This past month I've been working on a Joomla 1.0 component that does something I've yet been unable to find anywhere else (hence the reason I wrote such a program myself) - it's something akin to an online time clock and billing system. I've named it Trio Billing.

What does it do? At first it seems like many other support ticket or project management systems. I should know, I've spent a considerable amount of time over the past few years trying to find one that will do what Trio Billing now does. But there's one thing all other ticket systems lacked, be they open source or several hundred dollars to purchase - they didn't have a timer! Seriously! Oh sure, you could keep track of your time yourself and they might include a place for you to make a note of how long the task took you. But seriously, for those of us that charge for our time, we need precision! I wanted a time clock that manages those details for me!

I found in my searching Task Hopper for Joomla 1.0. It seemed pretty great, and its only downfall was that it had several bugs and was no longer supported or maintained by its writers. It also lacked a billing system. After several years of using this program, limping as it were through invoicing and bug problems, I finally decided to fix those bugs and add to Task Hopper. The result is Trio Billing. Wish I'd written the program years ago! What a great time saver!

So, if you're looking for a time card system where you or employees can "punch in, punch out" and then bill for the time spent, this might be the perfect thing for you too. I use it to manage my clients and their projects, and when they have a support issue both they or I can add a ticket, and Trio Billing manages the time and cost to the client.

You can learn more at my professional website Trio GrOTO (which was recently relaunched with a new look!).

My son's kindergarten class created a book called "How to Cook a Turkey". Each student filled out a page that outlines their idea of how you cook a turkey. Here are a few of the good ones:

"I will shoot him in the woods. He will weight 2 pounds. I will cook him at 1 degree for 1 minute. I will stick a toothpick in the oven and if it is red it's ready and it is black it's too hot. If it's plain it's too cold. I will eat the meat in the tummy. It will taste just like meat."

"I will buy it at the grocery store. He will weigh 100 pounds and cost 6 dollars. I will put the oven at 100 degrees and cook him for 98 minutes. I will eat the whole thing!"

"I will shoot my turkey and he will weigh 2,000 pounds. I will bake him at 1,000 degrees for 20 minutes. I will know when he's done when the timer beeps. I will eat the leg and it will taste like a burnt turkey!"

and my son's page:

"I will buy my turkey at Walmart. I think he will weigh 15 pounds and cost 60 dollars. I will cook him for 10 minutes at 88 degrees. I will look at the timer to see when he's done. I will eat his legs and they will taste like meat!"

Those of you with a less than stellar sense of humor can skip to the bottom...

The Project Valour-IT Fundraiser has experienced a thermometer'napping!
(~Done)

*Late at night, as the few members of the Coast Guard team sat in shock watching their donation thermometer barely move while the Army and Navy sailed by, they hatched an ingenius plan...

Typing wildy on their computers, cutting letters from magazines, and hijacking the other teams' fundraiser gauges (while on a strict diet of Hot Pockets and Diet Coke)... they planned their overthrow and coup! No longer will the world be able to ignore their valient efforts,
heroic actions on behalf of the country, and formidable mass of bloggers (ok, well we give on that last one).

With plan in motion and nothing left to do but hit the big red button, they counted down under their breath: three... two... one... *

And here we are! With our LIST OF DEMANDS:

1. Publicly admit the Coast Guard team is a formidable competitor (trackback to this post for proof)
2. Watch The Guardian (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406816/)
3. Have 4 new donations to your team today (use links below), and encourage donations to the Coast Guard team for the rest of the day today.

When our demands have been met (as monitored by the Soldiers' Angels website team), your team's thermometer will be released.

Never underestimate the Coast Guard team! We may only have 3 members (so far...and what's up with that?!), but we can dominate! Want to be on the cool kids' team? Join the Coast Guard team today (we'll even accept team transfers - this IS a coup)! Want to help the Coast Guard team win this competition? Donate today on behalf of our team.

BOTTOM:

DONATE TO THE ARMY TEAM

DONATE TO THE NAVY TEAM

DONATE TO AIR FORCE TEAM

DONATE TO MARINE TEAM

Find it here: http://www.dbs.kneedeepinthehooah.com/clickme/november-14-2008/

(Even though they're on the Army team, kudos to them for the original funny)

The annual Project Valour-IT fundraiser started again this year on Veterans Day. It will continue throughout the next 2 weeks until Thanksgiving. In the past, I always joined the Marines Team, (well, lead the team - same thing) because they were the underdogs. Last year however, we almost won! In fact, for a short period of time we were in first place - the first time ever to be in first place (if even for only a day).

This year, for the first time, there are 5 teams instead of 4. The US Coast Guard is the newest team, and as the newest underdog I've switched loyalties to help the Coast Guard team ("help" being used loosely). And, other than the team leader, CG Blog, I'm the ONLY member! The Coast Guard team is also last place in donations, with only $225. You can view all team standings on the fundraiser page here:
http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=fundraiser

So...I'm putting out an alert! We need bloggers willing to join the newest Valour-IT fundraising team - the US Coast Guard! You can join the team here. It's quick and painless to join, and all you need to do as the newest teammate is blog about the fundraiser. Encourage your readers to visit the fundraising page and learn more about this wonderful program Project Valour-IT!

And, of course, you can add a donation button to your blog's post or sidebar to make it easy for readers to donate to the team you are supporting. I love a challenge, and it sure would be nice to recover from last place and give the other 4 teams a run for their money!

JOIN THE COAST GUARD TEAM!

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you would have $49.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you would have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you would have $0.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you would have received a $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg. A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon! Makes you proud to be an American!

Beautiful dark themed template with richly colored text, links and icon styling makes this Joomla! 1.5 Admin template a treat to use. Easy on the eyes, users may find this template lessens the eye strain in comparison to more traditional white or lightly colored templates.

Unlike many dark themed templates, Dark Trio is far from drab or dreary! It's also the only darkly styled Joomla 1.5 backend/admin template available!

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Kids can be more clever and funny than we sometimes give them credit for. My son Thomas is a great example of occasional pure genius in practical jokes.

I often work sitting on the floor of our living room, with laptop in hand. When I take a break, I leave the laptop (and work stuff) on the floor. Despite having 5 kids in the house, including one 2 year old, the laptop has suffered no injury. However, I do use a wireless mouse and sometimes my 2 year old will steal it.

The last time she did this, I asked Thomas to go find my mouse for me. He found it, but instead of returning it to me he went to my husband's desk. My hubby has the same mouse as I do. Thomas grabbed my hubby's mouse and then brought it to me saying he'd found mine.

After he left the room I sat down to work and the mouse was doing all sorts of crazy things! I thought it was broken. As I'm trying to use it I'm saying outloud to myself "What's wrong with this darn mouse!?....What the heck? I didn't click that!...". And as I'm saying this, Thomas comes slowly up the stairs into view holding my real mouse in his hand as he clicks things and moves it over his palm, trying hard not to burst into laughter.

Twas pretty clever and very funny!

ViviaBnne turned 2 today! WOW! Time sure does fly. Unfortunately, our son Timmy was sick and had tospend today (and tonight) in the hospital. Timmy adores Vivi - and vice versa- so we didn't do a party for her today. Timmy would have been sad to miss it. so we will have her party later.Anyways, I'm still at the hospital, trying out my new cell phone to write this post! Yay! It's been years since I've had a cell phone. They sure have improved! And hurray for unlimited plans! Wish they'd have had them years ago.

But did you really miss anything? That seems to be the question this year. This year's motto could have been "Deja Vu". Or "Been there, done that, already have the t-shirt". Perhaps this year's theme came across as 'unless you mix this with something people are already planning to attend, no one will show up'. I have to say, that mixing the Milblog Conference with the BlogWorld Expo was a mistake. For many reasons.

But aside from the BlogWorld Expo, how worthwhile an experience was this year's Milblog Conference? As usual, it's always great to have the reunion with fellow bloggers and friends. But what was to be gained from the panels and issues discussed in each? I can't say the panels or panelists were necessarily lacking, but some new blood in the mix would have been nice. But worst of all, was having sponsors of the conference step in during a particular panel and use up 20 minutes on non-blogging, self promotioning issues. These speeches would have been better given before or after any panel, but taking up almost half the time of a panel that is supposed to be addressing blogging related issues? Tacky, to say the least.

I do think that minimal effort was placed in planning and organizing this conference. Several other blogging groups had conferences over the weekend, and their footprints were clearly left in the expo. I do not think this was the case with the Milblog Conference. It seemed almost the hope for this conference was that the steam of past years would push the conference this year. It did not. If it were a movie, I'd give it 1.5 stars. And I wouldn't see it in the theater. Probably wouldn't buy the video. Maybe watch it if it made it to a public tv Saturday night flick.

I still think that milblogs are relevant today. I still think the yearly conference could be something great, an awesome meeting of the minds. But perhaps to do that the milbloggers need to step up and work together to do something great. We do it all the time with our blogs. Let's not stop there!

We have a chance each year to make an impact for good, bring a voice to our military, and influence opinion. I'd be happy to place my name at the top of the list of those willing to put some effort and donate some time into making this conference just that. How about you?