Decision Trees

A decision tree, for lack of a better explanation, is a way to make decisions on complex issues, based on simple, often 'yes or no', questions. Each decision or answer is considered along with it's possible consequences and a thorough analysis is made regarding the original question. It's a technique often used in business analysis. However, when your trees become a forest and you feel like you're in the middle, maybe it's time to step back a bit. Get out of the forest, and look at the thing as a whole.

That's kind of what I'm trying to do with my other site, Maxwell's Alley. I have a large swath of ideas on what I'd like to do with it, but between work, home, and my 'relax' time, I just don't have the resources to put into it at the moment. I've made very little headway on the latest version of the site. I'm Considering taking it back to a regular blog, for the time being. I may put something up there today, if I can get a few spare development minutes at work. We'll see. I think for the moment, I'm going to go back to basics. I'm going to comment out all the PHP stuff, and just work with the plain jane HTML/CSS combination I had before. It won't be all that full featured, but it will work, and it will be something. I'll still post here, on occasion, as I come up with something appropriately techie, or foodie.

Speaking of which, I'm in the process of setting up an Active Directory Domain Trust using an IPSec VPN tunnel over a NAT firewall. From what I've read so far, this should be fun. Lots of fun. (Can you hear the sarcasm from there?) Microsoft has sworn up and down that NAT firewalls pretty much screw Domain trusts big time, and this case has been no exception. We're hoping that the VPN tunnel will allow a little more stability in here, without the big breaks in security that opening up the firewall tends to cause. (Not that we have a security problem here, but it's best to stop problems before they start, don't you agree?)

Also, I've tried a dual monitor config for the last couple of days, just to see if it was useful for me or not. Verdict: it isn't. I kept a few static windows open on it, but it really wasn't any functionally different than having the windows minimized. If I did a lot of copying or cut and paste type work, or if I was doing design work where I needed to look at split pages or something like that, I could see myself using it. But for mostly admin / code development, it really didn't do much for me. It was an interesting experiment into the dual monitor config, though, and I wonder if I may use it a bit when I get my new video card. I've been knocked out of games more than once by receiving an instant message or two. Of course, that's never been a real problem, since I have some mad NeverwinterNights skillz... (Insert sound of inflated ego here.)

On to business.