Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Santa gave me an iPad
And I didn't even ask for one. How about that? It's genius simplicity. Nothing more to say. I know 2011 will be even more productive...and fun. Happy New Year!
Friday, December 3, 2010
It's official: I'm a cheapskate but I want an iPad.
I don't usually succumb to the latest gadget trends. I bought the second generation iPhone, which I still own. I keep my computers as long as they keep running. We were probably the last person in our town to buy a flatscreen TV. Never got an iPod. Not that I don't like new technology -- but I guess I like spending my scant extra cash on vacations. Anyhow, back to the topic of my obsession: I am out and about so much in the afternoons shuttling my kids around while also trying to keep up with work that I can hugely see the potential of having one of these overpriced large-format iPhone's. I think that could happen next year. I can't even begin to think how my kids are going to freak out when they see it on the kitchen counter. Watching movies at Grandma's house while Grandpa watches football? Killer. A little online shopping while the kids are in gymnastics? Nice. Emailing and reading in bed at the same time? Aaahhh.
Technology: sometimes it' a true pain in the butt (if you read my earlier posts about home laptop maintenance) yet I have an instinctual feeling that the iPad is only going to bring me joy. Unadulterated, intellectual, free-spirited joy.
Happy Holidays friends!
Technology: sometimes it' a true pain in the butt (if you read my earlier posts about home laptop maintenance) yet I have an instinctual feeling that the iPad is only going to bring me joy. Unadulterated, intellectual, free-spirited joy.
Happy Holidays friends!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Giving thanks
Until I have something more thought-provoking to say (yeah right), here's my list of thankfulness for this year.
Healthy, smart, fun-loving kids
Patient husband who really knows how to cook
Friends, near and far
Health
Great Clients
Hiking trails
Running shoes
Chocolate
Wine
Books
and let's not forget, Freedom!
For all our troops on distant shores, Godspeed. Special prayers to the families of Marines who have recently lost their lives in Afghanistan. And all those members of the military who have passed in the last year.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. Give thanks for what you have and give hugs to everyone you love.
Healthy, smart, fun-loving kids
Patient husband who really knows how to cook
Friends, near and far
Health
Great Clients
Hiking trails
Running shoes
Chocolate
Wine
Books
and let's not forget, Freedom!
For all our troops on distant shores, Godspeed. Special prayers to the families of Marines who have recently lost their lives in Afghanistan. And all those members of the military who have passed in the last year.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. Give thanks for what you have and give hugs to everyone you love.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Relationships in tough times
Lately, my husband and I have been hearing about friends who are having troubles in their marriages. Nothing scientific here, but I'm guessing that the toll of the last few years of financial hardship is catching up to a lot of people. Marriages can be bumpy in good times, but when life gets tough -- that's the real test. This is the moment where you must pause and say to yourself: can we get through this if we fight hard enough? And then secondly, do we care enough to fight? This is harsh analysis, I know. Yet getting through tough times -- whether they are financial or job-related, illness-related, parenting-related, or the result of substance abuse or infidelity-- takes a triple dose of unflinching patience, will and faith.
Sometimes, I think that our generation doesn't have the gumption that our parents’ generation did. It's too easy to split ways, find a new mate, and have some breathing room. Truthfully, some of our parents should have never stayed together all those years, but they did because it was much less acceptable to divorce than it is today. The people who were meant to be together and stuck it through, steadily working through the issues, are now enjoying the fruit of their labors in retirement: each other.
What should be the expectation of a long-term relationship, anyhow? If the "wow" factor is gone does that mean it's time to throw in the towel? If you live in Hollywood, perhaps. But for the rest of us -- it's time to be realistic. Will your life really be better off without your spouse? Think about it. If you have kids, it's an especially momentous decision. A few years of less-than-romantic times doesn't mean you aren't still meant to be together. Fighting about jobs and money doesn't mean that you are incompatible -- these are extremely stressful issues whether you are in a relationship or not.
My husband and I have been through some rocky roads the past few years. Yet we have chosen to remain together. Not just because we have two darling young girls who depend upon us, but because I truly believe that we will be better off working as a team than apart. I believe that once we get through some of the current battles, we will be stronger. My patience has been tested many times, yet I always come back to the simple reality that he is my best friend and I love him. I am sticking to that sentiment: that's where we started and even though sometimes the mirror is fuzzy today, it's fundamentally where we remain.
Many others are going through their days of reckoning right now. I wish them all sound decisions that come from the heart and the mind. I'll be writing more about relationships in “modern times” over the coming months. I hope you can share your thoughts!
Sometimes, I think that our generation doesn't have the gumption that our parents’ generation did. It's too easy to split ways, find a new mate, and have some breathing room. Truthfully, some of our parents should have never stayed together all those years, but they did because it was much less acceptable to divorce than it is today. The people who were meant to be together and stuck it through, steadily working through the issues, are now enjoying the fruit of their labors in retirement: each other.
What should be the expectation of a long-term relationship, anyhow? If the "wow" factor is gone does that mean it's time to throw in the towel? If you live in Hollywood, perhaps. But for the rest of us -- it's time to be realistic. Will your life really be better off without your spouse? Think about it. If you have kids, it's an especially momentous decision. A few years of less-than-romantic times doesn't mean you aren't still meant to be together. Fighting about jobs and money doesn't mean that you are incompatible -- these are extremely stressful issues whether you are in a relationship or not.
My husband and I have been through some rocky roads the past few years. Yet we have chosen to remain together. Not just because we have two darling young girls who depend upon us, but because I truly believe that we will be better off working as a team than apart. I believe that once we get through some of the current battles, we will be stronger. My patience has been tested many times, yet I always come back to the simple reality that he is my best friend and I love him. I am sticking to that sentiment: that's where we started and even though sometimes the mirror is fuzzy today, it's fundamentally where we remain.
Many others are going through their days of reckoning right now. I wish them all sound decisions that come from the heart and the mind. I'll be writing more about relationships in “modern times” over the coming months. I hope you can share your thoughts!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Ok. let me clarify...
It's possible that my last post was a tad, er, ungrateful. Summer is critical for kids. I have many happy memories of summers swimming, camping and road trips with my family and playing in the sun with my friends. And, I reduced my work schedule this summer to a 3-day week so that I could spend time hanging with my girls. So to make things clear: summer is still awesome. But, well, read on...it sometimes is a real pain in the arse for the working parent...
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The End of Summer: At last, I can work in peace again.
It's been a long summer. Yet, it went by so quickly and the kids are back in school and busy with homework and activities like it never even happened. Thank God.
The older I get, the more I realize that summer is like Christmas. So much anticipation, a blur of excitement and chaos, and then a large sigh of silent gratitude when it's over. September has become my new favorite month.
I didn't always used to feel that way. For my entire life, summer has been my favorite season. For one, my birthday is in June. Then there’s swimming, hiking, trail running, lounging by the pool with a book, biking, dining al fresco, margaritas on the patio, barbecues with friends, warm evenings and long days, ice cream, fireworks, festivals and outdoor concerts.
Funny though, how my opinion has changed now that my children have become of school age. Now, summer is a constant juggling act of trying to maintain the steady flow of deadlines (clients don’t take summer off, nor do the bills, after all) while managing the babysitter, the changing daily schedules, changing daily activities, camps and all of their unique requirements, and young children who must stay up until all the other neighborhood kids finally go inside at 9:30 PM. Or later.
Yes, summer’s over, but I’m getting tired just thinking about it again. The last few weeks of summer vacation are particularly straining. They remind me of the final days before my wedding: Oh, we forgot to do that! Shoot, we forgot to invite them! And then of course, the kids complain about their rotten choices for the day (no amusement park? no movie? no three-ring circus?) or fight over silly bands and who got the largest scoop of ice cream. They fret that school is about to start again -- yet secretly, they're about as excited as the parents. Secretly, the kids wonder what happened to their parents, who now look like walking zombies from staying up late every night due to their incredible lack of focus during the day.
We are three weeks into the school year now and for the parent who works at home, it's heavenly. For a solid seven hours, the house is blessedly quiet. There are no children storming into my office demanding better snacks or worse, better babysitters. Productivity is at an all-time high. The kids are in bed at 8:30, no questions asked.
There is just one small problem: the weather is still quite summerlike, and my bike and running shoes are close at hand.
Until next summer arrives, may peace, quiet and productivity reign!
The older I get, the more I realize that summer is like Christmas. So much anticipation, a blur of excitement and chaos, and then a large sigh of silent gratitude when it's over. September has become my new favorite month.
I didn't always used to feel that way. For my entire life, summer has been my favorite season. For one, my birthday is in June. Then there’s swimming, hiking, trail running, lounging by the pool with a book, biking, dining al fresco, margaritas on the patio, barbecues with friends, warm evenings and long days, ice cream, fireworks, festivals and outdoor concerts.
Funny though, how my opinion has changed now that my children have become of school age. Now, summer is a constant juggling act of trying to maintain the steady flow of deadlines (clients don’t take summer off, nor do the bills, after all) while managing the babysitter, the changing daily schedules, changing daily activities, camps and all of their unique requirements, and young children who must stay up until all the other neighborhood kids finally go inside at 9:30 PM. Or later.
Yes, summer’s over, but I’m getting tired just thinking about it again. The last few weeks of summer vacation are particularly straining. They remind me of the final days before my wedding: Oh, we forgot to do that! Shoot, we forgot to invite them! And then of course, the kids complain about their rotten choices for the day (no amusement park? no movie? no three-ring circus?) or fight over silly bands and who got the largest scoop of ice cream. They fret that school is about to start again -- yet secretly, they're about as excited as the parents. Secretly, the kids wonder what happened to their parents, who now look like walking zombies from staying up late every night due to their incredible lack of focus during the day.
We are three weeks into the school year now and for the parent who works at home, it's heavenly. For a solid seven hours, the house is blessedly quiet. There are no children storming into my office demanding better snacks or worse, better babysitters. Productivity is at an all-time high. The kids are in bed at 8:30, no questions asked.
There is just one small problem: the weather is still quite summerlike, and my bike and running shoes are close at hand.
Until next summer arrives, may peace, quiet and productivity reign!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Help Wanted: Affordable, Decent IT Support for Frazzled Home Worker
Well here I am again, talking about a familiar topic so close to my heart: my computer. But today, instead of whining, I'm going to talk solutions. Because I refuse to let this rectangular box of metal sour my attitude indefinitely. At least, that's my statement today.
As an independent consultant, it can be a hair-tearing exercise to effectively do your own IT support. Unless you have a geeky teenager living with you, which unfortunately I don't, you have to either try and solve the problem yourself or find an IT consultant who will charge a minimum hourly fee of $70 and higher. Plus, you've got the hassle of taking the computer to his or her office, and being without a machine for a half day or longer. Okay before you say it: please, don't tell me to buy a Macintosh. I'd love to, really I would, but I have to use Dragon speech recognition software so that I can minimize keyboarding due to a repetitive stress injury. And the Dragon consultant tells me that the product is horrible, virtually worthless, on the Mac. So there you go, I'm stuck with PC/Windows bug hell.
There are times when having an IT consultant nearby for major problems is invaluable. I've had one in the past and was more than happy to fork over the dough to get several problems diagnosed and fixed and the laptop back in running shape. What's tough is determining what can be solved through a minor configuration or hot fix, instead of having an overdiagnosis and subsequent overcharge from the computer techs.
Increasingly, it's a minor little hiccup that drives me to the brink of insanity. Outlook is misbehaving, or I am having intermittent instability issues with Internet Explorer (Gee, do you notice a Microsoft connection here), or the machine is running slow and no amount of antivirus and anti-spyware seems to be turning things around. I like to dream that a five-minute tweak from a knowledgeable expert could solve the problem.
I have resorted to online forums to help me determine the nature of bizarre error messages. But this doesn't always work, and besides, I spend much of my day trolling the web for information and research to support client work and the last thing I really want to do when I'm having a problem is more of that. I just want a nice, pleasant, capable professional to help me, right now, for a reasonable fee.
After posting my complaint on a few online forums, I quickly found that I am shockingly not alone:
“I am in the process of a GEEK Squad virus repair that I thought I had paid for when I bought the service plan..alas that was just hardware and accidental damage ( important!) but not software. Now I am out another $130 and three days downtime..not a good start but I am willing to give them benefit of doubt until everything is finished.”
“This is becoming an increasingly aggravating issue for me. I made the mistake of upgrading to Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2010 at the same time. The Office applications crash almost daily and there are times my system slows to an absolutely crawl. But I don't know whether it's archiving in one application or some background activity in the other, because neither give any indication of something going on.”
Here below are a few ideas, pulled from several ever-helpful colleagues, as well as my own experience:
1. Get a professional local consultant for the major stuff. For nasty issues such as viruses, malware, OS reinstalls and grinding performance issues, find a local IT person who can be available quickly for emergency work. Ideally, your consultant can provide both in-person and remote support, depending on the situation. Always seek out references for quality consultants, since there are plenty of horrible ones out there. Based on personal experience, using the people at Best Buy and other electronics stores provide sub-optimal results and sometimes unnecessary recommendations. Your IT expert shouldn't also be trying to sell you stuff, you know?
2. Learn how to do a few things yourself. Install 2-3 antivirus and anti-spyware programs, many of which are free downloads, and perform regular scans (that would be monthly, at least). Download regularly all the necessary a.k.a. "critical" security updates from Redmond. Run your utilities at least monthly, especially Defrag and Disk Cleanup in Windows. Subscribe to at least one e-mail newsletter that talks about PC security and maintenance. Purchase and install one industrial strength security software package, such as Norton. The latest version does automatic scans and proactive fixes, so you don't have to think about it in the middle of the night. Clean up your e-mail inbox regularly. That means deleting unneeded files including the Deleted Items and Sent folders, activating your junk mail filters, and so on. Learn about security settings in your browser and regularly delete tracking cookies-- if your security software doesn't do it for you. Set your pop-up blocker to "medium” or higher, if you can stand it.
3. Investigate online troubleshooting services. This is the most interesting area for the working-from-home professional, and one which requires a good deal of research. A colleague recommended a couple of subscription services, Symantec End Point Protection and N-Able managed services. Just the other day, the Wall Street Journal did a largely favorable review of the following services: AskDrTech.com (the cheapest at $20 per call), BoxAid.com, AskPCExperts.com, and ComputerGeeksOnline.net (the priciest, with a minimum fee of $75). There are many other reputable services to look at such as PlumChoice, and also, niche services including cheap online backup and storage from sites like Carbonite and Mozy. Check out CNET or other top tech review sites to learn what the editors like best and why.
I've not deployed option #3 yet, but I'm curious and tempted. Any other ideas? Share your tips. Because working for yourself shouldn't be this hard.
As an independent consultant, it can be a hair-tearing exercise to effectively do your own IT support. Unless you have a geeky teenager living with you, which unfortunately I don't, you have to either try and solve the problem yourself or find an IT consultant who will charge a minimum hourly fee of $70 and higher. Plus, you've got the hassle of taking the computer to his or her office, and being without a machine for a half day or longer. Okay before you say it: please, don't tell me to buy a Macintosh. I'd love to, really I would, but I have to use Dragon speech recognition software so that I can minimize keyboarding due to a repetitive stress injury. And the Dragon consultant tells me that the product is horrible, virtually worthless, on the Mac. So there you go, I'm stuck with PC/Windows bug hell.
There are times when having an IT consultant nearby for major problems is invaluable. I've had one in the past and was more than happy to fork over the dough to get several problems diagnosed and fixed and the laptop back in running shape. What's tough is determining what can be solved through a minor configuration or hot fix, instead of having an overdiagnosis and subsequent overcharge from the computer techs.
Increasingly, it's a minor little hiccup that drives me to the brink of insanity. Outlook is misbehaving, or I am having intermittent instability issues with Internet Explorer (Gee, do you notice a Microsoft connection here), or the machine is running slow and no amount of antivirus and anti-spyware seems to be turning things around. I like to dream that a five-minute tweak from a knowledgeable expert could solve the problem.
I have resorted to online forums to help me determine the nature of bizarre error messages. But this doesn't always work, and besides, I spend much of my day trolling the web for information and research to support client work and the last thing I really want to do when I'm having a problem is more of that. I just want a nice, pleasant, capable professional to help me, right now, for a reasonable fee.
After posting my complaint on a few online forums, I quickly found that I am shockingly not alone:
“I am in the process of a GEEK Squad virus repair that I thought I had paid for when I bought the service plan..alas that was just hardware and accidental damage ( important!) but not software. Now I am out another $130 and three days downtime..not a good start but I am willing to give them benefit of doubt until everything is finished.”
“This is becoming an increasingly aggravating issue for me. I made the mistake of upgrading to Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security 2010 at the same time. The Office applications crash almost daily and there are times my system slows to an absolutely crawl. But I don't know whether it's archiving in one application or some background activity in the other, because neither give any indication of something going on.”
Here below are a few ideas, pulled from several ever-helpful colleagues, as well as my own experience:
1. Get a professional local consultant for the major stuff. For nasty issues such as viruses, malware, OS reinstalls and grinding performance issues, find a local IT person who can be available quickly for emergency work. Ideally, your consultant can provide both in-person and remote support, depending on the situation. Always seek out references for quality consultants, since there are plenty of horrible ones out there. Based on personal experience, using the people at Best Buy and other electronics stores provide sub-optimal results and sometimes unnecessary recommendations. Your IT expert shouldn't also be trying to sell you stuff, you know?
2. Learn how to do a few things yourself. Install 2-3 antivirus and anti-spyware programs, many of which are free downloads, and perform regular scans (that would be monthly, at least). Download regularly all the necessary a.k.a. "critical" security updates from Redmond. Run your utilities at least monthly, especially Defrag and Disk Cleanup in Windows. Subscribe to at least one e-mail newsletter that talks about PC security and maintenance. Purchase and install one industrial strength security software package, such as Norton. The latest version does automatic scans and proactive fixes, so you don't have to think about it in the middle of the night. Clean up your e-mail inbox regularly. That means deleting unneeded files including the Deleted Items and Sent folders, activating your junk mail filters, and so on. Learn about security settings in your browser and regularly delete tracking cookies-- if your security software doesn't do it for you. Set your pop-up blocker to "medium” or higher, if you can stand it.
3. Investigate online troubleshooting services. This is the most interesting area for the working-from-home professional, and one which requires a good deal of research. A colleague recommended a couple of subscription services, Symantec End Point Protection and N-Able managed services. Just the other day, the Wall Street Journal did a largely favorable review of the following services: AskDrTech.com (the cheapest at $20 per call), BoxAid.com, AskPCExperts.com, and ComputerGeeksOnline.net (the priciest, with a minimum fee of $75). There are many other reputable services to look at such as PlumChoice, and also, niche services including cheap online backup and storage from sites like Carbonite and Mozy. Check out CNET or other top tech review sites to learn what the editors like best and why.
I've not deployed option #3 yet, but I'm curious and tempted. Any other ideas? Share your tips. Because working for yourself shouldn't be this hard.
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