There are a million reasons why a computer is slow.
I show friends "tricks" to help keep them going but
eventually, it goes to the dogs. When you read about
keeping the computer updated with virus and spyware
programs, pop-up blockers and more, these all take a
piece of the cpu pie - a two edged sword I'm afraid. Well,
if you have Linus or a Mac, its a little better.
Should you desire some of Pete's tricks (once worked for
LandMark Systems as a performance tuning specialist),
let me know and I'll be more motivated for this corner.
Does the Service Engine Soon light come on too
often? I get it on my Nissan when I fill up at one
particular gas station in York corner. I have to go
to Irvine and put the best in to get the light to go
off. Anyway, if it does come on, its important to check the oil and anti-freeze levels carefully. Once I know that they are ok, then I suspect poor quality gas
or the car sitting on a slope for too long or even a burnt out sensor. Sometimes I cheat by disconnecting the battery for a minute or so, resetting the car computer(s) and it usually stays off.
At one company, we couldn't put up enough partitions to satisfy anyone. I thought, are
these people shy? Not working hard enough?
Bad enough the IT department had to do the
moving in the evening and these walls were
old, broken and ugly.
Whatever the reason, it was getting boring
and we had 70 Help Desk tickets open, no time
for this nonsense, I thought, so I bought some "dummy" cameras and mounted them on
the ceiling tiles, covering the work area of, well,
let's call them the "whiners." As soon as they
were spotted, the fireworks began. The whiners
quickly ran into their boss' office and started
complaining about being spyed on. He came
over to me who just happend to be in the area
early and said, "Pete, what's with the cameras?"
I said, "Mike, the big boss said the partitions
are so high, they want to make sure all is well."
"If there were less partitions, I think they would
have me take down the cameras." I was lying
like a dog or course and going to get into trouble,
but figured enough is enough, are we building
a fort or coming to work.
Long story short, some of the walls came down
and I was ordered to pull the cameras out. The
VP had a wry smile on his face when he told me
to get rid of the cameras. I jumped up and pulled
them all out in less than a minute. Everyone
who watched, yelled, "what about all the
wiring?" I said, "what wiring, what kind of
dummy do ya think I am, there dummy
cameras." I quickly headed for the hills as
whatever desk debris that could be thrown at
me - was. You can learn alot from a dummy.
Chair Wars
One morning, my boss Charlie came in early
and needed something at my desk for a meeting. He
flew around my big desk and jumped into the seat, but
only momentarily as he went flying, hitting his head
and missing a week's work. You see, my chair was just
a prop job, like the rest of the company really, held up
by duct tape. The right arm was hanging on by threads, the back loose and a wheel missing.
Well, the next day, a somewhat angry VP came to my desk and asked me why my chair was all taped up,
blaming his frugality on me I guess. I wanted to tell him, "Tim, you cheap #^%$#, why don't you get us new furniture instead of us getting all the hand me
downs." But, cordially I said, "Tim, we're so busy around here, that we don't even have time to look at our furniture." Hoping he would get the hint to look at
just about everything holding on by duct tape support around the IT office. He said, "Pete, have Sarah order you a new chair," and walked away.
Knowing Sarah would never order me a chair, I went
scrounging around the dumpster (an every day event)
and found some parts to put my chair together. When
Charlie came back however, his first job was to roll my
chair to the dumpster and toss it. And voila, another
chair appeared - not new of course, but at least in one
piece. He laughed about it later in the afternoon saying, "Pete, I know the company is cheap on furniture but you don't have to sit on a duct taped seat." I said, "Sorry for all the ruckus boss, thinking I better start taking the black duct tape of the server room equipment before he notices. Anyway, later that evening, I went to the dumpster and striped my old chair clean, knowing the day would come when those
parts would be used too.
The Skater $60. Panda in bamboo $100. Golf $125.
Green JeansRemember the song - Do you see what I see?
I helped a friend jump from a Facility Manager position to COO for a
mid-sized company 3 years ago. He wasn't too technical but helped him
get started. His CIO recently blamed him for poor company morale, employees taking too much sick time and just about everything the CIO could pin on him. He called me and said, "I do everything to keep the place in good running order, but people are always cold, sick, grouchy, complaining about the boss...." I said, "what else is new?" So, I gave him the happy $100. challenge telling him, for everything I see that we agree should or could be fixed, donate one hundred to charity.. He laughed and said, "Ok Pete," thinking what will I see that he hasn't seen already.
I met him on Saturday morning and we took a slow walk down the first hallway. The first thing I said was, "The front door is letting too
much cold air in, no insulation above the ceiling tiles and letting the gust
of winter air right by. ($100). Right then and there I stopped and folllowed the ceiling tiles, too many holes and letting the origonal gust of cold air to travel and hit the floor.($100.) We started walking slowly
and I noticed the heat vents were low to the ground (good idea) but hitting a crusty looking carpet. I brought out my magic UV wand and the critters were everywhere. The building was fairly new, the carpet 2 years old and never cleaned.
I told him it was probably fungus (very common) and the warm air from the vents was blowing them all around town. ($100. - should have got $1000. for that one:) We moved on and most of the divisions were partitioned with flourescent lights above. I mentioned that this light will bounce off LCD's and cause eye problems and grouchy employees. (a begrugded $100.) At least get full spectrum bulbs but best to toss
them execpt for hallways. I mentioned the parasites from the carpet are
probably stuck to the material partitions and to get them steam cleaned. ($100. - he only wanted to give me $50:). I felt the floor, it was warm but some folks had space heaters. I checked the ducts above these folks and most of them were not working right and dirty. ($100.) Jim was starting to get worried about my bill but told him if he called "efficeincy experts," they would charge him 10x as much with suggestions like adding a juice machine. He laughed and we continued on...TBC
Do you see what I see? $1500. went to charity in about as many minutes and we never got into company structure, file systems. Not to give the store away, do you see what I see? With lots of hints above, think I won't find problems walking down your hallway?
China has embarked on a 300 Billion dollar rail system. If we want real investment for a Trillion
dollars, why not do the same and solve 3 big issues
facing us? Build a high-speed rail
system along all Interstate Hwy's. This will
guarantee a job for anybody. Where we cover the
railways, use solar panels. We'll create a million
green jobs too and save energy. Install new maglev trains where possible. China has been running one for 5 years that cruises at 270mph. What are we cruisin at? What would this do for our steel industry? Let GM and Ford
build all the railcars and put our people back
to work. Transportation clogs will be a thing
of the past with interconnecting stops of slower
speed trolleys (maglev too). No room for more
detail here but millions of blue, green and white
collar jobs will be created. Energy issues will
be at the forefront, suburb and city traffic
congestion will ease... just the best bang for
the buck around. P.S. If you check research for
over-under trains, you'll see solutions for both
dual rail (bottom), mono rail (top) allowing the
most versitle way to get around and not be in
the way. Just think of the construction, lighting, electronic, planning... jobs besides everything else. Technology is ready, are we?
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org
$425. to www.fhu.com
$1200. to www.familyradio.com
70 lbs + toothbrushes... to the York Food Pantry
$1400. to the Dana fund.
$40. to disabled.
Community Cntr - electronics, bedding
$1000. B.Bush Children's Hospital
Buying a laptop?
The deals for sleek fast laptops are appealing but before making the
plunge look around at everything you currently use. We tend to think
that we'll only use the laptop for travel or quick convenice but the truth is the technology has changed and these little laptops are probably much
faster than that big clunker sitting under the desk. If your like me, you'll move the clunker out and the laptop in. So, here's some fast thoughts. When you go to purchase it, hit the customize button and go through all the offers. For instance, if you make DVD's, do you want a R/W? If you like and external keyboard and mouse, make sure it has USB ports or at least a docking station. 2 GB RAM is minimum now. Windows is still and OS hog, although Win 7 is better. Do you want a wireless bluetooth mouse? A stronger WiFi signal, HDMI port for a big LCD conxtion....
One thing I noticed on every job - missing items. In some cases, employees broke things, in other cases, they took wings and some just fell by the wayside. I watched one gal bust a laptop, 2 digital slr cameras and everything else she got her hands on. Employees like this should be either shown the contractor agreement sheet or packed up. Let them get their own equipment... maybe they'll take care of it better if they have to replace it.
In another company, IT items were constantly missing, desks, chairs, lamps, white boards, all kinds of office materials constantly disappearing. All these items need to be in inventory with an inventory manager held responsible for check in - check out. In a mid-sized company of say, 250 persons, at least 5 inventory managers should be
in charge of particular items, all sharing the
same interlinked database, again decentralized, not storing all the eggs in one basket, keeping everyone honest and saving a lot of money.
Scroll down to see...
A series of short funny storys about all the "unprofessionals" I met along the merry path of the working world.
Uncommon ideas to common problems
Ever wish someone would help with things that pop up during the day, at least tell you about their experience doing this or buying that without having to listen to a know-it all windbag? At least I try not to be one :) Its just that I've worked about 50 jobs in 30 different areas and have a dozen solid skilss. So, I share what I've run into, some funny storys, etc. . Escuse the godaddy editor sometimes and information here is in the first tense "I" as all is only my opinion.. pete@gwrn.org
Some Key Time Patterns in Scriptures and 1994 AD
Many search the timeline of mankind. Even scientists try. We're fascinated by books like
the Bible Code. I bought both books and later tossed them. The numbers below come from the
Bible, no guesswork or codes, there to see but yet, not easy to see until recently. So, the
big question is why now? And, what is so significant about 1994?
The 1/3 - 2/3 Pattern -
1877 BC (Jacob leaves Canaan - Tribulation.) to --> 1447 BC (Israel leaves Egypt) = 430 years
1447 BC --> 587 BC (Jerusalem destroyed - Tribulation) = 860 years (430 x 2)
1447 BC --> 967 BC (Solomon builds the Temple) = 480 years
967 BC --> 7 BC (Birth of Christ) = 960 years or (480 x 2)
1877 BC --> to 587 BC = 1290 years
With this 1/3 - 2/3 pattern established, and following the pattern, we see:
587 BC --> 1994 AD = 2580 days (1290 x 2)
1877 BC --> 1994 AD = 3870 days (1290 x 3)
There are more numbers that have meaning, for example -
2 = Witnesses, 3 = God's purpose, 6 = number of man, 7 = Completion of God's purpose,
11 = 1st Christ, 13 = End, 17 = Heaven, 23 = wrath or destruction, 40 = testing,
43 = destruction...
The "43" pattern -
And guess what, look what happens with 1994 AD
Timeline o man:
http://sixthtrumpet.org/html/harold.htm
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