Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Usual oatmeal breakfast. Sent graduate KT info about how to purchase Microsoft Office or install Open Office. Sent Outlook tip #16 to Alyssa, Scott, and Carol. Student LE picked up laptop. Met with Cindy one on one. Pre-lunch: leftover risotto. Grievance procedures edits for Cindy. Listserv update for Cindy. Updated the org chart for Bob D. Helped Cindy with creating Excel charts from Excel data. Org chart scripting for forthcoming changes. Post-lunch: taco from Carmelina's. Flickred—haven't Flickred in the work account in a while. More org chart subsite scheduled edits. Prepped fall draft schedules for posting, sent it to Lucia for review. Computer admin: Installed Winamp 5.35 and Firefox 2.0.0.4 for most office users. Reviewed Partners in D site layout mockups for Susie, sent back feedback including an edited comp. Chatted with Tina on the phone. Dinner at home with Patrick: bacon-wrapped pork chops, rice pilaf, arugula salad with tomatoes. Checked on billpaying. Announced the end of Lodestar Quarterly. Patrick went to Costco during the day today and picked up a 25-pack of assorted colors of Sharpies for about $12 and a Sony DVP-NS71HP DVD player. Sometimes when we watch DVDs using the computer things don't work right. Problems happen in both Windows and OS X. These problems are not consistent, but very frustrating when there is no easy workaround. A standalone DVD player will likely save us loads of troubleshooting time in the future. How we shopped: Patrick told me over the phone which four DVD players they had at Costco. I checked listings and reviews on pricegrabber and amazon, then called him back in about 15 minutes with the selection. My notes:

  1. Toshiba SD-K770, $40 - NO (no listing on pricegrabber or amazon)
  2. Samsung DVD-HD870C, $70 - NO (average rating is 3 on amazon, no listing on pricegrabber)
  3. Sony SLVD281P, $90 - NO (no listing on pricegrabber or amazon)
  4. Sony DVPNS71H, $120 - YES (no listing on pricegrabber)

The Sony DVP-NS71HP had essentially all favorable reviews. At $120 it was 3 times more expensive than the least expensive model at Costco, but this is a small price to pay for time savings and product satisfaction. I hope it works with our computer monitor—I didn't bother to check. Minor tweaks to Lodestar to put it in hibernation mode. I received a package from my mom today but haven't yet opened it—no time. Still haven't put the Hawaii trip in the journal. It's starting to make it back to the top of my to do list. Also forthcoming: adding more images to Danny's website. Today at work there were no public foods or snacks at all the entire day—this rarely happens.