Your job: Signs you've stayed too long - Jul. 28, 2005

I am glad to find out after reading this article that after 18 years I haven't stayed to long; yet.
Your job: Signs you've stayed too long - Jul. 28, 2005

Football Season is Back

My son that will be a Freshman this year starts two a day practices in a week. Public schools here start up on August 22nd. Wow, where did the summer go?

Spyker

Looks pretty good. Looking at the windows reminds me of the old Subaru SVX though, not sure if they function the same way or not.

Me in an SOA world

Snippet from "You in an SOA world".

The service-oriented architecture will lead to big changes in your job. Early adopters and other experts share tips on how to prepare for what's ahead.

I often hear the words service-oriented architecture when the statewide IT consolidation is talked about. Not sure if the states definition is exactly the same or not. I guess we'll see.

In regards to our own IT org the managers were rounded up and shown the plan, which in a lot of ways is not much different from where we are today, yet a fair amount different from where they have stated they want to be. It was stated this is how we will be to get started, but we will transition to the setup they had hoped to implement at the beginning of this month over the next six months.

Project Portfolio Management

John Dix talks about "Getting serious about IT projects".

John mentions Project Portfolio Management, but I do not notice the mention of the tools being utilized. Does your company practice Project Portfolio Management, if so, what products are you using?

This appears to be a direction we are headed at work, although I don't anticipate any real money being spent for it, so I would be most interested in any free open source options out there.

I haven't really gotten started on looking at what is out there other than doing a single search and finding a free Microsoft Project alternative (Open Workbench) when looking for Open Source Portfolio management. It appears that it is simply a Microsoft Project alternative, which versus the cost and limited installation we have of MS Project might be a nice alternative as you could then pass the file around allowing anyone to read it rather than passing an MS Project file around and finding out that some of the individuals don't have Project (and the money won't be spent to get it for them) so you have to print a report or save it in html or something for them to be able to see it.




It looks like the Open Workbench can be used in conjunction with the Clarity Portfolio Management System by Niku to give one actual Portfolio Management functionality. I haven't gotten to look any further, but would guess that involves a cost. Sorry but it is time for me to get to bed (actually past time).

Why you blog

Follow the link to see Network World's article entitled, "Why you blog".

I might also mention that the light thin print on the dark background in the printed version is hard to read. Even with my glasses on.

Words that don't go together.

The word micro alone can be okay. The word management alone can be okay. The combination can be a pain.

Google SMS

Could be a bit interesting if you have unlimited text messaging or at least a few to spare and don't have internet access via your phone.

Scorcher

It is a scorcher. I am glad we got our Air Conditioner fixed earlier this week.

Zazzle

I just got an e-mail from CafePress (I need to spend some time setting mine up at some point. I got signed up some time ago, but that was as far as I got.) They will be offering custom stamps. Right now it is in the alpha stage. I guess they are competing with the newer guys on the block as I just saw something the other day about Zazzle offering custom postage.

ZABAsearch

I heard on the news tonight that ZABAsearch is one of the most popular sites for searching for information about people. I had never heard of it before. Oh well.

Mercedes Benz CLS 500 (or CLS 55 AMG)

I did not get a close enough look to tell if it was the $65,000 CLS 500 or the $87,000 CL 55 AMG, but it was Silver and definitely stood out even from a distance.

Blade PCs

It is kind of interesting how many magazines you pick up and find a blade pc on the front cover. Not sure why it has taken so long for them to become so hot. Maybe because other companies have joined the fray with some of the early companies like Clear Cube.

Firefox 1.0.6

Somehow I missed 1.0.5. Firefox 1.0.6 is out.

Mambo

Mambo does look like a pretty cool tool. You can go to the link and test drive a website and test drive the administration of one.

Ford Service Part 14

My car is suppose to be done, except for the CD Player. I'll try it out tonight. The bad part is they just can't take the CD Player they have to take the whole unit out and send it off. That means no radio either, just a big hole in my dash. As this is the second time I have had problems I almost wish it simply had a single CD changer rather than the 6 Disc. I imaging there would be fewer things to have go wrong. Last time they ended up just sending out brand new unit. It just depends on what is wrong with it, but I was told that it has been taking them 4-6 weeks to get them back. Ugh!

And you don't realize how much you look at the clock on your stereo until it is gone.

Ford Service Part 13

Ford called on Wednesday letting me know they have the part in for my cruise control. I have it setup to be worked on Monday. I also asked them to take a look at the CD player problem.

Wrist

Well, my wrist was hurting when I went in for my finger. They doctor diagnosed it to be what he thought was ligamentitis (inflamation of the ligaments). Well it had been 7 weeks and it still pops and hurts. I went back earlier in the week and he said that it should have cleared up, so we had better do a scan (MRI). I had the MRI on Wednesday and found out the results today. I have a tear in the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFC) as well as some fluid build-up. Great. He has referred me to the same doctor that took care of my finger. His office called to make the appointment today, the they have not gotten back yet, so not sure what will happen next. Ugh!!

Lexus IS

I must say when seeing the first picture on the site, the new Lexus IS has a rather Scionish look about it. It is nice to see that there is a 300hp version.

I tried it.

Here are the results.

Microsoft AntiSpyware

Have you seen Microsoft's AntiSpyware?

Meeting on Internet/Intranet

I am busy with many things, but I have to have a meeting with Senior Staff, half of which are new, to discuss their needs and wants for our Internet and Intranet. Working up a presentation for the meeting at this point. Should prove to be interesting.

McDonald's MAC Code

Come on McDonald's I spent the money and you won't even let me put in all of my codes. What's with that?

Concatenating - Additional Note

Something to think about is that you can put any text in between the quotes when concatenating. There was information within State Government that we wanted to use in a Notes database. I would have thought I could easily get someone to e-mail me the info in electronic format, but as that was not turning out to be a quick process, and most of the information was posted on the web I simply scraped (copied and pasted) some information off of the other agencies site and popped it into Excel. One of the pieces missing was the individuals e-mail addresses. As I had the first and last names and knew the format of their e-mail addresses, it was simple to create the e-mail addresses. Once I had all the data that was needed I gave it to the Notes developer and they imported it into the database.

+A1&"."&B1&"@mail.agency.gov"

Note: The use of the e-mail addresses was for legitimate business correspondence, I do not condone spam.

Ford 601 WORKMASTER Hydraulics

Someone once asked me if I knew anything about the hydraulics on the Ford 601 WorkMaster. Well I replied that I do not. I still don't know much, but I know where the hydraulic pump is. It is the item in the picture that kind of looks like a starter. When sitting in the driver seat this would be the right side of the engine.



The following two pics might give you a better idea of where. A lot of people look to the back of the tractor, but nope it is right there, next to the oil dipstick.



My father-in-law had to take it into the shop as the hydraulics had stopped functioning. The repair shop (repairs about anything - not a tractor specialty place or anything) actually drained the transmission fluid as they were trying to find the hydraulics themselves.



The starter is actually on the other side.

Concatenate text in a spreadsheet

The IT Directors assistant called me the other morning asking if I knew how to get text in separate columns into one column. She said she knew there had to be a way, but each time she would try to add them together she would get an error. Luckily I use to be okay with Lotus 1-2-3 and it still works in Microsoft Excel.

The key is the old ampersand (&).

You have various options on how you want things spaced, etc..

Shown are several examples.

The first is simply putting Cell A1 and Cell B1 together.

+A1&B1

The second simply puts a space between them by adding a space between quotes and the additional ampersand.

+A2&" "&B2

The third does the old classroom lastname followed by firstname.

+B3&", "&A3






Lots of times people will get them how they want them on the first one, copy it down the column and decide they don't want the original columns. Guess what, you delete them and you end up with the old reference error.






If you are simply trying to keep the text displayed by the formula in Column C just make sure you highlight the column where you just put your formulas and do a copy and then do a paste special right back over the top of it, simply selecting to paste values.






Once they are pasted as values, you can then remove the first couple of columns without getting the reference error. That is, if this is the result you are looking for.




Happy concatenating!

New Org

Well there is no real update on either front, the IT side or the Department side. Many expected with the start of the new fiscal year that we would know the org all the way down on both counts, but that is not the case yet. The IT Director did send out a note letting the IT folks know that they would not be bound by the beginning of the fiscal year to get it right. So, still no definite word how and/or where we fall.

London Bombing

There is a Tech at work who originates from London. He was working on getting his citizenship years ago when he started work at our agency. I know that at least his Mom still lives in London. Having heard the news regarding the bombings I asked if his family was okay. He said that his mom lived in the suburbs where they were less likely to be hit by terrorists attacks. It was funny though as he stated that his mom called him at something like 3 in the morning and said that she didn't want him to worry about her. He said, mom, it is 3 in the morning, I was asleep. She said that she was afraid that he might have seen the news. Once again, he said, mom, it is 3 in the morning, I was asleep.

He said he thought she just needed someone to talk to about it, but it was a bit humorous to hear him tell it.

Interesting Article

Just finished reading the cover story from Information Week, "The Web's New Fuel".


The Ajax site even says Guaranteed Clean and a Great Value. :-)

Ford Service Part 12

It turns out that the Exhaust (EGR) Sensor was bad. It was replaced. In regards to the cruise control it was stated that there are basically two switches on the cruise control. One activates it and on deactivates it. It was stated that if either doesn't work then the whole cruise control system won't work. They have a part on order. Since then I was putting a CD in my car stereo ( it has a 6 disc changer) and upon putting it in it pulled it in and then made a buzzing spinning noise. It doesn't recognize the CD is in and won't let it out. This happened once before at which point they just pulled the whole unit, threw a new one in and sent it off to the company that they repairs them. I would say it was 2-3 weeks later they sent the CDs back to the local Ford Dealership and I picked them up. There was nothing wrong with the CDs. The CD that happened to be placed in the last time was not in the system at all, so different CD, different time, same results. We'll see what happens.

Ford Service Part 11

It was the exhaust sensor or as I guess it is more commonly called the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve. They had the part in and replaced it. 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 S2 with just under 29,000 miles and this is the second time this has been replaced. As far as the cruise control, they said it was a switch. There is one that activates the cruise control and one that deactivates it, if one or the other doesn't work, then the cruise control doesn't work at all. Not sure which one it needs, but they have the part on order. The plus, it didn't cost any out of pocket as it was fully covered under the extended warranty (7yr - 70,000 mi). The extended warranty could prove to be worth the extra initial cost.