HardDrive Replacement

Hard DriveTwo weeks ago I was sitting down at my PowerBook to do some work. Right away I noticed that my mouse and keyboard were not working. “This isn’t good” I thought to myself. My computer rarely gives me any trouble at all. Upon closer inspection I heard a noise that could sounded close to “the click of death” that pledged old . It’s the type of noise that would make a zit faced Geek Squad rep from Best Buy say “That not a good sound”. From That point i powered down my Powerbook was not able to get it to boot back up again. I would just keep getting that hard drive clicking noise.

It was upsetting at first that my hard drive might be dead but I was very great full that I do nightly backups on my system. (Thank you Silverkeeper)

I spent a good chunk of that first weekend trying to save my drive. With the help of some disk utility software I was able to get my computer to boot back up again. But it was not the same. The whole system was slow and eventlly a few days later the hard drive died.

Powerbook openedSo, I ordered a new hard drive from newegg.com and four days later (it’s because I live in Juneau) I had it installed. Replacing the old hard drive was not as easy with the G4 Powerbook as it was with my G3Powerbook. With the G3 it was just a matter of lifting up the keyboard. With my G4 it required a lot more steps. Just look at this to see what I went through.

Jack-o-Lanterns

Jack-o-Lanterns

Happy Halloween everyone.

Halloween1I love this holiday.This week week Hannah and I along with some friends picked out some pumpkins to make Jack-o-Lanterns. We made a mistake this year by waiting to long to by the pumpkins. By the time we went out to get them only one store in all of Juneau had some. As a result they where a little more pricey.Halloween2

But we brought the pumpkins back to the apartment to carve. I spent some time removing all the seeds and hollowing out the sides a bit. Hannah picked out a pattern and we went to down on it. The end result turned out very well.

The weather this year is a little warmer then it was last year around this time. I remember the Jack-O-Lanterns lasting weeks last year because it was so cold.

We finished up the night by placing the Jack-o-Lanterns outside, playing a little Guitar Hero 3 on our Wii, and watching some Firefly.

Just Another Day At Work

This morning at work has been busier then normal. Juneau experienced a power outage last night. So this morning we have all be busy trying to pick up the fallen pieces of down servers and panicked clients.

Since he got into the office this morning, Zaine (one of my co-workers) has been trouble shooting a VOIP phone server installation we have been having issues with. Normally Chris works on issues like this but he recently handed it off for Zaine to work on.

So the office is half empty and those of us here are hard at work when out from the corner of the office I hear Zaine shout at full volume “Someone here owes me a fucking blow job!”

Now Zaine is known for saying off the wall things at random times. But this could not have been at a more perfect time because just as he shouted “Someone here owes me a fucking blow job!” someone from down the hall walks by our open office door and and just busts out laughing which caused all of us in our office to burst out in laughter.

After Zaine’s face color, which was a bright red returned back to normal. He finally explained “I just did something in 1 hour that Chris has been working on for over week”.

It’s having stories like this to tell over, and over that make my day.

Notepad – GTD

Notepad - GTD

For as long as I can remember I have struggled with trying to remember things. Be it work related or personal, it’s always been a struggle for me to remember different things I need to do through out the course of a day. It’s an exosting and stressful task. It does not seem like it but just trying to remember something waists time and stresses you out. Imagine if you didn’t ever have to remember anything. You mind would be free to think freely and wonder around.

Pad

I have recently been able to accomplish this great stress free and mantel freedom. For several months now I have been keeping a notepad with me at all times. I keep it in my back pocket along with a pen in my front pocket. I do this for several resins. One being that I have a really bad memory. I have learned that when I need to remember something for a later time I can just write it down and address it when I can. This practice has already become a habit for me.

Sine doing this you quickly release that you don’t remember things. Even more so when you have a method like this that remembers things for you. Trying to remember things stress you out and you don’t enjoy what is going on around you as much. It’s all part of the whole Getting Things Done methodology. So to help with that I now carry a notepad and pen with me everywhere I go.

“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.” – Edgar Allan Poe

On this notepad I keep two basic lists. an “ACTION” list for things I need to do and a “SHOPPING LIST” for things I need to get at the store. The shopping list came to be because I would always forget my shopping list on the fridge. So to solve that little problem I now carry it with me at all times. The action list if for anything I need to do or be reminded of. Whenever I have a few free moments I will try and accomplish as much as I can on my actions list. Things I can’t accomplished in the time I have available for them I end up transferring to another Action list I have located on Google Notebook to be completed at a later time.

Keyboard and padI know this sounds like a simple solution to a big problem. I mean who doesn’t experience the pain of trying to remember something all day long, only to forget it when they really need to remember it. For me caring a notepad is the great solution I have been able to find. I love the idea of having a PDA to do this. I am a geek after all. It will be very tempting if the roomers of the return of the Apple Newton turn out to be true. But unlike a notepad, PDA’s run out of batteries or you lose the stylist pen and it’s always when you need them the most. This is why I am not a PDA user. (Currently)

So to finish my thought, at least once a day I go though my action items. If anything on the list takes 2 minutes or less I just do them. If it takes longer and I don’t have time to address it right then and there I then copy over the action item to Google Notebook.

Just form my experience I can tell you that I’m able to just come home from work and not worry about anything. It’s all written down and in a place I can execute it when I have time. Nothing to remember, and nothing to worry about forgetting.

Another thing I want to bring up are pens. I never could find the right pen. I think I struggled with this more then anything. I enjoy writing. Even if it’s just a quick note. Because of a friends suggestion I discovered the “Uni-ball Vision ELITE” pen. I find it writes very well and I have not been swayed by any other pen for months now. I keep this pen in my front pocket at all times. So I always have something to write on and something to write with.

“There comes a time when even gods must die.” – Lex Luthor

Doomsday

Recently I picked up the animated movie “Superman – Doomsday” on DVD. It’s an adaptation of the “Death of Superman” storyline from DC comics that came out in the early 90’s. “The Death of Superman” comic books where one of the first comic books I started reading and one of the resins why I started getting into comic book collecting.

Death Of SupermanThe storyline was very engaging and sad all at the same time. When someone like Superman dies it really does affect you. At the time it affected a lot of people. Not just comic book fans. To many people see Superman is more then a comic book hero. He represents hope, freedom, and goodwill. He is all that is good in everyone single one of us. So his death hit a lot of people hard

4012.jpgThe comic book also had some very memorable quotes.

“Enjoy your reign while you may, Superman.
For as surely as night follows day…
There comes a time when even gods must die.”
– Lex Luthor –

To get back to the DVD. It did not find it very good at all. Bad acting, Bad Art, and a very inaccurate telling of the story. But the thing that makes this DVD worth owning and what makes up for all the previously stated flaws are the extras. Included on the disk is “a retrospective look at how the Death of Superman comic came to be”. You get to see how the story line for the death of Superman came to be. How the writers get together and write out the storyline. Its all very interesting and historical. I had no idea any of this was going to be on the DVD when I picked it up but I’m glad it was because I don’t feel like I waisted my money as a result.