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Dickens Had It Right…
Ok, not about everything… It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… This is certainly one of the most familiar opening lines of any book written since Genesis (which, it should be noted, was not a book at all). The opening sentence from A Tale of Two Cities can certainly describe…
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Remotely Enable RDP
Like most IT Managers I manage myriad servers, most of which are both remote and virtual. So when I configure them initially I make sure that I can manage them remotely… including in most cases the ability to connect via RDP (Remote Desktop). But what happens if you have a server that you need to…
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ChargeTech Deals
As you know, I have worked closely with the team at ChargeTech recently to tell you about some of their products. Well it may be a little late, but they sent me a Black Friday / Cyber Monday coupon for you to use to get incredible deals off their Portable Power Outlet! From now until…
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BYOD: A Fairy Tale
Recently I wrote an article called Free Will… about people using their computers as they want. I mentioned I had written a piece that was to be my introduction to a presentation I was going to do on BYOD, and I promised I would look for it. I found it, and here it is. I…
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With Friends Like These…
There is no little doubt in my mind that nothing brings out the worst in people better than a contentious election campaign. In Canada this usually means six to ten weeks of slight animosity. In the United States – a country where the presidency holds much wider global implications – it is often a two…
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Free Will…
I am in Montreal this week, working on a friend’s computer. After twelve incredible years of service, the laptop is being replaced. But before that happens I must transfer the data to his new computer… a task made infinitely more difficult by the utter and complete infestation of his computer with malware. Aside from being…
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Remembrance Day vs. Christmas Decorations: The battle begins.
I was listening to talk radio as I drove home from wherever recently and there was a discussion about Christmas decorations, and the discussion was whether or not it is inappropriate (In Canada) to put up Christmas decorations prior to Remembrance Day (November 11th). One of the commentators said that Christmas decorations before Remembrance Day…
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The Technology Life… From anywhere!
When Emily from ChargeTech reached out to me recently and asked me to blog about the new ChargeTech Plug she sent me a video that their CEO had recorded. It talks about the ability to work from on the go and to power any device from anywhere, eliminating the need to sit on the floor…
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Canadian Politics…
A month ago I sat down with my Member of Parliament, the Honourable Karina Gould. Ms. Gould is a member of the Liberal Party, and is a very nice young lady who despite knowing I did not vote for her was happy to meet with me and listen to my issues. I should mention that…
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Applying Hockey Rules to Elections…
In hockey, before a face-off, if the two players can’t settle down and play nice the referee kicks them both out of the circle and the teams have to send two different players to start the play again. Who thinks it would be a good idea for someone to tell Hillary and Donald to skate…
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With the American Elections Coming…
For all Americans who say they will move to Canada if one or the other jackass wins the election: 1) The War of 1812 we kicked your asses. 2) You had better be prepared to know and understand our geography. 3) Learn Metric. 4) it is important for the gorgeous women to understand that in…
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Single Sign-On Woes
I love the idea of Single Sign-On. The fact that I can use a single set of credentials when I log on to my laptop, and then not have to keep entering passwords for subsequent actions, is in theory a great idea. However there are four ‘great ideas’ that, when combined (as they so often…
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Why I Need to Be Escalated…
I got a message from a faithful reader yesterday pointing out in rather interesting terms that I have not been posting as much as I should. Sorry about that! –MDG — Recently I noticed that a ticketing system that my client uses was taking an unusually long time to apply updates. Every month it would…
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Work from Anywhere: The gold standard PPO
There are days when I love being a blogger. A few days after I published my recent article on the ChargeTech ThinCharge case for the iPhone 6, I got an e-mail from the company telling me that they wanted me to try another one of their products, the Portable Power Outlet. They shipped it off…
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I’m Back!
As many of you know I left Microsoft to pursue other adventures when I did my first gig with Rakuten in the fall of 2013. The plan was, according to the managers I spoke with, for me to return to Microsoft when I got back from Japan. That obviously did not happen. I will not…
The World According to Mitch
The day to day ramblings of an IT Professional (and so much more…)
