See through trucks.

Ever get stuck behind one of those big trucks that you can never see around? You try inching over to see around it, only to almost take out a motorcycle with your mirror. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just see though them?

I had this idea. What if you could look through these large trucks? They have rear view cameras on large motor homes. Why not reverse that camera? Put it on the front of the truck and pull the monitor from the dash, to the rear of the truck?

Maybe mount a fair sized display inside the rear door. Just above eye sight? The camera would be mounted on the front in such a way, that when traffic begins to stop in front of the truck, you’ll know in advance.

Of course, you would have to figure out how to keep it from being stolen, or someone spraying graffiti all over it. But I just come up with the ideas. I usually give it to Ryan or Jen to implement.

Poor Economy and the Service Industry.

This economy has hit many sectors pretty hard. I'm constantly hearing about friends getting laid off from their jobs, friends of friends that got fired, significant others out of work, and employees getting no hours at an hourly job.

Today, we had to let a coworker go in my department. Not just a coworker, but a friend. Now, I know times are tough and this recession is making it difficult for most companies to get by, but in the service industry, "service" is key. If you don't offer the "service" to the client that they expect, you don't have a client.

The company I work for, and more specifically the department, offers IT technical support both on-site and remotely. Our client's are far from computer literate and take a great deal of hand holding to get through the simplest of tasks.

Today, the company had no choice in letting this coworker go. We are feeling the economical crunch, this employee was a recent hire, and the availability was not there. I understand these reasons, and agree that there was no other choice as of today. Having said that, I believe this could have been avoided if it was addressed before today.

As I said before, we offer on-site and remote tech support. When we are not on-site or billing for remote support, we are in the red. We have been slow the last few months, but we've kept our head above the water longer than most. This means we had time to better asess the situation and prepare for this. We knew it could happen, because it was happening all around us. I believe management completely dropped the ball. Rather than being proactive and calling clients to see how everything was going and if there was any service we might provide, they hoped for business to pick up. Hope is good, but it doesn't pay the bills.

Now, you may think that management would let the worst employee or the over paid employee go. Not in this case. This employee was neither of those and was in fact willing to work after hours, weekends, and showed a level of dedication that even management lacks. This employee could show the utmost level of patience with the clients, while completing other tasks. You never had to ask twice when you needed a task done, the clients never felt talked down to, and this individual also came up with ideas to improve and organize the company; thus saving money in a more substantial way than laying off a part time employee.

I guess I'm just ranting here, but I was hired at this company to turn things around. And now that we finally have most of the holes filled, like building a compitent staff, management turns around and starts doing things the old way. How can you fix something when the "powers that be" wont let you?

In the IT service industry, you have to keep on top of things. Otherwise, you get left behind. An IT company cannot run like it did 5 years ago (it can't even run like it did 2 years ago). If management doesn't get on the ball, we will be left behind.

Multiplayer Console Gaming

There's no better way to game, than to game with friends. I remember my friends and I playing the first Halo for days on Xbox. Sadly, however, those days seem to be coming to an end.


Multiplayer games seem to be moving away from the split screen and moving to online game play. All new games, on Xbox 360 or Sony PS3, are being released with a max of two players per console. This means, I have to gather multiple TV's and consoles in order to play with 3 of my friends.And while, we can always play online together, it's not quite the same as hanging out with them in person.


Don't get me wrong. The advancement of these games have come so far so fast, that the consoles can't really support 4 players at a time. I love the new graphics, physics engines, and huge online multiplayer experiance. But at the cost of that personal interaction?


With the local multiplayer match, I get to see my buddies face when I pwn him with the butt of my rifle. And him accusing me of screen cheating. (Excusses... Excusses...)


You would think that game developers would be able to find a happy medium someplace. I mean, do they think gamers don't have friends IRL? I'd gladly give up some of the graphics to be able to see my friends frustration when I lob a grenade at his feet.


I guess I just have to buy another Xbox and a second Gears of War....

Microsoft TechNet Newsfeed Widget

Mac vs. PC

I'm sure we all have our own opinions on this subject. Some prefer PC... some prefer Mac...
I get client's asking me this question all the time, so I figured I would put my answer online for all to see.

...and maybe even throw a few facts out there. =)

My official answer is, to get what is right for you. What do You need your machine to do for You?

• Do you need to game like there's no tomorrow? Then you probably need a PC.
• Do you use Photoshop and do web development? Most podcasts I see, they're on a Mac.

My current job uses Mac Pro's for their servers. This means I have recently had to get used to the Apple environment. I can honestly say that if you have been using one environment and then move to the other, it will be frustrating at times. I can't tell you how many times the Ctrl-C keyboard combo still gets me.

"But there's no viruses on Apple." People who say this, scare me. There are infections for Mac. These are not as prevalent because Mac is only a small percentage of the platforms out there. If Mac was the juggernaut out there, then it would have all the infections.

As you have probably guessed, I use a PC. (No, I did NOT say "I'm a PC." =/ ) I can't justify almost $1k for a refurbished Mac notebook. (And that wouldn't help my Microsoft stock anyway.)

/rant

...and that's all I have to say about that!
Oh wait, it's been 2 years since I've posted to this.
I guess I'm not one to talk about myself. (Online at least.)

OK. So I'm watching Tekzilla...
And the subject of formatting your Windows box comes up. These people that format Windows once a year, know just enough to get themselves into trouble. There is rarely a reason to format your Windows machine. The best thing about Microsoft, is the fact that you can fix ANY issue that arises. My rule of thumb, if you have to format your box, you gave up. (I give up from time to time out of pure laziness.)
I know, I know. There are always exceptions to the rule... I have client's with machines that they use for 2 to 3 apps tops and no local data. When something goes wrong, formatting and installing these apps are often the best solution. (Time is money.)
The fact of the matter is, I find the Apple OS requires it more often. Maybe I just need to try harder and not give up. =)