Winding down

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It's been a busy week at work, but I can't talk about most of it, so that's why I haven't been posting much here. I've still got to finish the presentation for the talk I'm giving April 1 at a conference in Cedar Rapids, but I've got at least half of it already laid out in Keynote on my PowerBook. I'm going to try to relax some at my grandparents' house this weekend, where we're going for Easter, and maybe I'll do some more vacation planning while I'm there. We're thinking about making a trip to Glacier National Park via Amtrak this summer. With gas prices as high as they are right now, it's really not any more money to take the train than it is to drive, and they get a lot of visitors there who come that way, so there are shuttles that will take you around the park, or you can rent a car if need be. We never really got much of a chance to take a honeymoon, due to my wife's job when we were married, so this would be a nice opportunity for us to get away for a few days, and I think my wife would be glad to drag me somewhere without internet access for once.

Has anyone ever been to Glacier? Have anywhere you'd suggest staying? I'm leaning towards visiting West Glacier, as there seems to be more to do there, like rafting, boat tours on Lake Macdonald, and even helicopter tours of the park. I'd love to hear your suggestions, just post 'em below.

Arthur Hoeft 1907-2005

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My Great-Uncle Arthur Hoeft died last night, he was 98. No details on the funeral yet, but the funeral home has a web page that lists the obituaries. Art and his wife Verona used to take care of me sometimes when I was a child, as their farm was just a few miles from ours. As a kid, I used to like going to their house since they always had Sugar Smacks and at home we rarely got sugary cereal, so it was a treat. The last time I saw him was at Christmas, and he was now in a wheelchair most of the time, having fallen last fall.

Update: The obit is now up:

GARNER – Arthur Hoeft, 98, of Garner died Wednesday (February 23, 2005) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 P.M., Tuesday at St. John’s Lutheran Church, east of Garner with the Rev. Carl Hedberg officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 P.M., Monday at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel, 160 E. 4th St., Garner and one hour prior to services at the church.

Memorials may be directed to St. John’s Lutheran Church, Hospice of North Iowa or the Ventura Senior Citizens.

Arthur Herman Hoeft, the son of Herman and Martha (Reinhardt) Hoeft, was born February 8, 1907 at Fort Dodge. He was baptized and confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church east of Garner. He attended St. John’s Parochial School. Following his schooling he worked for various farmers in the Garner and Ventura area. On February 27, 1934 he married Verona Ann Schultz at her parent’s home near Forest City. They farmed in the Ventura, Garner and Clear Lake area. In 1957, they purchased their own farm and in 1966 moved to the home farm. After Verona’s death in 1986 he continued to live at the farm. In 1996, he moved to Prairie View Apartments in Garner.

He was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church where he was a deacon, Walther League and the Ventura Senior Citizens.

Art is survived by two children, Darwin (Jerrilee) Hoeft of Custer, SD and Carolyn (Larry) Shadle of Carthage, MO; grandchildren, Ann (Tim) Hossler of Beverly Hills, MI, and Laura (Rev. Glenn) Niemann of Pekin, IL; step-grandchildren, Patty (Marty) Allen of Gresham, OR, Jerilee (Paul) Sever of Salmon, ID, Renee (Tom) Dickinson of Post Falls, ID, Dave (Jenny) Squire of Houlton, WI and Bob (Kathy) Squire of Peru, NY; three great granddaughters; eight step great grandchildren; a step great great grandson; two sisters-in-law, Irma (Henry) Bokelman of Ventura and Lucille Schultz of Mason City; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Verona, Mar. 23, 1986; his parents; a brother, Lester Hoeft; a sister, Edna Knopf; and a step great grandson, Mark Sever.

The last line of the obituary is especially sad, as Mark Sever died earlier this week in a snowboarding accident, he was 14. It's been a rough week for that part of my extended family.

Bad Car Day

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Last night the automatic window motor on our 2001 Camry started acting up, after a bunch of hassling with it, I at least got the passenger side window rolled back up, so we could drive it until we schedule it to be fixed. Then this morning, while driving it, some cold snow blew back from the top of the hood onto the hot window, and the sudden temperature change cracked the windshield for the entire width of it. Since my deductible is $500, it looks like I'm out around $200-$250 for a new windshield now.

Tax Aide

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I spent much of my Martin Luther King Jr. Day (which we do get off, though we don't get Veteran's Day, President's Day, or Columbus Day, since apparently universities don't have to appear sensitive to those groups) helping our local AARP Tax Aide office get their computers networked wirelessly and securely. They prepare taxes for low income and/or elderly persons for no charge. My neighbor is a member of the local Retired Senior Volunteer Program who runs the computers for this yearly. He said last year that they prepared about 1100 returns, so it was definitely worth a trip from me out there to get their network secured and encrypted.

Me Too - An open letter

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At the risk of making an entire blog post essentially say "Me Too", I'm going to copy Gary's open letter to his family and friends, and address this to all of my family and friends, as I agree 100%. If you wish to remain on the gravy train of free tech support from me, then it's about time you start taking my advice at the time of purchase as well. I get really pissed at friends and relatives who ask me what they should buy, then ignore my advice in favor of a cheap box they found at Best Buy, but then they call me when it breaks.

This is an open letter to all the friends and family that back me into corners at family gatherings, or try to call me late in the evening seeking help with a computer problem. Do us both a big favor and go buy a Mac.

When a member of ‘the family’ knows something about a technical subject the rest of the family turns to that person for advice. I can accept that. I have no problem offering advice. I have watched my father diplomatically give advice on automobiles (he is a mechanic) for more than thirty years now. Yes, sometimes you can get some free service; it all depends on the schmoozing. The best line I ever learned from my father is: “Sounds like it really needs some work, bring it by the shop tomorrow and I’ll be happy to look at it.” The connotation here being that he’ll work on it at work. That usually throws the cheapskates off.

I don’t fix personal computers for a living or I’d use the same line. I’m a System Administrator, and while servicing desktop windows machines is part of my job on occasion, for the most part I deal with large servers and institutional workstations, i.e. not something that has the latest version of ‘Deer Hunter’ on it. Even so, yes I CAN work on PC’s. However, I work on computers all day long and really would prefer to NOT do that all night as well. Well, okay, so I’d prefer to work on my OWN computer at night.

Make both of our lives easier, as well as help me deal with those embarrassing pauses in conversation at family functions and buy yourself a Mac rather than a PC. I guarantee you’ll be happier and if you have problems I’ll be more willing to help you.

You see, what the sales person at Dell, or Best Buy, or CompUSA isn’t telling you is what you get with that wonderfully less expensive PC. They don’t tell you about the mountains of marginally compatible or functioning software. They don’t tell you about the flood of Internet spyware programs that are out there that will make your PC unstable. They don’t tell you about the legion of virus writers out there, right now, that want to turn your nice, inexpensive PC into a gateway for unsolicited e-mail. They don’t tell you about the bouncing around you’ll get from the manufacturer about support.

Yes, it is true that Macs cost more than the el-cheapo special at Best Buy. It’s also true that in three years you can sell your Mac for a reasonable sum on EBay, while you won’t be able to donate the PC to your schools because it’s so out of date. Yes, it’s true that there’s less of a selection of software for Macs, but how many $10 software titles that aren’t worth the CD’s they’re printed on do you need? Yes, Macs don’t have the breadth of games available, but if you’re buying a computer based solely on the availability of games wouldn’t you be better off buying an XBox? Yes, maybe even Macs are a bit slower, but you don’t buy a Corvette and drive at 120 miles per hour do you? What do you need with that speed? As long as it keeps up with you what’s the issue?

Here’s the thing, I know it’s been said before, but it can’t be stressed enough, Macs just work. Do you have any idea the hoops you have to jump through to get a slightly out of date, or a slightly ahead of it’s time piece of equipment working with Windows? It can be a nightmare. With a Mac, as long as you’ve bought something that says it will work with a Mac, you just plug it in and go. Unless your children are going to be Computer Scientists there’s no real reason that they HAVE to HAVE a PC at home. ‘Because that’s what the schools use,’ is not a good excuse. Do you know WHY the schools use PC’s? Because Dell gives them a BIG discount and schmooze the school administrators.

So if after all of this you still feel like you need to buy that Best Buy el-cheapo job I’ll give you this last bit of advice: Add in the cost of a Linksys firewall, the latest Norton Anti-Virus (remember that that anti-virus cost is a YEARLY fee), the hours of frustration you’re going to have trying to install that ‘Bob the Builder’ software you picked up for $5 at WalMart, and the look in your children’s eyes when you tell them “Sorry but the latest ‘bad windows virus’ ate their homework". Is it really more expensive than that Mac that more than likely will NEVER have those problems?

I'll still support Dell boxes though, they ship REAL Windows discs, keep their drivers available on their web site, and in past jobs I supported so many that it doesn't even require significant brain resources to fix one anymore. I also helped pick out several of the Dell machines my friends and family own. But if you buy anything resembling an HP Pavilion or an eMachine, you're on your own. I ain't fixin' it. If it came from Best Buy or Wal-Mart, it's crap.

I am no longer really suggesting that people get PCs though, the current SpyWare problems have really rendered the PC platform unsuitable for most home users. Sure, using Firefox and not installing crappy software will alleviate most of those problems, but most home users simply won't follow that advice.

So, to all my PC using friends and family, when it comes time to replace your current machine, my advice is this:

Go get yourself a nice new Mac Mini or an iBook. You'll have the same computer as me (I ordered a Mini yesterday, and I use a PowerBook for work), and I'll have no excuse to not help you in the unlikely event you actually need help. Don't spend your time (or mine) fixing your computer when you could be using it instead. You'll find that you can do everything you want to do, and you'll enjoy doing it more, and I'll be glad to answer your questions because they'll be rare and simple.

On the mend

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I'm slowly recovering from my virus. Today was the first time I've been hungry for anything in five days, and I'm back to just sort of sniffling now, rather than wheezing, rasping, hacking, and coughing like I have been. It's kind of weird not leaving your house for 5 days. I didn't even get many movies watched because I couldn't stay awake long enough to finish them. The bad news is that I think my wife may have gotten the dreaded disease now. She's been sleeping in our guest room for the last several days to avoid the germs and my thunderous snores, but they might have found her.