Blowing Dust

Yeah, I haven't posted for a few days. Time to blow off the dust and post once more.

My wife hates it when I blow dust off of things. She says I should use a rag to wipe the dust, but I find that much less satisfying. Blowing dust is an important step in going forward with numerous facets of life; from something as small as finishing a furniture project, to an important milestone like beginning a lifetime career.

Some recent dust-related occurances:

Saw Dust - I got a cool, new toy at Sears last weekend; a rotary tool. It can cut, grind, sand, etch, trim, plane, drill, cut, polish, carve, and cut. So far I used it to drill screw holes into two old, triangular desk parts. I then combined them to form a simple corner shelf.

Dusty Books - With my holiday vacation over, it's time to dust off the school books and get back to my studies. This quarter I'll be facing another C++ programming course, food science (mmm...science), a 4-hour evening macroeconomics class, and two Information Science classes. The first of those is a continuation of a class I took last quarter. I'm working with a group of 5 other students to develop a system to remind medical patients of their appointments via phone, email, or SMS text messages. The second is a class focusing on Competitive Intelligence (CI). Through CI techniques, a company can legally and ethically gather information about its competitors and the marketplace in general. This intelligence is then used to make better strategic business decisions.

Dusty Resumé - As I complete my academic obligations and prepare to return to the real world, I must chronicle what I have learned and experienced, on an 8½-11" sheet of paper, so that someone might see it and be willing to pay me money for the use of my abilities. I haven't adjusted my resumé since I was hired for my second co-op back in the summer of 2002. I've been putting it off until I complete my A+ certification, just so I have something else to add to my marketability. I'll be taking the hardware part of the test tomorrow, and the OS part sometime next week. Wish me luck!

Computer #4, Update

I finally got the case, motherboard and power supply for my wife's computer. After four hours of assembly in the tight space of this cute, little case, it's not much closer to being a computer than when I started. I booted it up and it went through the normal POST and such. I thought I was in the clear. But then there was Windows. The hard drive I am using is salvaged from a non-functional Compaq Presario. When it was time for Windows to start, I got the F8 pre-start screen because the last computer was not shutdown correctly. Ok, that's not so bad. But when I selected the "Start Normally" option, the computer rebooted. When I selected "Safe Mode", the computer rebooted. I guess I've got more work to do...