Sunday Service Call

One of the best parts of my job is the flexibility of my position.  I get paid for full time hours, but I rarely work that much.  But the catch is that I am always on call, which means that I can be working on just about any day at any time.  Thankfully my family understands this so it isn’t much of an inconvenience.

But, I received a call today from one of our clients that uses one of our electronic document management systems.  It seems that they are having some difficulty with the hardware interfacing with the document scanning solutions that they have been using.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how easy this service call is going to be since the client on the phone couldn’t give me enough details to make a guess on the diagnosis.  I know that the last time that I was there, it was a simple case of not having the equipment turned on (which makes for an easy job).

I am just hoping that it goes ok as we have company coming tonight.  Even if the job ends up being a long one, I love what I do since I get to solve problems every day.  What can I say, I love a challenge!

It's Good To Know Equipment Experts

I don't know that much about choosing new equipment. From my personal cell phone to the computers for my business, I just kind of have to guess at what's the best equipment for the job. Guessing isn't a very smart way to make these types of purchases though. Over the years I've honed my friendships with people who are knowledgeable about different types of equipment. I can go to these people for advice on all of my new purchases.

For example, my friend Tommy knows computers. He knows all different types of computers. If I ever need to look at computer rentals or purchases, Tommy is the guy that I call because he can tell me immediately which computer is right for the job. Likewise I have friends that I call when I need advice about audio visual rentals, buying a new smartphone or purchasing copiers for the office.

It might sound like I'm using my friends but I'm not. I help them out in the ways that I can and they help me out with things like this. We can't all know everything. But we can know people who know what we need to know. Learning how to make friends with those people is a valuable skill.

Making a difference with chair lifts

When it comes to doing the job right, you clearly have to have the best equipment. If you're a carpenter attempting to create a masterfully built house, you have a number of different types of hammers, saws, and various other specialty tools at your disposal. If you were outfitting a house to provide special needs you might think to include liftchairs, accessibility aids in bath and bedrooms, ramps for entry and exit, and more.

When you're running a business that employs real people and may interface with the general public, there are inevitably going to be access issues you'll face. More importantly, you'll need to adequately solve these problems before they become challenges which could lead to legal disputes.

For instance, chair lifts provide access for those requiring the mobility of a wheel chair to be able to access vertical spaces. Whether the person needs to go upstairs or down to the basement, without adequate lifts, their progress is impeded. Ultimately, it is the equal access which laws and regulations on the books have been designed to protect and promote.

By being conscious of the needs of those differently abled, we all become better stewards. With generosity and compassion we can make a difference for everyone around us.

Romantic Tech Skills

One of my favorite things about the guy that I am dating is that he has excellent skills with technology. He can fix my computer every time that there's a problem with it. I know that doesn't sound particularly romantic but sometimes usefulness is better than romance!

Actually, he's pretty good at using his tech skills to send a little bit of romance my way as well. He's the kind of person who is always sending instant messages and text messages and emailing me photos to stay in touch with me throughout the day.

When we first started dating, he already had the plans to spend the summer in a foreign country. He wasn't able to talk to me much while he was gone. However, he always found a way to stay in touch. One time when I had a dentist appointment that I was nervous about, he used an SMS gateway to send me a text message from an Internet cafe that he was at. I wouldn't have known how to do that but he did and the thoughtfulness behind the gesture was sweet.

Of course, he does the more traditional romantic things as well. He brings flowers on my birthday and all of that. But honestly I prefer the way he uses technology to get into my heart!

Dreamweaver Extensions: for the coder with everything

For his latest birthday, I decided to buy my nephew something that would really do him so good. Since he had been demonstrating some real consistency in his professional life working as a web developer, I decided to inquire into what his digital tool set looked like.

I made inquiries of him under the pretense that I was interested in learning more about doing similar type of work for a non-profit charity that I'm involved with. Once he started talking, I could barely keep up with all the stuff he was sharing. It was good to see and feel his passions for the work he is doing.

When he got to the area of web application development, he indicated how much he would like to get a license for a program called Dreamweaver, made by Adobe. Further he indicated there were add on applications called dreamweaver extensions which would allow him to develop even faster with higher degrees of perfection.

While I'm not a rich man, I do make much more money than he does, so spending a couple of bucks to help him in his career was not a challenge for me at all. In fact, I personally believe this was the best gift I'd ever gotten him. When I saw the gratitude on his face after giving him the software, I knew he thought so as well.

Budget for the best rated web hosting

When it comes to web site hosting, much of the time you get what you pay for. There are always unsavory characters that will try and steer you towards higher priced service offerings that are inflated versions of perfectly affordable web hosting services. The best way you can ensure you'll not get caught in those traps is to proactively seek out the best rated web hosting companies.

When you do this you are going to find that most of the members of those top lists have several things in common. One, they all tend to have happy customers. Very happy customers. With hundreds of millions of web sites being hosted on the Internet today, it doesn't take very many dissatisfied consumer web hosting customers to drastically reduce a company's ratings in any of the consumer reporting sites.

Another aspect they all tend to do well is provide true quality for their service prices. With so many of the hosting companies in business today trying to snow their potential customers with inflated, yet useless metrics it can be challenging to know who to trust. If you're currently looking at a company that continually focuses on storage capacity and you are really more interested in transfer rates, move on. You'll be happier that you did when you get with the right company and your monthly bills are protected from sudden bursts of transfer due to your website's success.

No More Physical Paperwork

The company I work for recently changed the way we have to turn in reports and receipts. And so far it has kind of been a rough transition. Well at least it has been for me because I’m not all that techno savvy. I can use the fax machine just fine. I can use the copier fine too. But instead of actually turning in physical reports and copies of receipts it all has to be digital.

So the new drill now is that we have to scan everything that is on paper in. For all of the old paperwork they had a special company come in that was a document imaging service. And I will admit that I can see where in the long run this will save a lot of paper.

But now instead of just stapling my reports together and turning them in, I have to do everything electronically. Some of my reports can just be turned in by emailing them without even printing them out. And that’s easy enough. But the difficult part is when I have to turn in receipts. Instead of making copies now I have to scan them in. Then I have to remember to save it a special way. I suppose I’ll catch on, but right now it’s a pain.