I don’t know much about these guys other than that they have set up shop in Best Buy to handle computer repair and that, judging by the looks of the few that I saw in there the other day, they live up to their name.

However, I do know that when your job is to fix other people’s computers it is incredibly poor design to have your entire website be Flash and PDF. The people coming to your website are going to be the computer ignorant. They won’t know what Flash or PDF is and won’t know how to install the plug-ins if they are not already on their system.

Not very good business sense.

And, as a disclaimer, I was going to check them out to try to refer someone to them - mainly because I don’t feel like trying to fix his PC!

Filed under: Business
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I quit my job yesterday. It was strange - only the second full-time job that I have ever quit (all others were consulting gigs). For me it was definitely a freeing feeling as well as a new feeling of urgency to launch other projects that have been on the back burner (or only in my head) for a while.

One of the things that has echoed in my head for a long time is the Brian Tracy quote about either working towards your own goals or towards someone else’s goals. It’s time now to work towards my own!

Filed under: Personal
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Yesterday was just the day from hell… First, I was going through TSA security in San Antonio’s airport and was taking my notebook computer out of my bag to place it into the X-Ray machine separately (as is “the drill” as one TSA employee put it to me recently). The place where you do this is on a sloped surface, so my roller bag with my briefcase on top started to topple over. In my reaction to grab my bag from falling over I dropped my notebook and it landed hard on the ground. (More on the notebook later)

When going to baggage claim (I had to check a bag as I didn’t have enough room in one carry-on for this trip) I find that my bag didn’t make the plane for some reason and it will arrive on the next flight. No problem, the baggage service center says - we will deliver it to you.

Then when I got to the parking garage I find that my front right tire was flat. Not low on air - completely flat! I drove it to the closest gas station (I have run-flats, no spare) and tried to fill with air, but it was impossible as the tire walls no longer had a seal on the wheel. So, I called my girlfriend for a ride and then called the place where I bought the tires to arrange to tow the car to them.

When arriving home I tested my computer and it booted up fine, started loading Windows, and then - a few minutes into the process - shut down without warning. It did this 3-4 times until I realized that it seemed like the fans were blocked or being pinched, preventing them from operating correctly. I removed a screw from the case near the corner where the damage had occurred and tried to ensure that the fans were able to operate normally. This seemed to fix the problem, although it did turn itself off again sometime last night after having been on for hours. It’s been running fine today so far (crossing fingers).

Apparently my tire has no problem - Goodyear called and it is fixed - no charge, other than the tow. No one can explain how it went from being fine to completely flat in four days at the airport.

My bag still hasn’t been delivered. I was promised yesterday evening, then yesterday before midnight, then today before noon. It’s past 2:30pm and still no sign of them. Fortunately there isn’t anything incredibly necessary in my bag (I made sure to pack it full of dirty clothes in case TSA wanted to rummage through it again), but it is still annoying to have to wait for them to deliver it.

Filed under: Personal
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Dear TSA,

I know that there are a lot of terrorists flying from Houston to San Antonio, so I appreciate that you need to search through potentially dangerous bags such as those containing lots of clothes, shoes, etc.

However, after going through my bag, could you please pack everything back with some semblance of how it was packed when you started going through it? Here’s a hint: don’t just throw everything back in the bag as if you are filling up a garbage bag.

Filed under: Personal, Political
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For all the fans, coaches, and players out there, here are a few basketball rules clarifications on plays that have come up recently. These rules apply to both high school and college.

Intentional Foul

The penalty for an intentional foul is two shots and the ball (inbounded at the point nearest the foul, not half-court). If a player is shooting and is fouled intentionally and the ball goes in, the basket counts and that player gets to shoot two free throws, and his team gets the ball. Whether a shot goes in or not has no affect on the penalty - it is always two free throws.

Goaltending

It is not goaltending when a player blocks a shot that has hit the backboard as long as that shot is still going up and is not within the cylinder (of the rim of the basket). The NBA rule is that this play is goaltending, which causes a lot of confusion. At other levels you can block the ball off of the backboard as long as the ball is still going up.

Filed under: Officiating
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