A Blog Update!

So, I’m trying to work at putting aside a bit more time to work on this blog, and make it beneficial to those who read it and come across it via random Google searches for those one-off, hard-to-find niche problems that we seem to run into as IT professionals.

Previously, I have been spending time writing articles as events happen in my life, that I feel may be pertinent to the blog and the viewing audience.  There have been some comments on a few of my entries, providing me with the knowledge that people actually read the blog, and actually do get benefits out of my posts!  So, at the very least I know it’s somewhat useful.  However, for the most part, the audience has been quite quiet.  And that is completely understandable!  I don’t respond to blog articles as much as I should when I come across them online while looking for solutions to my own niche problems I run into.  However, it makes it extremely difficult to better tailor my posts to the readers and to better help them with any IT issues that they may have.

I have taken it upon myself to better analyze my website analytics, and to better understand what type of traffic accesses this blog, and how to best cater to them.  I’ve noticed that it appears that my two busiest articles have been my article on Google Calendar Sharing, and my article on Widows 7 Offline File Syncing.  I have also noticed that the bulk of my users come from Google search result links, and the majority of those links include searches for things relevant to both of the previously listed articles.

So what does this mean?  It means that most of my viewers only accidentally stumble upon the blog!  And again, I completely understand.  But I would like to rectify that!  I would like to make this blog for the readers.  Obviously I can’t blog long, detailed posts about everything related to technology.  Well, I could, but that wouldn’t pay the bills!  What I can do, however, is gear what I do blog about more toward the interests of you, the readers, and what you are interested about.  Do you want to read more product reviews?  Would you like more tutorials on how to do certain things?  How about troubleshooting steps to resolve those annoying complicated problems that Googling can never seem to find the answer to?  Let me know!

I’m glad to see that there is traffic, and people are getting use out of the blog.  But I’d always like to make it better!  Leave me your feedback in the comments section.  Good, bad or otherwise, I’d love to hear what you have to say!

– admin

A Geek and His Toys

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, “Holy crap!  Two consecutive posts in two consecutive days!”  Well, actually I managed to do two consecutive posts in the same day!  (It’s just after midnight here, so it appears as though it’s the next day.  I have yet to go to sleep, so I still consider it the same day!)

Ok, I know that’s not what you’re thinking.  Heck, you probably didn’t even notice the post date on here.  It’s OK, all is forgiven, as long as I’m forgiven for my multi-month gaps between other posts!

Anyway, rather than going to bed like most normal, sane humans would do, I decided that it was a beautiful night outside (after our massive heat wave that we just went through).  And, I had a beer in the fridge.  And, I had a laptop.  What does a beautiful night outside, plus a laptop, plus a beer, plus an insomniac equal?  Why, another random post!  So, here it is.

I really don’t have a whole lot to post tonight, other than a simple snapshot of a new “toy”, that I just recently added to my office.  The toy?  Sackboy!

Sackboy

Sackboy from Little Bit Planet 2

Sackboy has graced my desk with his presence, and has lightened up the mood during a long, stressful day of development, diagnostics, and maintenance.  He now shares the limelight of the office with other great company, such as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Kiba (Wolf’s Rain), and others.

Now, you may be wondering why I shared a picture of a stuffed Little Big Planet character in a post of mine.  Wait, you’re not wondering that?  Well, allow me to explain anyway.  I’m sure it doesn’t apply only to those who are in the IT field, and who are geeks at heart, and that there are many different fields out there where one can decorate his or her on workplace environment, to give it a more personal touch.  However, as a geek, I enjoy letting my geeky-ness shine through.  And as a geek, I will more than willingly admit that I love video games, and other such “toys”.  It’s who I am!

And despite being grown up and in a “real job”, it certainly can be said that allowing for a certain amount of “fun” in a job, can go a long ways in improving worker moral, and job performance.  As a prime example, take a look at Google.  They’re Android operating system is built on code names of various desserts!  And, for each new release, a new Android is added to the campus, displaying this dessert for all to see.  In addition, it can be assumed that most (all?) technical employees there also decorate their workspace in a way that makes them feel both comfortable and entertained.

At a previous job that I worked for, they had a bit of a stigma against allowing such “toys” in the workplace.  As a software developer, we occasionally had the customer come in for various meetings and status updates.  It was felt, by the higher-ups, that such toys detracted from the professionalism and characteristics of high quality developers.  So, while they did allow us to have such things in limited quantities in our workspaces, they were requested (and forcibly) taken down at various times for various customers and clients.

Needless to say, such an environment proved to be excessively frustrating and a destroyer of workplace moral.

Allowing an environment of creativity and entertainment, not only would have helped to better provide for a more enjoyable atmosphere to work in, I feel it would have also improved productivity and overall quality of the deliverables.

In my new job, I don’t have nearly the direct contact with “customers” as I did in my previous job, and as such have a much more private workspace, in which to be able to configure and decorate as I see fit (within the appropriateness of the workplace standards, obviously).  As such, I have decorated with various Office Space paraphernalia, Dilbert comics, stuffed Mario and company characters, a stuffed Kiba from Wolf’s Rain, and most recently, Sackboy from Little Big Planet.

Nowadays, as a grown adult, I no longer have “stuffed animals” with which to play with and animate, like I did as a child.  Instead, I now have workplace decorations with which to bring out my inner geek for all to see, and to help create for myself an environment with which allows me to be an overall better employee, provide for better job efficiency and productivity, and an all-around better time.

While Mr. Sackboy doesn’t give me advice when the server crashes, nor does he help me to find that rogue CSS rule that’d destroying the entire layout of the page, nor does he any support calls, what he does do in his position in front of one of my Dell monitors makes the day go by that much better.

With that said, my beer is now gone, the weather has gotten a bit too chilly, and my brain is starting to get tired.  So, I believe I am finally done for the night, and will begin anew tomorrow!

– admin

The Start of the Life of the Blog of Kenzietech.com

“By George, I’ve done it!”

Ok, ok.  I know, the phrase is actually “By George, she’s got it!”, debuted in My Fair Lady in 1964.  But I figured it was a fair opening for the first blog post I’ve ever made in my entire life.  Well, “official blog post, that is”.

Alright, let me back up for a second and start off by explaining who I am, and what the purpose of this blog is, so that it doesn’t appear to be randomly sticking out in the middle of the interwebs.  To begin with, I am the admin, owner, and creator of Kenzietech.com.  As it stands at the moment, the site is filled with nothing more but a simple WordPress blog.  A blog, and a basic front page, that contains absolutely nothing.  Zilch.  Nada.  Empty.  But that’s about to change.  Why?  Because I am a fairly recent graduate with a degree in Computer Science, with further pursuit of a Master’s in Computer Science.  I am currently working full-time as a software developer, and have devoted my life to technology, both in and around computers.  After spending such a large portion of my life with technology, and yet failing to maintain an active, public domain, I figured it was best to get that going and get my website off the ground.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any idea as to what to design the website around.  There are countless websites available, ranging from anything from reviews, to previews, from design methodologies to enhancements, tips and tricks, and everything in between.  There’s no real ‘niche’ still available to tap into with a website.  So I figured, why not make a catch-all website, with which to stick everything that I can think of, technology-wise into.  Let’s just call it the technology “kitchen sink”.  Anything, and everything can go here.

The goal of the website, and associated blog is simple: build a place where anyone can go and look up whatever they would like with technology.  If it’s there and informative – good.  If it’s not, it should be.

Stay tuned to the future changes, updates, and development of the KenzieTech Blog, and KenzieTech.com.  With a little bit of time, effort, and a lot of joy and enthusiasm, hopefully I can make the site a great place to visit for all things technology.

Thanks for looking, and stay tuned!

– admin