Roger Key (blogs)

NAVSHIPS 93218 Radiac Set AN/PDR-27J Manual

Roger Key — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:08:00 GMT

I just got a pdf of this cool manual listed at payloadz.

Check it out there. http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=242944

Great Free Services

Roger Key — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:34:00 GMT

This is really cool, and I've been using it for an alarm clock for some time now. It is free for limited use, and works very reliably.

See for yourself! Works great for that reminder at work before an important meeting, and is easier than setting an alarm on a cell phone.

http://wakerupper.com/

Excel Workbook Calculates Hours from Timecard Data

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:48:00 GMT

3/20/09 UPDATE: This will now accept input without typing the colon in the time format.

When we started our catering business, I was frustrated with trying to calculate hours worked by employees based on the times on the timecards. Rounding off to the nearest 15 minutes didn't seem fair to me, so I assembled an Excel workbook (a set of 6 connected spreadsheets) in a single file. I've been using it for a couple of years now, and have added features as I saw a need for them.

Features of the current version include:

First tab - Employee Data

Name
Address
Rate per Hour
Overtime Multiplier (default is 1.5 but you can change it)

Second tab - Timecard Data

Timecard Data should be entered on this page, as shown on the timecards, for up to a two week pay period.
Employee Names are automatically filled in from the first tab.
Start Day should be entered here - ALL other dates are calculated automatically based on the start day. The start day must be a Monday in the current version, but I could customize that for you.
Lunch period durations are calculated and displayed for each day.
Time In, Out/In for Lunch period, then Time Out for the day. Additional work periods in the same day are customizable at additional cost.

Third and Fourth tabs summarize times organized by employee for each week.

Hours:Minutes worked are totaled for each employee each day.
Total hours worked are calculated for the week
Rate per Hour is read from the first tab, and used to calculate a "gross pay" dollar amount for the week, accounting for overtime hours and the overtime multiplier.
Overtime is calculated, based on any hours worked in excess of 8 hours in a single day.
Total Payroll dollar amount is calculated based on hours and rate.

Fifth Tab - summarizes all weekly totals

Sixth Tab - provides a convenient summary formatted specifically to send as a fax to your accountant or payroll service, such as PayChex, ADP, Bank of America, etc.

If this interests you, give it a try! See it in action! Here is a youtube demo of the full new version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW2xlf0eyb0

Download your sample:

I wanted to make this sample free, but PayLoadz won't process a zero amount transaction. The cost for the sample is one cent, all of which will go to PayPal fees. I'll try to put a completely free sample up soon. I'm also working on a working sample of the new version 2.0.

Price: $0.01 for the Sample

Price: $49.95 for the full Workbook, including customization. THIS IS THE NEW VERSION 2.0 that does not need the colon in the time entry. THIS SAVES SO MUCH TIME! You will receive my phone number when you purchase, so we can talk about what features you would like to customize.

Yes, you CAN write ....

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:44:00 GMT

This is a great place to find some encouragement. Take a look:

http://www.customwritten.com/custom-research-paper.html

USB Drive Letter Assignment and Automatic Backup

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:41:00 GMT

Original Source:
http://www.2brightsparks.com/help/modules/KB/html.php?category=3

As described on the above site, it didn't work for me, so I've modified the following to reflect what did work for me.

Assigning a permanent drive letter to an external USB drive / flash drive / memory stick in Windows XP

Introduction

If you'd like Windows to use the same drive letter every time follow these steps:

- Start (point at "my computer" and right click
- Select "Manage"
- Expand the item Computer Management (Local) on the left (under Console Root)
- Expand (if needed) the item Storage then click on the Disk Management item
- When the window fills on the right side of the console, locate your USB drive in the listing on the lower right scrollable box.
- Right-click on the drives box and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...from the pop-up menu
- Here is where you either assign it an unused drive letter or edit the currently assigned drive letter.
- From the Window that appears, you can choose the drive letter to use. Click OK once you've added/changed the drive letter.
- Select File -> Exit from the main menu, and save the settings when prompted (or not, it doesn't matter) or simply close the window.

You can test the changes by removing the USB device and checking in Explorer to be sure it is no longer available, then plug it back in and the newly assigned drive letter should now be present (F5 to refresh display).

When the USB drive is plugged in, I see that _sometimes_ it just assigns the next drive letter - but _usually_ it gets the drive letter assigned by this method. If it didn't get the desired drive letter, I simply unplug it and plug it back in.

Free Books and Free Audiobooks

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:40:00 GMT

This is great - check these sites out:

Manybooks.net

and

Librivox.org

Graph Your Data Online

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:37:00 GMT

Very cool:

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/line.asp

Grand Central - Ring Several Phones Simultaneously!

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:33:00 GMT

Original post back in January of 2007 - Grand Central has since been snapped up by Google and looks like it has great potential!

This has got to be one of the coolest innovations I've seen - Grand Central will call the phones you define and take voice mail for you. When I'm in my office, my cell phone gets a very weak signal, so I'm often telling people to call me back on my land line. With Grand Central, it will call both lines at the same time, and I can choose which to answer. Nobody but me answers my land line at work, so this is ideal! No more dropped calls from the cell when in my office.

I just love this because the Sprint or Nextel call forwarding feature costs 20 cents per minute for forwarded calls. Can you believe 20 c/min? for every minute?! the call lasts when forwarded!@! We had Verizon before, and thought they were bad, but Sprint really takes the cake - at least Verizon phone support was reasonable - every time I've called Sprint, they take forever to get to the point, and havn't been able to help get their own phones included in our shared plan.

We'll never use Sprint again!

How does a router protect you?

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:32:00 GMT

Here is a great tutorial:

Gibson Research Corperation on NAT Routers

Keep your PC running smoothly

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:49:00 GMT

Here is a short list of things to do that will keep you and your PC happy for a long time (with the first assumption that you are keeping the OS and programs updated with Microsoft Update):

Do these weekly:

Clear your cache's (run CCleaner, or "disk cleanup")
Defragment your drives
Run a virus scan
Scan for Spyware/Malware
Incremental Backup (or do this one more often)
Backup your emails

Do these things once a month or so:

First, Clean the cache, Defrag, Scan for viruses and spyware,
Then, do a full backup
Now you're ready for some heavy lifting: Remove unused programs in the control panel
update system drivers
run scan disk
clean your fans (vacuum out the box)

Then, once a year or so:

update the BIOS
re-install windows as needed to get things REALLY clean (or just re-image with a program like Norton Ghost or my favorite, CloneZilla)

My Favorite Places on the Web

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:47:00 GMT

Link - Astronomy Picture of the Day

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Today's Quote

Roger Key — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:41:00 GMT

"If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; . . . If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same . . . Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it." -- (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling