Customers like to (re)use the methods of the support team ...

I was doing some code cutting the other day for a customer.

Indirectly.

I had sent a DOS batch file to Customer A, in response for an urgent fix request.  The DOS batch file enables Customer A to use a particular web application.

The Help Desk send me an email, "Customer B have [...]

Why I Blog – Not

(Helen Coonan was our Federal Minister for Communications, and strangely attractive, if you like that sort of look) (cartoon borrowed from The Chaser)

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Crusader

Saw this ad for Crusader weed killer in the Weekly Times, which is an agricultural paper published here.

No, we don’t have many Muslim farmers in Australia, strange that.

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You’ve outsourced the helpdesk WHERE?

Like many companies, my former employer offshored their Intranet helpdesk to India.  First I knew of this was when I received an email

We’ve reset your password to abcd1234, and we’ll now close your Help Desk ticket

"WHAT HELP DESK TICKET!?!?!", I exclaimed to myself.

So I ring the Help Desk

CSC India, [...]

Made my day – ABC 774 Sundays with Helen Razer

Sport, sport and more sport.

Which means that when there’s sport is on, you don’t get your normal broadcasts.

Which sucks.

Checked the ABC website to find out if Helen had jetted off on another holiday, but no, Helen was streaming live.

Yeah!

SMS’d my displeasure, and Rodney [...]

Converting audio & video files – I recommend Super!

Want to convert from one audio or video file format to another?

Have a look at Super.  I’m really impressed with this utility as I needed to convert some AVI files into a format suitable for my PDA.

Other reasons you might use it?  Convert from the strange OGG for a more mainstream MP3 [...]

The colors I see on my screen are not the same as what prints out!

So you have a nice new shiny printer which can use CMYK color processing.  CMYK is also known as four color processing.

And you wonder why:

The colors I see on my screen are not the same as what prints out.

Here are four reasons why:

You’re using an application which only supports RGB [...]

“Web delivers new worry for parents: Digital drugs”

Queue the IT news beat-up:

We all know that music can alter your mood. Sad songs can make you cry. Upbeat songs may give you an energy boost. But can music create the same effects as illegal drugs? This seems like a ridiculous question. But websites are targeting your children with so-called digital drugs. [...]

Benefits of Six Sigma

They say that Six Sigma was created by a Motorola engineer, who ended up dying in the company cafeteria.

It’s all about cost-cutting.  Sure, there are other benefits such as:

Cost reduction (duh!) Culture charge Customer retention Cycle-time reduction Defect reduction Market-share growth Product/service development Productivity improvements

Now I think Six Sigma can [...]

Tax checklist.

This is the checklist I use each year for my Australian Tax Return, in a handy Microsoft Word 97 format.

Drop me a line if you think of anything else to add.

Update October 2009: Australian Tax Office – Common Mistakes On Tax Returns [...]