It’s the time of the year to start thinking about all of the things you wanted to do this year, but didn’t.
Perhaps one of those things is to have some kind of backup for your computer. Or maybe to enhance your existing backup regimen. Or, even, replace that aging external drive you are using.
Now is a good time.
I know it’s the holiday season. You have a million people to buy stuff for and all that. But how crappy would it be if you were to lose all of those photos, music and movie you’ve been collecting over the years. If you remember the fun and excitement I had when it almost happened to me, you know it’s really not fun and exciting.
I say now is a good time because while cruising through CostCo today, they had the Western Digital triple interface (eSATA, USB and Firewire) external 1 TB drive for $179.99 with an in store $40 rebate. That means $139.99 for 1TB of storage. Down at the store we call that a smokin’ deal, so I bought one. Sure I’m unemployed. Sure it’s almost Christmas and money is super tight. But $140 is a pretty good insurance to save my music, movies and photos.
Now, not only am I able to backup my entire hard drive, but I can also back-up my media drive and still have over 600GB of available space for whatever. SWEET!
Now it’s your turn. Time to get a back-up system going. Or maybe you know someone that doesn’t have one. It’s time. Follow the link for a good deal on a USB 1TB drive from Amazon, or get you to CostCo.
You can thank me later.
If you are one that either has a blog or is thinking about starting one, might I highly recommend you take an hour of your time to watch this.
It’s stuff that I’ve been doing (or trying to do) for a while now, but Merlin has a way of boiling things down to the simplest parts so that it makes sense.
The short version is right there and it all makes sense if you think about it. If you want more details however, you will need to follow the link.
I would be interested in reading in comments you might have about this. You know what to do.
If nothing else, I know how to communicate. Blame the Gemini in me, or my training background. It’s also evident by the number of posts here, here, here and even here. In total, more than 10 years of combined archives of stuff I’ve typed or said. That doesn’t even count the 1800 photos on my flickr or any of the video stuff I’ve done.
I know how to communicate.
I can do it in person too. One on one or in front of a group. Especially if I have something to say. It’s one of the things that fall into the category of ‘what I do’.
So, I was supposed to be on my way to Arizona today to do more of ‘what I do’, this time some property management software work, a backup configuration and some network maintenance. 2 solid days worth of work, 2 solid days worth of travel.
I talked to the site almost 2 weeks ago about this. Gave them the information they needed for the software I’m supposed to install, asked them to make a list of other computer-type stuff they would like to have me do while I was there and to give me a call back once the software was ordered to let me know when it was supposed to be there.
No call back.
So I waited. Waited a week. No call.
Called Monday to find out if the software was going there or not. Nobody was there that had a clue about what I was talking about. So, I left a message.
Still no call back.
Fast forward to this very morning. I called early so my voicemail would be (hopefully) at the end of the queue and get full attention. 9:00 came and went and I still didn’t get a call. So, I called again as 9AM was the time I was hoping to be walking out the door to the car rental place to start the drive there*. I got one of the people that could, actually, help me out telling me that the software wasn’t there and that a large contingent of people from the corporate office were there, including the President of the company.
I’m going to guess that I’m still not going to get a call back.
I would have left, but you see the MINI is a pretty rough shape. And it’s not cheap to rent a car for a week. And, without the software upgrade, it’s hardly worth my driving over 1200 miles for what would end of being less than 1 days work.
I could have being doing many other things that I am now going to start doing since I know that I will have the entire week. But, I could have started last week.
It’s all about communication.
What a depressing day. Not because of my work load. Not because of traffic. No, I didn’t get any bad news from any family member.
I listened to news radio.
What was I thinking? First, there was the ridiculousness that was the Olympic Torch in San Francisco. I’d type it all out again, but Michael already did.
Then, more on the housing problems. Coupled with news/reminder about how much the war is costing on a daily basis.
Finally, lets finish with a rousing round of increased oil prices! To which I say, no shit Mr. News Guy. I paid $3.91 for a gallon of the good stuff today and fully expect it to be over $4.00 by the end of the week, even if oil doesn’t go to $120 a barrel.
Much like going to the gym, I must remember to keep the ipod with me at all times. I mean, it’s nice to know what’s going on in the world and all that, but this much at once was just too much.
Uncle I say.
Maybe, Mr. and Ms./Mrs. News Person, next time you are going to pile it on all at once you can remember to dig out those human interest stories that you keep hidden for slow news days. Or maybe play a song, or a short comedy bit, maybe something from last night’s Letterman (He’s CBS, you’re CBS. Talk to your people).
Thank You.
Leo has posted his displeasure over the bricking of the iPhones with the latest update. He makes some great analogies to his point.
It’s time to stop complaining. If you were one that did, in fact, have your phone bricked because you unlocked it, you kinda had it coming. It’s not like Apple didn’t warn you (from what I understand, all the way up to the point where the 1.1.1 update installs), and it’s not like you didn’t know this phone was created to be used on ATT only in the US. You signed the contract, remember? You also knew going in that 3rd party app support didn’t exist. That point was VERY clear in the beginning, remember?
So why all the fuss?
Would you use a screwdriver to drive a nail? Of course you wouldn’t. Why? Because it’s the wrong tool for the job. So why would you buy a device that did not support your needs? Honestly, if you needed to be able to swap the SIM to something else because you travel overseas or are on a different network, then you should have bought a different phone. if you have to install third party apps to keep you productive while you are mobile, then you should have bought a different phone.
This is what you get for being a fanboy. To blindly follow a company like you have and buy anything new that get released without thinking it through first is dangerous, and now, you have a phone that doesn’t work unless you need to call 911. It’s gotta suck to pull that Razr out of the drawer again right?
So, you all can get upset and complain all you want, but you really had it coming.
Now, if you have hacked your iPhone and it is working quite nice for you and you don’t need WiFi iTunes, then don’t update. All you have to do is pay a little bit of attention, read a little bit here and there and mind the warnings.
Just stop complaining. I might have to go back to referring to the iPhone as an irritating rash.
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