So, as some of you may know, I have been working for a commercial printing company doing IT for about half a year now.  The company has been in the middle of a massive merge and building-consolidation process.  All-in-all, everything has gone quite well.  One server crashed, but everything was recovered from backups.  However, working in a small business during poor economic times means working with some painfully old devices.

Last week I was given a pretty simple task.  I needed to set up a networked label printer that had been moved from the old shop.  Easy enough, it should just grab an IP via DHCP, and I can log onto its web interface to set it up – no big deal.  I hooked up the printer and voila, 192.168.2.13.  It was set up.  Went into our router, changed the IP from dynamic to static, and headed out for the evening.  Seemed like everything had gone great.

Now fast forward to the next morning, the pressmen are just getting ready to pull the press data from the servers, and – oh crap.  The press computer is down.  This press prints out 16,000 sheets per hour, and each sheet has 2-3 pieces on it.  You can imagine how fast I got the phone call.  I went straight to the press when I got in to see an error about an IP Conflict.  Our presses are all assigned static IP’s, so I went in to the network config – the IP assigned was 192.168.2.13.  Sounds familiar.

Turns out this label printer (I won’t name the brand, but I can’t say I’m surprised by this faulty setup) does not quite understand the meaning of DHCP and IP conflicts.  When it booted up the BOOTP process assigned it any random IP, regardless of what else might be under that IP.  I quickly unplugged the printer, and the press came back online.  In the end, I hooked the printer up to a more manageable HP JetDirect, and avoided any more IP conflicts.

The ironic part of this story?

A desk label printer this small :                                                Shut down a printing press this large :

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So what did I do instead? I got violent, because violence solves everything!  I banged my iPod against my shifter in my car three times and tired it again just to see if it worked, and by golly it turned on, no more sad face and my music was playing!**  I about shat my pants I was so excited!  Now granted, it froze up every once in a while and gave the sad iPod face again, but no worries, do the simple solution again and it works!  Now after about three years, it doesn’t freeze up anymore.  It may not work the first time, but keep trying and it will eventually.

After some investigation on to why this works, it turns out that in the older iPods there is a small connector cable that becomes loose from the hard drive through normal wear and tear.  You’re simply just knocking that cable back into place so the hard drive can be read properly.  I have had this same iPod for 5 years now, and it works wonderfully, and have not needed to buy a new one.  Nothing flashy with it either, it is the generation 4 iPod, right before it switched over to color and became more complicated.  Now, would I LIKE a new iPod? Sure, but I would only really want one if I didn’t purchase it, and it was atleast 20 gigs like the one I have now is.

So before you go out and spend a whole lot of cash on a new iPod because you think you’ve lost yours forever, try this and see if it works!  Any questions, comments, feel free to ask!

**Automaticable, Apple, and the poster are in no way liable or responsible for any and all damages caused to your iPod, Car, or self, or anything else when trying any and all “violent” techniques in hopes to remedy the sad iPod face from the MP3 player.  Reader and User try these techniques AT THEIR OWN RISK.

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I would like to make a habit out of posting Excel tips, so if this first installation seems rudimentary to you (it is Excel 101, after all), make sure you check back for more advanced tips over time. But don’t run off too fast, even Excel 101 might teach you a thing or two.

Although most features I will outline here will work in Excel 2003 and 2007, a few Excel tricks will be marked as one or the other. This doesn’t necessarily mean the tricks can only be done in 2007, but that it is much, much easier to do so in the newest version.

I have created a simple spreadsheet to help demonstrate the following Excel tricks:

• Automatically add subtotals (Excel 2003 & 2007) - If you have been manually summing columns with data broken out by day, month, region, or any other data type, you are about to save yourself a ton of time. Select all of your data, including your column headers, and go to the data tab at the top of your screen. In there you should see an option called Subtotal (this is in the “Outline” box in Excel 2007).

  

  Here I decided I wanted to sum the number of calls and sales I have made for every month. You can also choose other options, such as to count and average the selections.

  

  After you hit “OK” you will have new rows inserted in bold with subtotals already calculated.

• Use an outline to “wrap up” data (Excel 2003 & 2007) – Now that we’ve created subtotals and saved ourselves a ton of time, it would be a shame to waste even more time scrolling up and down our spreadsheet trying to find those subtotals. Maybe you noticed after you subtotaled your data that a new column appeared on the left hand side of your screen with a 1, 2, and 3 in boxes. This is called an outline and can be used to “wrap up” data at the click of a button. Hit the “2″ box, and your spreadsheet will roll up, only showing the new subtotals you have created.

  

  Hit the “3″ to show all of your information again.

• Use Conditional Formatting to enhance your data (Excel 2007 only) – This tip is marked 2007 only, though it is possible to recreate almost all conditional formatting in 2003 if you know intermediate and advanced Excel commands. On the Home tab, there is a button in the Styles section called conditional formatting.

  

  If you click there you will see options called Highlight Cell Rules, Data Bars, Icon Sets and more. Here I have selected Color Scales that will show which months are good (green) and which are bad (red) as far as sales go.

  

  You can apply many different rule sets to excel sheets. If you have multiple conditional formatting rules you would like to apply, make sure to use the “Manage Rules” option at the bottom of the Conditional Formatting menu to set priorities and to create more advanced formatting rules.

• Automatically Format as a Table & Make it Presentable (Excel 2007, though possible in Excel 2003) – If you need to share this data with your boss or a client, you probably want the data not only easy to read, but attractive as well. Excel 2007 has made it simple to do just that. After you’ve added subtotals to your data and everything is where it needs to be, select the data you have been working with. Right next to the Conditional Formatting button you will find the Format as a Table button.

  

  Here you will find a huge list of or styles and colors, from light to dark, that will automatically format your data so it looks presentable. But this isn’t all the Format as a Table option does. After you create your table, a new Tab at the top of your screen will be created called “Design.”

  

  Under here you can easily darken, bold, or highlight certain rows or columns, add a grand total row at the bottom, as well as work with a number of other options. You will also notice, now that you have a table, that each of your headers has a new drop-down list of ways to sort the data. Convenient, huh?

  

I think that is enough Excel learning for one day. If this is all new to you, you have a lot more to play with. Have fun with the conditional formatting and the table formats, as there is a huge list of options available to you.

Keep checking back for more installments of Excel 101 and eventually we will start moving on to more advanced topics.

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• Opening the windows. Apparently being a bit cold is supposed to trigger sleep functions in our brain. I always sleep with the windows open, so this didn’t help.
• Work out sooner/later than normal. Some people say you shouldn’t work out right before bed, some think it wears you out so you sleep better. I find neither to be helpful.
• While laying in bed, tense up the muscles in your body. Tensing the muscles releases something that is supposed to physically calm you. Again, no luck here.
• Count sheep. It isn’t a rare occasion when 1000+ sheep have jumped over my fence. Actually, most of the time I get to about 100 and then my mind wanders elsewhere so I have to start all over. Hrm.
• Think about relaxing different parts of your body, one at a time. This sometimes helps a bit, but only after I’ve been laying in bed for at least an hour, so I don’t consider this a solution.
• Take time before you go to sleep to think about everything on your mind so you do not stress over it while you are trying to fall asleep. What I think about while trying to fall asleep is the most random string of thoughts imaginable. It seems impossible to clear my mind.

The list is longer, but I think you get the idea. I’m not sure what to do here, and my lack of good sleep is starting to add up. I am against the idea of taking any kind of sleeping pills or putting any other kind of relaxants (see: alcohol) into my body to help me sleep. Even if they aren’t physically habit-forming, I know I will not be able to sleep without them if I feel they are my only solution.

So, helpful readers of automaticable, do you have any suggestions for me? Have you had sleeping problems that you were able to solve? What are your creative ways of calming your mind and body so you can sleep during the nights?

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