Maximize Productivity Through Tech Spending

Posted on December 24th, 2008 by Justin

Many companies spend money on IT projects to fufill their need to have the latest and greatest toys and systems. However most do not evaluate how these projects impact their productivity. Often there is a direct relationship between Tech Spending and Productivity enhancements, however it is not the only thing that can enhance productivity.

The below presentation I have given on this very topic. It is somewhat incomplete, as it is meant to be narrated, but you will get the idea.

Maximize Productivity Using Information Technology Spending

Migrate Windows User Profiles to a new computer

Posted on December 21st, 2008 by Justin

One of the common problems that IT Staff run into is transferring Windows users’ desktop profiles from one computer to another while mainataining all of their customizations, files, settings, favorites, emails, and whatever else. One would think that Microsoft would give IT Pros the tools to transfer this kind of data since they made it so critical with the advent of Windows NT & 2000.

Fortunately there is a tool put out by ForensIT that makes this a relatively trivial task. You can download it here. After you download it, follow these directions to use it to transfer your profiles seamlessly.

1. Load the computer fully with the appropriate software, including MS Office if needed.
2. Login and create the account of the user that you wish to transfer.
3. Either remove and hook up the hard drive from the old computer to the new computer or connect to the computer’s default share (i.e. \\computername\C$)
4. After hooking up the drive or connecting to the default share open launch a Windows Explorer window and navigate to “C:\Documents and Settings” folder.
5. Copy the Folder for the user that you wish transfer to the new computer.
6. On the new computer paste the folder to that same respective folder.
7. After copying the folder to the new computer, open up the Windows Control Panel, double-click the System icon, and go to the Advanced tab. Click on the “Settings” button under the User Profiles section.
8. Check the “Show Unassigned Profiles” checkbox.
9. Choose the folder relating to the folder that you wish to assign, and click assign.
10. Type in the username of the user that you wish to transfer.
11. Log out and log back in as the migrated user

After following those steps you should have a fully migrated user profile. Keep in mind this dows not migrate programs, Windows is still incapable of doing this.

Enjoy!

Phoenix’s Mass Transit

Posted on December 21st, 2008 by Justin

Phoenix’s new light rail line opens this coming Saturday (12/27), but there is already talk and plenty of plans underway to look at where to take the line next. An Article on AZcentral.com today talks about how they are looking at how to integrate the light rail with bus service and where buses should be used instead of light rail. It also talks about getting residents to use the light rail and switch to buses when needed to get to a destination instead of taking their car.

In my opinion the idea of integrating the buses with the rail line are good, but I think that they are looking at it from the wrong angle. They are looking at the light rail as method of augmenting the bus lines, when they should be looking at it as though the light rail is (or will be) the dominant method of transportation and build bus service, roads, and freeways around this service. For me, I will never set foot on one of Phoenix’s buses again. I have been on one a few times in my life, and each time was a bad experience. I was subject to the same traffic jams as the rest of the traffic, they were dirty, and they simply stopped to often to be efficient for me.

I really think that we need to sit down and look at all of our transportation and see how it could be made to serve the light rail better. Three cities that are doing a great job of this are Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Getting anywhere in Portland, OR is easy using the MAX and through the Portland Street Car. They use these two services complementary and give each priority over traffic to ensure efficiency. San Francisco uses the Bart, Cal Train, and Muni to get people effectively around the entire region. Finally Los Angeles is using their Metro service to connect this massively spreadout car country. What do these areas all have in common they are designing their entire transportation network around their real mass transit, not buses.

Some areas where Phoenix is going off the tracks is by building car pool lanes where they used to have some spare room for trains in the middle of the freeways, Los Angeles realized that it was cheaper to expand their Metro line down the center of their freeways to get it started than to plow through their streets on the first go. Don’t get me wrong, eventually they will need to do this, but they needed to get a big Rail network in a hurry to get people to even consider it. Scottsdale needs to stop considering “Express Bus Service” as an effective alternative to placing Rail down the center of Scottsdale Road. This is not an alternative, it is a joke. Finally, Phoenix needs to get the Light Rail really connected to the Airport. Right now they are planning to use Bus service to connect the light rail to the Airport. If you want people to choose rail over their cars then you need to make it seemless.

Finally, now that Phoenix has a light rail starter line, we need to start looking beyond light rail and look at Heavy Commuter Rail that could serve the long runs in the valley like taking a train from Anthem to Chandler with minimal stops. On an even larger scale Tucson to Flagstaff with only a handfull of stops. Finally Arizona needs to get into talks with California about extending their High Speed Rail to Phoenix and Tucson.

Tags: Light Rail, Phoenix

Find A Bar On The New PHX Light Rail

Posted on December 20th, 2008 by Justin

With Phoenix getting ready to roll out their new Light Rail Starter Line on 12/27, running from Mesa to West Phoenix, through Tempe and Downtown Phoenix, one begs to ask, “where can I get a beer along the starter line?” The Answer to this is very simple, use the web to tell you. One of my talented co-workers at Off Madison Ave took it upon himself to create a website to solve this very important question.

Using Google Maps he created a mashup that shows you bars that are within walking distance of the light rail.

Check it out at http://www.lightrailbeer.com/

Tags: Light Rail, Phoenix

How To Sneak Alcohol On To A Cruise

Posted on December 18th, 2008 by admin

In only a matter of a few days I am leaving on a cruise. This will be my second cruise, and we are once again going to try and bring our own alcohol on board the cruise. You may be asking yourself, why would you want to do such a thing? The answer is simple… For Sport. Yes, we can afford to buy our own booze on the ship, even though they gouge you at the on ship bars, but it is more fun if you can make it past the rent-a-cops that run security. Last November when we went on a cruise, we brought a bottle of Vodka, a bottle of Rum, and a “sack” of wine, and here is how we did it.

For the Rum and Vodka we used two empty water bottles and filled them with up with each liquor and put them in the side pockets of my laptop bag, in plain sight, and walked right through security without a hitch. Now the sack of wine was a different story. The “sack” was really the internal bag from a Target-branded cube/box of wine. Yes, we could have got better wine, but remember this is for sport, and drinking it is just a bonus. We removed the bag from the box and put the bag in with our clothes, in the checked baggage.

No that sounds simple, right? It was. What we discovered was that the policies listed when you register for the cruise is simply a deterrent, and only rarely do you actually see the cruise lines enforce the rules. However, if you do get busted doing this you usually only have to forfeit the booze.

A few words of caution on this:

1) If you do you get busted bringing your own booze on board, be cool, let them take it if they want. You may or may not get it back at the end of the cruise, but it beats the alternative which is not being allowed to board. When you paid for your cruise you agreeed to abide by their terms and conditions, one of which is no personal alcohol. The terms also say that if you are caught bringing booze on board, you may not be allowed to board. While it usually never comes to this, they will do it if you are not cool about it and/or get irate or rude if they confiscate your liquor. So if you do get caught, be cool to security, they are just doing their job, and play dumb so that if you are lucky you will get your liquor back at the end of the cruise.

2) Pack your bag so that your bottles or sacks of liquor do not break, and put them in a bag of your clothes that you could live without on the cruise in the event that they do break. Otherwise you will smell like you bathed in rum for the duration of your cruise.

3) Don’t over do it. Do not try and take a whole bar with you, take only a few select choices of liquor. You will be less likely to get caught and less likely to break the liquor in your bag.