New Article: IT- 10 Years After Y2k

The hysteria in the late 1990s was everywhere! Well, almost everywhere.  There were a few of us helping folks understand why Y2k was not going to be the end of civilization as we knew it.

I just released an article for publication about IT ten years after Y2k-- you can read it by clicking here!

2011 IRS Standard Mileage Rates

On 12/3/2010  the IRS announced the standard mileage rates for 2011.  They are:

• Business:  $ .51
• Medical & Moving:  $ .19
• Charitable:  $ .14

Today is AWEsome!

I'm in the center of Ohio, in the Appalachians, serving a client this week, and today they had their first snowfall that'll stick!  I've seen a half dozen deer so far while driving this is the week, and the snow began falling this morning beautifully.  While driving to work this morning I saw a boy waiting for his school bus and trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue!

For most of the country, this is not a big deal.  But for this Southern California beach boy, this is an awesome sight!

Mounting Network Volumes on Macs

I like having my Mac automatically attach a couple of our network volumes when I login.  I've found a few ways to do this, which our clients' Mac users seem to really appreciate.  Here's the best method I've landed on so far.

1. The Mac OS includes an application in the Utilities folder called AppleScript Editor.  Open it, which will give you the ability to begin creating a script
2. Insert the following, including the quote marks and substituting your server name and share where indicated:  mount volume "smb://[servername]/[share]"
3. Repeat on as many lines as necessary for as many shares as you'd like to automatically mount
4. Save the script, then save it as an application
5. In System Preferences, under Accounts, go to the user's Login Items and add the app you created in step 4, and then check the Hide box associated with that app
6. Restart the Mac and let it mount the apps; mine takes about 40 seconds to mount two volumes
7. Finally, in Finder, drag and drop the mounted volumes to the Devices section of the Sidebar to make them easily available when saving files in applications

Those seven steps are actually a quick and easy process that will help the Mac users on your network.  And once you've created the script and application, you can copy it to all of your Macs!

Strategic IT Outsourcing

I just released an article for publication on strategic IT outsourcing that identifies which church and ministry IT roles might be wise outsource candidates.

If you'd like to read it, click here!

The Internet Archive

Today I needed to look at a website's content from years ago.  Not finding what I needed, I called my friend Ross Gile who steered me to an amazing resource!  You may find it as helpful as I did!

Point your browser to http://www.archive.org and put the website you're looking for in the search field.  That'll take you to their Wayback Machine, and the content there will likely amaze you as much as it did me!

Thanks for your great help, as always, Ross!

Protecting IT From Disaster -- Article Update

While at lunch last Friday with a good friend and IT colleague, I was challenged to look at the security section of my recent Surviving an IT Disaster article.  He was right, and I've updated the article accordingly.  I hope you find it helpful... click here to download a free advance copy in PDF format.