I’ve been working long days on the book. In some respects, it is going quite well as I discover there is more and more I can say about various features. I hope the book is full of good, practical suggestions and information as well as some observations and insights.

On the other hand, there is always more to say than time to say it. I got derailed most of a day by an update to the beta. UNM Continuing Education has been providing me with those updates — thanks, Tim! But, whatever time a normal installation should take is magnified by my need to examine it very closely for changes and then to go back through to see if the update has obviated earlier documentation.

That has happened more than once. For example, there is a very new function called Contacts which is a folder full of files that acts as an address book, where each file is a record for one contact. There are some very cool things in this and I believe I had an epiphany that is useful to pass on. For that, you’ll have to buy the book, but here I’ll say that I also wrote up a tip to make up for a curious failing of Contacts — you had to add yourself to the Contacts, which started out empty (in spite of the fact that it is always easier to modify than to create). That was so until the no-longer-latest build of Windows Vista, at which point Vista smartly makes a record of you for you. Yank — out comes the tip. I feel like Sisyphus pushing a PC up the hill again. mjh

PS: it was on Thursday that I realized August had flown by and that I only leave the house to walk the dog or do something for the book. My two pets.

PPS: here’s a little something on Vista that won’t make it in the book.