Author Archives: Craig Bailey

Apr 21 2014
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Cool Tools

Hard Drive Failure – Who Cares?!?

Recently, my Dad emailed my 2 brothers and I about his adventures after a hard drive failure.

I responded: “What? You don’t have everything backed up – in the cloud?” His response: “Go pound sand!” Love you too Dad 🙂

My response: “I feel a blog post coming on.”

In the past a hard drive failure, other major malfunctions or the complete loss of a computer were serious problems (or risks) for all!

Not so, anymore. In fact, if my computer completely evaporated I would simply turn to my left, or right, jump on another computer and be plugging away on whatever I was doing in seconds!

How can this be? I use the cloud! In my case Google Drive.

I’m using this AWESOME service in (at least) the following 5 ways:

  1. As a mirror copy of all the “working files” on my computer. As I create and edit files they are auto-magically saved “in the cloud.” And, by logging in to my account (from any connected computer or smartphone) I have access to these files.
  2. For my archives – Since my MacBook Pro has “only” 160 GB of storage I move any old stuff over to Google Drive and remove it from my computer. Again, it remains easily retrievable at any time.
  3. When I need to collaborate with others on a document I’ll create it in Google Doc’s MS Office equivalent (and FREE) app:
    • Google Document = MS Word
    • Google Presentation = MS Powerpoint
    • Google Spreadsheet = MS Excel
  4. Whenever we travel outside the country I’ll place our critical travel documents (copies of passports, itinerary and other “stuff”) in a folder and share it with the other members of my family (who are, and are not, traveling). That way, if anything were to happen to us or our docs, anyone of us could retrieve them. Feel kinda like a spy when I do this 🙂
  5. My email. Other than when I am fully engaged with a client, and need access to their MS Exchange system (to handle their internal email, book meetings., etc.) ALL my email is within Gmail. As such, my email is reference-able from anywhere / anytime and NOT dependent on, or downloaded to, any specific device.

Notes:

  • I realize that Gmail is a separate app from Google Drive. Since I’m on this “kick” about being in the cloud and device independent I thought I’d throw that into the mix.
  • I say I use Google Drive in “at least” 5 ways, because there are probably other things I’m using this for that I’ve failed to report on and have taken for granted 🙂

How much does all this cost? A whopping $1.99 per month for 131 GB of storage.

A (valid) concern that I had to grapple with was security. That is, how do I prevent unauthorized access to my account? In addition to the standard username and password layer of security, Google offers 2-step verification. That is, when you try to log in on a new device it will ask you for a top secret / randomly generated code (for your account). This code is provided as follows (more spy stuff):

  • Google offers an app for your smartphone: Google Authenticator. When you fire it up it generates a random number – for me / my account. I then type that number in (after my username and password) from the new device and “voila” I’m in.
  • But, what happens if I lose my iPhone. Google thought of that too and provides 2 options by allowing you to:
    • List Backup Phones that can be used to generate the verification code.
    • Generate “Backup Codes” in advance that you print and keep in a safe place (or on your person during travel) that can be used to gain access to your account (in addition to your username and password).

For me, the above was enough to allay my concerns with security.

Given this service (and others like it) there is no need to fear a hard drive failure (or the complete evaporation of a computer 🙂 ).

p.s. – My Dad just reported he is now backing things up in the cloud, using Dropbox. My brother tells us that Dropbox has the same file backup-related features and syncs to the cloud whenever a file is saved. Another great feature about Dropbox is that it keeps previous versions of your file. So, if (more likely, when) we screw something up and need to go back to a saved version from a few days ago, it’ll be there. Nice!

p.p.s. – Just remember to keep the app (Google Drive or Dropbox) running in the background. After “bragging” to my Dad about this I realized I had shut it down several weeks ago (for some reason). After lighting it back up it took 10-15 minutes to re-sync everything. We are again protected from disaster. Phew!

Apr 19 2014
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Financial Success

The Cost of Convenience

Have you considered the “true cost” of convenience charges?

Consider the example of heating oil. We “used” to be on the “convenience” plan (some may call it the laziness plan) which resulted in our handing over extra dollars to our oil company so they would manage the process of refilling our tank. And, by having this on “auto-pilot” (for many years) it was too easy, for way too long, not to investigate the price of oil from other providers. Instead, we just let it ride…

A couple of years ago when I seriously got on my “kick” of looking for ways to shave dollars off our monthly expenses (because it is FUN – just like getting a raise at work, and I wanted to lower our outgo to sure-up our financial independence for the long haul) I investigated heating oil options.

We had been using a local firm for many years, and experienced only 1 “outage” when they miscalculated, resulting in our running out of fuel. Other than that event, our “experience” had been good.

During my investigation I found a website that provides heating oil prices from oil companies in our local area. If you live in New Hampshire, you may find this site beneficial. Upon reviewing options I found a company that delivers oil within 3 business days of requesting a refill (in a non-emergency situation) that costs $0.306 less per gallon than we were paying. The main difference: we had to “call it in” when needed vs. having someone else manage the process. We went for it!

To do so, I simply had to place a “to do” item on my list to check the oil in our tank every 2-3 weeks (during the winter months). Oh yeah, and learn how to read the oil gauge on the top of the tank 🙂

Here is where someone might say “It is only $0.306 cents. What is the big deal, given I don’t have to worry about it?” Well, if we multiply that by the number of gallons on a particular fill-up it starts to make a difference (192.1 gallons times .306 = $58.78). Some might say “Still, it is only $58.78.”

During the 2012/13 heating season we needed 4 fill-ups realizing a total savings of $225. The true / total cost over 10 years equates to $2,250. A question I’ve asked before: “Would you leave $2,250 sitting on the table?” Not this guy.

Again, by itself, this may not seem like a whole lot. However, combine this action / savings with other “small items” previously covered (and those that I’ve yet to cover) and it will add up to a small fortune!

In closing, we haven’t run out of oil in the last 2 years which demonstrates someone CAN actually monitor their oil consumption and “call it in” when needed to avoid paying unnecessary upcharges.

Apr 18 2014
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Inspirational

Can 3 Months “Formal” Education Lead to the Most Prolific Inventor?!?

Can someone with little (formal) education become one of the most prolific inventors – OF ALL TIME?!?

Why, yes they can.

“Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity, began where he stood to put his dream into action, and despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality. Practical dreamers do not quit.” ~ Napoleon Hill

If you’d like to learn more about Thomas Edison’s humble beginnings visit the site dedicated to his biography.

In a nutshell (highlights from the above referenced website):

  • He did not learn to talk until he was almost 4 years of age.
  • At 7 his teacher lost his patience with the child’s persistent questioning and seemingly self centered behavior. Noting that Tom’s forehead was unusually broad and his head was considerably larger than average, he made no secret of his belief that the hyperactive youngster’s brains were “addled” or scrambled. In today’s world Tom would have probably been deemed a victim of ADHD and proscribed a hefty dose of Ritalin.
  • At 11, Tom’s parents tried to appease his ever more voracious appetite for knowledge by teaching him how to use the resources of the local library. This skill became the foundation of many factors that gradually caused him to prefer learning via independent self instruction.  
  • His mother home schooled him, and he taught himself mostly everything he knew about science and technology.
  • Ultimately, he became totally deaf in his left ear, and approximately 80% deaf in his right ear. 
  • Fast forward: He earned 1,093 United States patents, a record number for one person that still stands. 

Got dreams? Go for it! Got challenges? Go for it anyway.

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