In My Head

Brian Frank’s photo essay about the Colorado River, “Downstream, Death of the Mighty Colorado” tells a powerful story.

From Kai Ryssdal on MarketPlace.org: “The Colorado River flows from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado down through Utah and Arizona, along the border with California to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Flow might be too generous a word, actually. Because we use so much of the Colorado’s water in the American Southwest for both irrigation and development, what used to be a river is actually just a trickle by the time it crosses the Mexican border. Some years, it never even reaches the sea.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Martin Luther King, Jr

My site has been interrupted by Kanye!

Riding home from class last night, a Hispanic guy kept trying to look down my shirt.  There was nothing to see, but he was sitting all squished up against me, so it was uncomfortable (he was not being subtle).

I decided to stand the remainder of the ride, and across from where I stood was this quote which I found thought provoking.

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing entirely straight can be built.”  ~ Immanuel Kant

Disney Eggs:  They’re Eggs.  By Disney.
Just how long do you think it’ll take before kids catch on that they’re plain old eggs?  Does marketing know no boundries?  Trying to trick kids into believing that the plain old eggs are going to come out magically Mickey-shaped….  I want to know: 1. Do the eggs come with the mold? 2. How much does said mold cost? 3. Does egg seep out from under edges of said mold, rendering shape unrecognizable, as has been the case with other egg-shapery?

Actually created for school credit, this borough-spanning GMap reveals hot nut vendors who also sell ganja. Click to reveal savant-like dealer descrips.

Image credit: Sean McCabe

Great article in The Atlantic this month.  Though it is long, it was very interesting in looking at the history of past economic crises and what it took to break out of them and predicts what areas of the country and what factors about those areas are going to make it easier for them to survive and flourish  after this current upheaval.  For those of you in transition of some sort, wondering where and how to make this time eventually work for you, this article may have some good insights.

Due to my above-the-average-lay-person’s understanding of technology, I’ve been designated as unofficial local IT support, in addition to my regular job.  (Our official IT support is located in London and Romania, and their IT knowledge leaves a bit to be desired.)

Recently I deployed a laptop to a high ranking employee who shall be referred to as Half-Wit.  The laptop, configured to Half-Wit’s profile, was deployed so that she (yes, it’s a “she”) could work from home.  On her first day of working from home, Half-Wit calls me so that I can walk her through signing on.  I asked her if she connects to the ineternet on her personal laptop wirelessly or with a network cable.  She indicated a netowrk cable.  So we went through the basics:  plug in the power cord, plug in the network cable, turn on the computer, etc.  She had no internet access.  We went through everything I could think of to resolve, but still no internet, so I referred her to our IT support company and her internet service provider (ISP) to help resolve.

Having spent 5 hours with both, she gave up, and I agreed to give her a different laptop which I had personally tested (like the first laptop) in advance.  She called from her home yesterday, frustrated because she was experiencing the same issue – no internet connection.  I talked her through the same processes without success, so I referred her again to our IT support.

Five minutes later, an IT support rep. calls me to gently express that Half-Wit has lost her patience and that she basically doesn’t know what she’s doing.  Would I please go to her home to help resolve?  Ugh!  Fine…..

I show up at Half-Wit’s home and after the 5-second tour and an exchange of pleasantries, I get to work.  Both her personal and work laptops were turned on.  Neither of which had a network cable plugged in.  I noticed that her work laptop had a USB cable plugged in.  I asked her what it was for, and she said “the internet”.  I said this is USB cable, not an network cable.  A network cable looks like a thicker phone cable. “So what does that go to?” she asks.  She’s asking me? She plugged it in!

I said it looks like my printer cable at home, follow the cord, and what do you know?  It’s the freaking printer cable!  Embarassment covers her face.  “So where’s the network cable you use to get internet access on your personal laptop?”  “Oh I connect wirlessly” she says.  WHAT?!

She had to jump on a conference call and retired to her bedroom while I configured her work laptop to connect wirelessly.  She had a secure wireless network, but I wasn’t about to ask her for the network key, as I was sure she didn’t have a clue.  (Turns out I was right.)  So I called R&R to find out how to get the key which at this point only showed dots instead of alpha-numeric characters.  He walked me through a back-door process, and I was able to get it and get Half-Wit’s work laptop connected.

Once connected, I noticed she wasn’t receiving emails, so I contacted IT support.  It took Super Genus in IT support 45 minutes of playing around with remote support before asking, “Can I call you back after I try a few more things?”  Having already wasted enough of my time, asked a question that posed a possible solution.  “Oh yeah!” he says and then changes the setting I suggested and fixed it.  Then he says “You can be my sidekick in the US” to which I replied, “No.  You can be mine.”

“I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.

What’s the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza? A large pizza can still feed a family of four!