Wednesday, February 24, 2010
"Good Beats Innovative"
Dad used to say, "To guarantee success, you've got to be either first or best." This great article explores that same idea.
The nature of the long hiatus
It's been almost a year and a half since I posted. It seems tedious to explain why, but I suppose there are two arenas: personal and professional.
One, I began blogging more seriously at the office. I write a more-or-less daily blog on the intranet and an almost-monthly posting on the company social site; often writing begets more writing, but many details I can't post publicly so it was simpler to let this blog lie.
Two, I pursued some extra responsibilities at the office and, as a consequence, got a significant promotion, involving more responsibility again; more responsibility means less time, which means fewer words when it comes to personal blogging.
Three, a relationship in which I had invested some hopes ended suddenly in October 2008 and I was a bit preoccupied. I've written about it in some other venues and have no wish to recount it here; but for a long stretch afterward I wrote about this subject and no other, and became so sick of my own words that I cultivated silence for a few months -- no personal blog posts anywhere.
So, not much to this post other than that.
One, I began blogging more seriously at the office. I write a more-or-less daily blog on the intranet and an almost-monthly posting on the company social site; often writing begets more writing, but many details I can't post publicly so it was simpler to let this blog lie.
Two, I pursued some extra responsibilities at the office and, as a consequence, got a significant promotion, involving more responsibility again; more responsibility means less time, which means fewer words when it comes to personal blogging.
Three, a relationship in which I had invested some hopes ended suddenly in October 2008 and I was a bit preoccupied. I've written about it in some other venues and have no wish to recount it here; but for a long stretch afterward I wrote about this subject and no other, and became so sick of my own words that I cultivated silence for a few months -- no personal blog posts anywhere.
So, not much to this post other than that.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
on the road
In Evansville, IN for a technology thingummy.
Spent an hour chatting with the lady at the front desk at the hotel: a self-confessed computer illiterate, she lusts after a new laptop and mentioned complaints she'd received about the complimentary wireless here.
For a cool little laptop, I directed her to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9; then I dug my Toshiba out of my satchel and, right there at the desk, ran a quick snoop of wireless using NetStumbler: seems they only offer 802.11g and the complaints came from owners of old laptops that probably only support 802.11b. I explained how, with most cheap WAPs, 802.11b clients drag down 802.11g clients anyway, so it helps users of the new WiFi spec to quit supporting the old.
This is what those of us in I.T. should be: enablers of technology for users who don't know better. Robert Pirsig wrote in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance about the "death force" of modern technology, how it dehumanizes without even meaning to. We all should counteract that.
Spent an hour chatting with the lady at the front desk at the hotel: a self-confessed computer illiterate, she lusts after a new laptop and mentioned complaints she'd received about the complimentary wireless here.
For a cool little laptop, I directed her to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9; then I dug my Toshiba out of my satchel and, right there at the desk, ran a quick snoop of wireless using NetStumbler: seems they only offer 802.11g and the complaints came from owners of old laptops that probably only support 802.11b. I explained how, with most cheap WAPs, 802.11b clients drag down 802.11g clients anyway, so it helps users of the new WiFi spec to quit supporting the old.
This is what those of us in I.T. should be: enablers of technology for users who don't know better. Robert Pirsig wrote in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance about the "death force" of modern technology, how it dehumanizes without even meaning to. We all should counteract that.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Printer jam & toast
A buddy of mine called to say that he couldn't use his printer and he needed to print invoices for his business. It took me about three minutes to troubleshoot, then to pop the access panel and fish out a wad of paper using pliers.
I made a house call for this? Honestly, this is a skill I need to impart to others. Oh phooey, he was in the neighborhood anyway, and now he owes me a beer...
I made a house call for this? Honestly, this is a skill I need to impart to others. Oh phooey, he was in the neighborhood anyway, and now he owes me a beer...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Are you not using it?!
Bart PE is the single most useful all-in-one tool I know for PCs. In conjunction with other stuff, like Sherpya's XPE, Truecrypt, JKdefrag, Password Renew, Portable Firefox and PeToUSB, it yields a crisp bootable thumb drive full of creamy diagnostic and portable goodness.
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