Career-Op: Fighting the futility

Career-Op: Fighting the futility
by Douglas E. Welch, ComputorEdge Magazine

I often get asked, “How can you stand to deal with computer problems, day in and day out?” My clients know how frustrated they can feel when their computers aren’t working well and can only imagine their frustration in dealing with the dozens of computers I see on a weekly basis. They sometimes wonder aloud how I can deal with the seeming futility of it all. How I spend my time putting computers back together, only to have them fall apart again. Usually I brush this off as individual differences. People have different aptitudes and tolerances for work. Something they find enjoyable might drive me to distraction. There is a kernel of truth in what they say, though, and every high-tech careerist needs to address the issue at some time in their career.

(Continued)

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WelchWrite Note: iTunes Install/Upgrade Fails

I have been fighting a nasty problem on a client's machine for the past week. Despite everything we tried, I coul dnot get the iTunes 4.6 update to install. Finally, today, I found a solution and wanted to offer it up here. Hopefully, if anyone else runs acorss this problem, a quick search should bring them here.

Today, I saw a hint to notice if there were any messages in the system Console when I tried to install the update. Sure enough, running the installer and clikcing through to the update section yielded this error:

2004-09-30 09:51:47.796 Installer[1912] *** NSTimer ignoring exception 'NSInvalidPackageException' (reason 'Can't open package /Library/Receipts/iTunes4.pkg (there was an error reading the file iTunes4.bom).') that raised during posting of timer with target 10b5120 and selector 'taskCompleted:'}

I moved the listed file to the Desktop, started the install again, and all proceeded as normal. What a relief!

I still had to do a little work rebuilding the users iTunes Library, but everything, including his iPod, seems to be functioning well now.

Event: Faulkner Farm Opens for Halloween Season

Faulkner Farm, in Santa Paula will be opening its pumpkin patch for the harvest season on Oct. 1. Admission is $2 on weekends and $1 on weekdays.

They have a host of activities and entertainment each weekend.

For more information, visit: http://faulknerfarm.com Photos from our previous visit are available at: http://welchwrite.com/events/ff2002/

Read it with me! - The Art of the Start

I just started a new book today and I realized that some of you might benefit from reading it, as well. If you would like to “read it with me” we can share comments and questions regarding the book via a mailing list or other online discussion group. The book is The Art Of The Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki. I have known of Kawasaki for years and even met him once, I believe, as a Disney Mac User Group meeting. I also once gave him a bad review on one of his earlier books. (SMILE) This book, though, seems like a winner.

Download the first chapter of the book here -- for FREE!

The Art Of The Start begins with a very promising sentence, “…doing, not learning to do, is the essence of entrepreneurship.” In the past, I have written about the necessity of applying your knowledge and your thinking and this book promises to “Cut the crap and tell me what I need to do…” Those lines alone were enough to put this book at the top of my reading stack.

Reading a book by yourself can be entertaining, enjoyable and even enlightening, but reading and discussing it with others can open new avenues of discovery. This is the first time I have tried to arrange any form of "reading group" here, but I think the benefits are worth time and energy.

Below is a link to Amazon, or you can pick it up at your local (independent) bookseller.

I have set up a QuickTopic group for talking about book. We can always move the discussion to a different system if we outgrow it. Click on the QuickTopic link below to join the discussion today.

Discuss Art of the Start

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The Art Of The Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything

California earthquake shakes up Web

California earthquake shakes up Web

I actually subscribe to immediate email notification of earthquake above 4.0 on my cell phone, so I had the basic information minutes after the earthquake occured. Still, the web was indeed abuzz with lots of basic info almost immediately. I certainly appreciate the info available from the web during events like this.

Quote: Can Money Buy Happiness? -- from Wired Magazine

I came across this quote in the latest issue of Wired (http://wired.com) and think it is worth passing along. Without much direct, conscious thought, I have been following this style of life. Even when I am unhappy, I understand that buying a Lexus (or a new G5 iMac) will not make me any happier.

Food for thought...

"Evidence suggests that if we use an increase in our incomes, as many of us do, simply to buy bigger houses and more expensive cars, then we do not end up any happier than before. But, if we use an increase in out incomes to buy more of certain inconspicuous goods -- such as freedom from a long commute or a stressful job -- then the evidence paints a very different picture. ...reallocating out time and money in these and similar ways would result in healthier, long -- and happier -- lives.

Robert Frank, Professor of Economics, Cornell University
From Daedalus, volume 133, issue 2

Build your own musical instruments

For those of you with an adventurous bent, here are a collection of pages dedicated to making your own musical instruments, from violins to guitars, to PVC flutes and more.

Build your own musical instruments

Via MetaFilter

Event: Getty Family Festival

Getty Family Festival
Sunday October 3, 2004, 10 am
Museum Courtyard
Free

A day of music, dance, storytelling, games and workshops centered on the childhood experiences of many cultures. Inspired by the exhibition Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past, the festival brings some of LA's finest young performers to the stage and explores the stories and myths of classical Greece.