I've done this a few times now but I wanted to write it all down so that I would have a reference guide. There are instructions available on the dasBlog web site but I think mine are a little more complete.

To level the playing field I need to make some assumptions. I'm assuming that you are performing a clean/fresh install of dasBlog 2.0 on a Windows Server 2003 computer running IIS 6 and that IIS is setup in the default mode and not in Isolation Mode. It's also assumed that you have the .NET framework 2.0 installed on the server and that you have enabled ASP.NET 2.0 for the site you want to use dasBlog in. Also, I prefer NOT to run the 'automatic' VBS script and to do the install manually. Lastly, it's assumed that you already have a web site configured with a unique host header and that you want this blog to be located at mysite.com/blog. Here goes.

• Download the latest version of dasBlog from here:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=127624

• Unzip the files to any directory and then copy the dasblogce folder to the root of your site.
• Give the NETWORK SERVICE account the Modify permission on the content, siteconfig, and logs subdirectories of dasblogce.
• Go to the SiteConfig directory in dasblogce and open the site.config file. In that file you will need to change some settings. The most important change is to set the <Root> value to the proper URL for your weblog so per my example here you would change it to http://www.mysite.com/blog/. If you are experienced enough to add another host header to your site and you control DNS for your domain then you can make this anything you like. You can also change the <NotificationEMailAddress> to your email address, the <Title> to whatever you want the title of your blog to be, the <Contact> to your email address and the <Copyright> to your name.
• Open Internet Information Services Manager and create a virtual directory called "blog" for your site. Point it to the dasblogce directory. Make sure the permission are Read and Run scripts. Now go to the properties of this virtual directory and add the default document "default.aspx" and move it to the top of the list.
• Open siteSecurity.config in the same directory and set up your own account with a proper password. You will want to edit the first <User> that has the role of admin. Change <Name> to whatever you want your login name to be, change <Password> to whatever you want your password to be, change <DisplayName> to your name and change <EmailAddress> to your email address.
• Now fire up a browser and go to your blog. The first visit will take a couple of seconds but it will load after it performs the initial configuration.

The rest is all customization. The first thing you will want to do is pick a theme. If you find one you love, great! Or you can find one that is close and customize it. More on that later.

I see said the blind man to his deaf friend... whatever. I always thought that joke was kind of like getting hit over the head with a blunt object anyway. The point (which is totally unrelated to this intro) is that we are frequently blind to the truth when it's staring us right in the face.

Andy (one of my co-workers) recently underwent some disaster training here at the UW. This means he is now qualified to wear a dayglo hat on his head, a whistle around his neck and carry a clipboard so he can check off the names of people that died in the earthquake and were not able to run out of the building. During this training he was given an emergency preparedness kit which contained among other things some matches, a flashlight, a first aid kit and this energy bar. Yesterday he noticed it was past the expiration date and was going to toss it but I intercepted it. That's right, no food bar is too stale for Martin "let me shove that in my mouth and to hell with the consequences" Criminale.

Now I know it's silly but I usually associate energy bars with a healthy lifestyle meaning that they are relatively good for you. Most have a good ratio of carbohydrate to protein and fat and some are vitamin fortified as well. This bar blows that theory out of the water.

First of all,check out the name, "New Millennium Energy Bar". It sounds either like something that is really new or something that is supposed to last through the millennium. I'm thinking it's the later. And they vacuum pack this thing like it's going to need to survive some sort of crash test or break the underwater submersion record for a food bar:

Can you see how tight the wrapper is around the bar? And that's no ultra thin Mylar like PowerBar uses, no sir. I could use those edges to scrape the frost off of my windshield. Enough foreplay, let's open this thing up.

Wow, that doesn't look anything like any energy bar I have ever seen... Why, it looks like a cookie; shortbread actually. So I took a bite and while I was chewing I turned it over and read the ingredients.

Damn, it is shortbread.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 409, Protein 8g, Carbohydrates 53g, Fat 19g.

Ingredients: Wheat flour, Vegetable shortening, Cane and Corn Sugars, Dried Coconut, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavors.

The firs thing that I noticed was that it contained 409 calories...?! What other energy bar has that many? Then I saw that it contained fully 2/3 of your daily recommended intake of fat. Ah... now things are a little more clear. This is an 'energy' bar in the sense that is supposed to keep you alive, not in the sense that it is supposed to be good quality fuel when you are sweatin' to the oldies on your indoor trainer or trying to set a new PR at the local century. Nope, this is all about how to pack the most fuel into the smallest package and keep it dirt cheap at the same time. The solution? Flour and shortening. Nice.

Lastly I had to check out the company that makes these things, S.O.S. Food Lab, Inc. Yikes! Prepare yourself for full-on FrontPage web site hell. Does that rainbow colored, arching text remind you of Microsoft Publisher...? Oh yes, it does.

So what did this thing taste like? Just like cherry flavored shortbread. And did I eat it all? Of course. I hate myself.

So I like to write my dates in the format of day-month-year, is that so bad? It must be the Euro half of my heritage showing its face. Or just that I want to be difficult/different - who knows.

Anyway, with the help of a co-worker (Naasir) I figured out how to do this in ASP. Here is the code:

And here is the Microsoft KB article that showed me how:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306044

Now I can do stuff like always have a current copyright date in the footer which appears at the bottom of all my web pages.