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Not Heeding my Own Advice

January 23, 2013 About me, Business, Technology No comments
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This is a tale of what happens when you fail to heed your own advice.

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with email.  I have now learned that it is too easy to get complacent when there is no email.  I should have known better.  I can’t recall the last time I had a day with no email.  But somehow I failed to connect the absence of email with the possibility of a problem.

I have been using Dreamhost to host my various websites for years, with only minor hiccups.  I let myself get complacent.  I assumed that since I had received an email letting me know that my domain name would auto-renew there was no need for me to double check that the renewal had gone through.  Therein lies my mistake.

Fortunately, a friend pointed out that my site was down.  He also alerted me to the fact the the URL indicated that my domain had expired on January 18th.  I immediately manually renewed my domain name.  And then I waited.  And waited.

I submitted a ticket to Dreamhost about the auto-renewal failure and the fact that my site was still down and no email was coming through.  I sent myself a test email and it just went into the ether.  No error message.  Nothing.

The following morning my site still wasn’t up and my test email still had not come through.  I checked my ticket and it still hadn’t been addressed.  I went to http://gethuman.com to see if I could find a phone number so I could call Dreamhost and get a status update.  There was a number, but there were also several comments indicating that the number led directly to voicemail.

After digging a little further, I discovered that Dreamhost has a Twitter account.  I tweeted my issue and my issue was resolved in a snap.

The moral of the story: Don’t be afraid to be the squeaky wheel.  If a company won’t let you contact them directly, try to get a number that you can call.  If that doesn’t work.  Try contacting them via a social media account.  That will hold them publicly accountable.

Domain Registration is not the same as a Hosting Plan

December 11, 2012 Education, Technology No comments

One of the most common mistakes I encounter with my clients is confusing domain registration with a hosting plan.  Since it is an easy mistake to make, I thought I might take a stab at explaining the difference between the two.

Domain Registration

A domain name (e.g. techwhisperer.biz) is like an address for an empty lot.  You can go to the address, but you won’t find anything there.  There are probably millions of potential domain names that are unused.  When you register a domain, you are licensing the domain as your own.  Or, to extend the metaphor, you are leasing the address of the empty lot.

Sometimes, all someone wants to do is register a domain so nobody else can use it.  If that is that is the case, than all that person needs is domain registration. If someone wants to create a website or blog at that domain, then a hosting plan is required.

Hosting Plans

The content of a website or blog needs somewhere to live.  If the domain name is the address, the hosting plan is the building.  A hosting plan leases space on a server somewhere in the world for your content to live.  The space on that server is the building where your content lives.  The domain name and host do not need to be with the same provider.  It may simplify things, but it is not required.

Hopefully that clarifies the distinction a bit.  If you still have questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me at eva [at] techwhisperer [dot] biz.

Some days you just gotta brag

December 4, 2012 About me, Consulting, Technology No comments

As my regular readers know, I like to turn Barnes & Noble Nook Colors into full-fledged Android tablets.  For reasons that don’t bear further exploration at this juncture, I found myself with three Nooks to convert this past week.  Having already converted several, I though this time would be a breeze.  The first two were easy, relatively speaking–just the inevitable small hiccups.  The third one though was a bear.  It just insisted on staying a Nook reader and that is not what I wanted it to be.  We battled for 3 days until this afternoon, when I finally beat it into submission. The triumph I felt when I saw the Android (actually Cyanogenmod) logo pop up instead of the Nook’s welcome screen reminded me of why I love doing what I do.  I remembered that even when I am frustrated, I love the problem solving and research aspect of my work. Not to mention the feeling of accomplishment when I succeed.

I must give credit where it is due and I owe a hearty thanks to the folks at the XDA-Developers forum for providing me with the solution that solved my problem.  Without folks volunteering their time to answer questions from people like me, I would still have an e-reader instead of a tablet.  They deserve both kudos and lots of karmic points.

In other news, things are relatively quiet these days and I don’t expect business to pick up until the new year when people start trying to figure out how to use their new computers and gadgets.  I am using my available time to catch up on some long-term client projects that deserve some focused attention.  I am also using this respite to learn Windows 8 on my new-to-me desktop (thank you Free Geek).  This way I will be ready to support my clients on their new Windows 8 laptops/desktops and tablets.  Last, but certainly not least, I will be spending my time revamping my website, something that has been on my to-do list for a while now. 

I’m not even supposed to be here today!

November 1, 2012 Business, DigiWrimo, Technology One comment

Right now I should be playing with my twin niecelettes in New York.  Either that or laying on the floor, completely wiped out, while my twin niecelettes play on some device with a screen.  Regardless, I am not there.  All because of the Frankenstorm (aka Superstorm Sandy).

Instead, I have begun fulfilling my 50,000 word DigiWrimo commitment sitting at my own desk.  This will make it easier because I won’t be trying to squeeze in time to write.  On the flip side, it also makes it easier for me to procrastinate.  Like this morning, when I decided it was nap time rather than writing time, but I digress.

One of the many surprises I have encountered while Tech Whispering has been the number of computers that I have brought home with me.  Somehow, I always expected to do the work at someone else’s location.  Instead, I have machines moving in an out of my home.  Some, doing much better than when they arrived.  Others (sadly) having been determined to most definitely not just been resting.

This week I also opened up the box of one of the CPUs I brought home from CubeSpace.  We deliberately overbuilt those, so I was not at all surprised to discover that I would just need to install some more RAM in order for it to run Windows 7.  What I was disappointed to learn was that it won’t be able to run Windows 8.  Instead, I will have to troll the aisles of FreeGeek to see if I can find a replacement graphics card that will allow me to run Windows 8.

You see, I am already getting questions about my opinion on Windows 8.  And, while I am perfectly capable of spouting out a summary of the dozens of articles I have read on the subject, I have no first hand experience.  And, while I think I have some time before I start being asked to support Windows 8, I still need the time for my own learning curve.

Digiwrimo words to date: 1567

Creative Procrastination

October 22, 2012 About me No comments
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I procrastinate a lot.  I mean, seriously a lot.  Most people can’t tell though because I don’t procrastinate by playing games or reading (although sometimes I wish I did).  No, I procrastinate by finding a new task to do.  In fact, I have completed some fairly complex projects through procrastination.  This may not seem like a problem to you, but I have pushed a couple of deadlines because I was too busy procrastinating to work on the actual work I was supposed to be doing.

This past year I tried building a blogging habit by participating in the WordCount blogathon.  I succeeded in the challenge of blogging every day for a month.  But as soon as the challenge was over, I quickly slipped back into my once a week blogging habits.  But blogging is only one piece of the writing I have to do.  Clearly I need a more inclusive challenge.

November is National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo.  The NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That calculates out to roughly 1,600 words a day.  If that sounds like a lot, it is because it is.  Nevertheless, I am taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge this year.  Whew. I had to take a deep breath just writing that sentence.

Actually, I am taking on the DigiWriMo challenge because I know I don’t have a novel in me.  Before anyone asks how I know, I know because when I made a film in high school (for which I won an award, thank you very much) I ended up making it a silent film because dialogue was too much of a struggle for me.  So instead of writing a novel, I am planning on writing the tips and tricks and instruction manuals that I have been putting off for months.  I am also planning on blogging the process.  Apparently I need the prospect of publicly airing my failure to keep me on track.

But wait, there’s more.  I am taking on this challenge knowing that I will be spending the first week of November in New York visiting family.  Some might see DigiWriMo as an excuse to escape family and write.  But my family includes my extremely energetic 5 year old niecelettes.  Niecelettes that I adore so much that I try to spend every waking minute with them.  Not only do I exhaust myself while I am there, my visits leave me physically and emotionally exhausted for a week or so after I return.

I better end this post now before I talk myself out of the DigiWriMo challenge.  Stay tuned.

Language Envy

October 15, 2012 About me, Language, Technology No comments
genie

I have long regretted not growing up in a culture where people routinely learn multiple languages in the course of everyday life. Growing up, I had a friend whose family spoke 4 languages at home.  At the dinner table, the family spoke an amalgam language, seamlessly switching between languages to use the most accurate word for what they wanted to say.  But just speaking multiple languages would not have been enough for me.  My desire is to be able to read literature in the original language.  The good news for me is that I find learning to read is easier for me than learning to speak a language. The bad news is that easier is a relative term.  I am just not gifted in language acquisition.

If I ever met a genie who offered me 3 wishes, one of them would be for the ability to read and comprehend languages with ease.  I would then sit myself down with Dostoevsky, Sholom Aleichem and Isabelle Allende for a reading orgy.  Or, I could bypass the genie and just work on my existing Spanish & Yiddish.  That wouldn’t help with Dostoevsky though.  I tried taking Russian in college, but learning a third alphabet was more than my poor, taxed brain could handle.  I suspect if I put all of my crafting energy into beefing up my existing languages or learning Russian, I could do it.  But, I guess I don’t want it that badly.  Thus my desire to take the easy way out and just let the genie work his/her magic on me.

Hopefully, my genie would include programming languages in his/her gift to me.  For the past several years, I have wanted to learn the programming language Ruby.  It is a clean and elegant language, which makes it that much more appealing to me.  I have books, online resources and offers to teach me Ruby.  But, I am lacking the fundamental motivation of a timely need. I can be very self-motivating, but I need an impetus to get me started.  For example, I enjoy both walking and riding my bike, but find it incredibly difficult to just go for a walk or a bike ride without a destination in mind.  However, if I have errands to run, I don’t hesitate to walk or ride several miles.

The same is true for learning Ruby (or any other language).  My desire is there, but the desire alone is not enough to get me started.  I need a timely project with a deadline to get me to start tapping into the resources I already have at my fingertips.  I have tried creating a project with an arbitrary deadline, but I wasn’t able to fool myself.  Instead, I allowed myself to get distracted by other projects with real deadlines.

I should just own that I am not one of those people who can learn something just for the sake of learning.  I wish I were, but I am not.  Instead, I will just continue to frustrate myself with unfulfilled desires.  Unless that genie appears.  So, if you happen to run into an oil lamp in need of shining, or a stoppered bottle, let me know.  The genie I have been dreaming of might just be inside.

 

 

What I’ve been up to lately

October 10, 2012 Crafting, Technology No comments
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I know I have been silent for a while (so much for my commitment to blogging–I obviously need another challenge), but that is because Tech Whispering has kept me busy.  Thanks to my clients, I am learning all about “known issues” with Outlook 2010 and syncing iPads w/Mac’s mail client.  “Known issues” are basically bugs that both Microsoft and Apple know about but have not provided patches to resolve the problem.  Instead I have been relying on those wonderfully geeky folks who devise work-arounds and post them on the web.  If you are one of those geeky folks, please accept my heartfelt thanks.  I could not do much of what I do without you.

I also have a new toy, a 4 shuttle table loom (pictured here). I love how hand weaving allows me the distinction of being a tech-savvy luddite.  The current usage of the term luddite is used to describe technophobes.  However, the original Luddites were hand-weavers who were opposed to the shift towards mechanization during the industrial revolution.

I haven’t really had a chance to weave much because I have been so busy, but that is ok.  I like being busy and I am really enjoying my work.  I get a real kick out of not knowing exactly what my day has in store for me.  I may think I am heading off to help a client set up a tablet, only to discover that what she really needs help doing is cleaning crap off her iPhone and fixing a perennial issue with her back up system.  I also love it when my clients compile a list of technical questions for me.  It forces me to stay on top of the ever-changing world of technology.  It also helps validate my rationalization for starting Tech Whispering in the first place. I often tell people that I started this business so reading tech blogs would count as “work” and not procrastination.

My clients often apologize to me for the age of their devices.  What they obviously don’t know about me is that I can be quite quixotic when it comes to forestalling obsolescence.  I just revived an ageing Mac Mini by increasing its RAM.  It is now happily running Snow Leopard and has at least a year or 2 left in its functional lifespan.

I have also picked up some work utilizing a skill set I haven’t used in a while, configuring databases and creating (or modifying) reports to track metrics.  The world of databases has changed a fair amount since I first started teaching workshops on the theory behind relational databases back in 1996.  But it is like riding a bicycle, and without too much effort, my comfort level is rising fairly quickly.

Hum 110 Revisited

September 10, 2012 Recommendations No comments
Song of Achilles

I am not often inspired to write book reviews.  First of all, I am a fast reader and it is not unusual for me to read 2-3 books a weekend. Imagine how long it would take for me to write all those reviews. I also have fairly eclectic taste, so I don’t expect most people to have the slightest interest in the books I read.  But every once in a while, I feel inspired enough by a book to want to share it with other people.

In this case, the book that inspired me to share is Marilyn Miller’s Song of Achilles, a midrashic* retelling of the Illiad from Patroclus’ perspective. The review I read of Miller’s book intrigued me, despite not having particularly enjoyed reading the Iliad as a freshman at Reed.  Part of what caught my attention was the possibility that Miller’s retelling could illuminate the Iliad for me. While I understood why the Iliad was required reading, I couldn’t honestly say that I had “gotten” it.  Regardless, I had to slog my way through the Iliad, much like many other first year students forced to read it as part of their humanities or Western Civilization requirement.

With that history in mind, imagine my surprise that after reading The Song of Achilles I was inspired to reread the Illiad.  And this time around, I am finding the Iliad to be much more compelling.  Ms. Miller fleshed out a lot of the content that was implicit to the Iliad, nuances that I completely missed the first time around.  Admittedly, this time around I am no longer 17 and I am reading a better translation (the Fitzgerald translation as opposed to the Richard Lattimore translation), but I attribute a lot of my enjoyment to The Song of Achilles.

I hope I am not making The Song of Achilles sound too academic.  It is actually a very easy-to-read novel that I read while on vacation.  I would recommend it regardless of whether you have ever read the Iliad. At its heart, it is really just a sweetly romantic book. One I highly recommend you give a try.

*Technically, a Midrash is a interpretive narrative that elaborates on personalities and stories within a biblical text.  One widely known example would be Anita Diamont’s The Red Tent, a retelling of Dinah’s rape from her perspective.  Here I am expanding the definition to include interpretive narratives of other foundational texts. For example, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Firebrand, in which Kassandra retells the story of the Illiad from her perspective.

 

 

Crafting Update

September 3, 2012 Crafting One comment

I have heard from several of you that if I am going to write about my crafting, I really should put up some pictures.  Thank you for your (gentle) nudging, I really do appreciate it.  Although I still haven’t taken a picture of the first element I completed in my Periodic Tablecloth of Elements, I promise I will soon.  What I can share are photos of the stuffed animals I recently made for my niecelettes and a small piece of fabric I wove while I was in Lake Placid.

Back in the Spring, my niecelettes chose some fabric and asked me to make them a dog and a bear.  The bear was easy. I found a good, free pattern online.  The dog was much harder.  I spent quality time online trying to find a decent pattern for a dog. Most of them just added a dog head to a generic body.  There were some dachshund and scottie patterns that I tried, but they each had their own set of issues.  Finally, I gave up and bought a fox pattern thinking I could modify it using pieces of the problematic patterns to make something that looked like a dog.

As you can see, I didn’t quite succeed.  Everyone except for my niecelette referred to it as a cat. My niecelette named it Doggy Lindsay Schweber, I guess as a way to remind people what it was supposed to be.

This is also the project that made me cry uncle and replace my new-fangled, computerized sewing machine with a much more manual (but not at all basic) Singer.  I love my new sewing machine and have a renewed appreciation for doing things the old fashioned way.

I discovered weaving a few years ago when I purchased an extremely basic lap loom at a garage sale.  I find weaving to be very peaceful and meditative and really wish I could do it more.  But, my beloved cat, Dancer Salvador Dali Snotmonster Ratbastard (that really is his full name, everything but Dancer–the name he came with– coming from his habits or traits) thinks weaving is an invitation to play with the shuttle.  So although weaving may be my favorite craft (at least to date), it is the one I do the least.

David’s family makes an annual sojourn to a house in Lake Placid that has been in my stepmother-in-law’s family for generations.  The house has a playroom filled with games and toys that have been brought there over the years.  It is also where the modem & router live.  The first full day of our visit, I went into the playroom to fix the router (no, the Tech Whisperer does not take vacations) and I saw a basic lap loom, not all that dissimilar from the one I have at home, sitting on a pile of games.  Obviously, finding a loom necessitated a trip to the local yarn store for something to weave with.   I found some nice yarn and decided it was time to try a pattern I had never tried before.  Here are the photos:

My oldest niece (for the sake of clarity, my nieces are my brother-in-law & sister-in-laws’ kids and my niecelettes are my brother & sister-in-law’s twins) took the fabric home and is using it as a blanket for one of her dolls.

I promise I will get some photos of elements up here soonish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going 2 Weeks on Mobile Alone

August 27, 2012 Recommendations, Technology No comments

I am often asked my opinion on whether or not people with tablets need to bring their laptops when travelling.  My standard response it to lay out of the pros and cons of mobile technology and leave it at that.  I have been travelling a lot lately and in deference to my back (I chose size over weight when I bought my laptop) and TSA (you don’t have to take tablets out of your bag for security screenings), I decided to see if I could do it with just my Nook tablet.  I have had some experience travelling with just my Nook, but not when I really intended to get serious work done. This time, however, I did have several projects that I needed to make real progress on while I was gone.  I did purchase a Bluetooth keyboard so I wouldn’t be forced to do all of my typing on an on-screen keyboard.  The keyboard is just slightly bigger than the Nook, so it is both light and easily portable.

After 2 weeks of airline, car and train travel, I would say that my experiment was a qualified success.  I was able to get my work done, but I also faced some unexpected challenges.  Some are Android specific and some are applicable to all tablets.

Bluetooth Issues -The most annoying of my problems was Bluetooth related.  If I paused too long, the connection between my Nook and the keyboard seemed to time out.  The only way I found to get the connection to work again was to reboot the Nook and reconnect it to the keyboard.  I am running Gingerbread, and my understanding is that the Bluetooth works much better with Ice Cream Sandwich.  So this is most likely a version-related issue.

Readability – I am very fortunately in that I can comfortably read fairly fine print.  For those who need bigger fonts, the tablet screen can feel awfully small.

Functionality – I use Documents To Go as my word processor on my Nook (not because I think it is the best, but because I was able to get the full version for free when it was Amazon’s App of the Day).  It worked just fine for both basic text and spreadsheet functions.  Where it fell down on the job was when I wanted simple editing functions like bold or italics.  Since I knew I would only be writing drafts on this trip and that I would be doing all final formatting on my laptop, this wasn’t a deal breaker for me. Just somewhat annoying.

Websites that are not mobile-friendly – There are a couple of sites out there that I use pretty heavily (although I will not name names here) that have websites that do not play well with mobile devices. Some of them have mobile websites with very limited information and don’t allow mobile devices to access their full site.  Others that don’t have mobile sites and their full sites do not function well with tablets.   I don’t think every website needs a mobile version, but I do think all websites do need the ability to adjust to different screen sizes.

Would I travel again with only my Nook and Bluetooth keyboard? Absolutely.  Would I do so in all situations? No.

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