Here’s what I look at when I get home from work and open my laptop. My current desktop includes a picture I took while crossing a river on a recent hike. What does my desktop say about me? A larger version of the screenshot can be seen at Flickr.
Being in the IT field, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people tell me they are having a problem, but don’t give me all the information or give incomplete information. Here are a few examples off the top of my head of times when people gave me either wrong information or incomplete information:
My printer doesn’t work.
What the user failed to tell me was that she had rearranged her office and there was no power outlet where she moved her printer.
My computer won’t start.
This is a tricky one because it could be a few thing. For example, someone once told me that, but what they really meant was “I forgot my password.” Another time, the problem was that the computer was up and running fine, but a certain application wouldn’t launch. Yet another time, someone told me this because when they moved the mouse or pressed a key on the keyboard, nothing happened. The solution was to turn on the PC.
I’m unable to receive faxes.
This person should have never called. The problem was that the power was off in the building and all around the city.
So what’s the point of this post? My point is that if you are telling someone about a problem you’re having with your computer, please be specific. “My computer isn’t working” just doesn’t work.
Last Sunday night, Braden was playing with some other kids when he went head first into a piece of metal. The gash on his head resulted in a trip to the ER and three staples.
The doctor in the ER gave us the tool to remove the staples. He said we could take them to Braden’s doctor and let her remove them. Becki talked to several friends who are nurses and they all said they would take them out if we wanted them to. They also said it wasn’t a big deal and we could do it ourselves. Becki wanted nothing to do with that, so today I got to take staples out of Braden’s head.
First, I had to figure out how to use the staple remover they gave us.
After scrubbing my arms up to my armpits (that’s how they do it on TV), I suited up for the procedure:
Ok, I don’t have proper nurse attire so I had to improvise.
Within just a minute, all three staples were out. Braden didn’t even flinch. What a trooper! And that concludes my nursing duties for a while. At least I hope I don’t have to change a catheter or bed pan anytime soon.
After hiking down to the Conasauga River in the Cohutta Wilderness, this is how I spent the day. Everyone should spend the day in a hammock by a river every once in a while.
Amazing video! While shooting this video, the camera was struck by lightning:
Because you insisted, here’s the unedited screaming version. I also added video from a minute before the lightning struck so you can get an idea of how hard it was raining. From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, just a really good zap!
The problem: there’s a connection on a cable you need to test, but it’s up in the ceiling with no slack to pull it down. It isn’t a typical Cat5 cable, and you don’t have a tool to test it. What do you do?
If you’re Chris, you hold a PC up and plug the cable into it to see if it works. I was laughing so hard I knew I needed a picture:
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.”
What do you want to know? I'm married, have two kids and live in Rome, GA. I'm Director of Information Technology by day, and lately it seems like at night as well.
