In the 9 months since I was laid off, I didn’t sit on my bum and collect unemployment checks, I did engineering work for bridges, boardwalks, pergolas and a number of other projects; I set up operated and did trouble shooting on machinery to create new processes and refine others; I moved snow; I was an IT professional doing computer and printer repair and installation as well as general tech support; and I did a variety of other tasks as well.  I think I stayed busy!

Being laid off sure put some stresses on my life and my marriage.  I worked in Minnesota for 9 moths while my wife (of just over a year when i was first laid off) stayed in KS to watch over the house and work at her job.  Needless to say, I did a lot of driving to see her, every other weekend I spent 16 hrs (1000+ miles) driving so I could spend a few days with her.  It hasn’t been the best experience of my life, that much I can say.  Surprisingly, we are both probably better off because of it.  We don’t take our time together for granted, we try to enjoy each other and do more fun things together when we can.

Needless to say, I will be happy to get back to something more normal, I am ready to get back to seeing my wife every day!

Disclaimer:  You can ruin your sprinkler system if this is done wrong!  I am only telling you what has worked for me, if your system is different, consult the manufacturer or installer.  For the record, if you screw up your sprinkler system, (I feel bad for you but it isn’t my fault!!  Another good way to figure it out would be to hire someone then follow them around…  That way you only have to pay one year!

To start out with you will need a few tools:

1. Air Compressor:  I bought a Craftsman air compressor (1.6 HP 26 gal tank), I can tell you right now, that isn’t the best option for this…  You really need a larger pump/motor, probably ~2.5+ HP.  The problem is flow rates, The 1.6 HP air compressor I have has a flow rate of about 4.8 scfm (standard cubic feet per minute) @ 90 psi.  To really do this right, you probably need more like 10+ scfm @ 90 psi.  It is doable with a lower flow rate but it takes a lot more time, it’s not the ideal solution.  The most important part of the air compressor is that you do not let more that 100 psi go into the sprinkler system.  Use a regulator to keep the pressure down! I use around 90 psi to be safe.
2. Flat head screw driver:  really, it’s probably best to have 2 of these, I use a large flat head to open my valve box and a small one is needed for the valves on the back-flow preventer.
3. water shutoff tool:  Some people might be fortunate enough to have the valve inside or possibly just a shutoff somewhere that has easy access, for the rest of us, our valves are 3+ feet below the ground…  there is a small tube that we have to stick our tool into to turn off the water.  Some people have a “T” tool to do this, I use a piece of plastic electrical conduit with the end cut so there are two fingers to grip the valve handle as shown below (make sure to label the directions to make your life easier in the future):

That is really about it for tools needed.  You will have to buy one more valve setup that I will discuss later but you can leave that on your sprinkler system after you buy it.

Next you will need to locate the components that are part of your sprinkler system.

1. The Control box:  Mine is in my Garage, it is a hunter brand sprinkler system.  You will want to understand how this works so you can run the system in manual mode to clean the water out of the lines.
2. The Water valve box:  The installers/previous home owners were nice enough to put this right in the middle of my front yard…  Because I needed one more odd thing in my small front yard.  As far as I know, the green covers are fairly standard for sprinkler systems.  You will notice the second picture has a valve with a duct taped end, that was something I added, it originally had a PVC threaded cap on the end, we will get to this part later
3. The Back-flow preventer: This is along the side of my house next to the control valve box (#4).  It’s a goofy looking part that is apparently fairly expensive (so don’t let it freeze with water in it).  There are normally 2 valves in line with the back-flow preventer.  If you didn’t already know, the back-flow preventer (most often required for irrigation systems that connect to the public water lines) prevents water from flowing back into the public water lines, this is done to prevent contamination of drinking water.  Here is a picture of my back-flow preventer, I think most residential back-flow preventers look similar to this:
4. Control Valve box:  This is a fairly large rectangular box not far from the back-flow preventer.  It houses all of the control valves which contol flow to the different zones.  My system has 6 zones, I think the control box could theoretically control either 8 or 9 different zones depending on how large your yard is.

Ok now that you have gotten all of that together and figured out where everything is, it’s really a fairly simple process.  First thing that you need to do is buy, assemble and install the valve for the airline (the pipe with the valve on in in the water valve box).  I bought a kit from the airline fitting section at Home Depot, it included a valve, the male air hose fitting and the correct size fitting to convert from the pipe to the valve (seems like it was 1 1/8th in)  assemble these parts and install as shown in the below picture:Once that is set up, you can start the winterization process.

I normally run my sprinklers for a few minutes before hand, this is done for a few reasons; so I can make sure they are working correctly (they run around 5AM so I never see them running), I get a visual picture of where all of the sprinkler heads are at and I normally spread Scotts winterizer fertilizer afterwords, the grass needs to be wet when you spread the fertilizer.

Step One:  Turn the water off.

Take your water shutoff tool and slide it down the pipe that contains the valve (in the water valve box)  as pictured below:

Make sure to turn it the correct direction (if the water is on, it will probably only turn one direction)  To check if the water is off, turn one of the zones on, if water is still coming out continually,you probably didn’t get it turned off.

Step Two:  Attach the air compressor.

Connect an airline to the air compressor and to our nice little valve assembly we just installed (or previously installed).  Apparently I didn’t take a picture of this but it really shouldn’t be to hard to figure out.  Make sure to have the valve in the off position, you could rupture the line if you apply to much pressure with no way for it to escape.

Step Three: Spray the zones out.

I like to go in order so, go to your control box and turn on the manual mode for zone 1.  Make sure you have plenty of time so add 15 minutes  to the time the zone will be one for.  Once you have a zone turned on and your air compressor is ready (**Don’t run more than 100 psi through the lines, they could burst or the sprinkler heads could break even with the zone on!!!!**) open the  air valve in the water valve box.  If you have a relatively low flow air compressor (which I do), you will have to watch the pressure and turn the valve off and let the pressure build back up before you continue on.  Below there are pictures of what the sprinkler heads should look like when you first start flushing them (the first picture below) and then when you can stop (the last picture).

This picture shows what a zone looks like as the sprinkler heads start to clear but some heads still have plenty of water in them that still needs to be cleared.

When the all of the sprinkler heads in this zone have either just air or just a fine mist coming out (below), you can change to the next zone and repeat this step until you clear all of your zones.Finally, once I have all of the zones clear, I like to cycle though them all one last time just to make sure they are clear.

Step Four (the final step):  Ready the back-flow preventer for winter.

This is a simple task but it is very important because as I said, the back-flow preventer is fairly expensive and depending on where you live, you would have to get it inspected when you install a new one.  There are really only two tasks involved in readying the back-flow preventer for winter: 1. Turn the vavles on either side of the back-flow preventer so they are half open, 2. Open the valves on the back flow preventer half way.  This will make sure that if there is any water in the back-flow preventer, when it freezes, it will have a place to expand and escape.  Below are a few pictures, first shows the valves on either side of the back-flow preventer at a 45 deg angle to let water escape.

This picture shows the two drain valves on the back-flow preventer.  These both need to be turned so they are partially open (turn 45 degreed from horizontal/vertical) to let water escape.

A few extra tips that might be helpful:

When half of a zone is spraying out air and the other half is still spraying out water, I push one of the heads, that have just air coming out of them, down so the air will push more water out of the heads that still have water in them.

Depending on the air compressor you have it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours to complete this task but it is worth the time it takes you because you wont have to spend around $100 to have someone winterize it and an additional $60 for someone to come turn your sprinkler system on in the spring.

That brings up another point:  Turning your sprinkler system on in the spring:  All I really do is:

1. open the valves on either side of the back-flow preventer
2. close up the two valves on the back flow preventer
3. turn the water on
4. turn the Control box on
5. run the sprinkler zones in manual to make sure all of the heads are spraying in the proper directions
6. turn the Control box to Auto and let her buck!

1. The league keep the salary cap, maybe increase it to something like 2.7 million.
2. Keep 1 international Designated Player spot with only $415k counting towards the salary cap.
3. Add 2 American Designated Player spots with the same $415K per player counting towards the salary cap.  This would allow the teams to gain and keep some of the high quality American talent that has started out in this league.  IT would also create a more competitive league and help bring the overall quality of player up.
4. Give the teams more control over their players pay, the League owning the player contracts and negotiating with the players seems a little odd.
5. Convert to a promotion/relegation format with the USL.  This will keep the league competitive and make sure the teams in the top tier are the best teams.  (This is a dangerous move seeing as my team the Wizards would have been in danger this year but I think this would help the league as a whole)

Those are my ideas that could help the MLS create a high quality of soccer in the US!  Please share your comments and thoughts!

or 

that cost far to much money and really won’t help you or you can just use the same simple solution that I do: The useful Aviation tin snips!!  Not only will it open packaging but you can use it for there things too,you can find them for less than 10 dollars.

1. I was looking for a mower that was easy to maneuver around trees since I have a row of trees in my back yard that are spaced fairly close together so they are time consuming to mow around.  The close spacing makes it difficult to mow with a  standard mower because you constantly have to pivot the mower in order to turn it.  This made me want to get a mower that had swivel wheels on the front to I could turn it easily.
2. My yard has a fairly good hill going from the front yard to the back so I was also looking for a mower that had rear wheel drive so I could get enough traction going up the hills (who actually follows the directions and goes across the slope every time they mow…).  Most self-propelled mowers tend to be front wheel drive so that was a bit of a chore to find a rear wheel drive mower that also had the other features I was looking for.
3. I was also looking for a mower that would be easy to start.  Being laid off means I have to commute for the job I am now at so the wife has to mow some times, because of this I needed to find a mower that was easy to start so she could mow in my absence (this is also why self-propelled is one of my criteria, It is nice to have but for me it isn’t a requirement.  For the wife, I wanted her to have an easy time mowing so that was a driving criteria).  I wasn’t real particular about this, some mowers have electric start, the one I was borrowing has a charged mechanical spring set up that helps start the mower, and some mowers are very easy to start using the pull rope.  I looked to the reviews to help me out on this criteria.
4. Yes, I know I said “three main criteria” so, don’t think of this as a main criteria; I was also looking for a mower the had mulch and bag discharge.  I normally mulch my grass to help feed it in between watering and fertilizer applications.  I also need the bag for when it rains for a long time and/or I don’t have time to mow for a while.  Sometimes the grass grows REALLY quick, so the bag will be nice.  That is another important aspect of the mower that I was interested in but didn’t really drive my purchase; how easy is it to empty the bag…  The bag on the mower I am borrowing is a real pain to empty, I have to hold it from the end and shake for a few minutes, it is tiring with heavy wet grass and I would prefer something easier.

With the mower I borrowed, it took between an hour and a half and two hours to mow my yard(I have a big back yard, I live on a cul-de-sac), so, between the self-propelled feature and looking for a larger engine so it can handle a faster pace I should be able to trim that down to an hour.

So, what did I end up with?  Well, apparently there aren’t very many mowers that have swivel front wheels so my options were limited but I can tell you after using my dad’s mower with swivel wheels and my mower with swivel wheels: if you have any major obstacles (even just curved landscaping) the swivel wheels make live a whole lot easier.  My dad own’s an Ariens LM 21SW, its a nice mower, tons of power and all of the options I was looking for but I had one problem with it; the self-propelled speed setting made things wild.  It has a variable speed drive but it is set using a separate handle from the one that turns the drive on so after you turn, you better hang on because it’s going to take off.  My dad apparently run’s behind his mower, he had that thing set FAST!.  Ok now for my mower; I was going to buy the same thing as my dad has but as it turns out the increased the price by about $150 so that was way out of my price range at about $750, even after the guy lowered it $100 dollars it was still to steep for what I was willing to spend.  After doing some research, I came across the John Deere JS45.  This mower had everything I was looking for and one added feature I hadn’t really thought of:  the handle pivots (Called Mowmentum drive) to set the drive speed, it makes the whole mowing process so smooth.  I down have to do anything to slow down or speed up except do just that, slow down or speed up.  Around the corners the Mowmentum drive makes everything effortless, it slows down, its easy to turn the mower with the swivel wheels then the mowmentum drive re-engages when you want to go forward again and off you go.  This easily cut my mowing time in half!  The motor has more than enough power to cut even the thickest of grass, all while pushing the mower along at whatever speed the operator is up for that day!

I highly recommend spending the money to buy a nice lawn mower, they will last a long time and make mowing the yard a fun experience instead of a headache.

I am extremely disappointed in the fan support, to see the majority of the fans on Mexico Green on US soil is a travesty.  Support the country to live in!  Enough said.

On a side note; Claudio Lopez had an awesome half court shot for the Wizards!!!

From The Wall Street Journal article:

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That’s a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

Hopefully the lawmakers of this country either return to reality, a reality that has almost 10% of Americans out of work, a crumbling financial system and a manufacturing sector that continues to sink into chapter 11 (to name a few), or get voted out of office by their constituents.

I am very happy with the way out team came out of the gate!  They played a very energetic first half that put the Brazilians on their heals and ended the half with a 2 goal lead.  We put constant pressure on the ball and did a great job of hustling back for defense.  I think this will help the US in their qualifying effort for the world cup next year.

I think South Africa needs to do a lot of work on their fields, they were looking very torn up during the games that I watched and at least one field didn’t look level at all, it needs to be smooth.  The pitch needs to be smooth and green.  I think they will get it done, they looked like they will be ready.

I guess I am a casualty of the state of the economy…  Thanks to the way congress and president Obama have vilified the business aviation industry (all while abusing their access to the fanciest of bizjets) Cessna has cut it’s workforce in half, the aircraft industry as a whole is realing from huge order reductions and tens of thousands (or more) of people are out of work.  The media needs to stop wasting their time publishing articles about how some CEO’s get perks like personal use of a company jet.  FYI, those are perks built into their contracts, some people call that compensation.  Stop wasting your time bringing us old news, no one cares!

This is the site that I found this code at, it isn’t mine: http://www.programmersheaven.com/mb/vba/371593/371593/change-registry-settings-in-vba/?S=B20000

Here is the code, it is AMAZING

Option Explicit

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Update the Windows registry.
' Written by Kenneth Ives                        kenaso@home.com
' NT tested by Brett Gerhardi       Brett.Gerhardi@trinite.co.uk
'
' Perform the four basic functions on the Windows registry.
'           Add
'           Change
'           Delete
'           Query
'
' Important:   If you treat all key data strings as being
'              case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'              Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'              and User.dat) before performing any type of
'              modifications
'
' Software developers vary on where they want to update the
' registry with their particular information.  The most common
' are in HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
'
' This BAS module handles all of my needs for string and
' basic numeric updates in the Windows registry.
'
' Brett found that NT users must delete each major key
' separately.  See bottom of TEST routine for an example.
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Private variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private m_lngRetVal As Long

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Constants required for values in the keys
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private Const REG_NONE As Long = 0                  ' No value type
  Private Const REG_SZ As Long = 1                    ' nul terminated string
  Private Const REG_EXPAND_SZ As Long = 2             ' nul terminated string w/enviornment var
  Private Const REG_BINARY As Long = 3                ' Free form binary
  Private Const REG_DWORD As Long = 4                 ' 32-bit number
  Private Const REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN As Long = 4   ' 32-bit number (same as REG_DWORD)
  Private Const REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN As Long = 5      ' 32-bit number
  Private Const REG_LINK As Long = 6                  ' Symbolic Link (unicode)
  Private Const REG_MULTI_SZ As Long = 7              ' Multiple Unicode strings
  Private Const REG_RESOURCE_LIST As Long = 8         ' Resource list in the resource map
  Private Const REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR As Long = 9 ' Resource list in the hardware description
  Private Const REG_RESOURCE_REQUIREMENTS_LIST As Long = 10

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Registry Specific Access Rights
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private Const KEY_QUERY_VALUE As Long = &H1
  Private Const KEY_SET_VALUE As Long = &H2
  Private Const KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY As Long = &H4
  Private Const KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS As Long = &H8
  Private Const KEY_NOTIFY As Long = &H10
  Private Const KEY_CREATE_LINK As Long = &H20
  Private Const KEY_ALL_ACCESS As Long = &H3F

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Constants required for key locations in the registry
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT As Long = &H80000000
  Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER As Long = &H80000001
  Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE As Long = &H80000002
  Const HKEY_USERS As Long = &H80000003
  Const HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA As Long = &H80000004
  Const HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG As Long = &H80000005
  Const HKEY_DYN_DATA As Long = &H80000006

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Constants required for return values (Error code checking)
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS As Long = 0
  Private Const ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED As Long = 5
  Private Const ERROR_NO_MORE_ITEMS As Long = 259

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Open/Create constants
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private Const REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE As Long = 0
  Private Const REG_OPTION_VOLATILE As Long = &H1

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Declarations required to access the Windows registry
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal lngRootKey As Long) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegCreateKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegCreateKeyA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, phkResult As Long) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegDeleteKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegDeleteKeyA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegDeleteValue Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegDeleteValueA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegOpenKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, phkResult As Long) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegQueryValueExA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, _
             lpType As Long, lpData As Any, lpcbData As Long) As Long

  Private Declare Function RegSetValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegSetValueExA" _
            (ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, ByVal Reserved As Long, _
             ByVal dwType As Long, lpData As Any, ByVal cbData As Long) As Long

Public Function regDelete_Sub_Key(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, _
                                  ByVal strRegKeyPath As String, _
                                  ByVal strRegSubKey As String)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   Function for removing a sub key.
'
' Parameters:
'           lngRootKey - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                  HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'    strRegKeyPath - is name of the key path you wish to traverse.
'     strRegSubKey - is the name of the key which will be removed.
'
' Syntax:
'    regDelete_Sub_Key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _
                  "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", "StringTestData"
'
' Removes the sub key "StringTestData"
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Make sure the key exist before trying to delete it
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If regDoes_Key_Exist(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath) Then

      ' Get the key handle
      m_lngRetVal = RegOpenKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

      ' Delete the sub key.  If it does not exist, then ignore it.
      m_lngRetVal = RegDeleteValue(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey)

      ' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
      ' corrupt the registry.
      m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)
  End If

End Function

Public Function regDoes_Key_Exist(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, _
                                  ByVal strRegKeyPath As String) As Boolean

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   Function to see if a key does exist
'
' Parameters:
'           lngRootKey - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                  HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'    strRegKeyPath - is name of the key path you want to test
'
' Syntax:
'    strKeyQuery = regQuery_A_Key(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _
'                       "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products")
'
' Returns the value of TRUE or FALSE
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Initialize variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  lngKeyHandle = 0

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Query the key path
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegOpenKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' If no key handle was found then there is no key.  Leave here.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If lngKeyHandle = 0 Then
      regDoes_Key_Exist = False
  Else
      regDoes_Key_Exist = True
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
' corrupt these files.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)

End Function

Public Function regQuery_A_Key(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, _
                               ByVal strRegKeyPath As String, _
                               ByVal strRegSubKey As String) As Variant

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   Function for querying a sub key value.
'
' Parameters:
'           lngRootKey - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                  HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'    strRegKeyPath - is name of the key path you wish to traverse.
'     strRegSubKey - is the name of the key which will be queryed.
'
' Syntax:
'    strKeyQuery = regQuery_A_Key(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _
'                       "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", _
                        "StringTestData")
'
' Returns the key value of "StringTestData"
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim intPosition As Integer
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long
  Dim lngDataType As Long
  Dim lngBufferSize As Long
  Dim lngBuffer As Long
  Dim strBuffer As String

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Initialize variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  lngKeyHandle = 0
  lngBufferSize = 0

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Query the key path
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegOpenKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' If no key handle was found then there is no key.  Leave here.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If lngKeyHandle = 0 Then
      regQuery_A_Key = ""
      m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)   ' always close the handle
      Exit Function
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Query the registry and determine the data type.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegQueryValueEx(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey, 0&, _
                         lngDataType, ByVal 0&, lngBufferSize)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' If no key handle was found then there is no key.  Leave.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If lngKeyHandle = 0 Then
      regQuery_A_Key = ""
      m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)   ' always close the handle
      Exit Function
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Make the API call to query the registry based on the type
' of data.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Select Case lngDataType
         Case REG_SZ:       ' String data (most common)
              ' Preload the receiving buffer area
              strBuffer = Space(lngBufferSize)

              m_lngRetVal = RegQueryValueEx(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey, 0&, 0&, _
                                     ByVal strBuffer, lngBufferSize)

              ' If NOT a successful call then leave
              If m_lngRetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
                  regQuery_A_Key = ""
              Else
                  ' Strip out the string data
                  intPosition = InStr(1, strBuffer, Chr(0))  ' look for the first null char
                  If intPosition > 0 Then
                      ' if we found one, then save everything up to that point
                      regQuery_A_Key = Left(strBuffer, intPosition - 1)
                  Else
                      ' did not find one.  Save everything.
                      regQuery_A_Key = strBuffer
                  End If
              End If

         Case REG_DWORD:    ' Numeric data (Integer)
              m_lngRetVal = RegQueryValueEx(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey, 0&, lngDataType, _
                                     lngBuffer, 4&)  ' 4& = 4-byte word (long integer)

              ' If NOT a successful call then leave
              If m_lngRetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
                  regQuery_A_Key = ""
              Else
                  ' Save the captured data
                  regQuery_A_Key = lngBuffer
              End If

         Case Else:    ' unknown
              regQuery_A_Key = ""
  End Select

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
' corrupt these files.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)

End Function
Public Sub regCreate_Key_Value(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal strRegKeyPath As String, _
                               ByVal strRegSubKey As String, varRegData As Variant)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   Function for saving string data.
'
' Parameters:
'           lngRootKey - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                  HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'    strRegKeyPath - is name of the key path you wish to traverse.
'     strRegSubKey - is the name of the key which will be updated.
'       varRegData - Update data.
'
' Syntax:
'    regCreate_Key_Value HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _
'                      "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", _
'                      "StringTestData", "22 Jun 1999"
'
' Saves the key value of "22 Jun 1999" to sub key "StringTestData"
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long
  Dim lngDataType As Long
  Dim lngKeyValue As Long
  Dim strKeyValue As String

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Determine the type of data to be updated
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If IsNumeric(varRegData) Then
      lngDataType = REG_DWORD
  Else
      lngDataType = REG_SZ
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Query the key path
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCreateKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Update the sub key based on the data type
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Select Case lngDataType
         Case REG_SZ:       ' String data
              strKeyValue = Trim(varRegData) & Chr(0)     ' null terminated
              m_lngRetVal = RegSetValueEx(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey, 0&, lngDataType, _
                                          ByVal strKeyValue, Len(strKeyValue))

         Case REG_DWORD:    ' numeric data
              lngKeyValue = CLng(varRegData)
              m_lngRetVal = RegSetValueEx(lngKeyHandle, strRegSubKey, 0&, lngDataType, _
                                          lngKeyValue, 4&)  ' 4& = 4-byte word (long integer)

  End Select

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
' corrupt these files.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)

End Sub
Public Function regCreate_A_Key(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, ByVal strRegKeyPath As String)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   This function will create a new key
'
' Parameters:
'          lngRootKey  - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                  HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'   strRegKeyPath  - is name of the key you wish to create.
'                  to make sub keys, continue to make this
'                  call with each new level.  MS says you
'                  can do this in one call; however, the
'                  best laid plans of mice and men ...
'
' Syntax:
'   regCreate_A_Key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\AAA-Registry Test"
'   regCreate_A_Key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products"
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Create the key.  If it already exist, ignore it.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCreateKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
' corrupt these files.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)

End Function
Public Function regDelete_A_Key(ByVal lngRootKey As Long, _
                                ByVal strRegKeyPath As String, _
                                ByVal strRegKeyName As String) As Boolean

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry files (System.dat
'                and User.dat) before performing any type of
'                modifications
'
' Description:   Function for removing a complete key.
'
' Parameters:
'           lngRootKey - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
'                        HKEY_lOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, etc
'    strRegKeyPath - is name of the key path you wish to traverse.
'   strRegKeyValue - is the name of the key which will be removed.
'
' Returns a True or False on completion.
'
' Syntax:
'    regDelete_A_Key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software", "AAA-Registry Test"
'
' Removes the key "AAA-Registry Test" and all of its sub keys.
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngKeyHandle As Long

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Preset to a failed delete
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  regDelete_A_Key = False

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Make sure the key exist before trying to delete it
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If regDoes_Key_Exist(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath) Then

      ' Get the key handle
      m_lngRetVal = RegOpenKey(lngRootKey, strRegKeyPath, lngKeyHandle)

      ' Delete the key
      m_lngRetVal = RegDeleteKey(lngKeyHandle, strRegKeyName)

      ' If the value returned is equal zero then we have succeeded
      If m_lngRetVal = 0 Then regDelete_A_Key = True

      ' Always close the handle in the registry.  We do not want to
      ' corrupt the registry.
      m_lngRetVal = RegCloseKey(lngKeyHandle)
  End If

End Function

Sub Test()

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Test Windows registry basic functions.
' Written by Kenneth Ives                     kenaso@home.com
'
' Rename this to "Main".  Press F8 to step thru the code.   You
' will be able to stop at will and execute Regedit.exe to see
' the results.  Or, you can press F5 and this test procedure
' has its own stops built in.
'
' Perform the four basic functions on the Windows registry.
'           Add
'           Change
'           Delete
'           Query
'
' Important:     If you treat all key data strings as being
'                case sensitive, you should never have a problem.
'                Always backup your registry (System.dat and
'                User.dat) before performing any type of updates.
'
' Rename this procedure back to TEST so as not to intefere if
' this BAS module is used in another application.
' --------------------------------------------------------------

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Define variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Dim lngRootKey As Long
  Dim strKeyQuery As Variant    ' we are not sure what type of
                              ' data will be returned

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Initialize variables
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  strKeyQuery = vbNullString
  lngRootKey = HKEY_CURRENT_USER

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' See if the key already exist.  If the key does not exist, we
' will create one.  Some people want to automatically create a
' key if it does not exist.  This philosophy can be dangerous.
' Querying the registry is one function and updating is another.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If Not regDoes_Key_Exist(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test") Then
      ' create the main key and the first sub key
      regCreate_A_Key lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test"
      regCreate_A_Key lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products"
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' see if the next sub key exist.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If Not regDoes_Key_Exist(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products") Then
      ' create the first sub key
      regCreate_A_Key lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products"
  End If

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Create a string type sub key
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  regCreate_Key_Value lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", _
                      "StringTestData", "22 SEP 1999"

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Create a numeric type sub key
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  regCreate_Key_Value lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", _
                      "NumericTestData", 1234567890

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' See if we have successfully created the key.  The value of
' of the sub key will be returned.  strKeyQuery is a variant
' because we do not know if the data being returned is string
' or numeric.  Once it is returned then we can manipulate it.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  strKeyQuery = regQuery_A_Key(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", "StringTestData")
  strKeyQuery = regQuery_A_Key(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", "NumericTestData")

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Stop processing here.
' Execute Regedit.exe and verify that all the keys have
' been added to the registry.
' Press F5 or F8 to continue.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Stop

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Change the value of the sub key, "StringTestData", from
' "22 SEP 1999" to "September 22, 1999"
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  regCreate_Key_Value lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", _
                      "StringTestData", "September 22, 1999"

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' See if the sub key has been updated
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  strKeyQuery = regQuery_A_Key(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", "StringTestData")

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Stop processing here.
' Execute Regedit.exe and verify that the sub key has
' been updated in the registry.
' Press F5 or F8 to continue.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Stop

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Delete the sub key, "NumericTestData", only.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  regDelete_Sub_Key lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test\Products", "NumericTestData"

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Stop processing here.
' Execute Regedit.exe and verify the sub key ("NumericTestData")
' has been removed from the registry.
' Press F5 or F8 to continue.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  Stop

' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Remove the complete key from the registry.  You do not want
' to remove the "Software" key.  NT users must remove each
' major key component separately as shown below.  Windows 95/98
' users can do this in one step by using the second line only.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  If Not regDelete_A_Key(lngRootKey, "Software\AAA-Registry Test", "Products") Then
      MsgBox "Failed to delete requested subkey!    ", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "Registry Key Delete"
      GoTo Normal_Exit:
  End If

  If Not regDelete_A_Key(lngRootKey, "Software", "AAA-Registry Test") Then
      MsgBox "Failed to delete requested main key!    ", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "Registry Key Delete"
      GoTo Normal_Exit:
  End If

Normal_Exit:
' --------------------------------------------------------------
' Terminate program.
' Execute Regedit.exe and verify that the key
' ("AAA-Registry Test") and all of its sub keys have been
' removed from the registry.
' --------------------------------------------------------------
  End

End Sub

'********** TEST QUERY ADOBE 7.0 KEYS *****
Public Sub myTEST()
  'get install path for 7.0 (default) key
  MsgBox regQuery_A_Key(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "software\adobe\acrobat reader\7.0\installpath\", "")
  'get eula key
  MsgBox regQuery_A_Key(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "software\adobe\acrobat reader\7.0\adobeviewer\", "eula")
End Sub

I am really more disappointed that I am loosing a fun job and that I have to give up some good co-workers that have become good friends.  Other than that, I don’t really care a whole lot.  I guess I will miss the paychecks but I have other options for earn a living (no, not selling drugs or other illeagal things).

The thing that I have learned from this is that even though there may not be engineering jobs out there, there are jobs so no matter what, I will make money to pay the bills.  That is priority number one, pay the bills and provide for my family.  It doesn’t matter what type of job it is as long as it satisfies that nessecity.  I think that is one thing that a lot of people forget, NOONE is to good to work a low paying job it they need the money.

I guess we will see where this rollercoaster takes me.