blog.cuyler.com

Not only am I a sysadmin, but I’m also a family man.  I’ve spoken of my love for the Exchange connector which syncs my Treo with my Outlook calendar; but that doesn’t help my wife who would like to know where I am too…

Enter Google Calendar.

Both my wife and I have Google acounts which allows us to share our calendars.  I can find out where she is and she can find out where I am.  It’s a nice complement to the calendar that’s stuck on the fridge when I’m not near the fridge.

However, it’s been a hassle double-entering my stuff.. once in Outlook and once in Google Calendar (or GCal for you hipsters).

Companion Link software, maker of many fine sync products, had an Outlook to GCal sync program, and I ponied up the $20 or $30 for it, and it worked for awile… but things got horribly out of synch and I ended up with like 7 copies of birthdays and other recurring appointments on my Outlook calendar, so I sidelined CompanionLink and basicially let GCal wither on the vine.

But no longer!  Google themselves came out with an Outlook / GCal sync tool, and so far, I like it a lot.  It’s a small app that sits in your tray and it snychs up your calendars on a given schedule.  (Default is every 120 minutes.)

Whaty’s also nice is it allows for one-way sync… so I push my Outlook calendar out to my GCal and my wife knows (within two hours) where I’ll be.

Handy!

A few versions ago, MS Word came under fire for including personal information with every document. The registered user’s name, company and other info was available in the metadata of the document.

MS answered the hue and cry by giving users the option of removing this personal information. We think this is generally a good idea, tho it gets in the way try to collaborate using Tracked Changes.

Before saving a documents with tracked changes, make sure that the “Remove personal information…” option is UNCHECKED.

That will ensure that your tracked changes are saved and passed along; lest they be lumped together with all other changes, making user tracking impossible.

Are employees’ e-mails privileged if they’re sent to their lawyers from the office computer?

In September I celebrated 16 years as a Cuyler Burk employee, next to Marian our wonderful receptionist, I am proud to say, I am the most senior person on staff.

I started at Cuyler Burk in the summer of 1990 as a temp. I knew WordPerfect 5.1 and this firm in Florham Park (one town over from home, where I was living during summer break between my junior and senior years of college) needed someone who knew WordPerfect 4.2 to fill in. I can downgrade with the best of them…

So I jumped at the chance to make $12/hr — my earlier temp stint at an Asian clothing warehouse (”Preppy Boy!”) was only netting $8.50/hr, so this was a big bump up… and it allowed me to live my credo: no heavy lifting.

I worked for two attorneys, a senior associate and a junior associate that summer, and it was standard office work. I was told I was special since I could stand to work with this senior associate who had a reputation for being difficult; but she and I got along famously, and I learned all about clumsy Club Med vacationers who, once sobered by the mainland, filed slip-and-fall lawsuits hoping to subsidize their vacations. (Do I sound like a defense lawyer or what?)

Summer ended and it was back to college. I was a communications and theatre major with an emphasis on directing TV and Stage, so my senior year was spent directing a mainstage drama and an hour long TV comedy. Graduation came and went, and I was putting the finishing touches on my TV project when the temp agency called and asked if I wanted to go back to Cuyler Burk & Matthews. I said I was flattered they thought of me and I would love to return, but I couldn’t because I had to finish this project for Emmy submission and I was committed to do some semi-pro theatre construction work through the end of July. If they could wait, I’d be interested. They couldn’t wait, and so I missed the boat.

Or so I thought.
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