Syncing two computers (especially Outlook)

Posted on July 8, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Contracting, Family | 2 Comments

Dropbox.com allowed me to sync Outlook on my 2 computers, simply by dropping the pst file in a folder. Worked with Quicken, too. Magic. You just have to be careful not to have Outlook open on both computers at the same time.

When you install Dropbox, it adds a folder, My Dropbox, to your My Documents folder. Then, you just move your pst file to the Dropbox folder. When you restart Outlook, you will be prompted for the new location. After you’ve done that on one computer, add Dropbox to your 2nd computer. Wait a few minutes, and the pst file will appear. Then rename your pst file for the 2nd computer and start Outlook up. It will also ask for the location, and after you point it to My Dropbox, you’re in businees.

Dropbox takes care of syncing things automatically from that point on. I was dubious at first, but it works great.

The logic table

Posted on May 13, 2010 - Filed Under Business, Contracting, Mainframe | Leave a Comment

I’m big on documentation. And I’m a programmer, believe it or not. I’m a flowchartin’ fool, and I love to add logic tables to my work. What’s a logic table? I’m not sure why it’s not more common than it is, because it sure beats a lot of the excuse for documentation I’ve seen. And it’s so readable that you can even show it to the users and after a little guidance, they’re able to figure it out. It’s a great tool, and is very under utilized.

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A new direction on the job hunt

Posted on February 6, 2010 - Filed Under Contracting, Mainframe | Leave a Comment

Okay, I’ve moved through the first two iterations of my job hunt–ramping up my profiles on Google and LinkedIn, and refining my resume so I have multiple versions. That looked promising for a while.

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My 6 month adventure with (shudder) unemployment

Posted on November 6, 2009 - Filed Under Contracting | 1 Comment

Remember those days when people kept saying “Cobol is dead?” We just laughed, and kept on coding. Well, laugh no more. Cobol is not dead–there are still thousands of programmers out there. It’s just finding a new mainframe position after losing a job that’s dead. I’ve been a contractor for over 30 years, and I’ve never lost any sleep over getting the next contract. Until I finished my contract with Geico, 6 months ago.

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