Lumpday

The week's swollen middle was largely uneventful. A good time to take stock, and get back in touch with some folks who had sorta fallen through the cracks. Basically, sales calls.

I'm an engineer - I hate sales calls. But I do like working though, so...

Got a call from a client who had had an Uh-Oh moment when he deleted something. He didn't really know what something, but his laptop was throwing a hissy fit when he tried to load Outlook. Entirely too long story short, the user profile had been damaged. Of course, that step of the troubleshooting process came right after the Delete All Office Products and Reinstall steps. After creating a new profile and moving all his files from the old profile, he was good as new.

So, what else? Updated the York Place, HTTP, TCSL, and York Twp sites. Minor tweaks and new content here and there. And I ran with Wonder Dog. The first run of the year, with him, and he was pulling and tugging something fierce. I fear I will rather sore tomorrow.

Tuesday

This morning, I went for a slightly chilly bike ride. During the ride, I received a call from a customer, so I paid him a visit. Luckily, he's a contractor, so a slightly sweaty IT guy wasn't too inappropriate. I wouldn't make it a habit, though.

Anyway, his Vista Home laptop forgot about a printer that was attached via USB, and his Norton 360 installation was acting bad. The printer issue was rather easy; changed USB ports, the laptop found the printer, reinstalled the drivers and printed a test page.

Norton, as usual, is a bit more fragile. It hadn't finished the last full scan, and LiveUpdate didn't look like it would finish until the scan completed. Moreover, until it was correctly updated, it held the real time virus scan offline.

Have I mentioned I'm not a big fan of Norton Anti Virus products? My opinion, of course, does not reflect that of management, etc, etc.

If he hadn't recently renewed the subscription, he'd be running AVG right now.

In other events, I'll install the RDRAM this afternoon, finally.

Meeting at the club this evening, and a visit to St Joes will round out the day. My trip to St Joes concerns a member of the club (Tri County) who dumped his bike this past Saturday. He'll be OK, but it will take about a year of rehab and PT. We're all thankful for that.

Monday, Monday

I wish it was Stormy Monday; this pollen is doing me evil.

So, one appointment today, as stated yesterday, a PC not living up to its potential. We have no sympathy for slackers. The thing was, it wasn't really all that slow. It had a fair amount of spy/mal-ware (~30 odd bits) and was running some detritus it didn't need, but all in all, not too bad to start. We spent some time going over Cobian back up. Recommended.

Hmmm - sounds like a new feature. Recommended widget of the week. This week, download Cobian backup 9. Its dead simple to use; if you have questions, email me, but I guarantee that you'll be an expert in a few minutes.

An interesting question that came up a few times today was that of backup media. Well, while something is better than nothing, the real answer comes down to: It Depends. It all depends on what you want to back up, how large the archive is, and how persistent you need the back up to be. Consider:

• Back up only data you can't replace. Don't backup Audio CDs, Applications, and things you can download again


• Or, at least, only back them up once


• Remember, you're restricted to about 650MB on a CD, and 4.7 GB on a DVD. Plan accordingly.


• Do you want a thousand CDs cluttering the place up? Will a thumb drive fulfill your need? What about an external drive, or a web-based storage alternative? I tend to hate tapes (tough to verify integrity, replace annually at least, don't always work).

Your mileage may vary, but thats the opinion of the management.

Of the Weekend

Saline Leadership looks very interesting. I hadn't really been prepared for all the introspection and personal growth aspects. I won't give away too much of the plot; if you want to know what its about, you'll have to see for yourself. I look forward to learning more about the folks in it with me - twenty-three hardy souls along for this ride.

Also in the news, I received the power jack for the laptop I was repairing. Good as new now. That will be returned this week.

Still haven't installed the RDRAM. Hopefully Monday. I'd like to get that off my plate. One appointment booked for Monday so far - an under-performing PC.

Sunday, I'm busy most of the day with the Milan High School Sportsmans Club. They are a new adjunct of Tri County, focused on kids who like the outdoors, and who may not fit in too well with the social scene. Kind of mentoring/outdoors/conservation youth activities, all rolled in one.

As the week fizzles out

Wednesday was unnecessarily uneventful. These days happen. They are good for touching base with clients I haven't seen in a while.

I'll be out the rest of the week (TH & FR) at the retreat that starts the new year of the Saline Leadership Institute. Everyone I've spoken to speaks highly of it, so its time I found out for myself.

And, just to fill in those moments when I don't have things already going on, I joined the Home Builder's Assn. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesday

Started the day with a refreshing breakfast at Brecon Village, with the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce. Then went to Dundee to meet with the Five Wellness folks and learn more about their business. I met them through the Ann Arbor Chamber.

Thats what the Chamber of Commerce is all about - connections.

Finished up with a client's data migration that was started last week.

As the weather warms, so does the business climate... busy days are coming.

Monday

• Rather quiet today... caught up on paperwork.


• Received the RDRAM I ordered; I hope to get it installed w/in the next two days.


• Ran this afternoon... must get back in shape...


• I noticed I've surpassed one million people to whom I'm linked. Now, if only one-tenth would send me a dollar... kidding. A cool part is that I've received several recommendations. Click the LinkedIn link to see the profile.


• Its been recommended to me that I joint the Home Builder's Assn of Washtenaw County . While I don't know if I need to join another org, I'd have almost no competition (only Dynamic Edge, and I think we tend not to overlap). Guess I'll be joining the HBA.

Sunday Redux

I was handed a laptop by a member over at Tri County.
Surgery began promptly, and the ailment was discovered. It was as I feared, the DC power jack is cracked. Another one will need to be ordered. The part is very inexpensive, but the whole operation is very time consuming. The laptop lays now, waiting for its transplant, in a pile of parts.
Hopefully, it will be repaired and returned later in the week.

Did you know that the complete disassembly of pretty much any laptop is documented online? Pretty cool; surgery by illustrated guide.

Weekend

Saturday... visited two clients. One new client has a slow computer, and his situation can be summed up thus:
RAM - If you are running XP with less than 1GB then, yes, the PC will be slow.
Autostart Programs - not every installed product needs to start at login. Help services, update services, little resident apps that you use once in a while; all of thses can be started when needed, if at all.
After cleaning out all the crapware, we ordered him new ram (PC2100 2x1GB to replace his 1x256). I think the difference will be rather dramatic. Install next week.

The other Saturday client, with almost the exact same complaint, received his PC back. I had it at my place for a couple days to look it over. He did have some application level problems, namely with:
Memeo - some rubbish backup software that doesn't play well with others
Google Desktop - Running three instances (!) was quite a drain on his modest resources.
Really, does anyone need Google Desktop?
His new RAM (PC600 RDRAM -Pricey -) will arrive soon, and he'll be much happier.

Friday

Just catching up on old paperwork and stuff today. I'll be at the Saline Salutes event later - stop by and say HI!

Lets discuss - how is this whole social networking thing working out for you?
Are you involved in it at all?
Do you use your contacts?
Whats it done for you lately?

Thursday

Started with a meeting, then off to a new client to collect his HP desktop.
His complaint is that its running slowly. Yes, well, 256RAM will do that.
Trouble is, the beast (it has to weight 30 lbs) uses PC600 RDRAM. Very expensive - an upgrade to the 1GB the motherboard will support will cost about $300 installed.

For my part, I've installed the usual security apps and killed unnecessary programs.
He was using a POS from Western Digital (I think) called Memeo to make backups. The system logs show that it also causes a lot of errors. I think I'll help him set up NT Backup instead.
The sw came with a WD external drive. The drive works fine, the sw is rubbish. That reminds me of all the heartache I had trying to get Yosemite to work with a Dell tape drive. Absolutely worthless.

Went to the Washtenaw County library by the Sheriff's office for training on how to use the county web servers. They use a content management system that looks really simple. Artistically constrained, but simple. I'll start administrating the York Township web site the first of May.

Still no word on the web admin credentials for the Friends of NRA site.... soon, I expect.

MidWeek Activities and a Ponderation on Advertising

Tuesday evening, while out walking Rocco, the Wonder Dog, I occasioned to chat with a neighbor. His family had moved in to the sub quite recently, but well before I drove around and deposited advertising fliers. He recognized my name, and hired me to retrieve his data from an old hard drive. How cool is that?

Wednesday, I burned a DVD for him after I returned from the Ann Arbor Chamber's Morning Edition at Weber's. Today's ME featured a live performance of Radio Free Bacon. I must confess that I had no bloody idea what that meant, but it was quite enjoyable live radio theatre.

Anyway, the topic of this post was really about flier advertising. I really, really didn't think it would be effective; but, of course, if it wasn't, why would I receive so many fliers every week? My completely unscientific polling leads me to conclude that the best one can hope to achieve from fliers is about a 1% response. In my case, I would then expect about 6 new clients from the 600 fliers I distributed. On the one hand that sounds like a horrible waste of time, but on the other, six satisfied clients could recommend their friends, and lead to increased sales.

I also have considered print and radio ads. Can one expect a response ratio of 1% from print or radio; can anyone even try to capture that metric? What about cost per client?

If I put out 600 fliers, printed at Pack n Mail for about $286, and get 4 clients (response = 0.67%, at a cost per client of $71.50) is that more or less economical than a print/online ad at Saline Reporter, Ann Arbor News, or on Ann Arbor Radio? I've spoken to representatives of these fine institutions, and they can't give a definite yes/no. I don't think anyone can.

O, and I've done the Craigslist thing. I put a new ad in there every week or two. So far, I've received only one qualified lead, and that was for a small ticket service call. Pure profit, yes, really effective... no, I don't think so.

I suppose all this begs the question - Whats the best way to reach interested potential clients, and how does a social networking paradigm fit in?

Monday

A lovely Spring Monday.
Spent all day rebuilding a client's desktop.
In addition to having the OS frakked by a failed restore install, the on board NIC and USB controller are unstable. Thats easily fixed with cards, but is it an indication of troubles to come?

Weekend

Spent all Saturday at Tri County, instructing a multitude of Boy Scouts in the fine art of air rifle shooting. Firing it is easy and painless, being accurate is anything but.

They did have a fun day, and thats what counts.

Sunday was a bit more restful. Return a client's laptop (now running faster) and muck about with household chores.

Friday

Another Friday. To keep my audience in suspense would just be cruel.

I started with a short tutorial at the home of a current customer.
They had questions - I had answers.

Then I picked up a laptop from a new customer. Its a slow, slow beast, but given all the merde running on it, I'm not surprised.

Had a lunch meeting, then back to finish the laptop.

What a day - 70 degrees, tornado warnings, windy... Gotta Love It: Springtime!

Thursday

Meetings... meetings... Gave a ten minute presentation on what exactly it is I do. I always like to let the audience interject questions - it guides the discussion and fills out the time. And, actually, it transcends the usual format of a lecture and makes it a discussion, which is what I prefer. I could talk about PCs all day. How sad is that?

Got four referrals today:
* Slow PC (looks like RAM and or crapware)
* Slow PC (looks like a harware issue)
Update: I'll be taking these next Thursday.
* Slow PC (more crapware most likely)
* Office system (your humble IT department awaits)

Lunch at 4 Points with Ann Arbor Chamber NetWorks, then to a meeting this evening in which I volunteer to help with Saline's Celtic Fest. More on that as it develops.

Update: Interesting speaker - Eleni Kalakos discussed making an interesting presentation isn't about shiny power point presentations, but rather about people- and communications skills. Works for me.

Wednesday

Finished my INC paperwork; I am now a full-fledged corporate entity.

Went to Ypsi Chamber's Coffee Clatch. Always nice face time, and any excuse to visit Bombadill's is fine by me.

My lawyer rang up this evening - the PC I had rebuilt about three weeks ago threw a DEP exception and died. Locked up tight. Crud... this will be a time consuming one.

Update: Looks like the motherboard. Power is ok, RAM ok, HDD works in external enclosure, removing cards and DVD drives doesn't make a difference. Says MoBo and /or CPU to me. They will likely go with a new PC rather than repair.

Yikes - they are considering a MAC!

Tuesday

Busy, busy Tuesday.

Started with a meeting, then went straight in to three appointments.
First, a new client in Milan who is already running an online business and would like to start another, needed better security. I'll say - we know that we can't take that for granted.

Then, I drove out to the Jackson/Zeeb area to visit an existing client with difficulty reaching files in the MyDocuments folder. This issue was related to last Friday's removal of a former employee from the administrator accounts on the server. I think he connected since then, and synchronized his credentials... and lost the ability to connect to private files created when he was a member of the admin group. I set up a local admin account on the laptop and transferred the files to that account. There was no local admin account besides the default one, so that needed to be done anyway.

Then, off to a new client in downtown Ann Arbor. I met one of the employees when they were still renting space in SPARK. Their new offices are nice, and they needed the wireless locked down. Set it up, and reconnected their five workstations. They also have a wireless printer; but no server. I can empathize with wanting to save money, but having a central location for print spooling, backups, DNS/DHCP, access control, etc, is kinda the way to go.

Finally, a couple hours to regroup, and another meeting tonight.

I'm not griping... beats having free time. Emphasis on the Free.

All You Know is at an End

I guess we'll need to stop blogging... its killing us. KILLING!

Yes, I'm mocking the reports. Breathless reports of the perils of addictive blogging are to be mocked as much as the hysterical reports of the Korean youngsters who play WoW until they expire.

No billable hours today, but some meetings that I hope will yield fruit later on. No, I won't tell you about them. Ok, maybe soon.

Friday

So what do you do when an employee leaves the company? Change passwords, delete personal folders, etc, right? What about when the employee is a part owner, and the separation is amicable? That can be sticky, as the feelings of all parties involved will run the gamut.
My advice - complete separation. One is either on or off the bus.
My client's desire was to have all the admin level passwords changed, remove the partner from admin groups, and leave it be. Ok. Customer knows best.

Thursday

SO today, no scheduled appointments. Good time to keep plugging away on Sharepoint. I got the Server 2008 install running, Sharepoint services running, Visual Studio 2008 running... all I need is to do something useful now.

Morning meeting followed by a stop at the Saline Chamber to pay up for Saline Salutes.

Wednesday

The figurative hump of the week. And what occupied the growing HTTP today?

• Began the day at my township office, bidding to get their web maintenance and IT services contract. I can provide a better level of service and customer service than their current provider. We'll see, hopefully soon


• Then did the RAM upgrade that had been postponed for parts delivery. The client has a Dell Optiplex GX1, which is now a fairly sprightly machine. However, there was a tense moment when I forgot that Dell cases often have an intrusion detection switch enabled. I remembered that the reset is in the BIOS, but no key press that I tried got me to the BIOS setup screen. The trick is to do nothing, and the setup will prompt on its own. They're happy campers now, and they'll get a few more years from their PC.


• And lastly, I was given responsibility for the Michigan part of a non-profit organization's web site. That's pretty huge. Yes, OK, it doesn't technically pay anything, but it could lead to other things.

So thats that for a Wednesday. Things are picking up pretty well.

Tuesday

Not much today.

Monthly breakfast with the Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce; interesting speaker who dared to mention that increased bureaucracy won't save Michigan. Don't waste time waiting for the Big Three, the Feds, or even the state to bail us out. Hoist those bootstraps. These are interesting times, and I think that the people who position themselves intelligently will prosper greatly when the pendulum swings back.
Update: The morning speech was written up by Rick Fitzgerald in the Ann Arbor News Wednesday. Rick was at my table for breakfast. Kinda cool.

A couple of leads:

• Another website to toss together, this time from a neighbor I spoke with about 8 months ago. Very cool that they remembered me. I'll likely meet with them later today.


• A possible referral for some printer and PC help in A2. I do love helping people. Hopefully, I'll get a call back, and we'll get them all sorted out.

Some Boy Scout volunteer work later today... busy, busy.