Coopernundrums » job

Laptopsolipsism

JayCooper — Sat, 28 May 2011 01:01:02 +0000

I post a lot about my computer adventures. If you are a friend of mine or a regular reader you will find this post pretty standard computer fare.

The tenants of Solipsism postulate that MY experiences are the ONLY provable experiences. When you speak about pain, such as, you cannot really speak accurately about someone else’s pain but only your own. It also implies that you cannot really ever describe your pain to another person since it is uniquely yours and anyone trying to interpret your description can only do so using analogs in their own mind from their own experiences. Deep shit right?

Well, I had a situation that was uniquely painful that I want to share with you. I have a nice laptop from a major computer maker that I am sure you are all familiar with. lets just say they had a catchy ad campaign a while back where a jerky teen went around pointing out that folks were “gettin’ a (insert manufacturer here)”. This laptop is small and portable like most laptops are and had been a fun, useful machine for me for a long while now. Suddenly the last few weeks it gradually has been harder and harder to power on. Some thorough testing and research revealed to me that the coin cell, sometimes called the button cell battery that powers the BIOS was failing and needed to be replaced. Much to my dismay, more research on the process of replacing the battery yielded a sobering answer. I will have to tear t his damned machine UTTERLY apart to do the job. I don’t just mean removing some parts and pieces I mean, the process involves taking the machine apart to the BARE METAL!

Not only is the battery positioned under 5 layers of other components but it is upside down on the bottom of the motherboard which must be removed to get to it. I sat shocked and quietly crying for an hour while I mulled around in my mind what options I have. The battery itself is a standard button type 2032 used in everything from hearing aids to remote controls. That’s easy to get. The process seemed very daunting. I even went as far as asking my buddy Jim, who is a much more detail oriented guy than I am how much he would charge me to do the job. He refused to quote me stating that’s what friends are for. What a guy my buddy Jim is.

I bought the battery but just could not bring myself to take the machine over to Jim’s shop. I felt half guilty at sticking him with such an inane job and one half stupefied at my reluctance to do it myself. A week went by and I cam home early today for the long weekend and decided I would not let this job scare me. So I started about 3:00 PM. It was not as hard as i thought it would be, just tedious. I had a collection of small quarter sized, plastic ice cream container lids to put all the sundry screws in. Thanks to my honey who saved them just for situations such as this. I grabbed some small post it notes and a set of jewelers screwdrivers and set to work.

About 4:45 the job was done. It was time to test the machine. Would it boot? I can happily say that this post was done entirely on that little laptop as a burn in test. HOWEVER…

I would not wish that experience on anyone. Sophists say, you can’t really understand unless you have done it anyway.

Magnetic Personalities

JayCooper — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:49:27 +0000

Throughout the course of my life I have met some extremely colorful characters. I have a large circle of people who I am happy to call friends. I have a lot of clients that I work for that I don’t really consider friends. I want to tell you about a couple that fall into the former group.

These folks originally joined my group of acquaintances by becoming customers of mine. I was approached to update their existing business website, MagnetQueen. It was a long process as their website was a bit larger than I anticipated. Long jobs, as any developer or graphic designer will tell you, tend to stick with you. This one introduced me to Brian and Liza, Native New Yorker’s that migrated their business here to Tennessee. They make Save the Date Magnets for weddings, birthdays, graduations, you name it.

Brian is a Fordham University graduate and Liza is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design. Together they have owned and run their own successful business for many, many years. They would tell you that they wish they could be a lot more successful but, what other person wouldn’t tell you the same? They are a fun couple that likes the arts and are superb conversationalist and over the years I have grown very fond of them. Most importantly they make some of the coolest magnets you can imagine. My refrigerator is covered with picture magnets and fun magnets they have made for me over the years.

If you are in the market for some unique invites to give for your next event. I hope you will consider my friend’s work. I think you will be very pleased.

Here’s to you Brian and Liza.

http://www.magnetqueen.com

Thai One on with Friends

JayCooper — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:55:20 +0000

I often work on peoples computers. I do it for fun. I do it to make connections with people. I do it because there is a need. I lost count long ago of how many friends I have made with this philosophy. Most of the time I get paid in the end by having improved my friendships or making connections that lead to other paying jobs. I don’t look at it as work. I look at it as a way to share with folks and get to know people.

Well, tonight I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know one of my coworkers and her family better while taking care of a little computer issue they had. Not sure I helped much, just checked the main components, vid card, memory, power supply, you know. Luckily it wasn’t anything major. Few component reseats and a bios reset and viola, a booting PC.

What made the night super special was that payment I mentioned. I had AMAZING Thai food cooked in a real, as they put it, “working kitchen” by my friend’s husband. I have had Thai before but after this meal I would like to say I have NEVER had Thai until tonight. Thai beer, Green Curry with Beef, Lemon grass Shrimp soup with Thai chilies, read that as super HOT, and fresh fried rice with chicken. I loved every bite. I loved the company and conversation. I don’t write about every meal but I felt like this one was worth noting.

So here’s to Lisa and Rick who treated me like family just for helping them with a computer problem. Thanks guys!

Do or Do not..there is no TRY

JayCooper — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:00:47 +0000

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with a very interesting fellow today. I won’t put his name out there because folks deserve theirprivacy. I was introduced to this guy through an old friend originally for a business discussion. I have had hundreds of these meetings and like sales, many don’t pan out and become reality. I am always prepared for anything but I was not prepared for what I encountered.

This gentleman seemed immediately like a kindred soul as he was a larger person, like myself, and seemed to be very funny and engaging. I immediately liked him and we all set about discussing his desired endeavor. Dealing in web design and graphic development I have heard a lot of fantastic business ideas that just need a “website” to get the thing started. I listened intently as he spelled out his needs. It became evident right away that this was more to this joe than just a business venture. This was a passion.

After the pitch, I always have a standard barrage of questions that I ask of any prospective client (after getting burned several times in the past). I always ask a key question. ”Are you prepared for this investment to fail?” the normal response that I get is “oh it won’t fail its a sure thing” or it’s greatest thing since sliced bread” and the oft annoying “ its the next wheel”, and so on. Well not this time.

My new acquaintance thought for a moment and then casually answered, “Yes I am, but since this means so much to me, it would be worse for me NOT to try than to try and have it fail. I have never in 14 years of doing this ever received this kind of answer. It made me feel an immense respect and admiration for his conviction and wisdom.

You can clearly see that it impacted me. I don’t always like my job. Hell, who does? Today I liked my job. Cheers to you sir. I look forward to working with you, and I don’t ALWAYS mean that.

Fatty Boombalatty

JayCooper — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:44:49 +0000

Yes I am a big boy. I have been large my whole life. I have never much felt bad about it. I could blame my parents or the environment or my sedentary lifestyle but all of that is bull really. I am large because I eat a lot and have a desk job. I am actually quite lucky that I have both of those “ailments”. Yeah I would love to get out and drop some weight by exercising, but that crap is HARD.

Really I am too big and should do something about it. Don’t get me wrong I am not so overweight that I cant get out and walk cause I have no trouble doing that. I am by and large (ha!) not affected adversely healthwise yet. So I can get out and enjoy nature and malls and all that jazz. Really the issue is that I like rich food and spend 10 hours a day in front of a blooming computer.

I can’t stand so called “health” food and don’t even get me started on this incredibly inane “organic” craze going on right now. So its pretty hard. On the other hand, I love veggies and fresh fruit. There is really very little food stuffs that I won’t eat. I love MEAT. A great marbled steak or a juicy burger makes my brain swoon.

The bottom line and the real reason I am writing this is just to let anyone interested know that I am quite happy the way I am and if I ever get unhappy, well then I might change my ways.

I hope anyone reading this lives a long happy healthy life. Cheers!

Gateway Getaway in St. Louis

JayCooper — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:01:48 +0000

Went on a one day one night tour of St. Louis this past weekend. It was a long drive but a friend of mine actually did the driving. It’s an interesting story so I’ll share it with you. I feel like sharing.

Jamie Palsgrove used to be a coworker friend of mine at TeamDesign. He moved on to another job but we have kept in touch and still hang out. We were tossing the idea around before he left of doing a quick weekend trip to someplace close by with out kids since neither one of us could really afford a full blown vacation this year. He and his lovely wife, Jennifer, really ended up doing all the work organizing the thing. Enough so that I felt terribly guilty by the time it was all over. The destination we decided on ended up being St. Louis, to visit the free zoo and the arch monument.

He offered to drive and use his Ford Explorer to take us there. We originally planned on making the 5.5 hour drive visiting the zoo and possibly the arch then driving home, knowing full well it would be a long long day for all. I really just can’t afford a hotel room this year. Now, you have to know Jamie and Jennifer.

They will give ya the shirts off their backs even if that means they will be without a shirt, that’s just how they are. Jamie and Jennifer both travel a lot for their jobs and they offered to use their travel points to get a couple of hotel rooms for us so we could stay the night.

We got up super early on Saturday and met the Palsgroves at their house and off we went. It was a long drive but the company and conversation were always lively. We visited the zoo in the 100 degree heat. It was an enormous zoo. We got our hotel rooms which were SUPER nice and we went swimming in the hotels pool. It was really the perfect end to a really nice day. We topped that off with a great Italian restaurant that had magnificent pasta called Portabella and then a great nights sleep.

Now, if the mini-vacation had ended there it would have been a super nice vacation, but here once again you have to know these guys and how sweet they are.

We got up the next morning and enjoyed breakfast then shuttled off to the Arch Monument. We had a great walk through the city to the Arch Park by the river and spent a long time snapping photos and enjoying the very cool monument. When we tried to visit the museum under the arch i figured out that being a federally run institution with metal detectors and x-ray machines that you can’t bring a spring assisted knife into the place. It’s kinda funny. The boys went in and I just stayed outside snapping more pictures while they enjoyed.

On the drive home we made a stop in Woodlawn Illinois for gas where I had to explain to the boys that rednecks live everywhere not just Tennessee.

It was a tremendous chance to see sights I don’t think I would have otherwise seen. It was great company and time well spent with my great friends and their family. I want this post to be a personal thank you to both Jamie and Jenn because without their generosity the boys and I would not have had a vacation at all this summer.

Get to the Arch it is a fantastic building that you have to see.