Month: March 2016

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For those of you who may be interested

battery

The new battery from newer technology that’s in my computer is working out very nicely.

As they said on their web site, it took several charge / recharge cycles to get the full runtime out of the battery.

Not that there wasn’t immediate improvement after the replacement. Initially my runtime went to 5 hours, now we’re at about 7. Obviously that depends on what I’m doing.

The time will vary. But I’ve noticed a couple of other interesting things.  Microsoft Word is pretty energy efficient. BBEdit is also very frugal on its power usage. With a little experimentation I’ve found that I can stay on battery easily most of a standard workday, all I have to do is choose which apps I’m running carefully. For example, do I need to have Safari opening to an automatically refreshing news page while I’m working on other things? Nope! Do I need the full power of Word, when all I’m doing is scribbling down some notes that I’ll later fold into a larger document? Nope!

In spite of the frustrations and challenges, I’d call the battery fiasco, a win. I’ve learned some things and am more active in my power management.

Prod merc aura pro express6g12 envoy

I’d love to test the claims of OtherWorld Computing regarding their 1 Terabyte solid state drive. They claim that the drive uses less power and is faster than the drive that came with my computer. I’m just not ready to pony up $450 to put their claims to the test.

The funniest thing about my desire for a bigger drive, is the staggering capacity that still remains on my current drive.

I clearly recall when I got appreciative “Ooos and ahhs” because I had a 486 Class PC with 80 MB of hard drive storage.

Now I’m looking at my remaining hard drive space, 150 GB and thinking, “Wow, I don’t have much space left.”

For that matter, I remember my first laptop got an astounding 2 hours of runtime on a charge. Now a two hour runtime signals the need for battery replacement.

It’s interesting, how our perceptions change.

 

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Wow the week got by me.

helpwanted

On the job front nothing is new. Meaning that I’m still getting lip service from headhunters who’ve managed to insinuate themselves into even direct hiring processes.

You apply to a company, on their corporate website, and then you’re contacted by ManPower or some other third party organization, because the company you applied to, is overwhelmed or doesn’t have an HR department.

American businesses have trimmed and pared down to the point that they can’t hire without outside agencies, it’s representative of how changed the hiring landscape is, and how the placement agencies have adapted to those changes. It’s an effective business model.

Like good parasites, the placement agencies have become integral to their hosts, without killing them. I suppose that the relationship is now symbiotic instead of parasitic. But since so many of these placement agencies have roots in other countries, or significant numbers of employees who are from other countries is it any wonder that H1B1 workers may have an advantage over native workers?

webdesign

A friend told me flat out, to stop banging my head against a wall trying to get back into my former profession, and do nothing but web design.  This speaks well of how happy he is with the web site I built for his business. I’m not sure that I’m good enough to be competitive but maybe he’s got a point.

I get SPAM from India all the time telling me how starting at $400 they’ll build me a website.

What I bring to the table is helping someone find a web hosting service, getting a domain name, and getting their site built, tested, uploaded to their new host and connected to their shiny new domain name.

I’m not sure how to price myself, in that market and there’s all the things I don’t currently know. I’ve been involved with publishing one way or another, since almost my very first job. I’ve done marketing collateral for corporations and been the primary driver / layout / publishing person behind a local 30 page full color magazine. I mean people ate up the magazine like candy. 

Of course, I designed the magazine to be visual candy, so I suppose that was mission accomplished.

Even this blog, as simple as it is, I’ve gotten compliments about. This blog is nothing more  than vanity. The blog is a way for me to keep writing, even if I’m not writing stories, writing frequently helps me with phrasing and putting my thoughts on “paper”.

It’s not a big deal for me to transfer that experience to a new media. 

I guess it’s a confidence issue, people say I’m good at this kind of thing but am I? Or are people just being nice?

Domain Names are fairly inexpensive to purchase. Meh, it can’t hurt to see if people are interested in finding someone that’s willing to put their web sites together and then maintain them for reasonable prices.

I suppose that folks I’ve built websites for, might let me link to their sites as a sort of portfolio. Maybe that’s the next step, I’ll ask.  It would give their sites more exposure and help me too.

SIRI & The FBI

I saw this today and laughed out loud. I thought I’d share it.

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OMG! This is spooky

Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore

I’m no fan of Trump.

I think he’s a bully. If he wins the nomination I’m honestly not sure what will happen. Obviously, it will become a race between Hillary and Trump. That being said how the hell do I vote?

Cast my vote for Hillary whom I believe should be indicted for criminal behavior against the United States of America OR cast my vote for a guy who is, at best is unsavory and at worst is a nasty bully?

Do I not vote at all? 

I’m not convinced that is the right course of action either. Not participating doesn’t actually register a disagreement with the establishment.

I think the serious question that needs to be asked is WHY are so many voters turning out for Trump?

Hillary 3232486b

I think this speaks to a serious dissatisfaction with the status quo. How many of us over the past 24 years have found ourselves voting for the least objectionable candidate?

This isn’t what our electoral process is supposed to be. We should be voting for the best candidate. The candidate that is best able to unify us, and provide guidance not for themselves, select groups, or special interests, but for all the people in this country.

TedCruzWide

Who do these candidates represent? 

We the People? Or more likely the power elite…

Clinton is certainly associated with the Washington Elite. Trump is obviously connected with the wealthy power brokers and I question, if he had to decide between the people or the power brokers of American business which would he choose?

I suspect that the people would lose.

635568354123993728 marco rubio

The problem is We The People can’t take another four years of losing.

So where does that leave those of us who want our country to be unified and moving forward?

Nowhere.

I once described the kind of person I wanted as a president. 

Ambassador Sarek

My thoughts on the matter haven’t changed.

I want a president with the following qualities; a statesman, honesty, conviction, and honor, someone for whom logic, not emotion and rhetoric, is first nature.

Thus far I’ve seen nothing even close to that from any of the candidates.

If he were real, I’d vote for Sarek in a minute!