I've had a few jobs where I was able to move from new hire to management in six months. I even worked for a company in the '70s in which I was able to go from part-timer to Vice President within a year.
But I've never before now worked for a company that on my third day of employment invited me to sit down with the head of operations and several others to discuss the future developement of the company. And this was not a "welcome to the job" type meeting. This was a true working session, with input welcome and noted and good ideas incorporated into the planning documents as we talked.
I'm amazed, and impressed. To have the #2 man in the company (actually he's the #1 man, as the company's president is a woman) asking me direct questions and listening to my responses...not just listening but noting down and including in the planning documents my suggestions...made me realize that here is a medium-sized company (perhaps 300 people at this location) that doesn't just say they value their employees, but proves it by recognizing experience within it's employee pool and taking advantage of that experience, even when it involves someone they've only known for a few days. It has certainly given me a reason to try and make this opportunity work to not just my benefit, but the company's as well. I'm always willing to offer my loyalty to a company or group that is willing to reward it by showing loyalty in return. I hope that turns out to be the case here.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
Amazing, I've survived two days...
...on this job and thus far no one has died or even been seriuosly injured. I think that's pretty good considering the circumstances.
Tomorrow's only my third day on the desk, and already I've been invited to a meeting being conducted on new directions the management wants to take the company in, particularly a pay-for-call help desk setup. Well, I do have a bit of experience at that, and have a few opinions on the concept, so I guess I'll attend and see how much my 2 cents are worth in the corporate world.
Tomorrow's only my third day on the desk, and already I've been invited to a meeting being conducted on new directions the management wants to take the company in, particularly a pay-for-call help desk setup. Well, I do have a bit of experience at that, and have a few opinions on the concept, so I guess I'll attend and see how much my 2 cents are worth in the corporate world.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
The fine print
Thank you so much, Alibris. Tonight I was able to locate and order two books I've been seeking for a couple of years. "I Had a Dog and a Cat" by Karel Capek, a book I read 15 years ago, was the hardest to locate. It's never been reprinted since 1947, and while I have a copy that's in good condition already, I wanted a reading copy. Capek, better known for writing "R.U.R." in 1920, and giving the term robot to the science fiction community, penned this lovely little story about the trials and joys of living with his dog and cat in 1940 that just makes me feel wonderful every time I read it. His use of the language, even when translated from the original Czech, is so tight that it nearly qualifies as poetry.
I was also able to pick up a copy of "Religion and the Rebel" by Colin Wilson. Wilson wrote the book that first woke me up in my twenties and made me start to think about my life and beliefs. That book, "The Outsider", says more about me than I'm usually comfortable having people know. "Religion and the Rebel" picks up where "The Outsider" left off, discussing in even more depth existentialism and the famous people who personified the "outsider" in society.
As I wrote in a review of "The Outsider" for Amazon in 2000, "For over 15 years this has been my favorite book. Wilson explicates a thesis - that much of great Western Literature is written by and concerns men who see and feel more deeply than their contemporaries. Perhaps one might regard them as more sensitive. At any rate, such men are alienated-hence outsiders. Such figures include: Hermann Hesse, Van Gogh, Hemmingway, Lawrence of Arabia, H.G. Wells, Albert Camus, Vaslav Nijinsky, Sartre, Tolstoy, and others.
Since existentialism is a philosophy and not a religion, many of those who read "The Outsider" thought that Wilson was selling out with "Religion and the Rebel" when they first saw the title. But what Wilson discusses is religion in the sense of a passion, a fascination with something beyond and grander than the individual. In that sense, you could describe my interest in the Internet as a religion, considering the role it plays in my life.
I've never owned a copy of this book, so I'm very pleased to have found a copy in good condition at a reasonable price so I can add it to my "special" bookcase. Those are the books I doubt I'll ever part with, and include the 3 volume set of H.L. Mencken"s "The American Language" and the science fiction novels of Stanislaw Lem, famous for "Solaris" (which has twice been made into terrible movies but was a brilliant book) but also the author of several amazing stories including my favorite "Memoirs Found In a Bathtub", which reminds me of my time at NSA (to quote a review, "A paranoid story from the year 3149 in a world without paper. The protagonist is given a mission so secret that nobody has a clearance to tell it to him. Spies, counter-spies and counter-courter-spies stand in his way as he attempts to solve the mystery of his mission")
So once I get tired of reading about routers and wireless access points for work, I can take my pick of two better works to distract myself from computers for a while.
I was also able to pick up a copy of "Religion and the Rebel" by Colin Wilson. Wilson wrote the book that first woke me up in my twenties and made me start to think about my life and beliefs. That book, "The Outsider", says more about me than I'm usually comfortable having people know. "Religion and the Rebel" picks up where "The Outsider" left off, discussing in even more depth existentialism and the famous people who personified the "outsider" in society.
As I wrote in a review of "The Outsider" for Amazon in 2000, "For over 15 years this has been my favorite book. Wilson explicates a thesis - that much of great Western Literature is written by and concerns men who see and feel more deeply than their contemporaries. Perhaps one might regard them as more sensitive. At any rate, such men are alienated-hence outsiders. Such figures include: Hermann Hesse, Van Gogh, Hemmingway, Lawrence of Arabia, H.G. Wells, Albert Camus, Vaslav Nijinsky, Sartre, Tolstoy, and others.
This book can be used in many ways: as a primer to existential philosophy, an introduction to religious mysticism, or as an introduction to the work and thoughts some of the greatest artists and writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Understanding of this book is helped by familiarity with the works and artists Wilson discusses - but it's not necessary. Wilson's discussion of each work/artists is complete enough even without prior exposure. And, indeed, it would be hard to have exposure to all he includes. In a way that, too, is a plus. I used this book as a core curriculum for nearly everything I've studied. I read what Wilson had to say, and if I was interested, I'd then explore those artists myself."Since existentialism is a philosophy and not a religion, many of those who read "The Outsider" thought that Wilson was selling out with "Religion and the Rebel" when they first saw the title. But what Wilson discusses is religion in the sense of a passion, a fascination with something beyond and grander than the individual. In that sense, you could describe my interest in the Internet as a religion, considering the role it plays in my life.
I've never owned a copy of this book, so I'm very pleased to have found a copy in good condition at a reasonable price so I can add it to my "special" bookcase. Those are the books I doubt I'll ever part with, and include the 3 volume set of H.L. Mencken"s "The American Language" and the science fiction novels of Stanislaw Lem, famous for "Solaris" (which has twice been made into terrible movies but was a brilliant book) but also the author of several amazing stories including my favorite "Memoirs Found In a Bathtub", which reminds me of my time at NSA (to quote a review, "A paranoid story from the year 3149 in a world without paper. The protagonist is given a mission so secret that nobody has a clearance to tell it to him. Spies, counter-spies and counter-courter-spies stand in his way as he attempts to solve the mystery of his mission")
So once I get tired of reading about routers and wireless access points for work, I can take my pick of two better works to distract myself from computers for a while.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Welcome fellow LangaList readers
I'm pleased to see so many of you stopping by to see what's going on. I wish I knew.
But since you're here, and obviously in a "clicking" mood, why not click your way on over to my forum, Jeber's Help Desk. If you like what you see there, join up. Share your knowledge, your interests and your thoughts with me and my friends. It's a forum for the more mature computer user. No game cheats, no warez, no music downloads. Just a small group of us who realize there's more to life than a computing, or are at least trying to maintain a life beyond the keyboard. My main web page is at Jebers.com.
And thanks again for visiting.
But since you're here, and obviously in a "clicking" mood, why not click your way on over to my forum, Jeber's Help Desk. If you like what you see there, join up. Share your knowledge, your interests and your thoughts with me and my friends. It's a forum for the more mature computer user. No game cheats, no warez, no music downloads. Just a small group of us who realize there's more to life than a computing, or are at least trying to maintain a life beyond the keyboard. My main web page is at Jebers.com.
And thanks again for visiting.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
If you own a D-Link product...
...make damn sure that by Monday you've done all your firmware upgrades, read your manuals and asked all your necessary questions, because it looks like, due to some obvious breech in the fabric of space-time, or perhaps as a cruel joke perpetrated by the gods to amuse themselves, as of Monday, December 6th, 2004, a day that will live in infamy, I will be answering your networking questions at the call center that I'll be calling home until they finally catch on to the fact that I haven't the foggiest clue what I'm going to be talking about, since the very thing in the realm of computing I know the least about has to be networking, although I don't know much about how to add more blinky-lights to my laptop, either, but the odds of my learning how to add more blinky-lights to Gromet are much better than my really understanding networking, so I'l have a hundred little blinky-lights scattered in delightful patterns around my Toshiba's case long before I've managed to get your wireless notebook to connected through your wired router to your cable modem box and out onto the Internet while at the same time trying to DMZ your Xbox so you can get back to your online Halo game.
This should be interesting...
This should be interesting...
Friday, November 26, 2004
A little blogging humor
OK, yes...I wish I'd written this. Having confessed that, I can recommend this "Review of Blogs..." by Joe Lavin as a good, and I hope not entirely true, comment on the perils of blogging.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...
That, my friends, is the sound of relief. 
I went to a job interview this morning, filled out the application and various other forms and took a test on networking support. I was quite concerned about my ability to pass a networking test. Networking is perhaps my weakest subject, having spent less than a week at school covering the subject. So the last few days I've been reading up on the OSI model, TCP/IP, wireless networking, routers, LANs, WANs, WENs... My eyeballs are swimming in acronyms. On top of that, I was told that I could only miss 5 questions on the test to qualify for an interview. Let's just say I wasn't planning on being interviewed.
Imagine my surprise when I was.
Then I was told that there weren't any more of the part-time positions that I had applied for, but since I was interested in full-time, they'd see if there were any available. "We'll call you" I was told. That's often not a good sign in my experience.
Less than an hour later, I got a call.
Starting Monday, I'll be attending a week of training for my new, full time position as a support technician for Aradiant Corporation, working on the D-Link support team.
I still don't know how well I did on the test...but you can bet I'm still studying my networking books. I'm taking notes now.
I went to a job interview this morning, filled out the application and various other forms and took a test on networking support. I was quite concerned about my ability to pass a networking test. Networking is perhaps my weakest subject, having spent less than a week at school covering the subject. So the last few days I've been reading up on the OSI model, TCP/IP, wireless networking, routers, LANs, WANs, WENs... My eyeballs are swimming in acronyms. On top of that, I was told that I could only miss 5 questions on the test to qualify for an interview. Let's just say I wasn't planning on being interviewed.
Imagine my surprise when I was.
Then I was told that there weren't any more of the part-time positions that I had applied for, but since I was interested in full-time, they'd see if there were any available. "We'll call you" I was told. That's often not a good sign in my experience.
Less than an hour later, I got a call.
Starting Monday, I'll be attending a week of training for my new, full time position as a support technician for Aradiant Corporation, working on the D-Link support team.
I still don't know how well I did on the test...but you can bet I'm still studying my networking books. I'm taking notes now.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
JHD-blog...R.I.P.
Well, it was ugly, and at times it looked like the little varmint would escape the fate in store for it, but last night I decided to kill off the blog attached to my Jebers.com website. It clung desperately to life, refusing to be deleted from my host as a unit, forcing me to go in and rip out its guts one file at a time.
I never read what I call "blah-blah" blogs. You know, the ones that are filled with entries that read, "Today I bought new shoes. They're really cool" or other topics that mark them as totally personal blogs. I don't mind them, or think they somehow devalue blogging, I just don't read them. I try hard to make my postings fun to read, and as I'm operating on just a few remaining brain cells (did I mention I'm getting older and should have taken better care of myself?) I'm finding it enough to try and maintain my four main blogs, two on Blogger and two on Type Pad. Each has its own purpose, but JHD-blog didn't. It consisted of entries better posted to my forum. Since I couldn't justify its existence, I knew it must die.
This incident made me aware of another reality. As much as I like and use WS_FTP, there are times that the FTP function built into Power Desk 6 functions so much better. Working with a folder on a remote site as if it were on your local drive is intuitive and easy.
I never read what I call "blah-blah" blogs. You know, the ones that are filled with entries that read, "Today I bought new shoes. They're really cool" or other topics that mark them as totally personal blogs. I don't mind them, or think they somehow devalue blogging, I just don't read them. I try hard to make my postings fun to read, and as I'm operating on just a few remaining brain cells (did I mention I'm getting older and should have taken better care of myself?) I'm finding it enough to try and maintain my four main blogs, two on Blogger and two on Type Pad. Each has its own purpose, but JHD-blog didn't. It consisted of entries better posted to my forum. Since I couldn't justify its existence, I knew it must die.
This incident made me aware of another reality. As much as I like and use WS_FTP, there are times that the FTP function built into Power Desk 6 functions so much better. Working with a folder on a remote site as if it were on your local drive is intuitive and easy.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Well, this is interesting...II
I think that is enough for a review. See the previous empty entry? That was a rather lengthy post all about how I was checking out this software to do remote blogging called BlogWeaver, and how I intended to review it once I'd used it a few times. Well, after the first usage I went to uninstall it, and found out it doesn't want to uninstall via add/remove programs , either. Read the full review here. I should have it published pretty soon. (Hint: don't waste your time)
Friday, November 19, 2004
Saturday, November 13, 2004
The merry month of December
Since I'm too old to move back home to Mom's house, I've decided to move her in with me. Actually, due to circumstances, Mom will be moving in with me next month, the very same month my current job comes to an end. You say coincidence, I say the stuff is all hitting the fan at the same time.
Not that I don't think her moving in here isn't a good idea. She can't really afford to rent her own house on her limited income and at 81, she needs someone who can check in on her on a daily basis. Neither one of us is a very social person, so it's not like our parties are going to disturb one another. And we both enjoy spending time on the computer. So I imagine we'll get along OK. But it is going to be very weird for a while. Despite the fact we're good friends, I haven't lived in her house since I was 16 years old, 34 years ago, and she's lived independently for those years as well. It's going to be quite an adjustment for us both. Meanwhile, I've rented a storage unit to fill with all our extra furniture and everything else that won't fit in the house with two people living here. There's a lot of work to be done between now and then. And a full-time job to think about as well. Then, come January, all that activity will be over. That's when I'm planning on having my nervous breakdown.
I need another cup...
Not that I don't think her moving in here isn't a good idea. She can't really afford to rent her own house on her limited income and at 81, she needs someone who can check in on her on a daily basis. Neither one of us is a very social person, so it's not like our parties are going to disturb one another. And we both enjoy spending time on the computer. So I imagine we'll get along OK. But it is going to be very weird for a while. Despite the fact we're good friends, I haven't lived in her house since I was 16 years old, 34 years ago, and she's lived independently for those years as well. It's going to be quite an adjustment for us both. Meanwhile, I've rented a storage unit to fill with all our extra furniture and everything else that won't fit in the house with two people living here. There's a lot of work to be done between now and then. And a full-time job to think about as well. Then, come January, all that activity will be over. That's when I'm planning on having my nervous breakdown.
I need another cup...
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Progress...
The development of Jebers.com is coming along, but the forum is already in place and ready for visitors. Please stop by, and if you feel so inclined, become a member. Let's talk about the topics of concern to all of us...how computers work and what impact they have on our lives. Do you have gardening questions, want to brag about your pets? Share with us. Jeber's Help Desk is all about the human in front of the keyboard as much as it is the machine on the other side. Come by and see for yourself.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
A perfect end to the week
OK, so it's my Friday night (I know it's only Wednesday, but I get the next two days off, thus...) and it's 10:00PM. I get off work at 10:30, and there are no calls waiting to be answered.
Usually, we hate this. It's too early to log out, but we dread that last call that may take us into overtime and earn us the displeasure of the payroll department. So about 2 minutes later I get a call. Uh-oh. And it's someone with a "yearly" pin number, meaning they get unlimited number of support calls for a year. But many of the yearly folk think that means they can talk for an unlimited amount of time on each call. They tend to like to chat. And that really messes up our que for other callers, who have to wait for us to get free of these.
So I reluctantly answered the call. The caller said, "I don't really have any issues, I just have a suggestion. This help desk should offer Linux support. I just wiped Windows off my computer and loaded SUSE 9.1 two days ago, and I love it." That cracked me up. My last call on a "Friday" night, and I get to talk Linux. What a perfect way to end the week.
Thanks, new friend, for letting me leave work this week with a smile on my face. I hope to meet you again in Scot's forum.
Usually, we hate this. It's too early to log out, but we dread that last call that may take us into overtime and earn us the displeasure of the payroll department. So about 2 minutes later I get a call. Uh-oh. And it's someone with a "yearly" pin number, meaning they get unlimited number of support calls for a year. But many of the yearly folk think that means they can talk for an unlimited amount of time on each call. They tend to like to chat. And that really messes up our que for other callers, who have to wait for us to get free of these.
So I reluctantly answered the call. The caller said, "I don't really have any issues, I just have a suggestion. This help desk should offer Linux support. I just wiped Windows off my computer and loaded SUSE 9.1 two days ago, and I love it." That cracked me up. My last call on a "Friday" night, and I get to talk Linux. What a perfect way to end the week.
Thanks, new friend, for letting me leave work this week with a smile on my face. I hope to meet you again in Scot's forum.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
It's alive!
I've posted my custom "place holder" page to Jebers.com. I hope it isn't there for long, that I'll soon have at least the main page ready to put up. I'll also be adding a fun little FAQ page to Jeber.net. I'm back to using Dreamweaver for most of the composing, but thanks to Josh's inspiration, I've been trying to make more use of CSS.
One tip you may find useful. SP2 breaks Dreamweaver if DW is already installed. But if you uninstall it, load SP2 then reinstall DW, it seems to work just fine. I have no idea why, or if this will work for you. But it's working fine for me. I do have DW in a separate partiton from Windows. Perhaps that makes the difference.
Keep Jeber's Help Desk in mind, and send me your ideas, tips and suggestions (jebers.help.desk "at" gmail.com). It's all appreciated. And a huge thanks to Scot, Chris, Josh and all my friends at Scot's and Lockergnome forums. You've all truly been an inspiration.
One tip you may find useful. SP2 breaks Dreamweaver if DW is already installed. But if you uninstall it, load SP2 then reinstall DW, it seems to work just fine. I have no idea why, or if this will work for you. But it's working fine for me. I do have DW in a separate partiton from Windows. Perhaps that makes the difference.
Keep Jeber's Help Desk in mind, and send me your ideas, tips and suggestions (jebers.help.desk "at"
Friday, October 01, 2004
Coming soon...
As of today, I'm the proud owner of the Jebers.com domain name. This is the first step in my determination to carve out my own little niche on the World Wide Web.
Those of you who know me as Jeber may wonder why Jebers. Once I have the site up, you'll see that I intend to use that in the possessive, and the site's name will be Jeber's Help Desk.
Lest you think I only intend to make the site computer-centric, I'll let you in on some of my thinking in regards to the planned content of Jebers.com. There certainly will be computer help offered, both for Windows and Linux. Now that I'm involved in offering computer help both for a living and as a pastime, I'm coming across information every day I want to pass along to others. At work I'm totally in a Windows environment, one that covers every operating system from 95 to XP, and eventually, if it ever gets released, Longhorn. At home, I'm using and learning about Linux. Both have their strengths, both have their weaknesses. Both are far more complex than the average user ever notices. While trying to stay focused on the everyday user, I'll also try to include content for the more advanced. But that's only half, perhaps three-quarters, of what I want to include on my new site.
There will also be humor. I intend to eventually incorporate my "Really Bad Computer Advice" page into the site, and open it for contributions from my friends. There will also be some of the lighter moments of life at a real-life help desk. I hope you'll get a chuckle out of some of the things we hear and situations we deal with on a daily basis. Humor is such a wonderful thing. It's gotten me through some very tough times, and I value the benefit it can bring into our lives. I really enjoy bringing humor into my life, and yours.
Finally, Jeber's Help Desk will offer personal help. This is an area I've been trying to figure out how to explore for many months. I am both a licensed minister in the state of California and an atheist. For those of you who may think you see a glaring inconsistency there, let me elaborate. I do believe humans are special creations, as are all living things on this planet. I do not believe we are the creations of a supernatural power. I do not believe we were created for some purpose known only to a select few. I believe all life is an amazing coincidence, something that could only occur one time out of a billion. That makes all life special and unique. If we were simply the good idea of a supernatural power, doesn't it make sense that power would have repeated that practice elsewhere? Yet we have thus far failed to detect any other life anywhere in the known universe. I accept that is because trillions of factors have to be "just right" to produce what we know as life. So I value all life very highly. Every living thing is like a fingerprint, never repeated exactly the same. And as a human myself, I have a special affection for my own species. I think humans are wonderfully complex, interesting and generally nice to know. But we are also social animals, and as such suffer many problems caused by our need to fit into a societies that often don't produce happiness in our lives. I want to do my small part to increase the happiness in the lives of those who stop by Jebers.com. In my 50 years, I've had my share of good times and bad, and I've learned a lot from those I've met along the road. I want to not only share what I've learned, but to provide a venue for others to share the wisdom they've gleaned over the years as well. I hope to set up a forum at some point to allow my friends (and anyone who visits with good intentions is a friend) to share their knowledge of computers as well as their knowledge of the human existence. My goal is to make everyone who visits smarter and happier by the time they leave.
Don't go racing over to Jebers.com just yet. It may be several days before I even have a chance to set up the general design of the place. Even then there will be frequent changes and tweaks until I get it into the shape I desire. Josh knows exactly what I mean (he's my secret source of all good web design advice...not that I follow his lead as often as I should). Meanwhile, enjoy my blogs and Jeber.net. I'll be adding content to all of them in the next day or two.
Be happy, compute...and stay tuned.
Those of you who know me as Jeber may wonder why Jebers. Once I have the site up, you'll see that I intend to use that in the possessive, and the site's name will be Jeber's Help Desk.
Lest you think I only intend to make the site computer-centric, I'll let you in on some of my thinking in regards to the planned content of Jebers.com. There certainly will be computer help offered, both for Windows and Linux. Now that I'm involved in offering computer help both for a living and as a pastime, I'm coming across information every day I want to pass along to others. At work I'm totally in a Windows environment, one that covers every operating system from 95 to XP, and eventually, if it ever gets released, Longhorn. At home, I'm using and learning about Linux. Both have their strengths, both have their weaknesses. Both are far more complex than the average user ever notices. While trying to stay focused on the everyday user, I'll also try to include content for the more advanced. But that's only half, perhaps three-quarters, of what I want to include on my new site.
There will also be humor. I intend to eventually incorporate my "Really Bad Computer Advice" page into the site, and open it for contributions from my friends. There will also be some of the lighter moments of life at a real-life help desk. I hope you'll get a chuckle out of some of the things we hear and situations we deal with on a daily basis. Humor is such a wonderful thing. It's gotten me through some very tough times, and I value the benefit it can bring into our lives. I really enjoy bringing humor into my life, and yours.
Finally, Jeber's Help Desk will offer personal help. This is an area I've been trying to figure out how to explore for many months. I am both a licensed minister in the state of California and an atheist. For those of you who may think you see a glaring inconsistency there, let me elaborate. I do believe humans are special creations, as are all living things on this planet. I do not believe we are the creations of a supernatural power. I do not believe we were created for some purpose known only to a select few. I believe all life is an amazing coincidence, something that could only occur one time out of a billion. That makes all life special and unique. If we were simply the good idea of a supernatural power, doesn't it make sense that power would have repeated that practice elsewhere? Yet we have thus far failed to detect any other life anywhere in the known universe. I accept that is because trillions of factors have to be "just right" to produce what we know as life. So I value all life very highly. Every living thing is like a fingerprint, never repeated exactly the same. And as a human myself, I have a special affection for my own species. I think humans are wonderfully complex, interesting and generally nice to know. But we are also social animals, and as such suffer many problems caused by our need to fit into a societies that often don't produce happiness in our lives. I want to do my small part to increase the happiness in the lives of those who stop by Jebers.com. In my 50 years, I've had my share of good times and bad, and I've learned a lot from those I've met along the road. I want to not only share what I've learned, but to provide a venue for others to share the wisdom they've gleaned over the years as well. I hope to set up a forum at some point to allow my friends (and anyone who visits with good intentions is a friend) to share their knowledge of computers as well as their knowledge of the human existence. My goal is to make everyone who visits smarter and happier by the time they leave.
Don't go racing over to Jebers.com just yet. It may be several days before I even have a chance to set up the general design of the place. Even then there will be frequent changes and tweaks until I get it into the shape I desire. Josh knows exactly what I mean (he's my secret source of all good web design advice...not that I follow his lead as often as I should). Meanwhile, enjoy my blogs and Jeber.net. I'll be adding content to all of them in the next day or two.
Be happy, compute...and stay tuned.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
How may I help you?
Hey, it's better than "Would you like fries with that". At least for my circumstances, anyway. So the week and a half of training is over, and tomorrow we "go live". Wednesday will be our first day on the phones by ourselves, each of us squirrelled away in our own little cubicle (mine is #35, if you're ever in the neighborhood stop by and say hi), with all our notes and cheat sheets of useful URLs. The facts of help desk operation are probably familiar to anyone who has ever had to call one. You call up and tell us your problem, we write up a trouble ticket and attempt to do our best to solve it. But did you ever realize that there's a good reason why the advice you usually get is "format and reinstall"?
I remember a couple of years ago hearing people complain that all techs ever advised was to "format and reinstall". It seemed like a cop-out. "I don't really want to take the time to really solve your problem, so let's just fdisk your hard drive and start all over." But having heard many calls now, I realize that often that's the best advice you will get. You've added and removed hardware to the point where there is no "original" system left for me to go by. You've done the same with software. I have no way to tell how, or how well, you removed all traces of that software. Then you failed to install, update, or even use anti-virus software. You don't have a firewall, or have never configured it to do its job. So finally you call me...with your system full of spyware , adware, viruses, leftovers of extinct software and a few new pieces of hardware that may or may not have been installed properly. And since you're paying by the minute, you expect to have a solution, and a pristine system, within ten minutes or so. In that amount of time, I can probably tell that the only way you are ever going to get a factory-fresh system again is to format and reinstall your OS. Anything less is going to leave you with a vulnerable system that may or may not be fully healed. And you should remember, you were the one who inflicted the damage, not the help desk tech trying to help you. Don't get irritated with me because I can't undo in ten minutes what you've had months, perhaps years, to do.
As we've often said in both Scot's forum and in Lockergnome, the best habit you can develope when it comes to owning a personal computer is BACK UP YOUR DATA ON A REGULAR BASIS!! If it's important to you, make sure you have a backup copy somewhere besides on your hard drive. Then when you've finally gunked up your system to the point where I have no better option to suggest than that you format your hard drive and reinstall your OS, you will have everything important already preserved, and perhaps we can get your problem solved in just a few minutes.
I remember a couple of years ago hearing people complain that all techs ever advised was to "format and reinstall". It seemed like a cop-out. "I don't really want to take the time to really solve your problem, so let's just fdisk your hard drive and start all over." But having heard many calls now, I realize that often that's the best advice you will get. You've added and removed hardware to the point where there is no "original" system left for me to go by. You've done the same with software. I have no way to tell how, or how well, you removed all traces of that software. Then you failed to install, update, or even use anti-virus software. You don't have a firewall, or have never configured it to do its job. So finally you call me...with your system full of spyware , adware, viruses, leftovers of extinct software and a few new pieces of hardware that may or may not have been installed properly. And since you're paying by the minute, you expect to have a solution, and a pristine system, within ten minutes or so. In that amount of time, I can probably tell that the only way you are ever going to get a factory-fresh system again is to format and reinstall your OS. Anything less is going to leave you with a vulnerable system that may or may not be fully healed. And you should remember, you were the one who inflicted the damage, not the help desk tech trying to help you. Don't get irritated with me because I can't undo in ten minutes what you've had months, perhaps years, to do.
As we've often said in both Scot's forum and in Lockergnome, the best habit you can develope when it comes to owning a personal computer is BACK UP YOUR DATA ON A REGULAR BASIS!! If it's important to you, make sure you have a backup copy somewhere besides on your hard drive. Then when you've finally gunked up your system to the point where I have no better option to suggest than that you format your hard drive and reinstall your OS, you will have everything important already preserved, and perhaps we can get your problem solved in just a few minutes.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Emotional Rollercoaster
This week has certainly taxed my emotional stability. Yesterday Sam and I said our final farewell (after he'd won about 8 more admirers at the Vet's office...I tell you, his eyes were magical) then today I received the phone call I've been waiting for over a year. An offer of a real, full-time job. It's a help desk position for Gateway Computers, and it's in the United States! 8-D The pay is half what I made at my last job, but I can live with that for the time being. I've never had a job where I stayed at my starting wage more than 3 months. Yes, I'm self-confident and aggressive in going after better positions. But I'm also more comfortable leading than following, and most of my former employers noticed that after a while. Considering the last two computers I've torn down to the motherboard and rebuilt have been Gateway's, I'm pretty familiar with their hardware. Now I've got to get back to boning up on my knowledge of Windows. I've been trying to learn Linux so much that I've somewhat neglected my Windows partition. No more. I've got 3 days to review my basic A+ stuff, then start on the really hard parts.
This is good for two reasons. I really did need a job, and a job in a field I'm already passionate about. More importantly, I needed a distraction from the empty porch...the missing bark of welcome...those eyes.
This is good for two reasons. I really did need a job, and a job in a field I'm already passionate about. More importantly, I needed a distraction from the empty porch...the missing bark of welcome...those eyes.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Sam's last week
Sam, my faithful Malamute mix, has passed his 14th, and last birthday. I adopted him as a two year old from an animal shelter in Idaho. I was helping out at the shelter in my free time. (I'd already learned how to avoid the temptation to adopt every unwanted cat that came through the place, going so far as to help with the process of euthanasia to cure my notion that every animal could be saved. Reality is often ugly, and I refuse to avoid the ugly parts. Without experiencing them, I can't fully appreciate the beautiful parts.) For more than two weeks this Mal-mix had sat in the shelter after being found running loose. When it became obvious no one would be coming to claim him, he was scheduled to be put down. But when I went into his enclosure to bring him out for the injection, I made the mistake of looking in his large brown eyes. Their was intelligence there, and a plea I couldn't ignore. That day he became Sam and joined my family.
As it always is with death, it can only be postponed, never avoided. For the last twelve years Sam has avoided his fate while being a wonderful and fun companion. Though most dogs his size are fortunate to live ten to twelve years, Sam has managed to hang on for a couple of extra. But now he's past the point of enjoying his existance. His rear legs can barely support him, his fur is starting to come out in clumps and he hardly moves. In short, his time is at an end. On the 18th, next Wednesday, we'll take one last road trip to the vets and he will cease having to endure the pain and disabilities that plague him now. Once more I'll be saying goodbye to a decade long friend. One of the saddest things about growing older is losing those close to you. Then one day, you are the one to leave your friends behind. It is an inescapeable fact of life. It begins, and it ends. I hope I leave with the grace and dignity Sam has shown. And as I've said many times, humans would be showing their true humanity if we allowed ourselves to bring a peaceful and quiet death to one another like we permit ourselves to do with our animal companions.
Sam and I will enjoy our last week together. Then he'll leave, yet live on in my memories and in my heart.
As it always is with death, it can only be postponed, never avoided. For the last twelve years Sam has avoided his fate while being a wonderful and fun companion. Though most dogs his size are fortunate to live ten to twelve years, Sam has managed to hang on for a couple of extra. But now he's past the point of enjoying his existance. His rear legs can barely support him, his fur is starting to come out in clumps and he hardly moves. In short, his time is at an end. On the 18th, next Wednesday, we'll take one last road trip to the vets and he will cease having to endure the pain and disabilities that plague him now. Once more I'll be saying goodbye to a decade long friend. One of the saddest things about growing older is losing those close to you. Then one day, you are the one to leave your friends behind. It is an inescapeable fact of life. It begins, and it ends. I hope I leave with the grace and dignity Sam has shown. And as I've said many times, humans would be showing their true humanity if we allowed ourselves to bring a peaceful and quiet death to one another like we permit ourselves to do with our animal companions.
Sam and I will enjoy our last week together. Then he'll leave, yet live on in my memories and in my heart.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
The rise of Technocracy
Chris Pirillo is going to kick off a new channel dealing with Technocracy soon, and he's going to allow me, Mike (my good buddy from Lockergnome), Georganna and David (fellow members of WebSanDiego) to be the initial contributors. So what the heck is a Technocracy channel? It's going to be a webblog and newsletter covering every aspect of the affect that the web has on our daily lives. We'll talk about how the Internet has impacted religion, government, business, education, the workplace, the schoolroom, even interpersonal relationships. If it's technology and it touches our lives, we'll dig up the stories and give you the links.
I'm excited about this because I've come to be quite interested in the future of technology in our lives. From the interactive home to the ability to communicate across physical borders, the Internet is going to have dramatic effects on our lives...so much more than it has already. Now that we have a vehicle that makes it possible for every person on the planet to have a voice, nothing will ever again be quite the same. Even the humble blog is becoming more than a way for anyone to share their thoughts and opinions with us all. It's becomming the "news source" of a wired generation. Stories will be blogged well before the major news outlets can get their stories written, polished and in the hands of their talking heads for the 6 o'clock broadcast. Blogs have become the new "Stars and Stripes" for our men and women in combat zones. We can now hear voices previously silenced by repressive governments.
Technocracy is the future. The Internet is the future. I think that's very kewl.
I'm excited about this because I've come to be quite interested in the future of technology in our lives. From the interactive home to the ability to communicate across physical borders, the Internet is going to have dramatic effects on our lives...so much more than it has already. Now that we have a vehicle that makes it possible for every person on the planet to have a voice, nothing will ever again be quite the same. Even the humble blog is becoming more than a way for anyone to share their thoughts and opinions with us all. It's becomming the "news source" of a wired generation. Stories will be blogged well before the major news outlets can get their stories written, polished and in the hands of their talking heads for the 6 o'clock broadcast. Blogs have become the new "Stars and Stripes" for our men and women in combat zones. We can now hear voices previously silenced by repressive governments.
Technocracy is the future. The Internet is the future. I think that's very kewl.
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