Where and How to configure Out of Office in Outlook 2010

You might have some travel planned and need to spend some time away from work. In the age of mobile phones it feels like we can never be too far away from our email, particularly when it is work related. Still, it is professional courtesy to leave an “Out of Office” message on when you’re gone – so that people who send you email get an automatic response to their email. I generally put in a blanket statement saying I’m out of the office, and I’ll be back at a certain date; including a contact number for someone they can reach quickly if they need help is a nice addition. But how do you DO it when it comes to the “vastly different than its predecessors” Outlook 2010? This is how:


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2003 – Trigun (boxed series)

I don’t remember when I first saw Trigun, but I remember it was one of the most serious episodes in the series. Vash The Stampede is the main character, who tries to be hero, but is often followed be enough trouble that he is referred to as the Human Typhoon. Johnny Yong Bosch does the English dubbed voice, but he is the person who drew me in. The episode I saw drew deeper emotion out of him than I was used to seeing in most animated series. I was already well versed in anime, and even emotional heavyweights lime Akira and My Neighbor Totoro, but Boch’s voice made me care for this character. After catching several episodes the way most Americans had back then, on Cartoon Network, I went ahead and bought a boxed set of DVDs on eBay so I could finally watch the story unfold.

It has been a few years since I sat down and watched the whole series, but the DVDs sit on my shelf, constantly beckoning me back. Eventually I will, but it’s almost the kind of thing you need to be in the right mindset for, because although there is ample action and comedy, the series can be draining at times, as you get wrapped up in the mystery of this sci-fi western. Go ahead and pick up the Trigun – The Complete Boxed Set.

Low power downloads

If you have a large download to complete on your Xbox 360, did you know that you can do this while saving electricity and saving the wear on your console? A feature that was added to the dashboard around the time the “NXE” launched allows you to start a download from Xbox Live, then power off the console without aborting your download.

Just start any download, like demo, or some large DLC. By default, the console will download your content in the background, while you continue to browse the dashboard, or even while playing a local / single player game on your 360. But let’s you just started the downlod and you want t leve for a while? Go ahead and shut down your Xbox 360, as you normally would (from the dashboard, the guide button, or even by pressing the power button on the console). Your console will cut power to the GPU and other nonessential hardware, then it will complete the download and power off when finished.

To ensure that background downloads are enabled:

  1. Use the right bumper to navigate to the Settings menu.
  2. Select System Settings.
  3. Select Console Settings.
  4. Select Startup and Shutdwown.
  5. Select Background Downloads.
  6. Ensure the current setting on the right shows it is on, or else slect Enable.

For questions about background download behavior, check out Microsoft’ support articke on why the power light flahes green on the 360 console.

Remember Freddy vs. Jason?

They clearly ended this movie wanting a sequel. I wonder what ever happened to it? They tried, unsuccessfully, to reboot the Friday the 13th series a few years ago. Perhaps it was just a tad too soon. Their time will come again. And I’ll be firmly in Camp Crystal Lake on the Jason side of the battle! 🙂 The “weigh in” promotion for Freddy vs. Jason was a big deal – Michael Buffer and all!