This notice used to be no cause for alarm. Having been in the computer business for some time updates were always rather innocuous.
Novell was the first program that I dealt with that you had to read each and every “readme” and decide if you indeed wanted this patch or that.
Patches were not mandatory they were written for specific bugs or concerns. The problem with patches like that are, they can only be applied during a “service window.”
A service window is a time of the day and week when ordinary people are sleeping or not thinking about work. Holidays were great times for service windows as applying a patch would be the least disruptive for business functions. Midnight to five AM Saturday night into Sunday morning was usually a good time for a service window.
While Microsoft has taken the guesswork out of service windows, it would seem that Apple has as well.
You turn on your PC, and it says, applying updates, please stand by.
No matter how urgent your need is the updates will commence, and you will be patient.
With this latest phone update that crippled my one-year-old phone, I am a little gun-shy about taking any more updates from Apple. I am thrilled that they are going to repatriate billions of dollars bringing it into the US as well as providing jobs for Americans, I am not so excited with the fact that my phone is barely usable. The old 4S that I did not update is faster than my 6S.
To say that this practice of slowing down older product is reprehensible, does not begin to cover it.
I was seriously thinking about looking at an Android-based smartphone when I received an Apple watch for Christmas. Great Timing!
Now I have a watch that tells me when to stand and breath but works very slowly as far as my phone is concerned.
My first iPad worked just fine until I was going to give it to an older gentlemen to watch Netflix on or read Kindle stuff. I reset it and managed to brick it as they don’t have any software that works with that OS, and they don’t have the version of OS for that iPad available. Resetting it from a usable tablet to original killed it.
I don’t know why they cannot make the server smart enough to detect which product you have and offer you an IOS or apps that will work on that product? Oh, wait I do to know. They want you to buy more hardware!
I met Steve years ago while supporting Next Step Computers. I wonder how he would feel about what is happening today.
I would imagine he would be ok with it. Like the Schick razor they want to sell you new blades, or in this case more product into perpetuity.
I would think that consumer watchdog groups would be all over this nonsense. A thousand dollars for a phone is over the top, one should get more than a year out of it.
This Pc that I am writing from today, I built seven years ago. When I designed it, I put in components that were capable of playing the most aggressive video game of the day. Why? Here we are seven years later with the latest version of Windows 10, and it is still plenty fast.
An important note to keep in mind. Hardware is measured in MTBF which means Mean Time Between Failure. Hard drives die! Fans Die! Power supplies Die! Moral of this story is to keep your files backed up. If your data are only on your PC, you are living dangerously.
By files I mean data. Document and pictures, email PST files, excel documents and so forth.
Whether it is an apple update or windows update keep in mind that I have seen Microsoft updates brick computers.
As far as Apple is concerned, I am in hopes that they will correct their error and think twice about that kind of activity in the future. To screw up their brand in such a cheap way is beneath them in so many ways. If you want people to purchase, the latest greatest, make it stand head and shoulders above the rest. You might also work on the price!
It would seem to me that creating an environment where your products have designed obsolescence is wrong on any number of levels.
“An aging relative thought he might like to read on a Kindle type device. I took my working IPad version 1 and reset it to its factory original specifications. I then made him an apple account on iTunes and attempted to download Netflix, Kindle and some other games he might enjoy.”
My plan had one major flaw that I had not anticipated. Not only do all apps require an IOS of a later date but, I cannot update to any more recent IOS that was on there because it is no longer available. The latest IOS will not support the iPad 1, and I suspect the iPad II may be close to becoming obsolete as well. Since this was my first iPad and I have moved onto the II, IPad Air, and the Pro, I no longer had the backup from that iPad version 1, making it now a paperweight.
Might I suggest that you make available the latest IOS for those devices and a cache of apps that will work with them? I realize that this might affect people buying new iPads and phones and such vs. keeping their old ones going a little longer but, each phone and each iPad was not cheap. While they may not be a primary device, they will still play a movie or music and serve some purpose vs. filling a landfill.
In the previous case mentioned, a tablet running Android IOS for $100 took care of everything that he needed. While I would have preferred that he was able to use my iPad 1, I was not about to drop $1000 for a tablet to read, play games and maybe watch Netflix on.
I still have my first iPhone and use it for music, the same is true with the 4S. These are great for plugging into your car. Even with the cellular service terminated, it will still function to dial 911 in a pinch. It of course also has your music which plays nicely through the stereo, replacing the iPod. The apps that I purchased at the time still work beautifully as well.
I must admit that I find it curious how the old updated iPhone 4s performs nicely compared to my 6S which has become slower and slower with every update. Is that my imagination? I think not.
The PC industry has been guilty of this for years, although one could blame it on programmers designing software on the latest and greatest hardware.
What we used to refer to as “tight code” is no longer necessary as programmers have terabytes of space, gigahertz of speed and of course gigs of memory to store that slack code in to.
Programming back in the day, was probably more of a challenge than it is today.
Whether the hardware drives the software industry or the other way around, it is the consumer that gets the short end of the stick.
Apple should have a place where one can obtain the latest IOS (or last available) for their particular device, and apps that were written for and worked with that version of the IOS.
While the tail rarely wags the dog, as we are learning with recent events, consumers, if rallied and coordinated, can wag the dog.
Problem: There needs to be an easy way to sync your existing iPhone and or iPad with a new computer, and here is why?
I met Steve Jobs years ago when I was working at an agency that used Next Step computers. Steve was an out of the box thinker “creating things in his garage” before the first apple anything ever was created.
Apple enjoys being one of the “big dogs” today not because of the mac, although it didn’t hurt but, the iPhone and of course tablets which they have excelled at.
Recently when the hardware crashed on my PC, even though I had a backup of the data, the iTunes files system to me was lost as it was tied to that computer. The OS with Microsoft dies with the computer so you get to buy everything over again.
One of the success stories of Microsoft was and is, to keep their software “intuitive and consistent.” Apple does this as well, once you know the basics, you can fumble your way through the rest. When however; you have an issue like this, what are the workarounds?
I need to move my data over to a new computer, migrate my iTunes stuff to the new computer, install the newest version of iTunes and sync the phone, iPad etc. right?
Folks, it should be this easy. It should not take more than just a couple of steps in keeping with “apple simplicity.” To recover from something like this.
I do not want or need a laundry list of things including standing on one foot while reciting the star spangled banner backwards, pressing a combination of half a dozen keys in separate sequences and purchasing some “Darkware” program that has no guarantee of working because, it too was invented in some basement by some pimple faced kid.
There is in fact no way that I can see to do this without wiping out the phone, iPad (s) and starting from scratch which would not aid me in importing my contacts into Outlook at all! I also have no idea how much data that is on the phone / iPads that I would lose!
Outlook by the way has an equally convoluted way of doing this but, at least they have a way!
Outlook, why don’t you write a program to do this all “programmatically” for your faithful users?
I de-authorized the dead computer but when I tried to authorize the new one, no such luck, still too many computers authorized! 3, three computers authorized and there are still too many! Out of a possible 5, 3 is too many! So, I de-authorized everything! Now what!? Now you have to wait something like 90 days to re-authorize things…..?
Doing the normal search thing, reading the blogs, researching all of the work around(s), I became frustrated to the point of thinking, “maybe it is time for a switch!”
Maybe, just maybe I really don’t need a smart phone at all. How about a flip phone that just makes calls and receives calls!? Have we come to that? Have we come full circle?
Not only do I need a device that works as I expect it to but, I need it to play well with other operating systems. I should not be forced to follow the threads of other frustrated users until I discover some clandestine piece of software that could cause your device to no longer work! I need something that “Apple” has invented, created or has included with iTunes as an easy way for people like me to recover from!
If I have to search the web and buy some third party software to fix Apple’s short shortsightedness for convoluted way of keeping people from sharing their songs with their teenage girlfriends, we have gone too far!
I would much rather find another product that has already done that. Things break and there needs to be some part of the program that allows for this.
This is Apple’s problem and they need to create a solution. A solution that does not include forcing people like me to drive to the mall and to wait in line at the Genius bar to find out how much of a genius they are or are not. Also to find out that I should simply “google the problem, someone may have written something!” Really, is that the best you got!?
One of the first issues I had with the iPhone is I needed a way to organize my apps with the computer. Do you think for a minute there is a way to contact Apple to get their attention? I posted the idea for “free” to them in a public forum and I will be damned in about nine months’ time, it was there. What would you care to guess that some employee who read my post offered the idea us as his?
Well Apple, here is another free Idea, just fix the damned thing so I can get on with my life!
The smartphone has offered us many different things both good and bad. The inclusion of a GPS has been a rather cool edition to the arsenal of tools that this Swiss army-knife of a device does for us.
Each and every day new apps are developed by someone trying to make it rich with their programming prowess.
Along with the GPS and many cool games and business applications there are some that are shortsighted in the total thought process.
We need to think through the process or, the makers of laws will do it for us in typical government knee jerk fashion, and we then lose control of the process. Let’s look at Facebook for example.
Facebook is a success story of immense proportions for many reasons and mobile technology has pushed it over the edge of being what it is today. The problem with this app and others that require your attention are that while driving these apps are distraction to the task at hand, driving.
Texting is another example of a good idea run a muck! Texting is a great way to communicate without a long drawn out conversation. “I am running late. I am going to the store is there anything that you need? Would you grab some milk on the way home?
Texting and other applications take your eyes off of the road and that is a recipe for disaster. How many times have you sat at a red light after it turned green waiting for people to look up from their smart phone to see that the light has changed?
How many times have you seen cars or even big trucks weaving all over the road as they think that they can text and drive because they are somehow better or more evolved than the rest of us.
I have actually seen many cops sit at red lights and weave in the road because of their distractions. These folks have the phone, two way, radar, a laptop and, not only are they supposed to be able to drive but, they have to listen to the two way and watch for people breaking the law all while driving! And they unlike the rest of us “know” that they are better and more equipped to handle distractions while driving… Yeah ah huh….
The City of Denton has just implemented a ban on texting while driving that comes with a $200 fine each time that you do it. We already have a state-wide law against distracted driving, so why a law so granular?
I would love to know how much of Daddy’s money ends up in the city coffers because they probably target students. I know they in fact have a zero tolerance on speed limits so this falls into the same arena. The police should be a cost center, not a profit center. When they turn into a profit center they loose their objectivity and come up with things like “zero tolerance.” I stay the hell out of Denton for this reason, and I live real close to there. Business’s should ban together and stand up against things like this. Zero tolerance means zero thinking!
The answer to this is really simple. Disable the device’s ability to do anything but answer the phone while it is in motion. This is not rocket science, many car GPS’s already limit what can be done with them while in motion, why not a smart phone?
It’s not fair! Cries the passenger. I am not driving so what difference does it make that I too will not be able to text, Facebook and so forth? Actually, it is fair. Do you realize how rude it is to sit in a car with people and you are on your phone texting or face booking or using some other app, rather than being part of the conversation or team “if you will” that drives from point a to b? As a passenger I often drive my half of the car, help navigate or point out something that the driver may not have seen, like a speed limit or stop sign hidden behind a bush or tree..
Removing the risk of distraction from other drivers; is it really such a sacrifice to make? Some will agree and others that are more selfish will not. The bottom line is that this action would save lives and keep the government from creating more laws and making revenue off of people making bad decisions while driving. Lets help people to help themselves.
If you plan to use your phone while driving make certain that you have voice recognition working as well as a blue tooth device so at most you have to touch a button on your headset that tells the phone you wish to do something like “call home.”
I could probably write a book on Cell phone etiquette but, let’s start with texting while driving and let’s make it easy for the rest of the people who think that they are impervious to being distracted.
Lets help someone who thinks that they are so happy that they must post it on Facebook while driving, it can wait!
This too might be a change.org thing…
If the City of Denton would think outside the box rather than in its regular 2 dimensional style, they would contact the state law makers and propose a bill that made sense. Have Apple and Samsung and others put something into the OS that disables the phones ability to open apps when it is in motion. Excluding of course the telephone itself and or some apps that are made to run mobile like the GPS.
Before you think this is some macabre blog about life and death hold on! I am talking about time to let your trusted computer retire.
“Why the hell is my computer so slow!” I substituted “hell” for the F word! You get the point. People are frustrated and just pissed off by the time I get a call.
The average life span of a PC is about 5 years, give or take. The issues I have with that are many, and most of that revolve around the EULA. (End User License Agreement)
Does anyone read these? I did a couple of times and boy oh boy, you need a lawyer to figure it out!
If you purchase a computer with an operating system that dies than the OS dies when the computer does. Unlike the old days of DOS and or early Windows.
When it gets right down to it the expensive part of the computer is not the hardware, but the software. The OS is about $150 or so… Ok I can stomach that.
Office full blown is $500! Does it die with the computer?
The Adobe suite is off the charts expensive, does it die with the computer?
Why is it that a computer running an OS runs just fine and as time goes by it slows down? Does the computer just get tired?
Three finger solute brings this up…
It has a lot to do with the patches and ad-ons that we do to them. A computer is much like a baby. Everything that you do to it, or with it from its “birth,” has some effect on it.
Herbie Pulling a trailer and from the 1954 movie the long long trailer Ricky and Lucy pulling a trailer full of rocks.
I equate it to a car. Let’s say your car is a Volkswagen beetle that new, gets you down the road and does what you want it to do. After a few months it is not quite as Zippy as it was earlier and after a year it starts showing its age. You take it in for a tune-up, start using a higher grade of gasoline and for a while it works fair. Then after a while going up hills are a struggle. After downshifting to 2cnd you make it up the hills but you remember earlier in its life when maybe you only had to downshift to 3rd but for the most part; not at all.
After much head scratching you start looking at every little detail of your poor car. Suddenly you find out that your partner in crime has secretly had a fascination with collecting rocks. Your poor car is hauling tons of rocks in the “bonnet” under the back seat, and even the glove box!
Some of the rocks have been there so long that they have become part of the car! After removing all of the rocks that you can; the car once again makes it up the hills but not as fast as it did when it was new.
Your computer when new; was the fastest thing around, if you are like me, you over buy!
After months and maybe years the computer much like the car has the occasional issue with web sites, or e-mail or loading a picture file to edit.
Time to look for rocks.
You buy a product like Crap Cleaner and you let it work its magic. Not before too long, your computer is running “ok” so you push on.
After a few years Crap Cleaner no longer does it. You enlist the help of someone like myself. I hunt and kill malware and other viruses. I check for the latest drivers and work my magic and manage to get your computer running as it should, but it is not as good as it was new.
Yep, that is me….
Why?
I can tell you that it is most probably not the hardware. I can prove it to you by installing another hard drive and installing the virgin OS that your machine came with. The machine will behave just like it did out of the box, until you put your “stuff” back on it, most of the time.
Uninstall Crap
One of the things that I find the most, is people install all of this “stuff.” It all looks cool until you see that your computer is full of trial-ware, and other “stuff” that you don’t use. Delete it or “uninstall it.”
Startup
A quick look at the startup software will usually tell you that you have too much crap starting up.
A CTRL ALT DELETE or three finger solute will bring up a menu which you can then bring up task manager. Look at the processes utilization and so forth and see where it is. Frequently I see machines that have used all of the allotted memory and are now into virtual memory. Virtual memory is orders of magnitude slower than “real memory” as it is swapping to your hard drive. Troubleshoot the issues and remove programs or processes that are starting up that you really don’t need. The goal is to keep the machine using only real memory and not have to deal with a bunch of “Rocks!”
Hardware dust bunnies
I have seen worse!
They are overclocking some computer so they have taken to using water cooling systems much like they did back in the days of the Amdahl MainFrame’s.
There is a special breed of animal that I liken to gremlins. They live inside your computer and other electronic “stuff.” They plug up the vents, restrict air flow and clog up fans and get inside your CD Rom drive stopping it from working, even inside your floppy drive if you still have one. These are the ever present Dust Bunnies that once only lived under beds and furniture. Now they have found a new occupation destroying electronic stuff and they are not even cute!
Someone had way too much time on their hands…
Just like Gremlins, don’t get water anywhere near them!
One thing that I never overlook is cleanliness of the machine. These things are ecological disasters when it comes to dust! If Hoover was smart they would build a combo PC / Air Cleaner as these things really do look like the inside of the vacuum cleaner bag. If you have pets or maybe are in a warehouse etc. the problem is exacerbated. While I really want to title this BJ, I decided that might be too crass. You get the idea, take it outside and blow the crap out of it, “literally,” with an air compressor if you have it, or that expensive canned air. I clean mine out every 6 months and that goes double for laptops as people use those things in strange places, even on their bed where the machine can’t breathe correctly! Laptops should be used on a hard surface, not carpet, couches or beds!
These machine generate heat and must be adequately cooled. If your machine is still running warm after the BJ, consider buying and installing a better CPU cooler and even more fans for the case.
While I am talking about hardware, make certain that your power supply is up to the task at hand. It needs to be able to produce more wattage than you need and it should have a large fan in it that moves lots of air. Today they have power supplies that have plug in cables that give you the ability to only use that which you need in the way of cables and not have a lot of extra wire floating around inside the box! Anything in there that you don’t need can obstruct air flow.
While I am talking about cables, dress them properly. They should be neatly tied together and routed where they do not obstruct a fan from turning and if possible away from air paths so cool air can make its way through the case.
Antivirus
Antivirus is Key to computer users today and more critical than ever before. While my tin foil hat side of me thinks that the creators of this software are all out to be better than the next guy by actually producing and passing the thousands of viruses out there; I don’t have the smoking gun. I see that this is a huge industry and where there is money there is greed / motive. I cannot fathom why anyone would sit around in their mother’s basement in their underwear writing destructive viruses if they cannot see the effect of their work and are not being paid.
Eww, I just about feel bad putting this here….
My current favorites are Eset Node 32 and Trend Micro. I also have Norton running on a PC that I use infrequently and do not depend upon or even allow anything “free” other than defender on my network / lab computers / home computers. Free is not worth what you pay for it! Defender is not the end all be all product and I would never depend upon it as my sole protection. That would be like people practicing the “rhythm method” for birth control, you know what they call those folks right? Parents!
Get the latest updates
Allow the stinking updates from Microsoft as they have a vested interest in your machine working properly. Like the antivirus folks who work tirelessly to constantly put out new updates, so does Microsoft. It may be a simple tweak and yes, they frequently allow stuff out that should be tested more thoroughly so you may want to wait for a few days before you actually install it yourself but, most of the time they are the thing to do.
Turn off indexing
By default Windows has indexing turned on. As your computer ages and you fill up those massive terabyte hard drives with stuff, the computer uses valuable horse power to index all of your stuff. That can slow your machine down to a crawl! Unless you search for files constantly turn off indexing! If you still want to have faster access to certain files you can selectively index.
Defrag
After all else, run check-disk and then defrag your hard drive. If during the checkdsk process you find bad sectors don’t wait, stop right there and back up everything and replace the hard drive! Most all electronic equipment is rated in MTBF or (mean time between failure.) It is not a matter of “if” but when it will fail.
Let it Die
XP is dead, get over it. End of life software keeps those that write the stuff in business. Software is an incredibly dynamic industry. Linux is more static if you want to learn something totally new but even it changes.
Machines that run DOS have been re-cycled and are polluting third world countries where some send old boards and parts to allow low budget workers to re-claim precious metals at risk to the person and their ecology. If old Al really wanted to something of value, he would tackle this issue as those people are seriously polluting their environment as our garbage is a job for them. Bottom line, re-cycle your old hardware in a responsible manner. PC’s are not an investment in hardware but rather for what they do! They have a finite life and when they start sucking the life out of you by you having to baby them, wait on them and spend your hard earned money to “fix them” get a new one!
If I had a nickle for every time the phone rang asking me what do I do now with this C thing….!
If you decide to re-cycle any old computer and you are worried about your “information, as you should be” remove the hard drive and hang on to it. When you are certain that you no longer will need anything that possibly could be on it, take your drill and drill a hole, straight through it, hit it with a hammer multiple times, after dropping it on a cement surface, and then put the remains into the recycle bin. Wear your safety glasses just in case….
I am experienced in forensic computing so trust me, if you do any of the above, or some combination, nobody will get anything off of it, ever!
Crap Cleaner as part of its program has something called Drive Wiper. That may very well do it, without all of the destructive energy being spent. Once you run it everything is gone to the great bit bucket in the sky, or basement..
Who am I?
I am just a guy who has been working with computers since before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were anyone, period! The internet was not around and Al Gore was still inventing the calculator to determine how much to charge for green-house gas emissions, from the basement in his mansion!
Al, what can be said?
Actually a lot, can you say “MEME,” I bet you can…
There was no e-mail, no internet; and porn was not digital anywhere! There was still Greg Shorthand and Secretaries were a hot commodity, as executives could not construct a proper sentence without them.
First picture of something racy that was found on the internet I think using “gopher.”
Early Internet usage… This is actually advanced as there is a browser!
I lecture, consult, and when time permits, give back to the community with things like this “free advice or entertainment.”
Re-post this if you think that it will help your folks, or readers, or some family member that wonders why their computer is “so slow!” just don’t edit it and make sure proper credit is given. Thanks!
Just in case: There are no warranties expressed or implied with this “free advice” for the legal record, let’s call this “entertainment” as I know that there are those out there that will do something to their computer and try to claim that this blog was in some way responsible and they might even be the ambulance chaser attorney type, that sees a lawsuit in a free lunch!
So, anything that you read here is “entertainment” and if you should try this at home, you do so at your own peril, if something goes awry! “Plain language…if you stuff it up” I am not responsible.
I chose the title carefully as the three can me mutually exclusive.
Stuff and Reality
Most of us grow up seeing a pattern of “wealth = happy.” In fact some of the poorest people that I know are some of the happiest. How is that possible?
The world today tells us that we “need” an expensive car, or the largest flat screen TV or whatever the newest gadget is. Apple is doing their part by providing a new version of their products about every 18 months or so.
A few years ago a “car phone” was for the most exclusive and wealthiest of us. Today, kids in grade school have a much more sophisticated version than I would have dreamed possible just a few years ago.
A simple automobile that cost a few thousand not too many years ago now cost upwards or $40K. Of course you can spend $24K for the same basic car but it does not have the “logo” that the $40K car has. Will the less expensive car do the same as the expensive car, probably; but it will not have the social status of the $40k car? I cannot envision spending $150K on a car but there are many on the roads.
If you are a churched person you no-doubt know that “God will provide.” Does that mean that if you pray really hard and give money to the church that you will get the $40K or $150K car? No. It means that you will have the necessities of life. The trick of course is realizing what the “necessities are.”
This is where the poorest among us have the rest of us beat. They are happy with what they have. One of my favorite song writers penned the phrase, “it’s not about having what you want, it’s about wanting what you got.” If you think about that, it is so true.
“Failure to plan is planning to fail!”
Am I telling you to settle for less than what you have or want? No, I am telling you to set your expectations accordingly, set your goals a little higher than your expectations, and take the actions necessary to achieve those goals.
Much like project management, your goals need to be fully planned. What do you want, what does the end goal look like, and what does it take to achieve it? What milestones must you achieve to get to where you want to go or be? Goals should be on some sort of timed deadline. If you set dates to accomplish certain milestones you are more apt to succeed at the end goal. Start with prayer for wisdom. Praying to win the lottery is probably not going to get you anywhere. If it does; please keep me in mind.. J Realistic goals are part of the prayer process. Few grow up with the goal of being a garbage man. If you did, “bless your heart.” Many end up there because they failed to plan.
Do I look down on those folks, not on your life! It takes all kinds of folks to make the world go round. If more folks planned better, I think that finding a ditch digger or garbage man might cost more money. I make a point to know my garbage collection folks. If I can, I go out and tell them good morning etc. The same is true of the mail person and even the janitor at the office. They are all people and disserve the respect that you yourself would want. If you think that you are better than them you are in dangerous territory.
Wealth or the lack thereof.
I would seriously recommend taking the Dave Ramsey course for you who are just starting out. After listening to his radio show for several months, I am convinced that he should be a required course in high school. Credit card companies would lobby against that but, that would be just too bad. Our progeny need to understand the fundamentals of his wisdom, and the sooner the better.
The good news is that if you are a parent you can go through the course with your kids. It does not need to be mandated from the Ivory towers of DC. Many churches around the country offer this course. Why? A tenant of the course is to be generous, think there could be a connection? Too Cynical? Only they and God know their motives.
His mantra goes against current trends in advertising and indeed the way that we spend money! His philosophy and wisdom really came from making mistakes and learning from them. These are mistakes he made many years ago. So, why make the mistake if you can learn from those that have already done it? Like history, if you don’t know it, you will repeat it.
The jobs that you take should reflect some part of the path that you are on in order to achieve your goals. Jobs can be milestones. Let’s say I want to be a geologist. I would start out learning everything I could about the subject from books to social groups that are like minded. I might take an internship at a company that studies core samples. Even if I have to wash beakers or crush rocks, I would be part of the process and undoubtedly something I learned would stick that I could apply later.
The society we are in today has kids out of college with no practical experience looking for the big paycheck and the corner office. Bless their heart!
Many out there just take anything to get some sort of income. Folks, this is ludicrous. Letting fate decide your future is a formula for a life filled with dead end jobs being someone’s slave. If you can’t afford to leave the bedroom that you grew up in, you are on the wrong path! If you are forced to return to the bedroom that you grew up in because you are not making enough money to live on your own and be investing money in your future, you are certainly on the wrong path, or making bad decisions.
Briefly, fast food jobs are for kids in school. Those jobs will allow them to earn some spending money, gasoline and insurance money and if they are strict with themselves, some savings for college. They teach the fundamentals of the working world and truthfully make one appreciate a real job when they get one. I am a firm believer that everyone should have a fast food job as a child.
Retail jobs in general are the same type of job. Most retail jobs are not a career choice that should be anywhere in your decision making process. If those jobs are part time they are for kids living at home. Unless your end goal is to manage some high end retail establishment, you have no business working there unless of course, you are a teenager.
There is definitely a difference between adult jobs and “youth” jobs. “Youth jobs are training wheels for life.”
One job does not fit all.
I see way too many older folks taking retail jobs in places where there should be kids. I think this is a direct reflection of the times that we live in. The sad fact is that these older folks in these jobs allow their attitude towards that job to come through while dealing with the customer. It is not hard to tell that they are not happy and feel that the job is beneath them. Guess what; it most definitely is! Staying in that job is mistake of monumental proportions. Stay in it long enough to retrain and re-invent yourself if necessary, and then leave it for the teenagers that it was originally designed for.
Some older folks are taking these jobs to get out of the house. If you need the money, at least shoot for management. Leave the kid jobs for kids. Of course if you had planned correctly you would not need the money and could be spending your time out of the house, volunteering somewhere.
The last few years, entitlement spending is at an all time high. We are paying people to stay home and live on the government tit. That money that the government gives away comes from those of us who are working, not living on the ignorance of a government run amuck. If the politicians that think that what they are doing is correct they need to revisit it.
Anyone taking money from the government that should be working should be “reinventing” themselves. Currently if you are attending school you are not eligible for unemployment. What kind of foolishness is this? If you don’t find suitable employment in X months you should be required to take some classes and I would argue that those classes should be subsidized by the government. If you get an “A” 100% re-imbursement and so forth. It is almost as if we don’t want you to ever work again, we want you to live on some small amount of money taken from those that are working. Folks this is crazy!
If you know a politician or someone that you can talk some sense into by all means lets push this initiative. People need a hand up, not a handout!
Business is not ignorant of this fact. To get skilled workers to work for peanuts on a part time basis vs. dealing with kids who often have not developed a good work ethic is a bargain. If they get college graduates to slave away at minimum wage jobs, that too is a bargain for them! Keeping them at part time so they don’t have to screw with benefits, another win!
We see the argument to raise the minimum wage so people can make a living at these part time jobs that school kids should be doing. The pay is not the issue, the issue is that adults should not be doing these jobs!
Slavery is not Dead!
The problem is that these kids need those jobs as that is the next part of their training to become good workers. A part time retail or fast food job is not for anyone that is serious about making a living. Managing these occupations is another story however; it is slavery at best as you are most undoubtedly salaried and will work 50 or 60 hours a week and “it will be expected.”
Raising the retirement age was another mistake on so many levels. Companies are shoving you out the door when you are 50 and looking for the college kids fresh out of school to bring in and abuse.
This guy still votes too. That is another blog for another time.
Very few companies see the value in bringing in older Americans as they would have to pay them a decent wage. On top of that, these folks have experience and to some degree that experience might be askance of the job requirements and or environment of that company. The phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” certainly may play through their mind. Mature workers are excellent employees most always as they are skilled professionals and are not the party animals that they once may have been. Their children are most probably out of the house, so little will pull them away from their task.
Mature workers indeed need a vocation as we were designed to work. Those of us who linger in the couch or in front of the TV or video games all day are most probably going to expire way before our time. “A body in motion stays in motion!” Keeping a regular schedule, going to bed at a decent hour, getting up at a decent hour, greeting the morning sun for fifteen minutes in the morning will keep you healthy. There is of course more to it but these fundamentals are all too often overlooked!
If you take a look at the richest people in the world (which is out there on the internet) you will notice Bill Gates is number 1. The Wallmart and Sam’s ilk are close to that and there are so many others. What I would like to call to your attention is that none of these made it there because they are “nice people.” They are shrewd business people. One has to wonder if they are “happy!”
Some of you may try to extol the virtues of Mr. Gates as he gives money to different charities, “what a nice guy!” When Bill was buying the first operating system from a guy for $4k and licensing it to IBM for millions, I was involved with computers. When Mr. Jobs was a criminal, phone phreaking, making his first large sum of money, I knew about it and how he did it. When Bill got the windows idea from Xerox who happily showed him their ideas and products and told him about it being open source he happily took it and ran with it.
I have kept up with Bill, not because I am angry with him, he is a shrewd business man. One has to wonder if they “the richest folks in the world” are “happy” and how much money is enough? How do people get so rich? I wish I could say it was by treating people right and practicing good “ethical” business practices…
Retail stores hire folks are minimum wage and then give them just enough hours so they don’t have to pay for benefits. Some reward their slaves with a few more hours for extra effort while only giving a few to the people who are not really motivated to be there. Folks, it is hard to be motivated for $8 and hour, especially when it takes more than that to get a hamburger. If you are working for someone, even as a slave, do your best as you are gaining experience not just in folding clothing but in dealing with people, managers and situations out of your control. This also should teach you the value of an education and setting goals!
What is your goal? Money is not a goal, but a tool. Like a hammer or saw, it is nothing more or less than a tool. Money is a common tool that everyone can use to pay for or gain enough of to obtain food, shelter and the other basics for life. In some cases it can buy you an island or maybe a small country.. It is still a tool and a means to an end.
Your goal should be to be happy, that I would wish for you. Deciding on what is (happy) is another story. Some find happiness in stuff, and others find it in family and friends. Some of the happiest people that I know find happiness in serving others and or taking care of the other creatures that live amongst us.
I think that happiness is nothing more than a state of mind and those that have little to worry about seem the happiest. I guess if you’re rich enough to hire people to worry about things for you, so you can focus on being “happy” that might be one example of being one of the world’s richest folks might work for you.
Personal growth, understanding the person in the mirror, makes me happy. Each and every time I learn something about me, I am a little happier. There are few things that are in “your control.” Getting a good education, understanding that knowledge is power is a great foundation for being happy. Using that knowledge in a way that is consistent with “enlightened people” to me is a mark of wisdom. Serving others, in some way that is consistent with who you are is another way to become happy. I find that helping others takes my mind off of “self.” Looking at the bigger picture, one can appreciate the complexities of life and sort out the small stuff that should be in the noise, and not artificially elevated to demand your full attention.
This is a lot to chew on. Questions and thoughts are always welcome.
It would seem that “Pride cometh before a fall” is something that is lost on most people who work in IT.
As someone who has been working with computers from about the time Bill Gates was buying an operating system from some poor guy in Washington State, and Steve Jobs was phone phreaking; There is just not much that escapes me.
I was doing some consulting for a company that was simply put together with bailing wire and scotch tape. They had a huge pipe to the internet and were getting a dribble through by the time it hit the desktop.
Loading WireShark (a free protocol analyzer) examining the broadcast packets it was easy to see why. The OS was literally working with NetBIOS to route packets.
A quick examination of the “server room” found the switches all tied together with Fiber and, patch cords going from one switch to another causing untold amount of routing loops etc. While the picture above is a stock photo the room in question looked very much like this.
My job however was not to fix their networking issues as this was the task of the guy I was “helping.” He was the System Administrator. I sent e-mails to him alerting him to my findings so he could take the appropriate steps, which for some reason he discounted and did not do.
The weeks went on and the problems persisted several times a day where people were kicked off of the network or files were corrupt or lost etc. His response/fix was to release and renew the IP address. Putting one band aid on the problem day after day I guess gave him a sense of accomplishment but the problems were looming and like the 500 pound gorilla in the closet, soon to get out.
One of the things that I learned many years ago is to work with VARS. Value added resellers have years of experience to draw upon. They know which products are buggy and to stay away from and which are tried and true. If you are a business don’t try and save money via internet stores as you will get what others can’t sell for one reason or another. They are on sale for a reason…
When I asked him for his vendor contact list to include in his DR plan, there were no VARS on the list. Everything was from internet companies or local retail locations. He in fact had no fallback plan if the $hit hit the fan.
The hardware purchased looked as much. There were no standards anywhere. There were high end SANS tied to cheap switches. The workstation of choice was whatever he got a good deal on making mass deployment of anything just about impossible. Hardware was way past its lifecycle and the list just went on. Because of his pride; he was not willing to listen to anyone regarding anything IT. If he does not change it will be his undoing.
This is not my first rodeo and certainly not my first encounter with arrogance. As a manager I can deal with it, as a consultant one must work around it and if it becomes too big of an impediment, bow out. There is no reason to sully your name with a situation like this when the outcome will likely somehow be your fault.
Always hire people smarter than you are and have the humility to acknowledge that you are not the end all be all. There is simply too much information out there to know it all. Wisdom is; knowing that you need help and to leverage VARS and consultants is simply smart.
TheTimeDok 
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