Problem: I needed to install Skype on a Linux Live USB distro with persistence (so it remembers the settings & saves files) so I could video chat with my fiancée while on a business trip. On a 64-bit machine with Ubuntu 13.04, Skype is nowhere to be found in the Ubuntu Software Center. If you…
Back to School, Again
It’s 12/12/12 – ThinkGeek encourages us to go get a dozen doughnuts to celebrate, because the typical start-of-century repeated date convention won’t happen again until 2101 (when it’ll be 01/01/01 again, provided you abbreviate the year). So, given that the world doesn’t end on December 21st, 2012 (visit this link by NASA to see why it’s…
Deal Alert: Crucial 256GB SSD for $179.99 after $32 Rebate
Got an email yesterday that Crucial has a 256 gigabyte (GB) Solid State Drive (SSD) on sale for $179.99 after a $32 rebate TODAY ONLY, August 24th. The drive is normally about $199 on Crucial’s website. Why should you upgrade to a solid state drive? A couple of reasons: No moving parts involved means the…
Why Don’t People Read Emails Thoroughly Before Replying?
I may have mentioned, I’m doing Sharepoint tech support at the place I work at currently as one of my projects assigned to me. This usually gets me involved in a smattering of e-mails weekly that I have to reply to politely and professionally and with a helpful, friendly attitude. Which is really, really hard…
Non-economical Repair
Working with people always has its advantages and its disadvantages, much as you’d expect. I fancy myself a misanthrope. It’s hard to run a business if you can’t deal with people. Right now, I’ve got a computer in my possession that’s past its expiration date by a long shot. I absolutely hate to admit defeat…
Terrible Tuesdays
Good grief. Exam week for college students apparently makes everyone grumpy and annoying. At first I thought, maybe I’m not being polite enough, so I tried harder on the phones today. Then I heard other people in the call center dealing with angry clients, too. Apparently during exam week, everything is an emergency, and everyone’s…
Make Headers Stay Across Pages on Tables in Word
A quick Microsoft Word tip: if you’re working with a table you’ve created in Word, and your table spans multiple pages, it can be annoying to flip back and forth to remember what each column represents. Ideally, you’d like to be able to keep the column headers on the table in Word across each page,…
The Rage You’ve Been Missing
So it was mentioned that I don’t do a lot of raging on here about crazy incidents with customers. I’ll give you a good one that’s been happening a lot lately: Our university went with Windows Live Mail to outsource our student e-mail service last semester. Students were given until April 15th when the server…
Current Work Projects
I have several things I’m trying to do at work while I’m answering calls and hanging on to my sanity. It’s neat to have something to be put in charge of and take responsibility for. Project 1: Update the Help Desk Website Copy Myself and the hourly full-time guy are in charge of updating the…