Bam!
It’s pretty hard to get excited about hard drives. Magnetic media’s most reliable trick is that it keeps getting bigger; solid state on the other hand is obliterating every bench mark out there, but remains expensive per gigabyte. Fortunately, something has come along to fill the gap.
Seagate’s Momentus XT is awesome and we’ve got some.
Showdown
A week or two ago we were told not to come to work during G20 summit: the shop and most of the campus would be closed those days due to our close proximity to the protests scheduled at Queen’s Park. This seemed strange at first. Protests in Toronto are regular enough after all, and if organized well, usually peaceful. Granted, something polarizing like the G20 is probably going to draw a larger crowd, but surely–
I’m not sure that the over-the-top security measures are really in step with reality. Maybe a month from now I’ll be eating those words, but right now it looks like they’re expecting a city-wide riot. What’s more terrifying: the idea of local law enforcement gearing up for a small war, or the possibility that it might all be necessary? Or maybe it’s self-perpetuating, I don’t know. The rhetoric from Star and Globe commenters is wearing thin too, though this is true for most stories (conspiracy theorists are particularly well-represented on G20 stories).
Above all the noise of dissenting opinions, I just hope the G20 passes uneventfully. Peaceful protests are one of those things that make Canada great; the right to yell through a megaphone without fear of arrest or martial law is something not all nations enjoy. I think it loses some of its relevance though once you see people being carried away on stretchers; does the us versus them mentality begin to upstage the actual issues? It’s not a rhetorical question, I really don’t know.
Employment 2.0: Business Owner
So this is weird. I own one third of a business.
Back in June of 2009, the repair shop that had employed me for the better part of nine years folded. For some this was good news, for some this was expected, and for the formerly employed this was very sudden (we had in fact just hired a new technician when the news hit). Repair shops tend to have a very polarized client base: some love you, some hate you, and both are usually deserved at some point. Still, myself and the core group of technicians tried our best to make it the most kick-ass Mac repair shop in Toronto, and while there were certainly challenges to overcome (that’s putting it politely), I feel like we succeeded to a degree. Diagnosed by the next business day? Check. Earn Apple’s Top 5% plaque? Check. Make every single person happy?
Well, there’s the point about a very polarized client base, but the number of happy people well outstripped the the unhappy. I never wanted to work in the sort of service centres they portray on TV or in Dilbert comics, or god forbid the actual real life service centres they’re satirizing. You’ve probably seen these, where workers and customers are bitter enemies struggling for dominion and witty remarks. No, we wanted to be awesome. The service industry is unforgiving, so believe me when I say that life is much more pleasant when you’re sending people home happy rather than cursing your name.
So as you can imagine, not being employed put a bit of a kink in things — but we got better.
This week, myself and two colleagues became self-employed. We opened our Mac repair business in the University of Toronto’s Campus Computer Shop inside the downtown Koffler Centre, taking over the repair operations from the former staff. Our philosophy is the same as ever: be awesome, make people happy. As expected, there will be hiccups as we get going, but so far we’re pretty happy with the first few days. So, tell all your friends, and even a few strangers! Despite the shop’s name, our scope is not limited to U of T students and faculty, so anyone at all is welcome to drop off their grievances with us. Ideally you’ll get something nicer back.
