IDE to USB-- Oh, So Cool

One of my wife's co-workers has become a good friend to us over the years. She helped keep our kids while my wife and I were out of town. A favor like that is hard to fully pay back.

Before our out of town trip, our friend ended up with a computer virus on her laptop. I cleaned it off for her and gave it back to her-- all nice and clean again. She gave me a gift certificate to a really high class restaurant in exchange for my help. Sweet!

I will work for food . . .

But not long after that, her computer wouldn't boot at all. It wouldn't even go through the Power On Self Test routine (POST). That's bad news. Something isn't soldered properly to the mother board any longer or something. That reaches a bit beyond my skill level. I don't go around soldering mother boards. I think it might be time to learn, though. If I had soldering skills, I could probably fix a lot of things that would otherwise be thrown away.

Anyway, after getting a second opinion about her laptop, she is now in the market for a new computer or a new mother board-- which ever comes cheapest.

She can by a netbook or mini laptop for the quoted price of a replacement motherboard. Hmmmm . . .

But what about that poor hard drive of hers? Nothing is wrong with it to my knowledge. I think her laptop is totally suffering from bad wiring. If only I could somehow access her hard drive. I could make an image of her OS and restore it to her new laptop and everything will come back as though nothing happened.

I conceived of such a device in my mind's eye, but didn't know what it was called or where I could find one. I didn't know if anyone even made such a device.

A few days later, I watch my co-worker plug in a hard drive into some gadget thingy that he just bought. He told me that it converted a computer hard drive into a USB drive.

That's just what I imagined I would need! Awesomeness!

I ordered one the same day. It can convert SATA drives and IDE drives (even from laptops) into a USB drive. You plug it in and your computer and you can see the drive. You can make a disk image, scan the drive for viruses-- what ever you want! The SATA / IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter is awesome!

I made a boot-able disk image that's ready to restore to any other hard drive. Once our friend gets her new netbook, I can restore her Windows image to the new computer and all her programs and personal information will reappear like magic. Or, if we do get a new motherboard, she'll have a backup of her laptop. If another virus comes along, we can just scrub the hard drive and restore the last good image.

Tonight, I feel like a technological Jedi.

St. Vincent

Over the past few years, I've become a fan of Annie Clark's music (aka St. Vincent). I think she has a strong voice with a tinge of quirkiness that makes her stand out. Also, she appears to be an excellent musician and a good composer.

To me, she's a musical artist. Not just a singer.

I subscribe to her news letters, which come out once every few months. She's on tour performing work from her second album, Actor.

One of my favorite songs come from her first album, Mary Me.

Her newsletter had a link to WBEZMusic. She's featured on their page doing a live rendition of her song Actor Out of Work. Now that I've done a lot of reading on emotions and human nature, I like this song even more. I suppose that would make sense because I've come to respect acting far more than I once did. Executing a believable portrayal of emotion to an audience takes skill.

Singing a neat song that also carries philosophical undertones about the phenomena of acting takes skill, too.

Anyway, I just thought I'd embed the video of her street performance her. You don't have to like her music. But I like it, regardless.

St Vincent performs for WBEZ Music at Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 from WBEZ on Vimeo.

Caveat Emptor

I had the good fortune of reading the book Influence: Science and Practice a few years back.

That has helped me to look back and see when I have been taken advantage of in my life. I can also better tell when someone is trying to bullshit me into buying something I may not need or want.

The goal of most sales people is to take away all your excuses for turning down their product. They want to convince you that your purchase is a "no-brainer".

That's exactly the problem; they don't want your brain involved in the process.

A pair of salesmen came along to my house peddling home security systems. They rolled out about every sales tactic found in the Influence book that I read.

First, they insinuated that the alarm system was "free".

Yeah. Uh-huh.

This was a setup for the "low-ball" technique.

They also said that this was a promotion only being done for about maybe three houses in the area.

That was the tactic of scarcity. Make something seem precious, and people will want it. I would be foolish to turn down a rare opportunity.

They got me to admit that I would want a security system. They got me to verbally acknowledge that having a system would increase the value of my home and make my wife and children feel so much safer. If I say "yes" to this, then I would be foolish to say "no" to the system if it were "free". They even had zeros in all the blanks on the contract showing that I wouldn't owe anything at all if I signed up. They even said that I could try it for a week, and have the service turned off if I don't stay with the plan. The equipment would even be mine to keep!

Then they shove the contract at me and try to get me to sign it while they "see" if the company has enough money in their advertising budget to follow though with this exclusive "promotional" offer that I've been given.

Had I not known about these kinds of sales tactics, I probably would have signed without even reading the contract!

And I would have found myself royally pissed about week later when I realized that I didn't get what I had expected. Worse-- I would have been locked into a three year contract paying for something that I thought was totally free.

Since I could recognize that they were being aggressive, (though they were such polite and nice fellows on the surface) I went into critical thinking mode and starting asking a ton of annoying questions. I slowed things down a bit because they were trying to ram this sell down my throat despite how gentle they came across in conversation.

After all, maybe they do have a good product. I like what I see. Even when you get a decent deal, you've got to wade through a lot of the sales fluff you get during a purchase.

But, I'm not buying if I don't know exactly what I'm getting into.

Up front.

• I finally find out that you DO have to pay $50.00 a month for the monitoring of your home.
• You DO get locked into a contract of three years.
• You do get a grace period to try the product. But it's NOT a week. It's only three days.
• The techs will come out and fix any problems for free-- but only for the first 120 days.

I wouldn't have known any of these things, if I hadn't read the contract right there in front of them and challenge them on all the contradictions between their speech and their contract. The contract itself even says, "Do not sign this form if you don't understand the terms of this agreement and have not read this contract in it's entirety".

See why you should read the contract?

Now, here are some pros in the product's favor:

• The company head quarters did receive awards for their customer service recently.
• Their product seems to have quality, seems solid and appears to be quite advanced.
• They are very affordable. My wife really, really wanted an alarm system a few years ago, but we didn't get it; Too expensive. I would have to pay lots of money up front for the equipment, get a phone line, and then pay their monitoring fee. Here, I only had a monitoring fee. That's a huge savings compared to the offer I received a year ago.

I still didn't like the sales tactics they used, but I was impressed with the product and even the price (which they try to hide for as long as they can). Since I knew I had three days to cancel, I gave it a try.

I did my homework some more during the grace period. I tested out the system. I read up on the company.

I discovered that most people like their service when they know what they've gotten into. But most people hate the company when they unwittingly signed a binding contract without understanding the terms of agreement.

There seems to be a dichotomy between their product and their sales force. The product seems worth having if you want a security system. Their customer service is even award winning. But, the sales team will eat you alive if you don't stay on your toes. So buyer, beware!

I can deal with $50.00 a month for three years if I know that's what I'm signing up for. I CANNOT, however, deal with $50.00 a month if someone surprises me with that news a month later!

After doing my research, I have decided to keep the system.

I called back to see what I would have to expect if I wanted any enhancements or upgrades. They started trying to sale me more stuff after giving me the prices for all the upgrades I asked about.

I told them I'd like to sleep on it. They tried the "scarcity" thing again. If you hang up . . . you might not get this deal from my manager later.

"OK, well, that's too bad for me then. I'll call you back if I'm interested. Thanks."

I did the math. I know what I want in the future if I upgrade. And I know that I don't want their exclusive deal that supposedly discounts the upgrades I want.

By now, you might be saying to yourself, "Uruk, you said that you recognized all of these sales tactics, yet you still bought the product. Weren't you still fooled by them anyway?"

Possibly. But, the way I see it . . . I didn't treat this situation like a "no-brainer". That's what the sales guys wanted. Rather, I walked into this knowing what I'm getting. So the difference is that I purchased this knowing the terms and agreeing with them, rather than having terms I don't like or didn't realize imposed upon me later.

In short: I bought the system of my own free will because I evaluated the product. I did not buy the system simply as a reflex to psychological cues. I don't think I'll be waking up in the morning wondering, "how the hell did I get trapped" three days later. I walked into the deal with my eyes wide open.

At least, I think.

Caveat emptor.

Where the Money Goes

I feel as though I'm a personification of the father who is talking to his son in this classic School House Rock video. I didn't understand this cartoon short as a kid, but boy, oh boy, do I understand this one now.

Where the Money Goes

The Singularity: When Humans Become the Robots' Bitches

I've finally noticed a reoccurring theme in a few science fiction movies and TV series. From 2001:Space Odyssey, to The Matrix and to newest Battlestar Galactica TV series, humankind has to constantly worry about becoming the Robot's be-atch.

Cultivating technology seems to be one of the hallmarks of humanity. Opposable thumbs made tool usage come naturally. More protein to eat as a result. And more brain power for better tool building.

That's at least, one possibility of how history unfolded. That's how I believed it happened.

Anyhow-- what happens if humankind ever becomes indistinguishable from the artificial intelligence that many scientists dream about?

Some say it's already happening.

Cell phones remember all of our numbers for us. Some people can't even remember to go to the store without a reminder from their phone or some calendar software sending them an e-mail or a text message.

I wouldn't be half the worker I am without having Google to look up the particularly mysterious problems that make me scratch my head.

What happens when computers find out they are smarter than us? What happens when they find out they live longer than us? What happens when they realize they don't want to serve us?

What happens when they decide to make us their bitch?

Maybe they won't even bother. Maybe they will ignore us and leave us to our folly. Or maybe they will hunt us down like Cylons. Maybe they will turn us into bio-batteries like in The Matrix.

Or maybe we'll evolve enough to work peacefully with Robots. Maybe that's the next step in evolution.

And maybe the singularity will never happen at all, because we'll be smart enough to not let computers ever come to life in the first place.

Isaac Asimov, help us all.

OK, I just Found Out I'm a bit Nerdy

I'm not a total nerd. Nor am I a true geek, though I work with computers.

I'm a bit too social to be a nerd for one thing. And, I'm not a true expert in computers. I endeavor to be, but I'm not a guru by any stretch-- which precludes me from being a geek.

I am a bit nerdy and geeky, though. I found out I'm more so than I once thought after I found myself really enjoying watching the first season of The Big Bang Theory on DVD.

I really get that show; Watching The Big Bang Theory helps ease my IT Crowd withdrawal. It doesn't totally quench my withdrawal, but it does help ease the ache.

Damn! When are they going to release the 4th season of IT Crowd on DVD?!

Hopefully after I've caught up on The Big Bang Theory and Battlestar Galactica the next season of IT Crowd will be out.

Geesh, I am a nerd and a geek.

What a Nice Surprise

I don't like surprises.

I got one coming back from my trip.

I returned to find that a really important computer at work was having some big issues.

That's the first thing my co-worker tells me after I get comfy in my chair at my desk.

Yeah. What a nice surprise.

So, I think I'll be neglecting my blogging for a few days.

Avatar Aang

I'm a huge fan of the Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Air Bender. I love that story. This show may sound silly and goofy because I used the words Nickelodeon and cartoon in the same sentence. But, don't let those two terms fool you. The Nickelodeon presentation of Mike DiMartino's epic masterpiece is unfolded through his nigh flawless story telling while dressed in the medium of solidly good animation. The show ranked high in ratings among adults, kids, and critics alike.

But when I heard that the movie adaptation directed by M. Night Shyamalan was on the horizon, I had mixed feelings. I was excited to know that people wanted to see more of Avatar (no, not Cameron's twelve-feet-tall blue people. I mean Avatar Aang).

But I wasn't very excited about Shyamalan being the director.

After all, how can the nigh perfect story be told even better?

I don't think one can unless one does a better job of bringing the original story to life.

Shyamalan did not accomplish this. He deviated from the original story in subtle ways that irked true Air Bender fans. Add on rushed story telling, rushed character development, and bland acting and you end up with critics and Avatar Fans alike slamming Shyamalan very hard for what is being declared a cinematic block-blunder.

I've read people say that Shyamalan only has one more chance to make a good movie before Hollywood throws him out of the movie making business. And people are already saying that the rest of the Air Bender movies will never get made because he sank the Air Bender cinematic franchise before it ever went afloat.

But let it be known, that this movie and all the bitter reviews are in no way a reflection upon the original series headed by Mark DiMartino and his partner Bryan Konietzko.

See, when a co-worker of mine told me that she really enjoyed watching Avatar: The Last Air Bender, yet she hated all other anime . . . I knew this Avatar cartoon had be great stuff.

So, I eventually started with renting disk one, season one from Netflix and our family watched every single episode in every single season-- all the way to the end (over the course of several weeks, mind you).

I might have to watch the entire cartoon series all over again in order to wash my mind of the mediocre movie experience I had watching The Last Air Bender movie adaptation.

If Shyamalan somehow gets clearance to make any of the other Air Bender movies, he would be well advised to sit down and pay closer attention to the cartoon series himself. Apparently, he missed the heart of the story. Shymalan and DiMartino need to have a serious talk if the rest of the movies have any hope of being successful.

Smiling Faces

We're home, safe and sound.

The kids ran to us and hugged us. They really missed us.

We missed them, too.

All is well.

We all have broad smiles on our faces.

Heading Home

Well, my time here is up. I'm getting on a plane and heading back home with my wife.

I've learned a lot that can help me do my job better.

I've had a little fun.

I've complained a good bit while out of town. But honestly, I've had a decent time. Caught a movie or two. Finally found a few neat places to eat. Spent some time with my wife. And she got to lay around and just relax and unplug while I was in class.

Now we're getting ready to board the plane. And like I said before making my way here . . . if this blog doesn't update again after this post . . . you'll know what happened.

But again . . . let's be positive, eh?

The Sunshine State

Florida is the Sunshine State, right?

Not this week.

It has rained every single fucking day that I've been here.

Everyday after 3:00 PM, it rains buckets. Thunder and lightning. Rain. Rain. Rain.

Before it rains, I look up at gray, heavy, overcast skies. I packed my sunglasses all for nothing.

Sunshine State my ass!

Chipotle

I found a Chipotle restaurant in the area where I'm staying for my training class this week.

I heard of this place from a new employee who had moved in from another state. He raved about Chipotle and was very disappointed that one couldn't be found in his new local.

I became very interested in this place. He talked about it a good bit for his first few weeks at work. He talked about it so much that I too became disappointed that we have no Chipotle anywhere nearby-- and I had never been there before!

I started to feel a bit offended. What? My town isn't good enough for a Chipotle restaurant?

I even wrote the owners and asked them that very question. They replied and said that they admitted to being selective about where they open new restaurants. But, they try to take care in how fast they grow their business. They don't just haphazardly open restaurants anywhere. But, they assured me that they would consider opening up in my area one of these days.

Hmph.

Well, I ran across a Chipotle while I'm out here training in Tampa, Florida.

Chipotle is awesomeness!

I still feel a bit offended that they won't open a restaurant back home where I must soon return.

I think I'll write the owners again.

Maybe it's time for me to quit my job and open one myself. I know the perfect spot where I can start one when I get back home.

Right around the corner from that Five Guys Burgers and Fries joint that recently opened up at that cool shopping park they just built. I'd make a killin' and Five Guys wouldn't even miss a beat from my presence. If anything, we'd feed on each other's attraction of hungry customers longing to get rid of the munchies.