1/90sec | f4.8 | 18mm
I took this picture while waiting for Jenn to get online. The original picture came out fairly good but I wanted to experiment with some colours. I hope this effect expresses the feeling of the day.
Archive for
October, 2009
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October 25, 2009 1:10 PM
October 24, 2009 10:18 AM
I have an account with Microsoft Developer’s Network through Mohawk College so I was able to get a license key for Windows 7. The official release date for Windows 7 was October 22, 2009 but I had a copy a few weeks early. Even though I’ve had access to Windows 7 all this time, I only installed it at the beginning of this week. So far, the test drive is pretty good.
The first thing most people will notice when their system boots up is that there’s no more progress bar. Windows XP and Vista has a progress bar that shows you that it’s loading. In Windows 7, they’ve changed it to the Windows logo and they made it pulsate. From an I.T. perspective, that’s much better because then people won’t know how long it actually takes to boot up. On the system that I tested Windows 7 on, it took anywhere from twenty to thirty seconds to load.
So here’s the machine that I’m working with. It’s an old Sun Microsystems machine with two single AMD Opteron processors clocking in at 2.6GHz each, 6GB of RAM, nVidia Quadro FX1100 128MB, two SCSI hard drive, one drive holds 70GB and the second holds 140GB. I got the system from work since they were going to toss it and it was still in working condition. All it cost me was the gas to get it home. It’s a fairly heavy machine because of the case. I think it’s made from steel or something.
I think the only thing wrong with this machine is the video card. Every now and then I would run into some issues where the display would be all messed up or things would be all yellow. I have the proper drivers installed so I think there’s something faulty about the hardware itself. It if wasn’t for that, I would have a higher Windows Experience Rating.
As you can see, you’ve got your standard Windows desktop with the taskbar, gadgets and icons. Like Vista, the Start menu placeholder is the orb that glows when you hover over it. The taskbar has been made a bit larger and the way things are organized is a bit better. The system bar is less cluttered this time. The gadgets are not restricted to just the right hand side of the display. You can move them around anywhere you want. The icons are a lot larger too. It’s almost as if you’ve set your resolution to 800×600.
The Start menu looks a lot nicer and is now even more useful than before. I found that the search actually responded fairly quickly no matter what you’re searching for. I think before, it would only search for software and system related stuff. Now, it pretty much searches the whole hard drive for anything.
Some software that is listed on the Start menu has the option of opening a sub menu. For example, for Paint, it would give you access to recently saved files but for Messenger, it allows you to change your status, check your email or even view your profile.
As I mentioned before, the taskbar has been given some organizational changes which helps makes it less cluttered. Any similar software that is running is grouped together and when you hover over it, you get a little preview of each individual window. This is very helpful when you have multiple Word documents opened and you want to see what in each of them without having to switch to them. When you hover over the preview, that window will be show and everything else will be transparent.
The icons on the taskbar as some interactivity to it as well. When you cover over an icon, there’s a little animation that takes place. There’s a little glow to each icon and they’re all difference. The colour of the glow depends on the colour that was used to create the icon. For example, the Firefox icon will have a red-orange-yellow glow to it while the Messenger icon will have a blue-white glow. It’s a nice little touch, I say.
They’ve also changed up the way you switch between windows as well. This is the feature that’s available in Vista where you hit the Windows key and Tab rather than Alt-Tab. This feature gives you a little preview of each window. It’s a nice feature but it doesn’t do much for me. I just like playing with it but the novelty fades after time.
In Windows XP, you would have to click on the “Show Desktop” shortcut to quickly minimize every window that was opened. In Windows 7, that shortcut has been replaced with a tab at the end of the taskbar. When you hover over that, everything turns to glass which in turn allows you to see what’s on your desktop. As soon as you move your mouse away from it, everything goes back to normal.
Overall, Windows 7 is a big change in the right direction for Microsoft. It’s not a resource hog like Vista and it’s a lot faster as well. Where Vista fail, Windows 7 has succeeded. If you’re lucky enough to be eligible for the free upgrade to Windows 7, I recommend that you upgrade. I don’t know the retail price of Windows 7 but it’s probably worth it to buy.
October 20, 2009 11:11 PM
Jenn told me about this cool little website that creates beautiful word clouds for you. You can either type in a bunch of random words or you can use a blog feed to create the art. If you provide a blog feed, it’ll try to use words that appear in the feed frequently and make them larger so that they stand out.
Here’s the results that Wordle generated for me.
October 19, 2009 3:09 PM
Talk to the people
Comments OffI have a little issue that is currently happening at work that I don’t quite agree with. I voiced my opinion on the matter but it doesn’t seem like my coworker wants to hear about it. I thought that my reasoning made sense so I’m not sure why he didn’t want to hear it. I’m a people person so I try my best to please the majority of them. I found out recently that I’m considered a utilitarian.
Lately, the company is on a cost saving initiative so they’re trying to save as much as possible whenever they can. One of those initiatives involves the licensing of software. An email was sent out to managers of each department asking whether or not their subordinate require the use of Adobe Acrobat Standard. Some of them need the software to create PDFs but they don’t need the editing capabilities. Since they don’t need to edit PDFs we have software that will allow them to create PDFs but not edit. That particular software is available for them to install at will. Unfortunately, no one has heard of the software to create PDFs so they all request the licensed software which in turns means higher cost.
The manager’s job was to reply back to the email and inform us which one of their employees requires Acrobat Standard to be installed and which doesn’t need it. If they don’t reply, we’re going to assume that none of their employees needs it and we’ll uninstall it. That’s the part that I have a problem with.
My coworker has been delegated the job of uninstalling the software in the background. The unsuspecting user will not know that the software has been uninstalled until they try to use it. Everyone laptop and desktop has one version of Acrobat. If they have Acrobat Reader they won’t have Acrobat Standard and vice versa. The problem here is that if they have Acrobat Standard and it gets uninstalled they don’t have anything to view PDFs anymore. Since they can’t view PDFs they’re going to complain and I’m usually the first on their list to call.
When I found out that there were a lot of people that require the software, I suggested to my coworker that he notify them before uninstalling. My reasoning was that the managers don’t know enough about their employees to know who needs what software. It would be nice if he had given them a little courtesy email to confirm with them that they don’t need Acrobat Standard. The people who were complaining were people who needed the software but no longer have access to it. My coworker’s response to my suggestion was, “It has nothing to do with me.”
I’m standing there, dumbfounded and staring at him and I’m questioning how this has nothing to do with him since he’s the one that’s uninstalling the software in the background. I understand the fact that the managers didn’t reply to the email so it’s partially their fault but you can’t punish the employee for something that their managers didn’t do. Uninstalling the software without the users knowing will cause more problems than it’ll solve. So what if you’re saving the cost of licensing, you’re going to end up having to reinstall the software after the user found out that it went missing.
A coworker called me at the end of the day and asked what I did with her copy of Acrobat Standard. I told her that I haven’t done anything yet. I took a look at the list of users whose copy of Acrobat Standard is going to removed and saw that she was on the list but according to that list her copy shouldn’t have been installed yet. I don’t know if my coworker uninstalled it before going home and didn’t get to update the spreadsheet but it made her a little upset because she was not able to do her work. She ended up having to call it a day because she had to wait until tomorrow to get the software reinstalled.
It seems like day after day, I’ll get a phone call asking about the PDF software. I think it would have made better sense to contact the user rather than their mangers and ask them if they needed the software. If they had said, “No” the problem would have been solved. But for those who actually need the software, it causes headache, frustration and down time. I think to save them the headache and save me from having to repeat myself a few dozen times, an email should have been sent out to the correct people in order to avoid further issues. But there’s something about office politics that causes some employee to do what they’re told and don’t ask any questions. Every now and then, you need to ask the right questions to ensure you’re doing it right. Other times, you just have to use your own common sense and do what’s right.
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October 15, 2009 12:25 AM
This year’s Blog Action Day topic is about climate change. The issue with climate change is something that affects everyone and everything on this planet. It’s not a local issue but one that is global. Everyone needs to do their part in order to help the environment. Sadly, I do not believe that I have done enough to help with the issue of climate change. So today, I’m going to attempt to do my part by walking to work.
Sometimes, it saddens me to realize how lazy of a person I’ve become. I live approximately fifteen minutes from my workplace but I value my sleep more than the environment. I have my alarm set for 7:30 AM but I don’t get out of bed until 8:00 AM. Once I’ve gotten ready, I jump into my car and get to work by 8:15 AM. If I wasn’t so lazy, I could save a five minute car ride and take a fifteen minute walk to work. I’ll be doing something good for the environment and saving myself from having to pay high gas prices.
On average, I would say that I spend $20 a week on gas. As it stands, I do not believe that I have to spend that much on gas because I hardly go anywhere. I only need the car to get me to school because I need to get to school on time after work. I could take the bus but I’m not a fan of the local bus service. During the summer, I could buy a bicycle and bike to school but after a day at work, I’m already tired. Maybe if I was fit I could do it but I’m not a young as I once was.
If you’re like me you might be thinking, “How can one person help change the environment?” You’re probably right that one change by one person probably doesn’t make that much of an impact but it’s the act as a whole that causes that change. I could be one of millions who are willing to do something about climate change. If everyone does their part, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You’re not going to see much of an effect if you look at it from one person’s perspective but if you look at it from a global perspective you’ll see a gradual change for the better.
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According to this carbon calculator, my carbon footprint is at 40.2 tons. If you don’t know what a carbon footprint is, it’s the equivalent amount of greenhouse gas that you emit individually. And I guess it’s measured in terms of carbon dioxide. I drive everyday and fly twice a year so that adds up.
Climate change is a threat that we’re facing and something needs to be done about it. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are raising and the temperature of the Earth is getting hotter. If we all did a little bit every day, we could make this planet a greener place to live in. So turn lights off when you don’t need them to conserve energy. Recycle paper and plastic when possible. Doing a little bit won’t end the climate change but it will start the process to resolving it.
October 11, 2009 10:46 AM
JD’s Beetle
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1/500sec | f3.5 | 18mm
This is JD’s new ride. Soon, it’ll be pimped out and made into a Nerdmobile.
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October 10, 2009 5:08 PM
1/500sec | f3.8 | 23mm
I took this shot after class today. Leaves are starting to change colours and pretty soon, they’re all going to fall off.
October 7, 2009 9:22 PM
Keep your head up
Comments OffI think that due to the recent recession, a lot of people’s goals in life were slightly placed on hold. Some people are at dead end jobs that seem like a waste of time. Some people are unemployed and are trying to make ends meet. Everyone seems to be having a hard time doing something these days. I am no exception since I am also having some problems as well.
I’m sure that there are a lot of people who are out of the job right now. My company recently let go about fifty employees. There were news that they were going to lay off some people but some of the people that were let go came to as a shock for me. Some of the people had years of service with the company. I spoke with one employee about a computer problem only to find out that she was let go a few minutes later. It’s pretty quick how things can change.
A lot of students expect to find themselves a good job as soon as they finish post secondary but that’s not always the case. When I graduated from Mohawk in October 2005, I was working as a security guard at the Hamilton Public Library. It took me two years of applying before I landed the job that I’m at now. My patience and persistence certainly paid off in the end.
When I was twenty five years old, I working in security which had nothing to do with what I went to school for. It was a job that was paying my bills and I accepted it. I wasn’t motivated to find a job in I.T because I was already working. I didn’t feel the need to find another job since I already had a job. It wasn’t until I started hanging out with a few guys, whom all were not working that I felt the need to do something about it. Between the ages of twenty five until twenty eight, I must have worked at three different places, four if you include my current job. But I had to go from job to job before landing the good job.
Even thought I have a good job, I still compare myself to others. I’m the one with the good job but I don’t have anything to show for it either. My two younger brothers both have new cars and I’m driving around in a car that’s slowly falling apart. And yes, I feel kind of bad for not having anything nice to show for it but on the other hand, I am saving in a way. Comparing yourself to others doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. Once you’ve realized that they’re doing better, you have to find the motivation to do just as good. If others aren’t motivating you, you have to be a self motivator and get to it.
Right now, it’s hard going to work and attending part time school. It’s hard to get out of work and head to school. The work hour has already made you tired and you want to go home to relax. No one can tell you what to do so you have to tell yourself to get to school and keep going. I’ve always had to rely on myself to do the motivating because I was always doing something that others weren’t. I had to take summer school while others are out having fun. I was staying in and saving money while others are out at the casino gambling their money away. I’m hoping that all of this hard work will pay off in the end. Although I’m already working at a good job, there is always room for improvement. There’s no telling where my degree will take me.
I had to work hard to get where I am today and I’m proud of all the hard work that I’ve done. There are people who got to where they are now because of connection but I’m not too fond of them. They got the easy way out but there’s nothing that you can do to change that. Since I work hard to get here, I have peace of mind knowing that I got to where I am by earning it. I respect people who earn what they have.
To all of my friends who are down right now, I say to you to keep your head up. The storm is over now and the sun’s going to be shining soon. It’s only a matter of time before things start going your way. Rant, whine or complain all you want about how well others are doing but keep in mind that you need to do something about it than just bicker. People will boast about their accomplishment because it’s human nature to brag. I don’t like bragging about my accomplishment but you have to realize that some people do not even know that they’re doing it. You have to try and hold back any anger that you feel towards them and just move on.
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