Onedaytech

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Data Recovery

A client contacted me regarding a data recovery. The problem was that system had been discarded into a trench full of farm junk for a month or so. If the drive was undamaged I'd have a good chance of recovery.

But geez! Would you look at the thing?

Its been drowned in sump oil. And other unidentifiable stuff.

Ill be lucky if I dont get poisoned.

Tankstand Project

With summer providing a good dose of rain, I knew we'd best make the most of it. We have a decent sized tank on the property but it has sustained some damage from a falling tree. (A bushfire went through before we owned it)

It tends to leak a bit and the top has been cut out, which allows a large breeding group of green frogs. They harmonise un-melodically all through the night.

I had a 1000 gallon tank at my old shack on dads property, so it was drained and moved.

I found three very smelly dead frogs at the bottom, so a good scrub out with some bleach was in order. You can imagine how much fun that was. Bits of frog everywhere.

Earlier in the year I'd dropped a few bloodwood trees, and once debarked looked right for the job. They should be good for forty years in the ground if treated correctly.

Drained and loaded.

Posts cemented in.

Levelled up ok

Tank on and stand oiled.

Dont touch the screen!

I have two nice Viewsonic 22" LCD monitors on my desk. I like them a lot.

But clients/family persist in poking their greasy fingers into the screens.

I might be showing them a web page and to draw my attention to something they push into the plastic layer that covers the LCD.

LCD's are not like CRT monitors. Sure, some have a glass front but its rare.

They are harder to clean and more delicate than a CRT.

A big fat fingerprint in your centre of view can be quite annoying when you have to look at it for 12 hrs a day.

So keep your fingers to yourselves.

Dominos Pizza Cockroach

My lady and I decided on pizza for tea last night. Quick, easy and little washing up.

We picked up the pizza from Dominos Kempsey, and while waiting I noticed some movement near the access door.

I suddenly didnt feel like pizza any more.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hurry up and wait.

Most of the time, I've got a steady flow of systems in for repair.

Its not unusual to have 8 or more going at once.

So when a client dictates to me when they want their system fixed, it tends to get up my nose.

I explain that I attend jobs on a first come, first served basis.

I dont think its fair to place someone elses job behind their own.

It doesnt stop them from ringing early the next morning after dropping it off the night before.

Or ringing 3 times a day to prompt me into working faster. Fuck em.

Generally my policy is, the more you call the further down the priority list it goes.

Logically, some clients are prioritised.

Businesses who require systems asap, return clients with good service records and manners etc.

Seems fair to me.

Sorry to ring at this hour but...

The phone rang at 9pm. Unusual enough, but this client was desperate to have her computer fixed "right now". Now I dont mind helping someone out, but this particular client had never called me for work before, instead choosing the local storefront for her repairs.

Desperate means call for desperate measures I suppose, and Ill bet no one would answer the phone at the shop this time of night.

One of the detriments to running a business from home is calls at all hours.

At this time of night though, I was putting my daughter to bed then about to do the same.

After a few beers and a whiskey I wasnt much good for anything, let alone computer repair.

I offered to let her drop it in tonight and I'd start on it first thing (usually 7-8am) so plenty of time to have it ready by start of business.

Well, nope thats not good enough so off she went to ring someone else. I got the impression that I a a bit of a bastard for not catering to her, but some people expect a lot.

I hope she got it fixed.