Smartphone Part 2

As I was working today I thought more on the guy giving up his Smartphone for the month which lead my mind to wander to the people out there that along with their Smartphone they are texting and twittering and emailing and talking on their cell phones and surfing the web and IMing it makes you wonder how do they get anything done work wise. Just think if each one of those took 10 minutes a hour to do that it would add up to 60 minutes and I know it is all about staying connected and Social networking with customers and others but what about work? If you are spending 60 minutes a hour doing all of the above when does something really get done. Or is work something you do in the evenings and not working and suppose to be relaxing and unplugging or are you stuck in some kind of cruel mindless loop that you can’t figure out how to get out of?  

My mind still thinks back to that commercial where the guy was passing out airline tickets to his group of people that worked for him and they was going to visit everyone of there customers. Where does all of this get you does it really help your business? Or is it another thing that has taken away from your real business. Or does it help you stay connected to the people you are trying to sell to and do business with. I just read a email that our company sends out and on the just for Laughs cartoon that was on there and one office worker was talking to another ” As soon as I Text, IM, Tweet and update my status to Getting right down to it. I will get right down to it. This reminds me of the let’s have a meeting to have a meeting.

Funny that was to come out while I was typing about this.  Hmm a case of Dejavu “Was that the same Black cat or one just like it”

I read a article that had some numbers off a Poll done on which is more important LinkedIn or Twitter and it was some interesting reading. Here read away if you want too. So many questions and so little time.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/poll_business_people_say_twitter_more_important_th.php

Til later just Roger

Windows 7

Well I have been running Windows 7 now for about a month and have not had one bit of problem with the OS. My laptop is more responsive even when I have many apps or RDP Sessions open it just keeps going. How has your experience been? I am liking what I am seeing with this and for any of you that went through the Vista Beta you know how much fun was had by all there as some machines worked very well and some had some problems but that was usually because of not enough memory in the computer.

Til later just Roger

Have you ever Googled Yourself?

I never had till tonight. I am not one that likes to speak much in front of people which my boss so likes to do to me which I have wrote about before. But I googled my name on a lark and there is someone out there with my name that is a motivational speaker. I guess he got all of my liking to talk. The only talking I can do is front of a crowd is when I was in front of the firing squad er I mean the group of us on vacation and we was having a time figuringout where to go to eat. But his story was pretty unique and it caught my attention and was some pretty good reading. Heck I guess he motivated me without even knowing it to read his story. I did show up on Google on page 4 but the rest of the pages before me was on the one that likes to talk. Guess I will just do my talking this way.

Til later just Roger

SBS 2008 Best Practice Analyzer

SBS 2008 Best Practice Analyzer  is a good tool to use on your existing SBS 2008 Servers just to see how healthy the server is. Do you do this? I know I haven’t but am thinking this is something that needs to be done at your customer sites when you are doing something for them and could be of added value to you and your customer and I will be doing as we move more of our customers to SBS 2008. If it finds something you look like a star to your customer and if not you have the peace of mind that things are working like they should be and also it is something you would be running when you do a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 server migration or even a SBS 2008 to SBS 2008 Server migration. You can download it here so give it a shot see if your server is running like it should be.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=86A1AA32-9814-484E-BD43-3E42AEC7F731&displaylang=en

Til later just Roger

SBS 2003 Old Hardware to New Hardware

I wonder is it just getting that easy for me to move a SBS 2003 server from old hardware to new hardware or am I just getting the process down better?  It use to be we would bring the new server in join the domain and then make it a DC and then once you had all of that unplug it off the network and then upgrade the server to SBS 2003. Move data and then export email and bring it in and then re-point the workstations once you bring the new server in the network for Exchange and such.

Not so much anymore as I have taken a job that use to take 2 days to one that I did last night in 4.5 hours. The last one I did this way took 6.5 hours so something is going on here. Basically I use one of my favorite tools and that is Shadow Protect IT version to backup the server and then use it to restore onto the new hardware and loading the new RAID driver in the process of restore it is just that easy. Why waste 2 days when you can cut this down to half a day? Well some would say when you are cutting down billable time you could have had then and that is hurting you. What I say is you are becoming more efficient and can do more jobs. Who is the customer going to remember? The one that took 2 days to do the work or the one that did it in 4.5 with no problems and saved them money and was still done properly and in a good manner? You tell me but I bet they remember you and what you did for them and their bottom line.

Til later just Roger

Life without a Smartphone

I was doing some reading getting myself back into the thinking stage from the stage of non thinking of gee what ride do I ride next and do I have that deep fried Oreo or not to the real world of migrations and everyday IT stuff. But it was a guy about to undertake a month without his smartphone and would he be able to do it and still move forward with what he had on his plate and use just a plain ol ordinary cell phone.

Which lead me to think awww I just went 2 weeks without one but that was in a different world but it sure was quite. Could you do this? I know most will say there is no way you could operate in today’s world but is that true? You still have your web access to your email from a computer which is basically the same thing as your smartphone other than the phone will ring right at that moment that you have a great troubleshooting thought going on with your current problem and then that goes away as you answer the phone and listen to the problem someone else is stuck on at the moment. Does it really help you or add more to a crazy busy day also? Sure if you are stuck in some meeting it is a way to stay connected but also you find for the most part you have Internet Access for your laptop from this location already so is it helping?

I know in this down economy that companies are looking for ways to trim costs, is it a good idea for all in the company to have one of these or is this a place they can trim costs and still not hurt themselves by this action.  Do you really need all those bells and whistles for all or is this some place you can save yourself some money. I guess that is something that your company has to decide for themselves and how they do things with a smartphone. Myself I have one but I really don’t see it helping me with the way I work other than I don’t have to open a IE session. I just saved myself a double click and typing. Well there is something to that I hate typing but that is me. But I was a phone call away for the most part anyways.

But could you make it without one? I know funny what a clear head back from vacation will make you think of and actually type about but it made me wonder and takes note to self don’t forget about not liking to type so what the heck are you doing here but typing.

Til later just Roger

SBS 2008 and 2008 SP2

Well I bit the bullet and installed the Windows 2008 SP2 off the Windows Update of the SBS 2008 Server. And I did not have any problems with the install everything looks like it is still working and I will be doing some more testing to make sure everything is a go but from first glance it all looks good to me. I will be doing my 2008 HyperV Server soon but from what I seen here this should be ok but will let you know.

Til later just Roger

Do you life Plan?

I was catching up on what my boss Arlin had blogged while I was gone and one of his posts was about a Life Plan. Which made me to get to thinking about my own and on the thinking I had realized that I had set one for myself a long time ago already. My dad came down with Emphysima when i was 18 which put him at age 39 and he lived with this until he passed on at the age of 58. Which for people with that desease is a long time but as the Dr explained at that time he had longer lungs than a normal person does which allowed him to live longer with the deases. But I remember thinking at that time that I would try and do the things that him and mom did not do in their lifes when together. They had been all about work and more work and no time to do anything other than work. Which I am sure that is where a lot of my work ethic came from was this way of growing up.

I know they did have some time to do somethings before Dad got to sick to travel but they didn’t do as much as they wanted to because of this. I know I had said I was going to do things but my life was about making sure my parents could survive and I supported them and my family both, I grew up in a family of truck drivers that started with my grandfather in the 30s and continued up to the time I hung it up in March of 1997. I know I had tried to do things with my children like traveling and this but my time was limited because of work and trying to support both families. When my wife asked for a divorce in 1996 I knew then it was time to make a major change in my life and to refocus my energies. I knew it would not be with driving a truck because of the being gone all the time broke what I had. So I renewed my plan on what I was going to do with myself and what I wanted to do and one of the things I did was sell all of our equipment and whatever money was left over I took none and let my mom have it to support herself. Myself I went back to school to do something my Uncle had told me in 1975 that I should get into and that was computers and I did and I have never looked back since. I sit down and made myself a plan on what I was going to do and how to achieve it and also what I was going to do outside of work to be sure I did not fall back into that same deal as before. Which I feel I have been accomplishing and one of them was to make sure I unplugged once in a while and enjoy the family. So if you have not thought of these things slide over to my Bosses Blog and look at what he has to say and think about yourself and what you are doing.

Til later just Roger

Vista SP2

Well I finally got around to download the Vista SP2 and install it on my home PC with no problems. It was even quick with the install process which I was suprised but hey after going through the Windows XP SP2 Beta it was a welcomed way to update. I have so many things I have to get done but that is the price to pay when you go on vacation. But one of the features I was looking for was the ability to burn Blue  data  natively with Vista which SP2 included. But the install was straight up easy and didn’t take a lot of time either and I had no problems with anything I had installed on the machine. Well off to my 2008 Test servers and my SBS 2008 Server will report on that more later.

Til later just Roger

Vacation Part 2

Well I hate to say it but my vacation is winding down and it will be time to gear up for more fun and adventures working for HTS. We had a great time on vacation and are already planning on where to go next year. My wife is thinking we need to go on a drive about which if you knew her she always wanted to fly places well I don’t fly and am thinking I am getting her converted into the driving mode of life. I know we was going over Mount Eagle Tn and they said man this is pretty and cool. My comment was wouldn’t have seen this flying. So we will see what next year brings even though I do still have time left this year to be able to do something more this year yet.

I am glad we put the time into exploring the different options for the Disney World trip. Like I have mentioned you can find very affordable places to stay 2 stop lights away from the different Disney Parks. We stayed at a place called  and used a service called Disney Neighbor and stayed in the Windsor Hills Resorts in a 3 bedroom townhouse for about 125 a night which when there is 6 of you the townhouse was pretty good idea. Plus we had a little 10 by 10 pool right out our back door all to ourselves. When you are looking at 250 and on up a night to stay on the Disney property that was a good deal. Plus we cooked some of our own meals and saved money on that also. So if you are planning to go to Disney World I would sure do your homework and save yourself some money.

Til later just Roger