Before anyone at Microsoft pulls my card, Windows Easy Transfer does work well in very specific circumstances. But usually when a user gets to a point where formatting the hard drive and starting over seems like a good idea, while at the same time migrating (notice I didn’t use the word upgrading) to the latest version of Windows, the user profile has some issues that make migration tools a less than optimal solution. If you plan on staying with the same version of Windows those tools won’t work and the built in solutions may not account for all of your data if you’ve gone outside of the Documents folder to store data.

In my case, I wanted to migrate from a multi-boot configuration that includes Windows XP and Windows Vista to a multi-boot configuration that includes Windows 7 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. My primary operating system has been Vista, and contrary to popular media coverage it has operated as flawlessly as any operating system can be expected to. The reason my Vista installation is banged up in this case is the primary reason that any version of Windows becomes a less-than-satisfying experience – users making bad decisions that compound previous bad decisions.

The original factory installation of Vista was great. But when I needed to utilize Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to work on my Windows Server 2008 certification, I found out that my version of Vista (Home Premium) was not compatible. Oddly it was compatible with XP Professional. So I repartitioned the hard drive and installed XP Pro to dual boot with Vista. Happiness abounded until some freelance photography generated massive amounts of high resolution photos that filled up the Vista partition. So to make a bad decision worse, I changed the location of the Pictures folder and made a mistake that caused Windows Explorer to dump all of the files and folders into the root of one of the partitioned drives. While still functional, the experience was becoming less than optimal. With data scattered in places that user migration tools wouldn’t be aware of, backing up my data by hand for later transfer to the new operating system is my safest and easiest bet.

Most users don’t make the kind of bad decisions I made, they make the bad decisions I avoid at all costs. Never install a toolbar in Internet Explorer (or FireFox, but I discourage using FireFox at all – a topic for another time). They typically try to do things that Internet Explorer already does, or that some other piece of installed software does, causing excessive numbers of applications to be running in the background wasting resources. Many are malevolent, reporting your activities to an unknown third party or throwing pop-up messages at the user that cause additional malware to be downloaded and installed. I have yet to find a compelling reason to install a toolbar.

Most users don’t read pop-up messages due to Vista message fatigue (I’ll concede that this is a nuisance of Vista), being in a rush to do something (particularly common when surfing the Internet or installing a new application), or a lack of understanding about why the message is there in the first place. Not reading and not comprehending leads to bad decision making. This behavior leads to adware and malware installations and damaged software or operating system installations. Remember, the bad guys know this and leverage it by crafting pop-ups that look very similar to legitimate pop-up messages. Read it, and if you don’t understand it, Google it before you click anything! If the pop-up prevents you from opening another browser to look up its message, then it is most likely bad for you and will cause tears before bed time. Close Internet Explorer, by force if you have to, without clicking on the pop-up message buttons or even the little red ‘X’ which is a common vector that the bad guys use.

Other common user errors involve storing data in non-standard locations that migration tools won’t find and altering Windows settings that are not fully understood. Whatever the cause, Windows installations don’t get buggy or slow due to age (or hard drive fragmentation – seriously, defragging the hard drive is so 20th century). It is invariably due to user activity or error.

Once we realize that Windows is hosed and a new fresh installation is needed (or desired), it’s time to start planning.

I’m actually excited to finish out the Systems Architecture class because the final chapters cover the last thirteen years of my working life. Ninety percent of this is knowledge that I have in my blood at this point. The rest is stuff that I had a high level understanding of, but now have learned greater details. The end result is, I feel very good about this class.

Intro to Telecommunications is an odd, sometimes high level, sometimes low level, parallel to my Systems Architecture class. This makes studying for this class easy and difficult at the same time. At this point, with no assignments due, it has been put on the back burner while I finish out Systems and my other classes. Overall though, I expect to be able to do well – writing a paper and taking the final are all I need to do.

Communications is looking good with the group project faring better than any other group project I’ve dealt with through online classes. After I polish our final paper and submit it tomorrow, all I’ll have is the final. I’ll study for it and take it Wednesday or Thursday – I should do okay.

And then there’s US History, arguably my favorite subject this semester. Before taking the final I have to write a 7-10 page paper on a site visit to a historical place that coincides with the period of history we are covering, from colonization to Lincoln’s assassination. The trip I’d planned was to visit Ford’s Theater because of the connection to my family’s history, but it got postponed weekend after weekend due to rain, or the expectation of rain, making this potentially fun family adventure into a daddy-daughter adventure. Fun for sure, but difficult to take notes, I’m expecting. I’ll work something out – voice memos, Dragon Dictate (an app I have, but have never used…), or good old fashioned pen and Moleskine notebook (also an app I have, but don’t use…)

It should all be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks – at which point, I’ll have more time for posting! Yeah, right.

Today my favorite iPhone App is the Guitar Pro app. This is the coolest app I have found for guitar so far, as it allows you to download the entire score for a song and learn it instrument, by instrument. The app stores all of your scores and sorts them by artist, alphabetically or favorites that you select. Although playback sounds like its coming from an 8-bit sound card, the ability to break tracks down and learn them – as well as play along – makes this really nice. The only limitations are your ability to find the songs you want to play. Although I found some great songs I’ve wanted to learn, there’s a lot that I couldn’t find – but I do have obscure tastes. Regardless, this is a fantastic app for picking up new songs.

Most people immediately jump to the conclusion that galactosemia is equivalent to lactose intolerance, but it isn’t. Lactose is a disaccharide, meaning it is a molecule composed of two sugars – glucose and galactose. Our digestive system breaks the sugar apart and uses the glucose for energy. The galactose is converted into glucose using a series of enzymes that our bodies produce. Galactosemics produce little or none of a key enzyme called GALT. When missing, the breakdown of the galactose sugar halts at a point where it has become GAL-1P, or galactose-1-phosphate. A buildup of GAL-1P to toxic levels can cause a number of different vital organs to fail and if untreated at birth can have a mortality rate as high as 75%. The folks over at the University of Utah put together an excellent primer on galactosemia and genetics.

There are, apparently, other pathways by which our bodies can process small amounts of galactose, but they are not yet fully understood. The best way to be safe as a galactosemic is to maintain a strict diet that avoids milk and milk byproducts.

Milk, cheese, ice cream, and the like are all easy to identify. But the list goes on – milk derivatives like casein and whey must also be avoided along with even less obvious things like hydrolyzed protein, lactostearin, and beans. Beans!

Being the family cook and primary grocery shopper, I have dedicated myself to feeding my family well – with meals that are tasty and safe for everyone to eat. We’ve largely eliminated milk from our meals, although we do keep some around for the occasional guilty pleasure, but for the most part everything I make is safe for galactosemics.

I will be posting my recipe successes here and discuss substitutions and product reviews on foods that are safe for galactosemics. I’ll also be posting links to resources for galactosemics and sharing what I’ve created as well. I hope that the information I provide will be helpful to other parents of galactosemic children as well as galactosemics themselves.

As a result of this shotgun launch, there are probably several things that may be broken on the site. I’m sorry! I’ll be getting to those things soon too. Be patient, and please come back soon.