Week #3 of working remotely – Build your workspace

We're at the start of week 3 for working remotely and I think just about everyone has found their rhythm. But, it has taken awhile, and one thing I heard from multiple people, they weren't prepared to work remotely for an extended period. The main problem? Nowhere to work. We have people who work remotely and that's no issue. But, that's for a day. They can handle calls, or attend meetings, or put together a client proposal, but not everyone has a dedicated work machine or a dedicated work area. Working from the couch or kitchen table is fine for a few hours, but it's not going to do for several weeks. Many people spent the weekend getting themselves set up for the long haul. Some just had to clear off a desk, while others had to race out and actually get a desk. Several people had to get full sized monitors. Some retrieved equipment from the office, others ended […]

Week #2 of working remotely

So here we are at the tail end of two weeks of working remotely. I had to make a dash into the office late Wednesday as our building would be closed until further notice due to the stay at home order. I figured it was better for me to have the machine here than it collecting dust in an empty building. Oddly, there were far more people on the road than I expected. Maybe they were out and about doing the same thing, grabbing machines and necessities from their place of work, which could be confused with looting. Rest assured, I totally had permission to get my own machine from work. Other than the laughable toilet paper situation, I find things to be going quite well. We are communicating regularly through Slack and use Zoom to have team meetings. This was already the norm since we've had people working remotely for various reasons for a couple of years. I have […]

Wells Fargo is run by F-ING IDIOTS

Please allow me to go on a rant for a moment. Not only am I customer of Wells Fargo, but not for much longer, but I know several people who work for the banks, Wells Fargo included. Despite an order for non-essential professionals to stay home, Wells Fargo has stated all their employees are essentials and requires them to come into work as scheduled. This is utterly ridiculous and they should be ashamed of themselves for treating employees like this and putting them in danger. This is totally unacceptable. I haven't been in my office since March 13th and we were told last night to get anything we needed out of the office and steer clear of the building. There was no reason for us to enter before and now we can't. We are a company that makes $40-50 million per year in revenue, and we have figured out a way to work from home and isolate ourselves from danger. […]

Neil Parfitt – Someone who is actually using a Mac Pro correctly

There has been a lot of talk about the Mac Pro since it came out. Most of it drivel. There's been admonishment that it's too expensive, it's too powerful, no one has a need for a machine like that. Meanwhile, people like Linus and Jay, build $20k computers, who's sole purpose is to play games, with (multiple) $3000+ video cards and declare what they've done is awesome. Despite this, the Mac Pro is an amazing machine, and several companies have already rushed to make Windows based systems that compete. Linus is practically screaming with joy as he snaps 2TB of ram into a machine so he can open tabs in Google Chrome. A stupid experiment, but the hardware shows other companies are taking the technology of the Mac Pro very seriously. Ironically, it was Linus that pointed me to Neil Parfitt, who actually uses a Mac Pro for work. Real work. Not just someone on YouTube who happened to get […]

The introverts guide to surviving the quarantine

So, you find yourself stuck inside with very few options of going out that don't result in torches and pitchforks. All your plans for frolicking outside during the warmer spring days have been thwarted. Sporting events have been cancelled and the latest shows are shutting down. What is there to do? In a word? Plenty. There is an abundance of enjoyable ways to spend your time whether you're in the house with your kids, or spending this time in true isolation. When it comes to things to do, first and foremost, don't forget to exercise. Working from home is a challenge under the best of circumstances. You still need to get up and move around. The small amount of exercise from walking to the office, going up the stairs, trips to the break room, were all beneficial. Fear not, you can easily meditate and do yoga without leaving the house. You can lift weights without going to the gym. And […]