Random "Tech" Tidbits #1

Computer Application - Batch Processing with Adobe Acrobat Professional

I've decided to add yet another tag to my blog... Did I mention this blog is completely random?

Under this tag, I've decided to mention the little tidbits I've discovered along the way in hopes that I can add a little useful information to the abyss of the internet. I tend to struggle with ideas, Googling to death any question that I need answered. I at least have earned a B.A. in B.S. thanks to Google University! Seriously though, I've found that Google is the #1 most important tool I have at my disposal to answer my million questions. However, there has been one question that's been whooping me for quite sometime at work and Google was not helping at all.

A little background... I do a lot of work lately with computers. I'm not going to get too detailed, but suffice to say I am responsible for ensuring many people have access to many different forms of information. This information can come in many formats, from paper to electronic to verbal. These formats run the gambit and are always changing. Well, what had been whooping me was the simple .pdf format. Pretty much all of the programs I use at work, I've had to teach myself how to use. So therein lies my reliance on Google. What I wanted to do was prevent a group of users from printing documents they were able to view electronically through the intranet website I had developed. Sounds silly, I know, that they can't print, but they can look, but it's part of "the rules" defined by those that get paid a lot more money than I do. Anyway, I have hundreds of these documents and I knew how to secure the printing with each individual file. The lazy part of me knew there had to be a better way to get this done in one fell swoop. So after countless Google searches and clicking like a mad woman in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0, I had almost given up.

Then Thursday, a breakthrough! I finally discovered "Batch Processing..."! What an amazing little tool! Ok, maybe it won't cure the common cold, but it did give me a way to finally do what I needed to do to make my job a bit easier for a minute. I was able to change the security settings on multiple .pdf files at one time to password protect printing privileges. Excellent! Depending on what you want to do, you may have to create you're own rule to apply and there are a few options on how to apply batch rules. It was relatively easy to figure out once I got the hang of it. I found that it's available at least in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 and 8.0. I'm not sure about earlier versions or the new 9.0.

If you've found some handy-dandy tricks, please share!

Random Reviews #6

Website - Eyejot.com

I have a link that I’ve recently discovered that I’d love to share. It’s Eyejot.com and it’s a simple way to send video email messages. My ex-husband and I both have family and friends spread throughout the United States and overseas. Everyone has such busy schedules and with the dramatic time differences, it’s tough to synchronize time to sit and Skype to keep in contact. So lately, my son and I have been making short 1 minute videos and sending them off to his dad and other family. Everyone, especially grandparents, love their weekly videos of Anthony and it’s a quick way to say hi whenever there’s a free moment.

The free Eyejot accounts let you make unlimited 1 minute videos and your messages are retained for a month. The recipient can download the videos to their computer if they would like and subscribe to their messages with iTunes/RSS. The recipient receives a message and when they click to see the video, they are sent to the Eyejot website. There are different packages available, but for our purposes, the free version is more than enough. It’s flash-based, so Adobe Flash Player is the only additional install required for everything to work (it’s usually installed for other reasons already). I’m sure there are other video emailing services out there. I just happened to find this one and with its ease of use, no one has had any troubles using it.

Results of the 1st bus ride...

Well, we did it... On Saturday, Anthony and I successfully navigated at least a small portion of the Las Vegas public transportation system. It's not really a system I guess, more of a collection of bus routes. When I hear system, I think of things like what the San Francisco Bay area has to offer... buses, trollies, trains, and even ferries. Ok, so the ferries are a bit too much for Vegas, but this community is seriously lacking in a useful and realistic alternative for most of the car-reliant Las Vegans. But I digress...

Our trip wasn't too bad. The buses were surprisingly clean and actually not very crowded. The stops themselves, however, leave a lot to be desired. The entire trip didn't take too long, but there was a lot of walking between stops. Too much walking, in my opinion, to make the use of public transportation a reasonable alternative on a daily basis. I can see myself using my bike in conjunction with the bus, but it will be difficult for Anthony until he loses his training wheels.

We did meet some very nice people. Even a group of teenagers were joking around with Anthony. The groups of people we saw on the bus were definitely better than those I had pictured in my mind that would ride the bus. Now I'm not saying that some people didn't have eccentricities, but I did feel safe and that's what I was worried about with this project.

I only had to make one 911 call... seriously! A woman waiting at one of the bus stops with us handed me her phone and asked me to call 911 as she doubled over in pain. The ambulance came about 5 minutes later and they loaded her up. I'm guessing she's probably ok, but we had to catch our next bus, so I didn't follow up.

I will put together a bus-riding bag with essential tools, however. #1: Three or four bottles of water. The waiting and the walking makes one a bit thirsty! Plus, even though it's October, it's still pretty warm here in Vegas! #2: Hand wipes AND hand sanitizer. Anthony couldn't help himself. He apparently had to touch everything, including the ground, the trash can, the dirty bench... I disinfected him periodically throughout and immediately when we got home. Plus, we both jumped in the shower after we walked in the door. #3: Bus maps and schedule. These really came in handy and I don't see me memorizing the bus schedule anytime soon! #4: Anthony entertainment. Next time, I will ensure that the PSP is charged up... #5: Plastic bags. Apparently, you have to cover wheels to skateboards and scooters (which we took for our journey this time) with plastic bags. This is supposed to stop one from riding up and down the aisle and keep the bus cleaner I guess.

Overall, not a bad experience. One I wouldn't mind doing again. I did notice that I had more time to sit and talk with Anthony and it was a bit more of a relaxing way to travel. I felt a little out of control as far as timing everything, but it was nice not having to concentrate on driving and fighting traffic. I may be more inclined to use a bus now that I know more about it all. I do believe that they need more routes created and more buses added to the current routes to make the program more successful. I've started my campaign of getting more routes by my house. The RTC website says they base their routes off of the requests from the public. Well, I can and will be persistent!

Random Reviews #5

Internet-based business - Netflix

Well, I've signed up for Netflix again. I've heard and read in various other blogs so much about how they've changed and you're able to watch a lot of stuff instantly. So far, I'm impressed. I signed up for the $8.99 plan... 1 DVD at a time, unlimited DVDs per month, and unlimited internet viewing.

Overall, I'd give the whole process a 3 1/2 out of 5. There was quite a bit of updating and installing I had to do on both of my computers to start viewing because it seems I don't use the Windows software enough to know it was all a bit behind. Also, it seems that only Internet Explorer can be used to view stuff. I'm a huge Firefox fan, so I do find it inconvenient that the software is not compatible for multiple browsers. I haven't tried to use my iBook G4 laptop yet, but I suspect it won't work.

There isn't quite as much TV content available as I had thought, though I was pleased to see some CBS, NBC, and Discovery Channel content I can't seem to locate elsewhere. The good part about it is the wide variety of movies they have available for instant viewing. I'm impressed with the range from new releases to older stuff I might not have seen. Anthony had a friend sleep over last night and they really enjoyed the fact they had so many children/family movies for their viewing pleasure.

Using Netflix in conjunction with some of the network-specific sites (abc.com, nbc.com, etc.) and Hulu, I think we'll be good to go on TV content!

Random Reviews #4

Music - Andy Mckee

Check this guy out! His name is Andy Mckee. I was surfing around YouTube and came across this guy. It's like candy for your ears. I usually don't care for instrumentals, but this guy is melodiously mesmerizing.

UPDATE 28 Oct 08: For some reason, the video isn't working. So, I highly recommend you check out his multiple YouTube videos, starting with "Drifting".

Are YOU up to the challenge?

So I was sitting around last night thinking about all the "what if" questions I could ponder at one time. Most of them were answered with "You're screwed" or "That would suck!" But there were a couple that I honestly would like to figure out the legitimate answer. The first question was: "How would I get from point A to point B to point C and back again if my damned truck broke down?" Quick emergency answer would be to call my friends. Since this would probably be ok only for a couple of days, I really need a back up plan. We'll save the next "what if" question for another day.

So my first new project... navigate my way from my house to work and back using the Las Vegas public transportation system! This is crazy for two reasons... #1) The closest bus stop is about 2 1/2-3 miles away and #2) I have a five-year-old that is not as concerned with timeliness as I think he should be and this will probably wreak havoc on a bus schedule.

I know that I am very lucky. I do have reliable transportation to get me where I need to go. There are quite a few people that don't have that luxury. Maybe one day, I won't either. Though I'm not hoping for that, it's always good to be prepared! My Eagle Scout brother taught me that (Sharpie Boy!) Anyways, this "project" will hopefully save me money in gas, be environmentally conscious ('cause that's the IN thing and polar bears are running out of ice because humans are selfish bastards), and will be an enlightening experience for both me and Anthony.

My project will hopefully begin Thursday. Scouting out the route today though tells me I may want to try this on a Saturday first. The bus stops don't seem to be well marked and my novice non-bus-riding self may need a bit of practice before I end up in Green Valley or Henderson by accident. My plan is to drive to my son's school, ditch the truck, then move on to the nearest bus stop. This eliminates one of the bus stops between so I'll only be going from point B to point C and back. If I determine that the bus isn't too bad and my son won't be forever traumatized with the whole experience, we will try the point A to point B to point C scenario.

I challenge you to ask yourself a couple of legitimate "what if"s and answer those questions honestly. Let us all know what you come up with because we all benefit from the collective wisdom everyone has to offer! (I should've stopped after the first glass of wine!)

UPDATE THURSDAY 16 OCT 08: I did not ride the bus today as first planned. Figured it would be better that my first attempt to navigate Las Vegas public transportation would be better received if time wasn't a huge concern. I'm sure that if I were to get hopelessly lost would make for great fodder for some serious good-natured teasing amongst my understanding coworkers, it's probably best to do this on a weekend or a day off. My new plan is for Saturday... I'll let you know!

Pay for TV or not to pay... that is the question!

I'm seriously contemplating giving up my Dish Network subscription and going with some good ol' rabbit ears and the internet! It's something that I've been thinking about for quite awhile and now I'm really in serious thinking mode. I've determined that I can catch most if not all my shows online somewhere and it would be great to have an extra $50 each month. The two big reasons I haven't gone ahead with this master plan is 1) I will sorely miss my DVR and remote! and 2) I can't find all the shows we like on Discovery and TLC online! My son will soon pick up on the fact that he's watching the same "Man vs. Wild", "Dirty Jobs", and "Mythbusters" over and over...

I'm thinking of also re-subscribing to Netflix. They've added the feature of instantly being able to watch over 12,000 movies and TV episodes online for no additional charge. If I do that, it'll run me about $9.00 a month. Not too bad and I get a DVD every so often! I had a subscription about a year ago and I found that I wasn't watching enough of the DVDs to justify the money. But with this new feature and my experiment of ditching paying for regular TV... it could be cool!

I will keep you all posted on the TV situation here! I know you all are at the edge of your seats waiting for the next blog post! Ok, maybe the one or two people besides my mom that have read my blog may be interested!

Older, but no wiser!

One would hope that with age comes a clarity and an understanding of the world around you that you didn't have before. Well, I guess I'll have to wait another year to see if I wake up with all that on my next birthday!