Being the only person most of my friends and family know that can actually fix a computer, I have a reputation to uphold here. So, I plug the thing in, boot it up, and one of those "windows cannot load, missing file blah blah" messages appears. Not good.

Now this being a Win2K PC, I know the restore disks will not have a feature to simply repair the OS... and I only reformat a hard drive as a last resort, for in this case, all those important files that essentially ARE the company will be lost.

Over the next 3-4 hours, it was touch and go. Troubleshoot this, troubleshoot that.... only to discover that this baby is pretty much SOL. It won't boot from a disk other than the recovery disk, it won't even go to DOS so I can use the command prompt to explore the files on the hard drive.

So off we go to the MicroCenter. Most people may not know this, but they make these little aluminum boxes for $20 that let you place any hard drive inside, plug it in to a USB port, and there you go... all the files right there. So out comes the screw driver and the computer surgery begins.

You know how they say it looks worse than it is? Well not in this case... this poor guy had insides as crusty as his outsides, so after removing the hard drive and the ram and the fan, it was can-o-air time for the innards.

After some good housekeeping, upon exploring the busted hard drive on my own PC, I discovered that ALL of the shared files and documents along with several system files were GONE!!! Deleted, Poof, Non-existant...so even if I could have fixed the operating system, the files were still gone, and those were the lifeblood of the company.

This is where the fun part began. There is a fantastic FREE little program called NTFS Undelete. It reads all of the sectors of any hard drive, and lets you recover any intact deleted files. Miracle right? Well actually, when you hit that delete button or empty the recycle bin, it really just tells the computer to forget the file, however the information still resides on the disk until it is overwritten by another file. So if you ever delete any essential file accidentally... DONT TOUCH THE COMPUTER!! Any wrong action can cause that file to be overwritten and lost forever, so turn it off, and hand it over to a pro.

It was now backup time... every deleted file in every folder we saved, leaving no corner unturned. Once that was completed, it was reformat city... hold your breath and wait.... and tada! There it is that Windows 2K welcome screen.

By this time it was 6PM on Saturday. We spent the next 4 hours installing programs, setting up email, setting up network users, re-loading all of those shared files, setting up a firewall and antivirus software, AND SETTING UP A BACKUP SYSTEM FOR THE FUTURE!

In the end, the result was fantastic. It could have been a lot worse, especially if Tricia had taken it to someone else, or called a technical support line. A lot of those dime-a-dozen PC repair places don't have you or your company's best interest in mind, so it might have been reformat...files gone...sad, sad day. But in the end we prevailed, and sad HP is now happy HP... with a system backup.

There are a lot of reputable script providers out there, but a lot of not-so-good ones as well. Here are a few tips to look at when deciding whether or not to purchase a script for your website.

1. Always look for free GPL/Open-source scripts first. You can find many different and professionally programmed scripts at http://sourceforge.net/ that are essentially donated to the public by programmers. Plus if it doesn't work for you, you haven't wasted any money.

2. Always look to see if the if there is a demo of BOTH the admin and user interface of the script before you buy. Poking around in the admin before you offer up your dough will allow you to see if the script will do everything you need it to.

3. ALWAYS check to see what the system requirements are before you purchase. I can't tell you how many times clients of mine purchased scripts on their own, and assumed they would work with their hosting server. Its a pain to switch hosting for no good reason, or to waste money on a script because it won't run, so check first!!

4. Beware of websites that sell scripts but don't have any contact information! This is a good indicator that you will send them your money and never hear from them again.

5. Look on the script website to see if there is a support section. If so, this is a good sign that if there are any problems with the script, you will have somewhere to go for answers. Support forums are very important to look for as well. A lot of smaller/cheaper scripts don't have a support forum associated with them, but if it does, definitely a plus!

6. Do a google search to see if there are any people complaining about the script on forums, message boards, or blogs. Feedback and reviews are not always directly available for scripts, so its good to do a little digging.

7. Do your research. Don't buy the first script that you find that does what you want. There have been many times that I have found perfectly good scripts with an abundance of features for $50, and others that do the same thing or less for $300.

8. Try to find scripts and software that also have support for additional modules (mods). This is an indicator that you can add features that may not be standard to the script, plus it means the script is probably being actively developed.

9. Find out if the script website offers updates to the script. Once again, this means the script is being actively developed (the bugs are being worked out, and new features added). This also means that as technology changes over time, your script will keep up, per the updates.

10. Finally, if you are not a developer yourself, consult your web developer before you buy anything! More likely than not, they know more than you do about the functionality of the script and whether or not it will work with your website. This will save you from wasting your money.

First, Paypal has come out with a new widget called Storefront that allows people to sell items from their myspace page. This is great for musicians, retailers, anyone really. Very easy to set up, fairly customizable, and makes you money... what more can you ask for?

Here's a link: http://storefront.paypallabs.com

Second, I just discovered a great service from logmein.com. They offer a FREE remote desktop service which allows you to log into your home or office computer from anywhere. Very simple to use, and great if you travel and need to access your files. There is also an upgrade that lets you pay to transfer files between the two computers, hear sounds from the remote computer, etc. GREAT service, very secure, and FREE!!

Check it out at: logmein.com

As her project, Siobhan created her own website (with a little help from yours truly) to use as a resume and personal portfolio in hopes of impressing the college admissions board. The site turned out quite well considering she knew nothing about website design when she first stepped through my door.

After our five sessions together, I think we both came out having learned a little bit. Its really great to be able to give a little advice to someone who is in the same situation you were 10 years ago. I never had anyone to hold my hand or tell me how college and post-college were going to work, so any advice I can give makes me feel like I've done my small little part to help.

After the internship was over, I was invited to be the guest speaker for the internship group at Leaves of Learning. I have to say, I was very impressed by the students and their desire to learn everything they could about their future career options. I was also impressed by the teachers and how much they care about the students, as well as the personal relationships they have formed with each and every one of them.  What a great group of people!

All in all, it was a great experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. If anyone reading this has the opportunity to advise or mentor a student, I would highly recommend it. Its an awesome and fulfulling feeling to know you have passed along some of your knowledge to a younger generation.

1. CDbaby - Cdbaby is one of the greatest resources available to unsigned artists. For a one time fee, they distribute your tunes to all of the major online outlets (amazon, itunes, rhapsody, etc.). Plus they give you a sale page which you can direct your fans to for purchasing your CD. All you have to do is supply the goods, they take care of the rest and send you the money.

2. Snocap.com - I just dicovered this great little tool. All you do is sign up, upload your MP3's, set the price, and you can sell them on your website, your myspace page, anywhere. All the code is provided for you. Have a look www.snocap.com

3. Tunecore.com - tunecore charges you yearly, however they will put your MP3's on all of the leading downloading sites (Itunes, amazon, rhapsody). I prefer CDbaby, but I thought I would mention this one as well.

4. karmafan.com - This is an "i'm great so give me some money for free" website. You sign up, they give you some code to place on your website or myspace page, and people can pay you money because they like your music, or because they think you are great, or just because they have it to throw away. Odd, but hey there's a potential for free money.

I'm sure there's plenty more out there, however these are a few that I've had experience with and think are worthwhile. Just don't blame me if you have bad Karma and no one loves you.

This is my latest drawing of an ornate lantern hanging in a doorway. As always, graphite on bristol board. Unfortunately, the scan I took shows the pencil lines in the doorway more than how they appear in real life. I'm fairly happy with this one, however I have to say I got a little lazy with the background after I completed the lantern portion.

As most people who know me are aware, I have a tendency to do things my way, which is often times a little backwards. I was taught in my art classes to always do the background first to lay the foundation for the detailed stuff. Well, I always do the fun part first and leave the background for later. Seems to be working for me so far... except for the lazy thing.

I often surprise myself at how well some of my drawings come out. When I do them, I look at them in such a detailed way, that I never really see the overall picture until I finish. It takes me a little while to look past the flaws that I know are there, but I guess that's what makes my drawings so special to me. I typically draw as a sort of emotional outlet, with every little flaw and success in the drawing attached to a part of my emotional process. Perhaps that is why I have never been able to sell one of my originals. Each of my drawings is like a reminder to me of some part of my life and how I worked my way through it.

Most people are aware that there are many different internet browsers to choose from. I have always primarily used Internet Explorer with Firefox as my backup, but have recently changed my ways due to a series of unfortunate circumstances and events. 

In the recent months, I have become "irratated" with Microsoft, mostly because of their post-Bill Gates "anything to make a buck" attitude. I have lived with my irratation fairily uneventfully, until some recent updates allowed Internet Explorer 7 to slip through onto my system. I'm not too proud to admit that this was my own fault, as in my haste, I "let Windows do its thing" and did not check the updates to see what they involved as I usually do.

Talk about throwing the earth's rotation off... I have never experienced such a universe altering upgrade in my life! I was open to the change at first, sometimes change is for the better right? No.

Lets start with everything that stopped working...My HP printer scanner combo, Adobe Acrobat Pro and my printer server were all suddenly killed in action by IE 7. Now, I'm sure HP, Adobe, and Belkin have all come up with driver and software updates to cope with the madness, however I refuse to update every driver on my system to accomodate Microsoft.

Now we move on to IE7's GUI. Besides the huge bubbly buttons which I found irratating, I can't understand the logic behind moving the URL address bar ABOVE the menu bar. The menu always goes at the top, that's just a universal fact. What 12 year old programmer/designer thought it would be a brilliant idea to throw the entire universe out of whack by moving the menu bar? Was this supposed to be a convenience?

It must also be noted that on my fairly high resolution laptop,  the toolbars take up about 3 inches of my screen, leaving the other 6 inches for the website that I actually want to look at. What ever happened to unintrusiveness? And just for future reference, as a website designer, I refuse to design my websites 350 pixels in hight to accomodate IE7's 900 toolbars, so don't ask.

After about 10 minutes of this insanity, I decided to undo what had been done. I didn't want to stick around and find out what else would be thrown off course by this evil Microsoft minion (I'm sure there would have been more).

Unfortunately, since IE is integrated into Windows, this isn't as simple as an uninstall. I had to use system restore to free my poor little computer from its IE bondage, which took about 4 times as long as the upgrade itself did. And wonder of all wonders... my Outlook Express stopped functioning properly after the big "undo". At least everything else works again...

Since this string of unfortunate occurrences, I have promoted Firefox to my full time brower, which I am very happy with. I have also fired Outlook Express instead of fixing it and hired Mozilla's Thunderbird for my email program, just to spite Microsoft of course (because I'm sure they care).

Moral of the story: Stay away from IE 7, stay away from Windows Vista as long as you can, stay away from the Windows Genuine Advantage update... just check what you're updating. If it ain't broke, don't fix it... right?

For those of you who don't know what the best approach to cleaning up that computer is... here's a checklist for you:

1. Run Disk Cleanup - Windows provides a handy little tool that cleans out a bunch of old files that you don't need. This can free up loads of space on its own. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Follow the instructions and clean away!

2. Delete Old Outlook Emails - You'd be surprised how much space those old emails with attachments take up. If you think you need them, back them up on CD's or a spare hard drive, and delete them off of your computer!

3. Add/Remove Programs - I install a bunch of crap all the time, so I find it worthwile to go through the window's add/remove programs tool to remove the stuff I forgot I installed. If you're not sure what you are deleting though, don't mess with it.

4. Run Adaware - Lavasoft provides a free for non-commercial use program to clear your computer of harmful files that sneek in through the internet. Google "adaware" and you will find it. Make sure to get the free version, install all of the updates for it, and run a system scan. This can remove a lot of junk and drastically improve performance.

5. Clean up your registry - After you delete a bunch of programs over the years, stray registry keys get left behind in your system. Microsoft provides a tool called regclean which will clear out all that junk for you. You can get the tool here: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,4666-order,1-page,1-c,systemresourcestuneup/description.html

6. Get Advanced Disk Cleaner and Run it - Best tool ever!!! I just discovered this little thing and it cleared 10,032 files and over 2GB worth of crap off of my hard drive.  Best of all its free! Get it here: http://www.innovative-sol.com/cleaner/index.htm

7. Go through your documents and files and delete whatever you don't need. You can even back things up on disks that you need but never use to free up some space. Better yet, get a spare hard drive to keep some of your files on. They aren't that expensive and removing all those files can really improve your system's performance.

8. Defragment - Now that all that's taken care of, defragment your hard drive by going to start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Select your C drive and click defragment. This might take awhile, but it will make things run much faster. It allows the computer to access your files more quickly because they will be bundled together on the disk.

9. Can-O-Air - Last but not least, buy yourself a can of air and blast the fan with it. This is especially useful if you have a laptop. Make sure the lid is closed and you will see all the crap that comes out on your screen. Dirt in the fan can cause your computer to overheat and run slowly.

These steps should make your life a lot easier, and your computer a lot happier. Don't pay someone to do what you can do yourself.

Happy New Year everyone!

Above is my latest drawing measuring 6 inches wide by 10 inches tall, and drawn in graphite pencil. Drawing is of the Ross Fountain in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ross Fountain is an ornate iron fountain from the mid-19th Century located at the west end of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Figures depicted on the fountain include mermaids and four females depicting science, the arts, poetry and industry. A final female figure stands at the apex of the fountain.

After being cast in the Durenne Ironworks at Haute-Marne in the early 1860s, it was displayed at The Great Exhibition in London in 1862 where it was seen by philanthropist and gun-maker Daniel Ross, who bought it for the City of Edinburgh. Having been transported in 122 pieces, it arrived in Leith in 1869.

Great deliberation followed as to the most appropriate location for the statue, with it finally being installed in Prince's Street Gardens in 1872. There was notable controversy at the time surrounding the fountain - in particular, Edward Bannerman Ramsay, Dean of the nearby St John's Episcopal Church, described it as "grossly indecent and disgusting".

In 2001 a major refurbishment allowed water to flow again for the first time since 1996.

• IP tracking – find out where your visitors are coming from. If you are a small local retail store in Dayton, Ohio and most of your hits are coming from China… there’s a problem.
• Referral link – StatCounter tells you where on the web your visitors came from. This allows you to determine whether directory links, google adwords, or other incoming links are working best for you. You can even see which search engine terms are directing people to your website.
• Exit Page & Visit Length – If everyone is leaving your site 3 seconds after they hit your homepage, something is turning them off. You may consider upgrading your website design, or re-organizing a few things.