milos topic

A friend of mine came over a week ago with an old PowerBook G4 and asked if I could get the OS up to date (he brought the OS 10.5 disk) and make it run faster. Well, considering it’s a 2004 machine with
1 GHz PowerPC processor I figured it would be able to run the latest Apple operating system (fresh install, NOT an upgrade) with a bit more memory muscle. It had 512 MB of RAM which would allow OS 10.5.x to run, but would most likely make that experience slow and painful.

In order to mitigate this, I ordered two 1 GB RAM SODIMMs from Crucial. In addition, you can use their “Crucial System Scanner” tool to determine what kind of RAM you need. Memory came in today, but I had trouble opening the memory slot door as I couldn’t find the necessary #0 Phillips screwdriver. Considering that I can always use a new good set of precision screwdrivers I took a drive to Micro Center in Paterson, NJ and bought myself a complete toolkit.

With everything I needed in place I began the RAM upgrade. By the way, here are major steps needed during laptop memory upgrade:

1. Turn the computer off
2. Unplug the power adapter/cable
3. Ground yourself
4. Take the battery out

Once I did all of that, I’ve removed the 4 tiny screws from the bottom of the laptop and took the old memory out (in this case, two 256 MB DIMMs). Then I placed new DIMMs in; screwed the door back on; placed the battery back in place and pressed the power button.

Memory upgrade is complete, all that is left is to confirm it.

Once your system boots up, you can check if the machine recognizes the new RAM by clicking on the Apple logo and then selecting “About This Mac” option.

As you can see it recognizes the newly installed 2 GB of RAM.
That’s all, not much to it. Happy computing!

Every year each of us (even if only subconsciously) come up with a list of things we want to improve on in the following year and almost certainly for one reason or another, fail by mid March. I’m no exception to this rule, but this year I have decided to put them on paper for the first time and really work on improving in several (for me) major areas.

First of all, I need to limit my amazing ability to procrastinate. I say limit as I’m certain that it will never completely go away.
I’m a third degree black belt master in procrastinating by getting distracted with another task, project or an item from my to do list.

Second, I need to get back in shape. I mean in shape I was in (or at least close to) several years ago when I played soccer in the NJ Champions League. I need to remember to take it day by day and focus on little things. Now that I have all this extra time (no more school) I have decided to stop making excuses and get back down to my soccer playing weight and maybe even play again in the spring. I have already started working on this earlier today with a 5 mile run. Well, to be honest, it was more a combination of a run and a walk, but all things considered I’m satisfied with what I did on day 1. My plan is to train Muay Thai 2-3 days per week with another 2-3 days of either running or weight lifting.

Next area of improvement which will be appreciated by many of my family members and friends is to make an effort to be on time. Now, I’m not terribly late on things nor am I late to important events and stuff, but I believe that I could definitely further improve. This especially becomes apparent when start time is not defined as I get sidetracked by something else and end up arriving much later than anticipated. I have heard you all, accepted the blame and will work on getting better.

Finally, I need to organize all files, books and documents (both paper and digital) in my life. I have already started working on this at home and will do the same at work once I go back on the 5th (unless I procrastinate and it ends up taking place on the 6th, 7th,…of January).

So as you can see, all of these areas are overlapping in some way and are interdependent on each other. Bottom line lays in limiting my procrastination which would then help me be on time; be more organized; and enable me to spend the necessary time on exercising and so on. Those are my general areas of improvement in order to become more efficient, productive and have more time for things I really enjoy doing.

What are your 2009 resolutions?

I have spent the entire day so far watching people open presents, eat and drink. While it is an entertaining experience it can also become a bit tiring as I see myself falling asleep much earlier than usual tonight. For that reason I figured I would “check-in” with you via a quick post from my phone.

I hope all of you are enjoying your holidays with people you love and care about.

Merry Christmas!

[mobile post]

Track Santa’s progress with NORAD

When did your belief about Santa change if it did at all? Don’t be shy, it’s ok if you still believe what you believed back when you were four years old.

Once again, I have spend most of today out getting stuff for others and I think that I’m all shopped out. Now it is time to organize some stuff around the house and if you don’t believe that things have gotten bad I have uploaded a couple of pictures showing some of the areas that need attention (didn’t want to shock you so I stayed away from my home office).

Once that’s all done, or at least once I make a noticeable dent I will begin watching “Transporter 3” on TV Shack. I love technology!
All I need to do now is focus on the order of importance…must remember not to watch the movie until the cleanup is done, don’t press play, don’t press play…ah, damn it!

It’s 8:42 PM and I can finally enjoy a nice cup of coffee as I get to relax a bit. I’ve spent most of today in Willowbrook mall and several other stores shopping for family and friends. I have started my Christmas shopping today and will hopefully finish it tomorrow as that’s about as much mall traffic I can take each year.

It was insane trying to find a parking spot as well as fighting through waves of people inside the stores. I think that someone’s lying to us about consumption declining as today was unbelievable, it looked as if stuff was given away.

In any event, I have no one to blame but myself as once again I have waited until the last couple of days to start making my purchases. Next year I will try to get this done much sooner, at least a week earlier.

Hopefully all of you have fared much better and are all done with this unpleasant and tiring annual ritual. I really have no energy left to write anything else so I’m off to watch TV, browse the net and procrastinate on some other projects a bit longer.

Oh, one more thing. As I was buying some Bromilow’s chocolates in West Paterson I noticed a sign asking all town residents to sign a petition to keep their town’s name. As I wasn’t aware of this I asked about it and found out that effective January 1st, 2009, West Paterson will be renamed to Woodland Park. Does anyone know anything more about this, what’s the reasoning behind this decision?

I’m done with school and we are done with work until January 5th, 2009. Enjoy your break if you have one and try to give back to others if you can.

Happy holidays to you and your families!

I think that that sentence deserves to be separate from the rest of the post (with some extra formatting ) as it makes me very happy and it took a while to finally get here. As I mentioned last week this is the end of the last semester in my degree program and I’m excited to have reached it according to plan.

I still have to wait another month or so for all of the degree paperwork to be submitted and processed, but for all practical purposes, I’m done! It’s a bitter sweet moment, as I’m very happy to be done with this part of my life and focus my attention on some of the other opportunities I always wanted to pursue, but at the same time, I think that a part of me might miss university learning process and experience. I know that we never stop learning and that I will continue to work on improving myself, but there’s something about that formalized process of requirements, goals, expectations, accomplishments (and failures) that separates it from the rest. In any event, due to the nature of my profession I will need to stay current, attend trainings, conferences, seminars and the like, but I still believe that they are all in a different category from higher education.

It’s second to last day at work as well in 2008 so I now have to get back to reducing my to do list. All that is left to decide is where my class will be going after tonight’s final. Some have mentioned 46 Lounge while others are discussing Alexus, a local bar as the gathering choice. In any event, if any of you are in the area and would like to join us for a celebratory drink or two please let me know. It would be my honor and pleasure to raise a glass with you. Btw, we should be there around 9 pm or so.

It’s been a very busy and eventful week with today leading as the busiest day by far. It’s almost five o’clock already and while I still have things to do before I go home I wanted to quickly share my excitement and positive thoughts about a potential candidate for the leadership position within our college.

After attending interviews of the final candidates, as I mentioned yesterday I want to say that I have a good feeling about a particular applicant. Now, this could be a bit selfish on my part because that candidate has shown significantly more knowledge and understanding of my particular operational area, but it is exciting to see someone at that administrative level who gets what we need and how we can be of value to the rest of the college and university. In addition to embracing Information Technology as an equal partner and not looking at it as a “red headed stepchild” I believe that this particular candidate has the most relevant knowledge, experience and abilities needed to help faculty, staff and students while continuing to lead us in the right direction.

In recent years, we have experienced several leadership styles which all had their good sides as well as those that needed additional revisions. While I’m aware that chances of getting someone who will be able to address everyone’s needs are slim to none I have to say that overall I have been happy with our leadership, especially due to some recent changes which have immensely helped me, my team and the college. Being a leader is challenging, demanding and not a task that should be attempted by everyone.

Positive change takes a while to develop, mature and come around, but once it does it’s a great feeling worth patiently waiting for.

Over the next two days our college faculty and staff as well as the university administration will get to meet the final pool of candidates for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Deanship. As many others I have read their CV’s and letters and at this time would like to keep my first impressions to myself, that is until I see them in person. The remaining candidates are among the leading authorities in their respective fields and bring a ton of experience which should be beneficial and valuable to all of us.

First candidate will address our college within the next half hour so I will make sure to attend as it is important to get an understanding of who could potentially become the boss starting July 1st, 2009.

Here’s where I turn to you, higher ed folks as well as all others who have experience working with people in those positions as to what should one hope for. What qualities do you think are essential for one to possess to be successful at the the Dean’s level? Furthermore, what qualities are necessary in general for positions of leadership and guidance? What makes you enjoy working for someone and feeling proud to be a part of the team implementing their ideas and strategies?