Catching up...

Other than daily routine, here are some of the things I have been doing lately:

On january 6, 2011, the state techs met at The Ranch in Little Rock.

On the 10-11, our offices were closed to due the massive snow storm that hit our area.  On the 12th, I took a personal day off because the offices were opened but I could not get my car out of the yard in order to get to work - still was snowed in!

On the 18th, I installed a new computer for the Prescott Early Childhood program.  While there, I set up a local printer to print to a student computer they have.  After that, I went to the office, set up the Bradley Early Childhood computer and then delivered that computer to Bradley.  While at Bradley, I helped the teacher install various software programs on the student computers.  I also had to fix the resolution of one of the monitors.  The monitor and the video card were out of refresh-rate sync, so I eventually got them to talk to each other by using the advanced settings for the graphics adapter.

On the 19th, I worked with Blevins schools:  We installed shared printers to various laptops (using the path-name method - \\computername\printer\ ) When installing a shared printer onto another computer, you'll know if something isn't working correctly because as soon as you type "\\computername\"  the name of the shared printer should automagically fill in.  If it doesn't, the most likely reason is that the computername has been mistyped.  Double-check spelling to be sure.  The other reason is the name of the workgroup or domain being used.  be sure they match on both computers. 

Blevins also had a SmartBoard with the "psychadelic" color wheel problem.  After a bit, we figured out how to access the bulb (on the 455, er I think that is the model number), the access panel is on the bottom (that is, facing the floor) and you simply pull it off.  Once that's done, use a small screwdrive to loosen the two BLACK screws.  Lift the U-clamp and drop the lamp out of the socket (not onto the floor! Just slowly pull the lamp out).  Use canned air to blow out the bulb and the entire cavity, making sure to blow off the fan at the back and the color wheel up inside.  Put everything back together and fire it up!

We also talked about installing some video cameras for a basketball tournament they have coming up.  Ultimately, we decided on two cameras to be routed outside to another building for viewing.  I will get pricing for a couple different setups and let them pick the one they want based on features and pricing.

On the 20th, I went to Genoa to help them set up a VPN on one of their switches.  As it turns out, we were talking about two different kinds of VPN.  I was thinking segregated netowrks; she was thinking remote access.  haha.. Well, once that was out of the way, we explored different ideas and ultimately decided to try one of the 'free for non-commerical use' programs to see how they like it.