talkingdigital

Podcast: Play in new window

We have been working on the concept for this podcast for months. We hope you like our first beta episode. Please leave your comments.

We hope to cover news, information and insights that are missed by other news and entertainment podcasts.

The show is recorded with minimal pre-show discussion to keep the conversation fresh and unrehearsed.

photo credit: romana klee

I am giving this story publicity as an example of what not to do in troubled economic times.

If I were an employer – I am not sure this would motivate me into hiring this guy. It reminds me of when I was teaching high school classes of the moms who would come in and try to talk me into upping their kids grade.

Is his wife going to show up at work and make sure he is eating a good lunch and being treated nice by the other workers? I think she just used this as an excuse to by a MacBook.

The $1200+ could have been used to directly benefit her husband’s job search.

Wife to employers: Hire my husband, please – CNN.com.

Being a roving computer guy is like no other profession. This week I have decided to list the top 10 things that make my job strange and wonderful.

10. Everyone wants to be your friend. Sometimes you are even treated like a celebrity and people are afraid to come up to you and ask you a question.

9. You get to hear dozens of apologies each week for cluttered offices. No one believes you when you tell them that clutter is the norm.

8. You meet dozens of dogs and a few cats each week. Dogs love computer guys. Many people have told me, “My dog never is this friendly with anyone!”

7. You are  asked by wives to help monitor husband’s and kids Internet activity and you are asked by husbands how to delete history and cookies.

6. You get to setup brand new computers each week and inhale that new computer smell.

5. You get to explain how problems happened with phrases like, “I told you last time that Norton Antivirus slows down your computer” or “Shady problems come from shady websites.”

4. After working on a computer problem for an hour and using every tool in your software bag to get rid of it, not to mention tweaking dozens of settings, you have to answer the question, “What did you do to fix it?”

3. You get to hear the phrase, “I am a computer illiterate,” “I know nothing about computers,” “I only know enough about computers to get into trouble,” “You know those Computers for Dummies books – those were written for me.” dozens of times each week.

2. You get to see how other people live their digital lives. No two computers or offices are the same and I get many ideas from those that I work for.

1. Job security. I try to never leave a problem partially fixed. I aim to meet every need of every client because I know that I will always be back eventually. Every computer has problems. Every computer user  needs help eventually. I spend my day helping people by fixing their computers. I am a doctor, a mechanic, a librarian and a teacher all crammed into one geek package.