The Circuit Board

ELECTRICAL CURRENCY

admin — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:36:58 +0000

My parents were so excited. I decided I wanted to surprise them with Ohio State Buckeye tickets for their anniversary. My dad has been talking about wanting to go to this game for the longest time. My mom was probably hoping they would do something more romantic on that day, but I joked with them that they could always drag out the anniversary celebration a few extra days. I also made sure to pick up some Ohio State Buckeye tickets for myself and the girl I like. That's who I had in mind to give my extra ticket to. I decided to take a chance. If she doesn't accept my invitation, I figure I can always give it to a friend. I will be crushed if she says no, though. I've been exchanging some e-mails with her and she seems like a really nice person. So far, I think our exchanges are going pretty well. I don't think she knows I'm romantically interested. First, I just want to get to know her as a friend and see if we can establish a connection that way. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high about any romantic possibilities just yet. I'm planning to ask her about the tickets soon, so we'll see what happens!

STATIONARY ENGINEER

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:21:35 +0000

For a few years now, my cousin has worked at the Apparel Center, which is next door to the Merchandise Mart in the River North Chicago neighborhood. He loves it. He works as a stationary engineer for a bank there. He’s actually had a job as a stationary engineer for over ten years now, but has only worked there for around 5 years or so. He works the afternoon shift from around 2 to 10 or sometimes 1 to 9. It’s great for him because he can go out afterwards and still sleep in the next morning. Most of the time at work, he doesn’t do much. He’s got a TV in there that he uses to watch DVDs and he brings his laptop computer with him and a phone jack so he can go online. He makes his rounds and such, but that’s all done mostly on his work computer and doesn’t take long. However, when something goes wrong, he has to be right there, ready to fix it, whether it’s a boiler or a generator or whatever. He also gets a lot of overtime or, at least, more than most other jobs do. But he already makes 70,000 a year or so and doesn’t exactly need the extra cash.

TAPE RECOVERY

admin — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:38:53 +0000

I searched all of the top data recovery services I could find for one that offered the service of tape recovery. I knew that it was probably a shot in the dark to find one, because tapes weren’t exactly as widely used as they had once been – in fact it was probably a once in a blue moon occurrence that any of these companies were even asked to try it. It did take me a little while to find a company, but not nearly as long as I thought it would have. I found a company that boasted thousands of successful tape information recoveries. They described the whole process in detail on their website – first they build an exact replica of the tape case before they even begin the delicate process of the recovery. By the info presented of the site I felt fairly confident that at least some of my information would be recovered, and at this point anything is a whole lot better than nothing – which is exactly what I’ve got. So I’m going to send the tape out to them and hope for the best, but expect the worse just in case I don’t fall into one of the thousands of successful attempts.

KEYWORD RESEARCH

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:10:52 +0000

What is keyword research one might ask themselves after looking at a search engine optimization site. You will find the answer here. Keyword research is researching keywords utilized in search engines such as Google or Yahoo. They are used by potential customers to determine what are the most relevant keywords pertaining to a particular site. It is a vital step in any efficient SEO marketing campaign. Three factors define keyword research: the discovery, the ROI analysis, and the competitive analysis. The discovery is researching as many keywords for the website as possible. These keywords will then be marketed online for that site. The ROI analysis is basically finding the most valuable keywords; the ones that are widely searched and are competitive will be the most generic keywords, which do not always yield a high ROI. Finding keywords that accurately and exclusively describe a site yield the highest ROI. The competitive analysis is where the strength and resources of the competitor’s keywords are measured. There are other factors that need to be taken into consideration. These factors include how considerate the site is to optimization issues and how many inbound links the site has received. Additionally, the keyword does not necessarily have to be just one word. The keyword can be a phrase, which are basically the keywords with an adjective to combine them.

MY GAS BILL

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:09:56 +0000

Erica figured it was time to get her stove turned back on. She had just landed a temporary job and it seemed to be working out for her. Plus, she knew she wouldn’t be able to rely on her brother and his family for help with meals much longer, so she would have to start cooking at home again. If only she could wait a couple more months—she would be able to pay her gas bill without doing herself in financially. Erica was only making about $7 an hour, although the job was five days a week, but she was paying $600 a month in rent. For the time being it would be all she could do to make ends meet and continue to care for her 3-year-old granddaughter. She got on the phone and called the gas company, and after about ten impatient minutes was transferred to a live representative, who tried her best to get Erica to pay at least part of the long-overdue bill. The agent mentioned that they had already sent out a collection agency notice. Erica admitted to having received it in the mail. Finally the agent said, look, we’ll keep sending this agency after you until you pay and after a certain amount of time we’ll have to garnish your wages. Erica hung up feeling miserable, but what could she do? A co-worker told her about the FDCPA, a law in place which could help her avoid getting harassed by the gas company. Now Erica could go to an independent legal assistance office and talk to an attorney about this so she could get protection.

MY SECRET PROJECT

admin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:25:08 +0000

I'm in the final stages of my secret project! I can't wait to start talking about it. My brother is going to come over tonight and show me how to do an online backup of everything. I'm terrible at keeping secrets and not saying anything about what I've been up to. It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but I promise it will be worth the wait! I'm really glad he's coming over to show me how to protect everything I've worked on. Wouldn't that be something if the information got lost somehow? I was thinking of all these horrible things that could happen, but after tonight I won't have to worry about that. Trust me, I didn't work this hard only to be careless. I'm wondering if I should even give a hint. I guess what I will say is that it involves my medium format camera. I don't think that's giving away too much. Speaking of medium format cameras, after this project is over I'm going to start learning how to process my own film which means I'm going to work in a darkroom! I know I've been talking about that forever. I've never attempted it before so it should be a fun challenge for me.

MODERN GOLF CARTS

admin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:56:28 +0000

I have been a golf trainer since I was thirteen. Well, that’s not the total truth. You see, I have always wanted to ride in those little cute golf carts, because they look like so much fun. When I told my friends about my fantasy, they laughed and told me that my dreams were about as little as the people riding inside it. That’s not true. I see so many people riding in golf carts, and that is the only reason that I decided to train to become a trainer. To me, first comes the fun and then comes the work. I know that it’s really the other way around, but since I am only a little kid I don’t have to work so hard. I have to write about the first time I drove one of those things. My mom let me drive all by myself even though I didn’t have my license. I don’t really think you need one to drive them. So I sat in the cart’s little chair and I put my foot to the pedal. Whoa! I accelerated too fast and there was a whole shebang! sound. I got really dizzy as I sped along the path of the golf course and I almost hit a tree. I must have been going ten miles per hour! I think the tank ran out of gas because not long afterwards the whole cart short stopped. I got out and collapsed on the grass from the entire trauma. I think I definitely need to get my license.

TV COMMERCIALS

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:31:22 +0000

I hate commercials. I realize they have to be there between TV show segments and before movies because advertisers and the money they give are a big part of the Hollywood process, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. They have commercials for everything now! Just this morning while watching the news while I drank a cup of coffee and ate some cereal I saw a commercial for a Chicago Laser Skin Resurfacing Clinic. Why does a Chicago Laser Skin Resurfacing need a commercial? Do random people drop in for skin resurfacing? I thought that was sort of procedure was only given to people when another doctor referred them to the clinic because they actually needed it. and I absolutely love the commercials they have trying to get people to come visit different states. Does anyone actually think that a commercial will just make someone want to go to North Dakota? It can get even worse, especially when you’re at the movies. When I went to the theater to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, they actually played a commercial for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End before the trailers. What? Were they afraid that the people sitting there already having a paid a ticket to see the show needed to make up their minds?

NEW MACHINERY

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:02:03 +0000

Money was always tight, and we were always just making it, but this last deal I did with the Germans just did us in. I was taken for a ride, and that's how I ended up bancarrota. We got back with the Germans from visiting some of our materials suppliers downstate and had some more discussions over methods of production and operations, then I drove them to the airport the next morning. I began interviewing some people for the German production, as we were now calling it, and taking the new machinery in as well. We have all things set to go. We got the loan for the increased business, hired the people and got the new machinery installed. We began some small lots of production, more for tests, and to work out any problems. Then I took a week and went down to Florida, because I just couldn't stand the weather up here anymore. It had been one of the worst winters in 30 years. It's not bad if you don't have to be out in it, but if you have to travel about like I do it can get to be extremely stressful. You never know when it will be whiteout conditions or you'll slide off the road.

SELLING ELECTRONICS

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:28:15 +0000

My dad’s best friend Floyd is now a very successful businessman, but it was not always so good for him. When I was just a young lad, I remember they went through some tough times. His oldest daughter is the same age as me, and one day she was going to school with me, and the next day she was not. Many years later I would come to find out that it was because Floyd had not been successful trading, and he had to figure out how to file bankruptcy. They had to move in with his brother, and the two families had to learn to coexist in a single family home. Floyd tried several different business opportunities, and they all failed. One time he opened his own Blimpies Subs franchise. Another time he started a bus company. Finally he found what he was meant to do. Now he sells electronics all over the country, and has made a good amount of money doing so. He has built nice homes both here and in Las Vegas. He now has several nice cars, including the nicest Corvette that money can buy, which his brother gave to him for his 50^th birthday.