Routing Number

My newest brush with technology started with an anguished call from an out-of-state friend of mine who will be referred to as butt-head - "Dave, buddy, I know I haven't talked to you in a while but I need a favor ..."

He wanted me to drive down and bail him out of jail. Considering the copious amount of free time I have had recently, I wasn't really interested taking a day of work to deal with this problem.

Enter the routing number. A routing number is the nine digit number on the bottom of your check that isn't your bank account number. This number uniquely identifies every bank in the U.S. and can be used, you guessed it, to transfer funds from one bank to another. I got the routing number of a bank near the courthouse and for the paltry fee of $20.00, my bank transferred funds to that bank and one of butt-head's closer but poorer friends and bail is paid without me driving anywhere.

Butt-head is doing fine, holding down two jobs to pay me back and waiting for his court date sometime next year.

A blog on blogs

Today, at breakfast, at the Richmond diner, where I eat every Sunday, with my wife, who hates overusing commas, I was reading the Burlington Free Press. Not that I would ever pay to read the Free Press but a copy of it was lying on the counter and the comics were on top. (Really, I'm coming to a point soon.) So, after completing the comics, I moved on to other, less informative and less well written, parts of the newspaper. One article reminded me that I hadn't blogged for a while. A young Chinese man, living in China, was suing his internet provider for censoring his blogs. Apparently, it is common practice in China to delete politically controversial Blog entries.

Since this is a technology blog, and not a political one, I will refrain from commenting on the morality of censorship and, instead, will note some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a Blog v.s. traditional printed material as a method of disseminating political opinion.

• Paper
• 
  
• Advantages
• You get to meet people who are interested in your cause (handing out pamphlets)
• Anyone who can read is a potential audience
• Potentially more enduring media
• Hard to completely suppress
• 
  
• Disadvantages
  
• Potential difficulty finding a printer or maintaining your own press
• More limited to localized distribution
• 
  
• Blogging
• 
  
• Advantages
• Easy to create a message (computer access being relatively common)
• Easy to disseminate
  
• Potentially massive audience
• 
  
• Disadvantages
• Your target audience must be computer literate
• Censorship can completely destroy your message
• A little more difficult to be completely anonymous

Anyway, just a note from a Sunday morning diner.

An after-note. That list was supposed to be outline-indented. It showed up fine when I was writing the post but was butchered on display ...

CSS reply

After reading the Technology Blog entry on CSS, I have several comments.

I do some contracting and the problem of changing technology plagues me as well. If a client wants me to do something obscure that I don't already know how to do (like program hand scanners), I let them know that I will have to learn it and I bill them time. Particularly if it is not a resalable skill.

Something like learning CSS though is a different matter. A client for whom I do a lot of work, I would bill them 1/2 time for learning new skills that would save them time in the future and raise my price for new clients because I would then have more skills and be worth more.

That's just how I do it.

Microsoft Office and Podcasting

At work on Thursday, we installed Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Access. For you non-techies, a Service Pack is an accumulation of patches since the last Service Pack. (patches are quick error or security fixes). So, we grabbed the SP from Microsoft, installed it on all twenty or so computers in the office and waited for disaster. This one turned out to be a real pain. For Microsoft Access format 2000 forms, the check boxes no longer respond to mouse clicks - only the space bar. To fix the problem, you have to create a new Access 2007 form (which works fine). Apparently, Microsoft is aware of the problem and will be issuing a Patch soon.

Hey Peter, if it makes you feel any better, I've never listened to a Podcast in my life :)

On early adoption

I completely support EagleRay's comment on early adoption. In spite of being a geek, I'm a late adopter. I hate wasting time learning something that has no staying power. I hate dealing with buggy software or substandard hardware. I want someone else to deal with the pain and suffering the newest toy, give feedback to the company and watch their beloved toy become obsolete in six months. I've lived without whatever-the-%$#!! it is so far and I'm willing to do without it for another year or so until they get it right.

I DON'T think you're being too harsh. The same things happens in the fashion world. Early adopters pay boutique price. The sycophants pay high-end department store price. The wanna-be's pay discount store prices and, finally, the late adopters pick it up for a couple of bucks at a second hand store.

(p.s. I'm liking this blog-comment thing)

Yet another blog - comment idea

I hate to keep kicking a dead horse (well, I dislike it a little) but the comment on other blogs still isn't working for me. I read them. I would like to comment on some but it's such a pain in the butt. How about this. We can comment on other peoples Blogs in OUR Blogs. It will give us something to write about and the blog aggregators will still pick up the posts.

For example:

Maybe it's just because I'm a database person but I find the 911 system fascinating. I had a vague guess at how it must work but this post helped firm up the concept.

Today's brush with technology came from a completely unexpected source. My wife and I are having an addition put on the house. A friend of mine is helping us build it and instead of hiring an architect - he paid $50.00 for Super Home Suite, a simple but functional drafting program. We just spent four hours (in which I was supposed to be getting my assignment for Project Management in gear) puttering around designing our extension. It has a 3-D rotating view mode with a helicopter cursor that we played with like kids in an arcade. I was particularly impressed that you could look in a window from outside and see what had been designed in the room. For example, you can look right into the downstairs tub from the upstairs guestroom. Looks like we'll need those curtains after all.

Oh and it also makes blueprints. Whatever.