000 in the E...

Late at Night - Fly Home

iPhone or iPod Touch App List

I don't want to go a whole year without writing a post, so here is a list of Apps that I recommend to anyone sporting a new iPhone, or iPod Touch (some are more specific to the iPhone) in 2010 :) I look forward to hearing your comments of Apps I missed... I am including them as iTunes Links to make it easier...

Business/Productivity
Evernote - A great note-taking app that allows you to sync between PC, Mac, and iPhone
WebEx - If you work in a place that uses WebEx this is a great app for joining a meeting via 3G or WiFi
Remember the Milk - This does require a $25 purchase at their site to go pro, but if you are looking for a great task manager that works well on the web, and on your iPhone/iPod Touch then I recommend this one.
Keynote Remote - If you have a Mac, and you have Keynote this is a great way to give a presentation. The iPhone connects via WiFi to the Mac, and creates a great presentation tool.
My Check Please! - If you need to calculate a tip, or split a bill with other people at a restaurant.
myWireless - Manage your ATT Account if you have an iPhone (or ATT Wireless Account).
Dropbox - My favorite place to store documents, and have them sync across my Work PC, Mac at Home, and now my iPhone. If you don't have an account, and need one, please click here to sign-up.
scanR Card - I like this app for taking a photo of a business card, and having it email me the contact information (always proofread it when adding the contact). BTW - the industry should standardize the type, and layout of the right-hand side of business cards.
Mark the Spot - ATT's newer App for reporting bad coverage areas. Let's hope they listen, because I mark my house very often.
Dictionary.com - I really only use this when defending a word that I created when playing Words With Friends :)
Dragon Dictation - I haven't used this a ton yet, but based on who created it I expect that it will be a fairly functional App for dictating notes.

Social Media
TweetDeck - The Twitter client that I use, because it will sync my "lists" between Computer and iPhone
Facebook - I think there are like 350 Million people on Facebook, so if you are then you should probably have the App.
Bump - The modern day way to "beam" your contact information to another user.
Mover - The App I use to share a photo with @xyzdawnmp when I get a good shot with my iPhone that she wants a copy of.
Over Here - We dropped @xyzdawnmp off at a store one day, and didn't have an easy way to tell her where we parked. After that I went out and got this little app that is easy to use when needing to convey your location.

Navigation-ish
Google Earth - A cool app for "flying around" virtually, and looking at satellite images
AccuWeather - I downloaded this when we were at Walt Disney World, and it saved us from getting stranded in a horrible storm several times.
Urbanspoon - For when you need a place to eat. I haven't done this App justice, but the few times I have used it were valuable.

Fun Stuff
CoinToss - I live in a "cash-less" world, so how else am I going to flip a coin :)
Postman - Probably better if you have an iPhone, because it allows you to make "postcards" of your photos, and input messages etc, and then email them off.
Tic Tac Toe Free - A great way to entertain the kids with a quick game of Tic Tac Toe.
Days Until - You have to know how long until that next exciting event (aka Disney World Vacation), and it even lets you associate a picture.
Shazam - A great App that will listen to a song playing on the radio, and give you the name & artist. It does require a microphone for the iPod Touch.
PI83 - I grew up when TI Calculators were just getting introduced into the mainstream, so being a geek I had to have a graphing calculator on my iPhone. I know everyone had the quadratic formula programmed in (until they just started including it).
Remote - Plug your computer into your stereo and use this App to control iTunes, so you can jam while cooking dinner, and control your playlist remotely.
Geocaching - The best way to Geocache if you are in to that at all :)
ESPN ScoreCenter - The App I use for keeping up on all my favorite teams.
Showtimes - How else will you know when the movie you want to see is playing at the closest movie theater.
Lightsaber - A Jedi always carries his weapon close.
Zippo - Conversation piece unless you are at a concert.
Words With Friends Free - A great game for playing "Scrabble" with friends who have an iPhone or iPod Touch.
R-U-Buzzed? BAC Calc - A quick way to make a better judgement as to whether or not you should be driving home or not after a few drinks.

BTW - This post was inspired by @jasmas who recently ordered an iPhone...

A Quick Post - Twitter

I know you are all sick of me talking about Twitter, but I really do think it is awesome :) A few thoughts/examples on why I think it is cool...

- Kids Hockey Team - Some parents can't make it all the time to the games, so a nice parent (like me) tweets the goals, and then gives a score update after each period. The parents and grandparents that are at work or at home are able to keep up on how the games are going.

- Ashley's Birth - Many people were on the edge of their seats waiting for updates on the birth of our lovely daughter Ashley Marie, so I used Twitter to announce her birth to the world real-time. She was born at 8:22 AM, and I tweeted about 3 minutes later that it was a girl... I was able to continue with updates, and my followers were able to see pictures as soon as they were posted etc...

It is just a great way to share information in real-time, and people can "opt-in" to whether they care about what you have to share...

Ashley Marie

Ashley Marie was born at 8:22 AM and weighed in at 8lbs 4.5ozs, and was 19.5 inches long... Everybody is doing great, and here are some pictures to get started :)

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes...

Santa's List

So, I thought I would check on the boys to see if there were on the Naughty or Nice List this year... It looks like both the boys made the nice list at this point...

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/41850-jpapesh/

http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/41845-jpapesh/

--Joe