Standardizing Outlook Signatures Company Wide
Today I got an email from someone in our accounting department. The woman had totally butchered
her signature. She had a handwriting font, multiple colors, multiple font sizes…you get the picture. That lead me to wonder, how can we standardize all employee signatures company-wide. I looked in the server side rules on Exchange 2007 and found there was no provision that allowed you to do this. There are some commercial products, such as this one, but I didn’t find anything for free. Next, I started looking for scripts we could add to our usual login scripts that would set a specific signature of our choosing. I found a few scripts online and a few tutorials and started working away at it. I can’t seem to find the website where I got most of my tips to link back to it. In any event, this is what we are now using and it seems to work very well:
On Error Resume Next
Set objSysInfo = CreateObject(”ADSystemInfo”)
strUser = objSysInfo.UserName
Set objUser = GetObject(”LDAP://” & strUser)strName = objUser.FullName
strTitle = objUser.Title
strDepartment = objUser.Department
strCompany = objUser.Company
strPhone = objUser.telephoneNumber
strFax = objUser.faxNumber
strMail = objUser.Mail
strWeb = “www.ourwebsite.com”Set objWord = CreateObject(”Word.Application”)
Set objDoc = objWord.Documents.Add()
Set objSelection = objWord.SelectionSet objEmailOptions = objWord.EmailOptions
Set objSignatureObject = objEmailOptions.EmailSignatureSet objSignatureEntries = objSignatureObject.EmailSignatureEntries
objSelection.Font.Name = “Calibri”
objSelection.Font.Size = 8.5
objSelection.Font.Color = RGB(128,128,128)objSelection.TypeText strName & “ | ” & strTitle
objSelection.TypeText “ | Email ”
objSelection.Font.Underline = 1
objSelection.TypeText strMail
objSelection.Font.Underline = 0
objSelection.TypeText “ | Phone ” & strPhone & “ | Fax ” & strFax & “ | ” & strWeb
objSelection.TypeParagraph()
objSelection.Font.Color = RGB(79,129,189)
objSelection.TypeText UCase(strCompany) & “. Our Slogan.”
‘objSelection.TypeText “| Address City, State ZIP | “”Slogan 2″”"Set objSelection = objDoc.Range()
objSignatureEntries.Add “Default Signature”, objSelection
objSignatureObject.NewMessageSignature = “Default Signature”
objSignatureObject.ReplyMessageSignature = “Default Signature”objDoc.Saved = True
objWord.Quit
This script pulls user information our of our active directory store to use for the signature. To use this, you’ll need to save it as a .vbs file. Just double clicking it should render results. It won’t delete any existing signatures you have, just create a new one and make it your default.
Bankers Petroleum (BNK:TSX) - New Stock Buy
The price of gas is killing me - it costs me $70 to fill up my tank. Americans think their gas is expensive, but in Canada my friends and family are paying around 40% more. There good ‘ol socialism at work. It’s really only the taxes that make the majority of the difference. Anyways, I’ve been thinking lately that I should start investing in oil, essentially hedging myself against future rises in the price of gas at the pump. If gas increases by 10% and my oil stocks increase by 10%, it should help offset any difference. Ideally, however, I’d like to make more than just offsetting the price of gas. Anyways, acting on a stock tip from a friend, I researched and decided to buy Bankers Petroleum (BNK) on the TSX. I bought it at 1.70, so we’ll see what happens.
E*Trade - No Soup For You!
Earlier in April I decided to open up a new US E*Trade account. I have an E*Trade Canada account, but trying 
to get money out of Bank of America into E*Trade Canada is a real pain. After they sent me an email saying that my account was setup, I logged in, and verified my bank account information. However, when I tried to move money into the account, there was no options to transfer funds into my brokerage account. I ended up leaving it that night and forgetting about it until today, when an E*Trade representative phoned me at work to find out if I had had any problems with my account. I explained what happened and he transferred me to some customer verification department. Since I only recently moved to Ponte Vedra, their 3rd party verification company couldn’t verify my address. So, get this, they want me to fax them a copy of my Social Security card to verify I am who I say I am. I haven’t done it, and I’m not sure if I will. With all the identity theft going on in North America, I have a problem faxing copies of my social security to anyone regardless of who it is. Certainly, E*Trade must have other means to verify that I am who I say I am. My banking information was verified by them (Name, Address, Bank, Bank #), isn’t that enough?
Got2b Probably the Best Hair Gel Ever
I know that endorsing a hair gel seems pretty lame, but I have been using this product for a couple mo
nths and I still think its fantastic. It’s kind of like the difference between a 3 blade and a 4 blade razor - minor, yet significant. Anyways, this stuff will hold every hair on your head in place during a hurricane without giving it that wet, greasy, look. It’s also water resistant.
It’s made by a company called “Schwarzkopf” and I use the “Spiking Glue” version even though I don’t spike my hair. I’ve tried the kind that comes in the small circular container, and it just doesn’t compare.
All in all, I think this is probably the best syling product in the market, and at around $5, its quite reasonable too.
