“A fool can fill up more disk space than a wise man can answer.” Me, 2006
I spent half the day getting the printer network working. This can get a little complicated. The network has a quirk I can’t figure out yet, when for no reason it simply renames about half the computers on the network to workgroup to “MSHOME”. These computers can no longer share the laser printer. Furthermore, when you go to reset them, the browser does not work right.
The other half of the day, I was at the doctor’s office. You will never guess the results. I died. No, seriously, it appears I have recovered completely from the heart attack. No more expensive Plavix, instead I am to take 81 mg of aspirin per day. Incredible good news.
Back home, I got a technician named Dani to look at the air conditioner. It had been sabotaged, and that jives with other reports I’ve heard that Enrique and his roommate were not getting along. Somebody had opened the unit, stabbed through the Freon lines and replaced the cover. That means a new unit, since recharging is too expensive.
In return, I installed some anti-virus programs in his computer and caught six worm viruses just in time. He was happy, and did mention that he knew a lot of computer techs but had never met one with as much knowledge of the processes as myself. Really? Well, I can fool some of them all of the time.
Long lost Harold, my original student, was in for a lesson today. He needed a brushup on how numbers can be used as text on a spreadsheet. He’s got some kind of new job where being up on these skills keeps him ahead of the pack and he plainly knows my tutoring is a good job investment. Especially since I’m still charging him only the $15 per hour special from when I started.
People donate things at the shop. Here’s a set of disks by Systemax called “Ultimate Software Collection”. I don’t care for it, too many of the useful modules such as the maps require an Internet connection. This has to happen once in a while and I happen to think such disks should require warning labels.
I reviewed a few of the other disks to get an idea of what some people would consider as ultimate. There must still be untold millions out there who do not know that a giraffe has a long neck or that a Duck-billed Platypus has a bill like a duck. Quick, sell them some software. Who knows, they might study material on a computer that they failed to learn from a book. There is an atlas (minus the maps) and a 1998 World Facts sheet to tempt them away from interactive games and porno.
However, the biggest waste is always the dinosaur animations. This velociraptor thing makes the rounds every ten years. My biggest beef is the naming conventions. You can’t blame the people who started it all in the 1800’s because Latin was part of their education, but whoever decided to keep it as a standard needs to be on the receiving end of a cattle prod. Call it anything as long a people can relate to it.
My plan was to give you a list of the dinosaur names and see if you could remember any of them for five minutes but I see they’ve used the old Compton’s trick, where only the index installs on your computer. You have to chase around for the CD to use it. Tell you what, take a good guess at which software collection is going to get the ultimate uninstall from my computer.
