I haven't decided what Wednesdays stand for yet. I will tell you however, that today is pissy rant Wednesday.
Today's Pissy Rant is about printers. I myself I am a softcopyist, I try not to have any paper forms, statements, etc. lying around--ever. I pay/receive bills online, scan things to PDF that I absolutely have to keep, share photos online instead of on paper, etc. However, sometimes, ya just have to print something. That was the case on Sunday when I needed to print out a floor plan to fax to a builder who doesn't trust email for things like that. Fine. Turns out I was out of black ink. I have had my printer for 3 years now, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. I don't know why I did it, but I opened the lid of the printer just to remind myself how to get the old cartridge out. When the cartridge slid over to blink its 'replace me' light, I noticed I was dangerously low on Yellow and Cyan as well.
That said, off to Office Max. I spent $64 replacing the three cartridges. While I was being so printer-centric, I decided (oh yeah good tech tip here) to check for new drivers, download/install them, dust out the case, etc. When I went to the Canon website, I noticed they still sell my printer. Three years ago I paid $149 for it. MSRP today -- $49. Yep, I just spent more on the ink than I could have bought a whole new printer for, INCLUDING all new cartridges.
Doh!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
It's just another (un)Manic Monday.
Did you watch the Sopranos last night? Personally I have been disappointed in the season thus far. Four episodes left and everyone is dragging their feet. C'mon guys, whack people, that's what we want to see.
So today is Renovation Monday. Every Monday you get a chance to start a whole new week, take a new direction, or complain that you hate Mondays. Your choice. On Renovation Monday let's chat about where we live. Our homes are more than our shelters. They are our playgrounds, dancehalls, music studios, movie theaters, personal restaurants, VIP lounges, etc. Sadly, so many people have very close-minded ideas about the potential of their homes. Most people don't realize simply organizing a cabinet or painting a wall a different color than all the others can actually change how you feel, not just what you look at.
Change one thing about your house today. Just do it. Move a plant, get that pile of junkmail off of the counter, or put a few apples on a plate on the table (and EAT THEM this week), then step back and admire your work. I guarantee a little twinge of positive energy will result.
What I am I going to change you ask? I am finally going to install the coathooks in the entry hall that I have had for a year now and haven't put up.
So today is Renovation Monday. Every Monday you get a chance to start a whole new week, take a new direction, or complain that you hate Mondays. Your choice. On Renovation Monday let's chat about where we live. Our homes are more than our shelters. They are our playgrounds, dancehalls, music studios, movie theaters, personal restaurants, VIP lounges, etc. Sadly, so many people have very close-minded ideas about the potential of their homes. Most people don't realize simply organizing a cabinet or painting a wall a different color than all the others can actually change how you feel, not just what you look at.
Change one thing about your house today. Just do it. Move a plant, get that pile of junkmail off of the counter, or put a few apples on a plate on the table (and EAT THEM this week), then step back and admire your work. I guarantee a little twinge of positive energy will result.
What I am I going to change you ask? I am finally going to install the coathooks in the entry hall that I have had for a year now and haven't put up.
Friday, May 04, 2007
New Music Friday, F for Friday.
Let's discuss music shall we? On this, new music Friday, we'll open the floor to discuss what's right and wrong with the music industry. Grab a latte (non-fat, no sugar, summer's comin').
Maroon 5 gave us a taste of their anticipated new album this week. The track "Makes Me Wonder" is exactly what we have been waiting for from them. The track starts out very 70's disco funk, complete with chicka-chicka guitars, bongo drums and hand-claps. It then bursts in to 80's saw-buzz synth pop, and busts into Maroon 5's typical "We are long over but I am never EVER EVER going to get over it" lyrical style. It's catchy, it's dark, it's glam, it's Pop-rock paydirt. It even has a 'breakdown' for Pete's sake. We love a good breakdown.
It's too bad that because of this song, and I'm guessing many more, their album is going to get that little black-and-white "Parental Advisory" sticker that makes parents concerned and kids rush right out to buy it.
What's that you say? Maroon 5? The soulful band who proclaimed to teenage girls everywhere "I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain"? Yep. They drop 4 F-bombs on us, in a ridiculous way:
And it really makes me wonder If I ever gave a f*ck about you
Ok, I understand you are trying to convey emotion, impart feeling, blah blah blah, but c'mon you mean to tell me there was no other way to say that? The very first thing that's going to happen when the song gets airplay is that word will be bleeped, or they will release another version substituting 'damn' or something more benign like that. In every TV performance, every live-in-radio-studio performance, they will have to change that line.
So why put it in the first place? Sales. More than likely, your average fan is (sadly) going to be drawn to the bad-boy coolness of using the f-word. People will intentionaly sing along to the edited version, accenting the F-word when it's omitted, and when Maroon 5 does in fact get to perform it the original way, fans will go crazy when that line is sung. Was it the band's choice to put the f-word in? Probably not, as it's more work for them to remember to take it out. My guess is a record exec changed some lyrics to boost sales.
Don't forget, it's called the music 'business' for a reason.
Click the link to listen to "Makes Me Wonder"
Maroon 5 gave us a taste of their anticipated new album this week. The track "Makes Me Wonder" is exactly what we have been waiting for from them. The track starts out very 70's disco funk, complete with chicka-chicka guitars, bongo drums and hand-claps. It then bursts in to 80's saw-buzz synth pop, and busts into Maroon 5's typical "We are long over but I am never EVER EVER going to get over it" lyrical style. It's catchy, it's dark, it's glam, it's Pop-rock paydirt. It even has a 'breakdown' for Pete's sake. We love a good breakdown.
It's too bad that because of this song, and I'm guessing many more, their album is going to get that little black-and-white "Parental Advisory" sticker that makes parents concerned and kids rush right out to buy it.
What's that you say? Maroon 5? The soulful band who proclaimed to teenage girls everywhere "I don't mind spending every day, out on your corner in the pouring rain"? Yep. They drop 4 F-bombs on us, in a ridiculous way:
And it really makes me wonder If I ever gave a f*ck about you
Ok, I understand you are trying to convey emotion, impart feeling, blah blah blah, but c'mon you mean to tell me there was no other way to say that? The very first thing that's going to happen when the song gets airplay is that word will be bleeped, or they will release another version substituting 'damn' or something more benign like that. In every TV performance, every live-in-radio-studio performance, they will have to change that line.
So why put it in the first place? Sales. More than likely, your average fan is (sadly) going to be drawn to the bad-boy coolness of using the f-word. People will intentionaly sing along to the edited version, accenting the F-word when it's omitted, and when Maroon 5 does in fact get to perform it the original way, fans will go crazy when that line is sung. Was it the band's choice to put the f-word in? Probably not, as it's more work for them to remember to take it out. My guess is a record exec changed some lyrics to boost sales.
Don't forget, it's called the music 'business' for a reason.
Click the link to listen to "Makes Me Wonder"
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
A glittering example of a startup
Do you know what a VC is? It stands for "Venture Capitalist" Those are the guys that invest the money into a startup. The VCs are the ones that are behind that "Series x" financing you may or may not know about. They drop the cash into the bank, let the company spend it, and expect to get it allllll back and then some someday. This is a post from a Boston-based VC, Jeff Bussgang.
http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2007/04/soap_operas_and.html
Oh yeah, I worked with him too, when he wasn't a VC and we were both in a start-up together.
http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2007/04/soap_operas_and.html
Oh yeah, I worked with him too, when he wasn't a VC and we were both in a start-up together.
And now a posting about Debra Messing's breasts.
I saw that on a headline yesterday and I don't know why, but I thought it was genious journalism. It made me click on it though so I put it as the headline on my first update in a year. I am going against all blog conventions and making this post more than a 2 minute-15 second read so sit back, grab your beverage of choice, put it in a coffee mug (it's nicer that way) and let's chill for a few.
So let's see, when last we left off, I promised pictures of my finished place. Well if you click that little Flickr slidey thing over there you'll see em. Enjoy them in all their LED glory, because it looks like I'll have an offer on the pad soon and I'll be moving on to bigger and hopefully better.
You can catch video on HGTV's Look What I did on 6/15 at 6pm. I hope I don't look like a tool.
I tell ya making my place light up like Vegas garnered a lot more attention that I ever imagined. The Boston Globe, ApartmentTherapy.com, Channel 7, The Economist Magazine, and even HGTV are all/have already feature me and my obsession-making things light up. As I sit here at my desk I am envisioning what this office would look like bathed in the blue of the harbor water I am looking at, and knowing how quickly I could make that happen.
Speaking of desks let's talk shop shall we?
Those that know me know I am a career Angel of Death. What that means to you stable-job types is I am typically hired into a company that's on a blazing-fast growth path to eventual acquisition. I show up, build a bunch of stuff, it works perfectly, the company gets bought, people become bazillionaires (not me--yet) and I move on. I now have 8 under my belt (since I finished school in 1999) and if you know where I work and follow the industry it's quite possible that soon it will be 9. At times it's nerve-racking because you never know what the next day will bring, and at times it's glorious because you never know what the next day will bring.
Being in startups means in a typical 55 hour work week (if it's slow) you do 80 hours of work before you go home and check to make sure there hasn't been an important email during your commute home. It means never going anywhere without Internet Access, and sleeping not with a stuffed animal but with a pager/cellphone/laptop by your side just in case something breaks. After all, you are the only person who knows how to fix it and you wouldn't have it any other way.
Why choose a life like that? Three reasons:
1. Money. While typically salaries aren't as high as established companies', the well-heralded 'stock options' can be a nice present right before you get laid off, and you are working so much you don't have the opportunity to blow any cash on things your 9-5 friends are spending their money on.
2. People. I have many friends who don't know their co-workers. They know names, they know who has how many kids, but at the end of the day and at the end of the job, that's it. In a smaller company there is a lot more time and usually a lot less space, so the work-life balance becomes the 'worklife', that other extistence you have before you go home and are too tired to talk to anyone outside the office. You also meet people like yourself, and often end up working with them again and again, at different places. I currently work with 4 people that I have worked with at 3 separate companies in the past. Even more interesting is that my current manager is the person who got me the the last job I had, and subsequently my manager from my last job referred me back to the one I have now. Greater still is that at both my last job and my current one, my respective managers reported to the same person. How great is that!? Still with me?
3. The roller-coaster ride
Not many people know what's it's like to hear that their company can't afford pens this week. 'Free Diet Dr. Pepper and Pizza on Thursday will still be provided, but please refrain from excessive Post-it use until further notice'. I actually heard that once. Also, not many people know what it's like to watch a TV show having some contest or other, and know EXACTLY what's going on behind the scenes, exactly who is doing it, and standing next to them when it's done. For you addicts out there, I've seen the Magic Suitcase number picked on Deal-or-no-Deal, and listened to the winner being told they just won $25,000. The ride makes you want to work harder, it makes you want to be a part of something bigger, it makes you--are you sitting down?--PROUD of your job and your company. How many of you can say THAT?! I'm waiting....anyone?.....anyone?
I live for that. I am someone who is not happy unless he is challenged, and I get bored very very VERY easily. I am already bored typing this, and that is the biggest problem with working at a soon-to-be-acquired startup:
THE FREEZE
The freeze is the point in the negotations between companies when checkbooks get frozen, projects get halted, and things slow to a crawl. I won't bore you with the reasons why this happens but it's mind-numbing. Combine that with the fact that as a manager if I do the things I want to do (fixing a laptop or patching a server, etc), I risk offending those who report to me, because that's their job, not mine. Mine is to manage. The good thing at a start up is that managers often get to 'do' as well. Sadly, most things in IT can't be done without buying things, and when ya can't buy things, you can't do things. *Sigh*
So stay tuned kids, my extra cycles will lead to talks of things ranging from my electroluminescent persuasions to (of course) the music industry and entertainment in general, bowling and home renovations. Happy Thursday.
So let's see, when last we left off, I promised pictures of my finished place. Well if you click that little Flickr slidey thing over there you'll see em. Enjoy them in all their LED glory, because it looks like I'll have an offer on the pad soon and I'll be moving on to bigger and hopefully better.
You can catch video on HGTV's Look What I did on 6/15 at 6pm. I hope I don't look like a tool.
I tell ya making my place light up like Vegas garnered a lot more attention that I ever imagined. The Boston Globe, ApartmentTherapy.com, Channel 7, The Economist Magazine, and even HGTV are all/have already feature me and my obsession-making things light up. As I sit here at my desk I am envisioning what this office would look like bathed in the blue of the harbor water I am looking at, and knowing how quickly I could make that happen.
Speaking of desks let's talk shop shall we?
Those that know me know I am a career Angel of Death. What that means to you stable-job types is I am typically hired into a company that's on a blazing-fast growth path to eventual acquisition. I show up, build a bunch of stuff, it works perfectly, the company gets bought, people become bazillionaires (not me--yet) and I move on. I now have 8 under my belt (since I finished school in 1999) and if you know where I work and follow the industry it's quite possible that soon it will be 9. At times it's nerve-racking because you never know what the next day will bring, and at times it's glorious because you never know what the next day will bring.
Being in startups means in a typical 55 hour work week (if it's slow) you do 80 hours of work before you go home and check to make sure there hasn't been an important email during your commute home. It means never going anywhere without Internet Access, and sleeping not with a stuffed animal but with a pager/cellphone/laptop by your side just in case something breaks. After all, you are the only person who knows how to fix it and you wouldn't have it any other way.
Why choose a life like that? Three reasons:
1. Money. While typically salaries aren't as high as established companies', the well-heralded 'stock options' can be a nice present right before you get laid off, and you are working so much you don't have the opportunity to blow any cash on things your 9-5 friends are spending their money on.
2. People. I have many friends who don't know their co-workers. They know names, they know who has how many kids, but at the end of the day and at the end of the job, that's it. In a smaller company there is a lot more time and usually a lot less space, so the work-life balance becomes the 'worklife', that other extistence you have before you go home and are too tired to talk to anyone outside the office. You also meet people like yourself, and often end up working with them again and again, at different places. I currently work with 4 people that I have worked with at 3 separate companies in the past. Even more interesting is that my current manager is the person who got me the the last job I had, and subsequently my manager from my last job referred me back to the one I have now. Greater still is that at both my last job and my current one, my respective managers reported to the same person. How great is that!? Still with me?
3. The roller-coaster ride
Not many people know what's it's like to hear that their company can't afford pens this week. 'Free Diet Dr. Pepper and Pizza on Thursday will still be provided, but please refrain from excessive Post-it use until further notice'. I actually heard that once. Also, not many people know what it's like to watch a TV show having some contest or other, and know EXACTLY what's going on behind the scenes, exactly who is doing it, and standing next to them when it's done. For you addicts out there, I've seen the Magic Suitcase number picked on Deal-or-no-Deal, and listened to the winner being told they just won $25,000. The ride makes you want to work harder, it makes you want to be a part of something bigger, it makes you--are you sitting down?--PROUD of your job and your company. How many of you can say THAT?! I'm waiting....anyone?.....anyone?
I live for that. I am someone who is not happy unless he is challenged, and I get bored very very VERY easily. I am already bored typing this, and that is the biggest problem with working at a soon-to-be-acquired startup:
THE FREEZE
The freeze is the point in the negotations between companies when checkbooks get frozen, projects get halted, and things slow to a crawl. I won't bore you with the reasons why this happens but it's mind-numbing. Combine that with the fact that as a manager if I do the things I want to do (fixing a laptop or patching a server, etc), I risk offending those who report to me, because that's their job, not mine. Mine is to manage. The good thing at a start up is that managers often get to 'do' as well. Sadly, most things in IT can't be done without buying things, and when ya can't buy things, you can't do things. *Sigh*
So stay tuned kids, my extra cycles will lead to talks of things ranging from my electroluminescent persuasions to (of course) the music industry and entertainment in general, bowling and home renovations. Happy Thursday.
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