Exploding CD

Aazim sent this photo to me last week. The CD exploded in the drive while trying to install Windows XP. Never saw anything like it:

iHate iPhones!

It seems like everyone got an iPhone from Santa this year. What a pain they are.

First of all, they are reducing the American productivity quotient to near zero as everyone is just running around showing their co-workers the cool new "App" they downloaded. My favorite so far is the iFart app - you can figure out how useful that is for yourself. My real favorite is the

Second, they are taking precious time away from our techs doing real work setting up old fashioned computers for social workers because everyone wants the them to spend time connecting their new toy to their email service.

Third, and most annoying to me, is that nobody can hear me talking because they all have these white wires hanging from their ears. It's bad enough that I have to tell everybody how to do everything, but now I have to say it twice and get a dumb look after the first time and attitude about being out of touch with the new generation of workers after the second time.

Here is what you need to know about iPhones to get connected to your org's Exchange email:
First, the organization need to have an SSL Certificate installed. Otherwise, your username and password will be sent from the iPhone across the Internet for all hackers to see. Then, you need to know the public name of your mail server - for example: mail.youragency.org/exchange. Then it should be done. Sounds easy, but it seems that it's not because we get calls and emails about it all day long anymore.

I don't really hate iPhones. I got an iTouch for Christmas that I blogged about on my other blog phillybirdnerd.blogspot.com . The iTouch does everything that the iPhone does except for the phone part which is great for me since I have a SmartPhone already. What I really hate are Blackberries . . . that's for another post.

Good use of a fire escape

We live in one of the oldest cities in America. Non profit organizations are often located in buildings that were built waaaaaaay before electricity (although Ben Franklin flew his famous kite right here) and before these things called computers were invented. Our team comes across all types of challenges related to these old buildings: wet basements (where the DSL comes into the building), bad electrical wiring, bugs - yuck, and really small doorways. I recently learned that the small doorways in the historic buildings are not an indication of short founding fathers (in fact George Washington was well over 6 foot tall) but rather a result of structural shortcomings of the available building supplies of the day. Anyway, what does this have to do with technology and/or a fire escape?

We were recently called by a non profit theater company to secure their server. We helped them procure a low cost server cabinet that would support the need.

Thankfully for all of us, the city insists that these buildings have a proper fire escape. I don't have photos to support this, but our guys recently installed a server cabinet at an old theater by hauling it up the outside fire escape and shoving it through a second story window.

Good use of a thread on a PC

So, I wanted to show you photos of a creative client site, but I took the photos with my cell phone, then traded that phone in. Anyway our clients are really innovative when working with technology (seriously, not sarcastically). I recently visited a client site and noticed bright pink signage taped to the server. The sign read: "Remember the thread taped to the back. If it is not blowing in the wind it means that THE SERVER IS TURNED OFF!"

Obviously, the photo showed the string blowing in the wind.

I swear this is one of the most innovative things that I've seen in a long time. Kudos to the person who taped that sign on the server.

Good use of a hammer on a PC

Don't make me say it again. True story:



We recently had a client that needed us to transfer her e-mailbox from one system to another. Again, not to be too technical, this becomes difficult if the mailbox is really big. We usually start by asking the user to delete unneccesary items and empty the junk mail folder to reduce the size.

I got a call from the technician to say that he was unsure how to delete the 19,000 spam messages from the user's inbox. 19,000 spam messages. The inbox would barely open. The ability to scroll through the messages was impossible.

Q: How could he delete the messages?

A: Set a hammer on the delete key and come back the next day.



It worked! I have photos to prove it.

OK, I'm back with another story

Remember, these are all true. . . We have this amazing staff of non profit technology consultants that provide services to over 70 clients every month. For those consultants that have been with us a while, the shock threshold gets higher. The new guys still can't believe most of what they see on a daily basis. Here is a story that leapt across the shock threshold to become legend.



Our senior consultant was called to a small community center that had recently lost their "accidental techie" and knew they needed help with IT. As a typical technology consultant, Mark's first question was "Take me to your server". He was shown to the janitor's closet (you can see where this is going) where he only found a green hefty bag that was sucked in on all sides. "Why is the server in a bag ?!?!?" "To protect it from the leaky pipe"



True story.

Things a Tech Never Wants to Hear . . .

By now, you have the message that our guys work HARD. Everyday, all day. These guys are working for you, in your best interest. Two separate incidents brought this to mind today. Both involved our Iron Man - Tim.

Tim is the guy we can always count on. He puts his head down and works, and works, and works. Those of you who know him, know this about him. Those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing Tim in action, have to take my word for it. You should also know that he is funny. Really funny in a dry way. Here is what happened today:

Tim was on a server upgrade project today which involved changing DNS records for an Exchange Server. You don't need to understand the details here. (Remember, this is the un-tech blog.) The point is that he was on the phone with several tech support analysts from several outside services. He finally gets in touch with the support analyst that should be able to help him. Tim starts to explain his situation and the tech support analyst says:

"Can I put you on speaker phone so that the class can hear your issue?" The class?

You would think that's the worst thing a tech can hear when he is on a job and trying to get a problem solved. I certainly would have been upset. Not Tim. He was fine with it. He explained his situation and the tech support analyst said: "Well, I don't know if I can help you". Worst thing? Still no. Here's the worst thing:

"I know what the problem is . . ."

That's the worst thing, because it came from the student in the back of the classroom. Poor Tim.