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Rajalary

~ The adventures of Richard and Julie Lary

Rajalary

Category Archives: Computers and Internet

Re-inventing scribbles

05 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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In the early 90’s, I worked at Tektronix (oscilloscopes and other test equipment) for a non-conventional manager who insisted everyone use an Apple Computer. This was a time when primarily designers, creative professionals, and schools were using Apples. I was thrilled with my compact Macintoshwith its built-in screen, hard disk drive, and carrying case.

It was portal, easy-to-use, and best of all, had an intuitive graphical user interface. It was the latter that planted the idea I could become a writer/graphic artist/marketer extraordinaire. scribbles writing

A few years later, I started scribbles, witha considerably larger Macintosh, outrageously expensive ink jet printer, and software from my then boyfriend who owned a printing company, which employed graphic artists and typographers using Macintoshes. My first jobs were laying out data sheets for Tektronix and other high-technology companies, along with drawing technical illustrations using Freehand.

While I eventually returned to  the corporate world, I always longed to return to producing marketing communications from conception through writing, design, and printing (or more commonly, posting online).

This morning, I recreated the scribbles logo. It’s a bit more ornate than the original, and more cyan than marine blue, but it still conveys my tagline, “Adding color and eloquence.” Tomorrow, I’ll work on getting my Washington business license, and design a website.

Now all I need is clients… hint, hint!

03 Tuesday May 2011

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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Had a great day at the Microsoft Social Media Summit. There are so many places to connect with people from LinkedIn to Facebook, but I prefer Rajalary!

I Migrated!

06 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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My greatest fear was Microsoft phasing out Spaces and my blog Rajalary. With Spaces losing functionality in the past year, my fears increased daily. I had no idea how I was going to migrate nearly four years worth of posts and pictures.

I started to investigate alternative blog site, and WordPress always seemed the best option.

And then the day came… a note from Microsoft that I should migrate my site to WordPress. I followed the instructions, pushed the buttons, crossed my fingers, hyperventilated… prayed… and then voila! It’s happened!

Magic!

Rajalary is on WordPress. I have a lot to learn about the WordPress freatures, but I’m deeply relieved that my writings are safe and sound on a great platform!

Lunacy at Safeco Field

16 Sunday Sep 2007

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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Two weeks ago, I attended the Microsoft annual company meeting. I wasn’t planning to attend, but curiosity got the best of me after reading the questions and answers about the event. One of the questions asked, “Will there be loud music?”

“At a company meeting,” I mused.

The answer was “yes.”

The event was held at the home of the Mariners, Safeco Field, a dramatic 47,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof and plenty of room for over 17,000 employees, which were transported there by dozens of commercial buses along with thousands of their own cars and Vanpools. I opted for a comfy seat on a bus.

Unfortunately, the plethora of cars and buses converging on Safeco Field resulted in a horrific traffic jam and my office mate and I arrived an hour late… just in time to loud cheers and clapping as Bill Gates walked onto the stage.

After grabbing a box lunch, we rushed to our seats with the Microsoft Learning group. On the field was a huge stage with two JumboTrons and banks of lights and speakers. In front of the stage were rows of chairs. Our seats were on the first level. Above us were two more levels, packed with employees.

For the most part, everyone was grouped by division with some groups equipped with colored clappers, flashing buttons, matching coats, hats and scarves, Hawaiian shirts, and other distinguishing gizmos. Whenever their group was mentioned, they’d scream. The loudest group was Microsoft Live who were gung-ho about announcing the beta version of a new search engine.

Word-on- the-street was that it was the final year for Bill Gates to speak at company meetings. He spoke for at least half an hour… I was too overwhelmed by the event to remember a word of what he said. Although, I do recall, early in his speech, there was a few second episode of feedback that contributed to everyone’s hearing loss. Gates, not skipped a beat commented that the feedback was necessary to wake up someone that was spotted sleeping.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he quietly warned.

Also on the stage, several times, was Steve Balmer, who was fairly calm until the very end of the meeting, which started at 11 a.m. and lasted until after 5 p.m. The opposite of Gates, Balmer bounces off the walls. He runs up-and-down the rows of employees shaking their hands. He screams at the top of his lungs and says whatever is on his mind. He’s the fire that ignites employees. The perpetual cheerleader. The nuclear reactor that powers the innovation, the marketing prowess, and the engineering excellence of Microsoft.

Astonishing was the software, products and services being developed by Microsoft from games to mobile devices, software servers that power the world’s websites, factories, financial systems, web-based services, and everything in-between.

What stuck in my mind was an application that enables users to perform various tasks by tapping or moving around icons that appear on a tabletop. For instance, Bill Gates placed his credit card on a virtual box that appeared on the table. In the opposite corner, he placed a Zune. In the center of the table was a selection of virtual CDs. Bill was able to “open” the CDs, select a song then drag it into the Zune. The cost of the song was automatically subtracted from his credit card. And the next time he turned on his Zune, the song would automatically be in the playlist.

This tabletop concept was applicable was a variety of industries, including restaurants. Patrons could peruse the virtual menu that appears on the table. In a hotel, customers could use the menu on the table in their room to order room service, select movies to play on their TV and review the various services offered by the hotel, like dry cleaning, location of the work-out room, and so much more. Cool!

None of my blog entries would be complete without mentioning food. Microsoft had available 17,000+ box lunches for employees to grab and eat during the event. Mine contained a scrumptious turkey sandwich with a little container of spicy orzo salad, bag of cut-up apples, kettle chips, macadam nut cookie, and bottle of vitamin water. There were also roast beef, vegetarian, halal and kosher box lunches.

My Second Life Interview

18 Friday May 2007

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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As readers have probably surmised, I’m flunking out at Microsoft. I’ve applied for around 50 positions on Monster, LinkedIn and the Microsoft site; located several people within Microsoft who were willing to route my resume to various marketing professionals; written to several recruiters on LinkedIn; submitted lengthy answers to questions that recruiters have posed;, and even had a three phone interviews. Strike two.
 
Knowing I had nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain, I signed up for virtual interview with Microsoft on Second Life. A week before, I created my avatar and started to do the tutorials in preparation for the interview. The evening of the interview, I felt somewhat ready; although, I felt my attire, especially my hair, could have been better along with my navigation skills.
 
Sure enough, I awkwardly navigated to the island where the interviews were being held and raced up the stairs and took a seat in the conference room before the recruiter. Because you have to type your responses – quickly – it’s easy to make mistakes and what would take seconds to speak, takes minutes to type. Within a few minutes, I set myself up for failure by typing that I’d started my MBA, many years ago. Even though I was able to transition to another subject, the recruiter kept coming back to my MBA.
 
Nervous and unable to come up with a quick response, I typed a bunch of gibberish. I could hear the recruiter noting, "Next candidate."
 
Near tears, I ended the interview as gracefully as I could. That evening, I sent a note to the recruiter, elaborating on my answers and providing additional information about my expertise. The next day, she sent what appeared to be a form email asking me to comment on my Second Life interview experience in her blog. I wrote a few humorous paragraphs about it being an enjoyable experience and how I neglected to shake her hand at the end… don’t even know if that’s possible in Second Life. Strike three.
 
Even worse, I mentioned to a friend the name of my avatar – Puttanesca Capalini. He said the puttanesca means "whore’s pasta." A quick peak at Wikipedia confirmed that my being clever choosing the name of my favorite pasta sauce to meld with the given last name "Capalini" was a dumb idea.

Gotta’ Post My Website

23 Monday Apr 2007

Posted by rajalary in Computers and Internet

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Last year, I spent many months creating a web site to house Austin Adventures (the newsletter that I started writing in 2002), photographs from our travels, and samples of the marcom I’ve produced for a plethora of companies. It was created using Microsoft FrontPage and was going to be hosted on Rich’s Linux server.
 
Realizing he didn’t have the correct software to host my site and knowing it was going to be "hassle," Rich recommended in January that I find a web hosting company. Convinced that what looked good on my monitor would turn into gibberish once pushed live, I procrastinated.
 
I’m now back to square one. I’m trying to apply for jobs that require strong communication skills. Instead of sending possible employers to a web site to see my work, I only have this text-heavy blog site.
 
Tonight, I came up with the bright idea of posting sample of my work. As you can see in the first album to the right, they look dreadful. Dreadful! Which means, I better work up the courage to find a web hosting company, push the site live and make changes to text and design elements that turn to mush?
 
If you’re reading this blog, please write a comment admonishing my cowardliness and the ridiculous notion that I can place samples of my work on a blog site! Thanks!

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