Notes on Computer Hardware Servicing

Having recently ventured again into academia and entrepreneurship opened the door to opportunities I doubt will be found by those clinging to their day jobs: the chance to help out the community and add value to the lives of your neighbors. Having an extensive experience in computer hardware, software and networking with some free time, some of my neighbors seek my help on fixing their computer problems. However,  most of them have been ripped off and their computers may either work inconsistently or not at all before they came to seek my help; and thus the inspiration for this article.

Below are the rules of engagement I hope all who conduct computer hardware (and software?) servicing and especially those unsuspecting clients would read and learn by heart:

• Check the Warranty
• Don't Covet Thy Neighbors Computer
• Free and Open Source Software Matters
• It's About Relationships

ORDBMS and Reusable Design: Why PostgreSQL on Your (Next) Project

One of the classic songs during the British invasion of America through music is "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" by the Herman's Hermits. The main character of the song is a man named Henry about to marry a widower who married seven times before. All the groom she married were named Henry. Probably the lady in the song found some particular trait(s) found in every Henry she met.

I hope you'd allow my fancy for the moment and share the perspective when we take the case of Object-oriented Programming (OOP) and Object Relational Database Management Systems (ORDBMS), given that, like Henry the Eighth in relation to his bride's previous husbands, they have the same first name. Would it be possible that design and/or code reuse, one of the great tenets of Object-oriented programming be applicable to Object relational database systems? Am I dragging your leg? Read on and find out.

Options on Budget Multi-user Computing

The internet shop is probably the most common business for internet-savvy technophiles with entrepreneurial pursuit. I kept away from it for so long because, whether you go for business-only internet access or cater to online gamers, you might as well have invested somewhere else given that the PC hardware depreciates quickly, new and better hardware can appear any time at lower cost, and setting up online gaming access is more of a gamble since players could always go for new and better games that you have to buy just to keep them coming back.

It all translates to intensive investment and cut-throat price competition with neighboring Internet shops. At the end of the day, practically all shops in a particular neighborhood, unless you're the only Internet shop in your area, will luckily just break even or lose.

Reveries on the Rat Race Tragedy

In the time I've been speaking, over eighty million people have died of stress!
(waits a moment then snaps his fingers)
There's another one! -- Denholm Reynholm, IT Crowd

It may not yet happen now, but inevitably in the future, in your career you'll feel disillusioned, helpless, completely worn out, problems look unsolvable, the future looks dark, and you're disengaged enough not to care about practically anything to do with your career, even personal life and it could be fatal.

Welcome to career burnout. Tragically, you may not be aware that you're already suffering from it.

On Chess, Design Patterns and The Dying Art of Programming

Chess is probably one of the best game or sport to instill discipline and sportsmanship: you win or lose not because you did or didn't listen to and followed the counsel of your coach, but because of the choices you made. While basketball has Michael Jordan as its greatest player, billiard has Efren 'Bata' Reyes and Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, is the best soccer player of all time, chess has the late Bobby Fisher. It's notable that of the sports greats I mentioned, chess again stands unique: its greatest and most popular representative has already passed away.