Office Max!

Organization. Spending some hardcore time in my office (or any other space, quite frankly) moving efficiently through a pile of stuff that should never have accumulated is most satisfactory.

I've ranted about this office space for as long as I can remember, and I cannot believe that one of my visitors could give a rat's patootie that I'm a sometimes slob or that I'm fighting my personal organizational demons in a mean way.

Yesterday was a massive whirl of organizing flurry. I emptied drawers, threw out oceans of junk, and spent money at Lowe’s, Office Max, Staples, and Target.

Anyway, Office Max has rolled out their back-to-school ad campaign featuring the "Rubberband Man" and his theme song...he wanders around finding kids enjoying the last days of summer at the beach, skateboarding, selling lemonade, etc. and hands them some school necessities.

I lost my silver Fisher Space Pen a few weeks ago! Since then, I have been using cheapie pens at work and carrying nothing with me. Whenever my wife and I go to the office supply stores (not often), I would look to see if they have Fisher Space Pens. The local Office Depot had the silver one, but I wanted to get the black version because it does not have the grip on the pen — I loved the silver one, but the grip on the pen hurt my fingers after a while. While in Milpitas yesterday, my wife and I stopped by the Staples where she got me the original silver Fisher Space Pen and we found the black version! Yay! Now I have a Space Pen with me again. I think I’ll forego getting the Writer’s Edge leather pen pouch this time around (it was only $3) though. I have a review of the Space Pen at Epinions.

Now, Milwaukee’s first microbrewery is being recognized for the dubious distinction of having the ugliest office space in America.

Cisco Systems today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held KiSS Technology A/S of Horsholm, Denmark. This represents Cisco's second acquisition for its Linksys division, the recognized leading provider of VoIP, wireless and networking hardware for home, Small Office/Home Office and small business environments.

The benefits of a home based business are significant and the drawbacks of having an office (rent, lease contracts, having to be somewhere at a certain time) are added worries that you don’t need to opt for unless you can see a clear reason why you need an office. Personally I am glad I have been there and done that regarding an office so I know what it takes to locate and contract for commercial space. One day if I ever want to start my own retail business or restaurant I will have skills to fall back on. For the time being I’m happy working from home and enjoy watching my bank balance increase rather than syphoned away to rent.

I happened across this article on how Sarbanes-Oxley is a "business blessing in disguise" since it can show you where your organization's weak points lie, so that presumably you can fix them. Although it's primarily discussing ERP systems, this same concept (business improvement/competitive advantage through compliance) is an area that I'm addressing for a client right now by looking at how BPM fits into the compliance big picture. That has me thinking about all sorts of things: BPM, business intelligence, business rules, performance management, compliance, and how they all fit together. You can be sure that there will be more on this in the future.

The consistency of the luxury-equals-cold pattern in the experiment was striking. The book-strewn NoHo offices of Workman Publishing - which had a recent best seller with the lowbrow "Bad Cat," a collection of amateur photos of strange-looking cats - were 76.0 degrees. The sleek, impeccable SoHo lobby of Scholastic, which publishes the best-selling Harry Potter books, was a chillier 73.0.

I was just happily printing away this past week, minding my own business when suddenly tragedy struck. My printer had stopped printing. Did it have a driver error, did lightning strike it, or did it just die and go to the big paper tray in the sky. No, it turns out I just ran out of ink. No problem, I will just plop a new cartridge in and off I go. Drat! I had no extra cartridges, so alass I guess I have to go to the store and pickup some ink along with some bread and milk, too. I did not understand it, I have only had my new HP All-in-One printer for a couple of months. Oh well, time to visit my favorite office store, Office Max, or Office Depot, or something with Office in it.

I could really use a new computer chair but I’m not shellin out $100 for one of those “leather” “executive” chairs at OrificeMax… last time I did that the thing lasted maybe 2 weeks. They’re not “fat friendly” in the least. There’s a place here called Ray’s Computers that used to have the old government office chairs that are built like a tank but he moved and doesn’t have them anymore. Blah.

It seems to me that there has been some sort of change in the way projects are budgeted and positions are filled in the software industry. And I believe the culprits for this climate are the go-go years of the Internet and Offhsore production. (Of course I could be wrong)

Windows XP contains its own firewall. A firewall is a security system that acts as a protective boundary between a network and the outside world. Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is firewall software that is used to set restrictions on what information is communicated from your home or small office network to and from the Internet to your network.

My problem is this: what distinguishes the concept of business performance management from that of the decision support systems (DSS) or executive information sytems (EIS) that we built in the 1980's, except that the technology is a bit more advanced? This is being hailed as the new saviour of business, and I feel a bit like I'm looking at the Emperor's new clothes.

the people here are pretty cool and very diverse. its a small office - only 10 people - but there is something to like about every one of them. they all have their individual strengths and play very well together as a team. i’m excited to get to know everyone better and make myself a valuable member of the team.

Today I got home from my vacation to Washington, DC. It has been around a week since I posted and since I have been home. I said I would be putting up sound seeing tours of Washington, DC during my vacation, but… it didn’t really work out. The reason is there is so much security in Washington that you have to either empty out your pockets at every checkpoint or you have to leave your electronics at a security checkpoint.

Office Depot. Office Max. Staples. They all suck toad toes. Worse than being useless, they have driven out of business all of the really good small office stores. Years ago there were several in town, and a visit to any one of them was a treat. First, you knew whatever it was you wanted, they had it. No doubt about that. Unusual sized refill note pads, pen refills for those oddball ballpoints, whatever. They had it. These stores were not that large. Maybe about two or three times the size of a standard convenience store. But their shelves were stocked full of office supplies. They had more items, and more different types of office items, than any Big Box Office Superstore, hands down.

The other reason I did very little work - I have finally moved desks. They’ve been telling me it was going to happen since I started. My new desk is for some reason in the middle of the marketing department, even though I work for finance. But I like it over there, it’s much brighter; better lit, and the blinds are open. For some reason in my old office they had tinted windows and the blinds always half drawn, it was a very claustrophobic atmosphere.

For those of you who are fortunate to not be a cubicle slave of some sort and haven’t heard of these chairs before, the Aeron is the top-of-the-line in plant-your-ass technology.

Tota called me Monday afternoon and informed me that I would be taking her to OfficeMax to buy a new computer. I’d just returned from work, and I was pretty tired, but I hadn’t made any other plans yet, and I hadn’t seen Tota in a long time, and I’d instituted a personal policy sometime last year that I would never pass up an opportunity to spend time with office supplies. Also, she was baking pizza to make up for all the pizza I’ve bought her. Therefore (all these things considered), Tota, Amy, and I went computer-shopping.

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper,” Please wake me at 5:00 AM.” He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, “It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.”

Oh, and why not one of the new PowerBooks? They just lack the feature set: low power consumption CPU’s with long battery lives, TV tuner/PVR capabilities, decent 3D cards, not to mention business software compatibility… I’ll pick up a new PowerBook in when they crank out decent Intel powered ones in 12-18 months.

Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance, said the group will ask Congress to overturn an appeals court ruling that allows damage awards to be based on a product’s global sales rather than those in the United States. The ruling upheld the calculation of a $521 million jury verdict against Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker.

A complete reference for new Linux users who wish to set up and administer their own Linux home computer, workstation and/or their home or small office network. Note: this is a newer version of the this guide, then the previous link to it.

After visiting Walmart - 8pm on a Sunday - BestBuy, OfficeMax, OfficeDepot and finally Radio Shack (Tandy as was in the UK) I accumulated enough bits of wire to power and connect my BT Broadband Voice box (Cisco ATA186). I am connecting the laptop wirelessly to the hotel hi-speed internet and a crossover ethernet cable connects to the ATA186. The laptop is on an external IP address and the ATA gets a 192.168.0.x address from the laptop. I took a photo but seem to need yet another bit of wire to get it onto the laptop - there is no GPRS signal for the Treo600 to email me the photo it took. Watch this space.

* 20 Triceps Dip: Place your palms on the edge of a chair, bend at your elbows and push yourself back up!

If you’ve ever seen the movie, Office Space, then you know it really is art imitating life in a corporate environment. Well, today my “Office Space fan kit” arrived in the mail here at work. I’ve already placed the red stapler, sticky notes, coffee cup, and mousepad out for the world to see. I’m not disgruntled at my job by any means, just trying to bring a little humor to the workplace.

Windows XP is configured to help you take care of networking. It uses the TCP/IP protocol for networking in workgroups, or what you might call small office or home networks that do not use a dedicated server.

I've been sending and receiving email "on the go" for well over five years. My solutions have always involved the PalmOS. I've never had to resort to a "redirector" from my desktop/laptop email client. There are a variety of approaches to mobile and wireless email. Daniel Taylor speaks to the solutions and ongoing problems in "Mobile e-mail solutions for small business".

By the late 1960’s the success of franchise companies like KFC and McDonalds were well known. KFC is credited with creating hundreds of millionaires through its franchise program, and McDonalds produced at least as many of the new wealthy. All this success legitimized franchising and fueled the fantasies of aspiring as well as existing entrepreneurs. Adding fuel to this fire was the growing impact franchising has on the U.S. economy, now accounting for over 40% of all retail sales.

Thus, according to a survey for Business Software Alliance (BSA), involving 500 British managers, approximately 55% of them stated that the proliferation of mobile devices makes it difficult for them to control the software installed by their employees, although 67% of the participants were not worried about the potential problems derived from the use of illegal software.

The red Swingline stapler that Milton was so afraid of having taken away was never actually manufactured by the Swingline company; it was instead painted red by a crew member in the props department. However, following the movie’s success on video as a cult film, the demand for red Swingline staplers (apparently as a symbol of quiet rebellion among cubicle-bound employees) was so great that the company began to sell the red Swingline stapler on its website.

11. Co-worker commenting: "You were on vacation? Gee, I didn't notice." Does that mean I could have stayed on vacation another week? How long can one go without showing up for work before anyone notices? Sounds like a gag from Office Space.

Now I would recommend another more advance tool, HijackThis. HijackThis is written specifically to detect and remove browser hijacks, or software that takes over your web browser, alters your defaut home page and search engine and other malicious things.

Saturday I went through my office closet and weeded out the shelves. At first the task seemed overwhelming as there were so many magazines, office supplies, computer supplies, etc. But, one-by-one, I reviewed items and determined whether they held any value for me anymore. Yeah, those older Family Handyman magazines are too good to throw out. No, I don’t need to keep these 5-year-old out-of-date system software disks for the old computer I just replaced. After a while, I had a bag of papers for recycling, a trash can filled with unrecylables, and several items that I might be able to sell on eBay.