The reality is that applying the updates and testing is a fixed cost and can be planned.  Repairing and troubleshooting because you don’t have the fixed versions or because you have (fill in the blank) reasons – or because you claim to not know how to do it – costs so much more…

If you want to save time and money and other valuable resources, plan and do it right and do the updates!  Cutting corners has limits.  You will end up regretting it.  Even if you think you’re immune, you will regret it.  We in the tech world are not really geniouses when we fix things.  We’re simply more patient – with the software, with the computers, with ourselves and with you.  Don’t make everyone’s life more difficult.  Do the updates!

If you don’t believe me, just ask Matt.

(Yes, I included the rants category here.  But this really is not a rant.  It is a comment from ground zero.)

P.S. I still say this after spending an extra week working on getting updates applied and having to redo a bunch of work, all this past week. It’s the right thing to do, to put spend that ounce of prevention, even if it feels like a really heavy ounce sometimes.

Wisconsin is just another Midwest place.  –>  Wisconsin is cool for how loyal people are, how simple people are, how honest people are, and how good the beer is.    (Believe it or not, in MN, I was asked, “They still make that s&!t?” and told, “I’m surprised we had any of that stuff around.” (That’s in relation to PBR!)  That’s practical blasphemy in Sconnieland.

Maybe these are major transformations!?!?

WHAT’S NEXT?!

The application form would be easily completed within a short period of time.

The job requirements would ask for what is truly required to do the job.

No one would be invited to interview for a job that is already filled.

Applicants would receive an acknowledgement notice once their application is received.

They would also get an estimate as to how long the screening process would take.

The people conducting the interviews would be trained in interviewing and would ask job-related questions.

There would be no game-playing during the interview process.

The selection decision would be solely based upon merit.

Applicants who were not selected would be told about the decision.

Successful applicants would go through an informative orientation program.

That’s a direct quote from Michael Wade’s Execupundit.com blog post.

Everything I’ve tried to do on the PC is slower than it is on a Mac.

• Startups, Restarts and Resuming from sleep or hibernation are slower.
• Applications startups are slower.
• Applications that are already running are slower.
• Internet browsing is slower.
• Using the mouse (compared to the larger touch pad on the Air) for a good batch of things is slower. That’s not for everything, and I think I’ll still get a nice Bluetooth mouse for the laptop.

Vista is not as cool – nor as popular!

OK, this is not scientific, but…

• I was at a Caribou coffee shop in Hopkins, MN almost every day while I was in town. The people that brought in their PC laptops, all had (clunky) power cables, all had a mouse, all had (clunky) laptop bags, and often would be talking on their phones too.
• Most of the time there were more Mac’s than PC’s. (I counted. True story!)
• Even grandma’s saw the new MacBook Air and made comments – not to me, to their husbands or their grandkids! (This happened at least 3 times.)

It appears to me that Apple is doing a better job finding ways to assimilate their (popular) products into our lives. I’m buying in. I’m becoming a Mac Fan Boy.

(OK, all you PC nutz… let me have it! I’ll take on any PC drag race – especially if it starts with coming out of sleep, where it consistently takes less than 3 seconds on the Mac, and usually less than 1 second!)

Kevin Garnett 2008 Finals Adidas Team Signature Commander Shoe

UPDATE: Sure is a good thing I can share this on Facebook! Ugh… Silly, stooopid!

Notice my URL… now.

I found this video via this post.

It’s particularly interesting to me because I just had a discussion with a good friend.  That discussion was directly about this topic and how we have different viewpoints and different aspects of this topic in our lives.

I’m listening.

I’m thinking.

I think it’s because I’ve been so geared up to GO, GO, GO for so long.  When it/life slows down a little bit, I feel a little awkward.  I’m a doer.  I like to get things done.  I don’t like excuses.  For that matter, I don’t even like reasons when I can rattle off dozens of contrary reasons.

I think there’s some other personal stuff going on.  I probably should hold off writing until there’s some calmer thinking. … It’s family crap, in case you’re wondering.  CRAP! I say, CRAP!

I’m definitely listening.  I’m hearing all sorts of stuff around me.  It’s not a matter of abilities.  It’s a mater of decisions and choices and options and figuring out what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how I want to do it.

Rambling!  I’m rambling.  That’s ok.  This is my blog and I feel like rambling right now.

This morning, I read Seth Godin’s post, Pretending that you care.  He makes a really good point at the end.

“So, the essence of the lesson here is this: if people start out pretending to care, next thing you know, they actually do care. They like the positive feedback and they like the way being kind makes them feel. It spreads. It sticks.]”

(Coming back to my story…)

The conversation was good for about 30 minutes, until we were rudely interrupted by a bystander who interjected himself into our conversation.  The interjection was not the problem.  The rude interruption was.  This person was more concerned with telling me that I was wrong and with ‘going off’ on all that is wrong with certain aspects of my thinking.

The person I was having the conversation with even jumped back in to combat this rudeness.  The interjector eventually left, in a huff.  We continued to converse and my friend made a mature point.  His point was that the interjector probably had a valid point, underneath his frustrations.  He probably had a reasonable argument and a reasonable perspective that could have added to the conversation.  And, we both agreed that if the rudeness was not there, we both would have appreciated the input.

So, to Seth’s point, quoted above, I can relate.  I can relate to listening and starting to care.  I was turned off to our interjector because he was telling me what I thought.  I honestly didn’t know exactly what I thought – because I was listening first, and trying to understand first, before trying to be understood and trying to make any point.

I have done that a lot more often, in recent months, than I have in my past.  I care about more things in different capacities now.  And, I’ve watched as my friends have appreciated and started to do that some, amongst themselves.  Yes, “It spreads.  It sticks.”

Sometimes we may need to fake our way to reality.  When we and others around us put our egos aside and listen first, it makes a difference.  It has for me and the people I hang around.  And that, my friends, is some good sauce!

…but you didn’t get the rhinestone sunglasses! And, you didn’t get me to stop smiling. So, HA!

http://waitingforfreefood.com/2008/04/03/intro/