Today’s Random Microsoft Excel Creation – 1 July 2010

While demonstrating things for a customer today, here’s the final creation, in Microsoft Office Excel 2007, that resulted.  It amused me and I decided to keep it as a wallpaper.

Soundproofing?

I knew that my company was upgrading some of the recording equipment we had.  I teach webconferences online, I record classes for our clients, and our company records helpful clips for our customers.  I wasn’t sure what to think when I walked into the “recording room” this morning.  I sure laughed, though.

As ghetto as it looks… it works, and it was a marked improvement over our previous equipment.  I record because I have a strong voice, and I’ve always wanted to podcast and stuff, but I never really got the chance to.  Besides, I’d much rather write. 

(I still giggle when I see this stuff though.)

A Bill of Assertive Rights

Taken from When I Say No, I Feel Guilty by Manuel J. Smith, Ph.D.

1. I have the right to judge my own behavior, thoughts, and emotions, and to take the responsibility for their initiation and consequences upon myself.
2. I have the right to offer no reasons or excuses for justifying my behavior.
3. I have the right to judge if I am responsible for finding solutions to other people’s problems.
4. I have the right to change my mind.
5. I have the right to make mistakes—and be responsible for them.
6. I have the right to say, “I don’t know.”
7. I have the right to be independent of the goodwill of others before coping with them.
8. I have the right to be illogical in making decisions.
9. I have the right to say, “I don’t understand.”
10. I have the right to say, “I don’t care.”

I have the right to say no, without feeling guilty.

This is a test post using Microsoft Word 2007

I’m deciding whether or not I want to continue using Windows Live Writer (which allows me to view posts in the style I create them in) or Word 2007, which is integrated into the program and provides a much richer blogging “experience.” We’ll see about that.

The Neighborhood Kids…

…have learned my secret identity, and left me a discreet message that my secret is safe…

Random Writing – Server Down: Dark Age of Google

As Twas in dark ages, the world was silent, each ear turned in time from whence the music of speech last echoed.  As the sun sets, shedding its light into the thousands of bright points in the night sky, so did the world of LOLs decrescendo into darkness. 

It was thence that Lone descended onto the muted earth, and sang, his voice a beacon drawing the confused tweeters into a state of soothe.  "Dost not," he intoned, "to be afraid of the silence, also mean to be afraid of the sound between notes?"

"Fear not, my virtual brethren, for I shall give voice to the endpoints of silence, so that thou may resound in kind, making the darkness, once again, only necessary to perceive the beauty of our world."  And then, as if by Decree, Google got their shit in gear, and the peasants rejoiced.

Objection!

Fenix,

I saw this comic, and thought of you.

Dueling Analogs

~Dan

Let Us Help You… PLEASE!!!

That I do tech support for a living allows me to laugh at supposed people who provide tech support.  I PRIDE myself working for a company where we WANT to help with Microsoft products.  We’re not troubleshooters, really.  Well, we do that too, but mostly we teach you how to use Office and many off the shelf software programs in a way that makes your job more productive.  I’m certified in most of the Office programs myself, and a lot of other things too.

We’re different from other tech support, because we aren’t “fix it, its broken” people.  We’re “here’s a better wrench for that, let me show you how to use it, and while you’re doing that, here’s some caulk and some other tools you may need, and here’s something else you can do while you’re waiting for that to set” people.  And I enjoy it.  I WANT to support you.  I want to dazzle you with my brilliance with my kickASS VLookup formula.

I never in my life have experience nor expected to experience in my life that level of support.

Until Joe Cheng at Microsoft.   (Not to be confused with Joe Cheng.)

Holy crap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, So It Works At Work..

Okay, time for another update.

Live Writer is a bugged out piece of software.  One I love a lot.  As Macness may tell you, I am (was) a client freak.  I love all kinds of software and gadgets installed on my computer, and love finding ways to make everything synchronize across multiple computers.

But, as you might tell from the (was), that’s been changing.  We use gmail here at Starraisers.com, and damn, after going with colored labels, I can never go back.  Google Reader is the best RSS feed reader I’ve ever dealt with (no god damn duplicates), and even Google Calendar is decent, minus some minor drawbacks (*coughCOLORCATEGORIEScough*).  Google Docs sucks, as I have to share things on a document by document basis, so I’m sticking with Microsoft Office Live for that.

So really, the only thing left client-wise on my computer, is Live Writer.  It has a lot of nice tools that I’m in love with, except for the fact that I can’t get my computer at home to recognize the theme.  The one at work does fine, but home doesn’t.  *sigh*

Writing update:  I have been deathly sick now for three weeks.  It started the day I went to Macness‘ house to setup the site.  Unfortunately, he and I believe his son got sick too, and I think its all my fault.  (Sorry!)  I plan to continue writing shortly.  I promised to take a look at a couple other stories first, and I fully intend to do that, they’re at the top of my list now.  I realized today that this is actually, technically my profession.  I’ve not just read and write, but studied the art of writing, taken classes on literature and style, etc.  I may not be an "expert" yet, but I’m as close to a professional as some folks have access to… It would be an honor to put my unbiased opinion down for those folks asking me.  You could say I have a responsibility to do so.

Or I’m thinking way too much of myself at the moment.  Ha~~

Either way, that’s the game plan.  I’m going to critique a couple other entries that were sent to me, and then, Chapter 6, here I come.