Tag Archives: Computers

Padre John's Sermons

Middle Age and the Challenges of Finding Work

I’ve been out of work for some time.

I have been sending out resumes and going on interviews, though.

I had one interview in which they said that they needed someone “right away.”

When I said that I wasn’t working and could start immediately, there was a pause, then an “Oh, you’re not working?”

I’ve been looking online for jobs in my profession but am also applying for non-typical jobs as well.

I found myself on an actor’s page today.

I have that cop’s look and figured maybe I could get a background person in one of the NYC cop shows.

 I have a friend who does stand up and worked on “Law & Order.”

One post I saw was for a middle-age man sitting on a park bench eating a pineapple.

I guess I could do that but as soon as I clicked the link to apply, I was prompted to join their site to qualify for those paid actor’s jobs.

I’m not quite sure that I want to shell out $25 a month for potential leads.

Two months ago, the interviewer kept saying, “we use computers.  The information goes into the com-put-er.”

I’m not an idiot. I think she saw my gray hair and figured that I was born before the computer.

Well, in fact, that is correct, but I’ve been using them since high school and even built one or two along the way.

I asked her what operating system they were running and whether the program they used was proprietary or could be enabled through a web application from anywhere.

She didn’t know or perhaps understand my question.  It doesn’t really matter as they never called back.

I’m still looking but have changed my resume to show that I have been working as a consultant.

Maybe if I say that I can’t start for two weeks, I’ll get the job.

Related:

Is it Worth Finding and Keeping a Job?

Padre John's Sermons

When a Man Can’t Fix It

We at About Men Radio always talk about doing it yourself but I came across two things recently that I couldn’t easily do alone.

The first: My brother called me last month that he got the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” on his computer.

I thought, OK not a tough fix.

He was already on the phone with his IT people at work, who told him to just get a new computer.

He was a concerned about getting his files off the old computer though.

I told him that I had the device for the job and it shouldn’t be a problem.

Well I brought out my USB 2.0 IDE transfer cable and when I took off the cover knew that I needed a SATA Cable adapter instead.

Not a biggie, but Staples and Best Buy didn’t have one, so I took the computer home with me and stopped off at Micro Center for the adapter.  Yeah Micro Center!

I did notice something about how the hard drive was mounted in the computer.

The screws are situated to the left of the memory slots and to get a typical screwdriver or ratchet set in there you would need to pull the memory out.

Not wanting to do that and knowing that I had a screwdriver for the job, I just plugged the adapter into the mount instead.

I plugged it into my computer and voila! I was able to see all the files except “My Documents,” which came up blank.

I ran a properties search which yielded about 15GB, so there are files there, but I can’t see them.

I figured that there was a password feature that kept them hidden, so with a few magical keystrokes I was able to copy the files.

I think I’ll just plug in a new HD and reconfigure my new computer as a server.  Sweet!

A few weeks ago Pedro and I were coming back from Pennsylvania after seeing the Howard Jones concert when he noticed that my car’s daylight was out.

The headlights and high beams were working OK.

The bulb cost about $22. I drove to Advance Auto Parts and figured that I would unscrew the old one and bring it in with me just to make sure that it was the right type and size.

When I lifted the hood, I grabbed the light housing and noticed that I didn’t have enough space to get the light out.

My nephew is always going on YouTube so I figured that I would do the same.

I was floored.

You need to take off the front fender to access the light housing. Needless to say that I brought it into the dealer.

So much for doing it yourself. I’m batting .500 which in baseball terms is actually pretty good.

Related:

MacGyver and Other Tales of Improvised Engineering