If you use Dropbox, you’re probably already a huge fan of their great file syncing service.  I love how I can just sit down at my desk at the office and all those files I worked on at home the night before are just magically there on my MacBook Pro at the office.  At the end of the day, I just head out and leave my computer at the office knowing that if I need something from home, it’s right there.  Not to mention that I could lose any or all of my computers and my files are safe on the Dropbox servers.  As a bonus, there are mobile apps so you can get to files from  iPhone, iPad, and Android devices too.

This works really great and I’ve been using this service for a while.  However, I have a bad habit of saving files on the Desktop and forget to file them away into the Dropbox folders. Up until now, those files haven’t been accessible on other computers, nor backed up.  The fix takes about 1 minute!  Here’s how:

Just open Terminal.app and type in the following command:

From then on — you’ll have all of the files from your desktop available in your Dropbox folder.  Just remember not to leave any HUGE files lying around on your desktop or you’ll fill up your space on Dropbox.

You’ll also want to run that same command on any other Macs that you want to sync the desktop.  Of course, give the folder a different name for each Mac.

Windows people:  Apparently you can do this, too — carefully.  Here is a link that might help.  I haven’t tested this on Windows, but it looks like it would work.

Lou Moore was a good friend and mentor to me during my days at PSCU-FS.  He’s since passed away, but it’s rarely a day that goes by that I don’t think of Lou or the things he taught me.  Funny, I didn’t really see him as a mentor at the time — but that’s exactly what he was.

Today, I heard the Beatles tune “Ticket to Ride” and it made me think of the many many times I had heard him joyfully call out “She’s got a ticket to ride, bayyybeeeeee.”

In the IT department, everyone had a “y” or “ie” tacked onto their name, and Louie was no exception.  He often had a gruff countenance and you REALLY didn’t want to interrupt him when he was in the middle of something, but if you would just stand there — once he’d solved the “bug,” he’d take off his glasses, look at you with a twinkle in his eye, and ask:  ”What do ya need, kid?”

Louie’s job was to run the data center and keep all the computers running 24x7x365 in the 65 degree meat locker.  In the beginning, my job was Network Engineer, and frequently I had to go into the computer room where all the networking equipment was housed.  Louie had a nice office in the “normal” part of the office, and his Computer Operators worked inside the frigid and loud computer room.  However, Louie was typically found in the computer room himself, locked deep in combat with the FileNet imaging and workflow system which ran in AIX on an IBM RS/6000.

Much of Lou’s management style was based around his experience in the Army — and name for his “School” came from his days in the military while stationed in Germany during the 70′s.  Louie’s guys — the ones that made it — were fiercely loyal to him, regardless of the flack they took when they screwed something up that he’d already taught them.  ”School of Jeeps” was so much common sense — and that’s exactly what he kept trying to tell us.  Looking back, I wish I had paid more attention, because the lessons that he taught me about how to act, and how to do the right thing have proven to be extremely valuable in the years since.  The “School of Jeeps” was really just a loose framework of lessons that were taught by Louie and his more senior operators as they came on board.  The freshest recruit even carried around a keychain with the word “Jeep” to remind them to not get too big for their britches, and to listen up and learn.

So here are my notes — as best I could remember them.  If you knew Lou, and remember more of them, or would like to add a story to this page, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to add it.

Lou Moore’s School of Jeeps

• When you don’t know the answer, don’t try to make something up.
• “Take your lumps” – When you screw up, admit it.
• If you did something that broke something, admit it — It’ll make it faster for us all to get the “bug” fixed.
• “Tick and Tie” – Watch the details
• Don’t blindside the boss.
• Don’t be a suck-up.  (or a suck-pump, to be specific)
• When you are new, (a jeep) pay your dues… (Starting title or salary doesn’t exclude you from this rule)
• Don’t point your finger at someone else, fix the bug.
• Don’t just say what people want to hear.
• Know when to shut up.
• Don’t A.S.S.U.M.E. — you know what happens next.

Well, now that I’ve met my deadline and actually launched the FreshFuture website — I can finally share my spiffy new business cards.  They were printed by my favorite printer — uvcards.com — and as usual they did a great job, at a great price, very quickly!

That’s what my mom used to ask me whenever I said something she didn’t think was very nice.  Luckily, she could tell that I didn’t (usually) mean anything bad by what I was saying, because she could read my body language and could read my mood, and… well, because she’s my mom.

However, now that social media and other text-based communications are becoming vital to success, it’s important to make sure to get the tone and other etiquette right.

For example, did you know that responding with a simple “ok” in an email, instant message, or text message can sometimes sound too short or even curt?  That’s why a lot of people respond with “k” so the person on the other end knows that it’s more light-hearted and it’s just a quick positive acknowledgement.  This one letter difference  may seem like it’s not a big deal, but imagine all the other messages that are being misread in social media streams.

Here are the rules that I try to live by with my social media postings:

• Maintain a friendly tone, and be as positive as possible.  Don’t sugar-coat things, but there’s no need to be a Negative Nelly or Debbie Downer.
• For every post – consider how it fosters respect and might influence someone’s decision to interact with us and (gasp) buy our services.
• For every post – make sure it reflects our culture and values.
• It should go without saying, but make sure it’s tasteful.
• Transparency is good — telling the truth, even in a difficult situation goes a long way toward people being lenient and even forgiving.

Examples:

• Our servers are down and we are working hard to getting them back up – stay tuned here. (shows honesty and conscientiousness)
• We kinda screwed that one thing up – do you have ideas?  (this is humble, and solicits feedback)

• Watch your tone – each author should add their own persona to the overall feeling of the social media stream, but in general, it should sound like how a real person talks and avoid tech or business mumbo jumbo.  Do all of that while still using good grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Go easy on the sales talk — think about how you recoil when you are SOLD to – people that find their way to your blog post / tweet / facebook page are plenty smart enough to figure out that you are in the business to make money and when they need something that you have, they will know about you and hand over their money.

k?

Until one is committed,
there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative
(and creation)
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which
kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one
definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
A whole stream of events issues
from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner
of unforeseen incidents,
meetings and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamt
would have come his way.”

~ W.H. MURRAY