You didn't notice thousands of dollars of unexpected transactions on your bank statements? How rich are you?

That's how I picture Americans - if there's something you don't like, shoot it. ;)

@thanksajdotcom said:

"I understand 2014/2015 doesn't look good, but I was born into a religious cult and this was the period during which I escaped. I am now trying to put my life back together." It seems like a sound idea. Thoughts?

I don't like that. I'd never mention "religious cult" in any job application. I also don't like the term "trying to put my life back together", as that implies your life isn't currently together. It might be true, but surely you want to give the impression that the past is the past and you are now completely over it and perfect?

"Travel and personal development" is better. I'm not convinced by it, but something bland along those lines is definitely the right approach IMV.

Came across this shop whilst on holiday in Shropshire earlier this week and thought of this thread:

@ajstringham said:

I had watched his house for him while he was out-of-state

QA=Quality Assurance

I still can't believe how much you slag off your employer on a public forum (and on your blog). I think it's only a matter of time before you get caught and fired.

Dear Carnival Boy

I've used up all of my 5GB iCloud storage. My phone is full of work photos that I need backing up. Please resolve.

Regards

A. User

AFAIK, there is no corporate iCloud option, is there? So my options are:

1. Logon on to his iCloud account and use a company credit card to buy an annual iCloud plan for his personal use.
2. Get him to do it, using his own credit card, and reclaim on expenses.
3. Use an alternative backup system.

On my own phone, I've tried using OneDrive to backup my photos. It started ok. Then hung. Now the app just crashes everytime I open it. Par for the course, with Microsoft apps. I need something reliable, that works in the background.

I'm thinking about using Google Drive. Any good?

The problem is, iCloud is very good. It's reliable and I like the fact that when their phone breaks, I can just restore from iCloud onto their new device and they're away.

Advice please.

A member of my IT tech support team is moving to another part of the country. Rather than losing him, I'm hoping to let him work remotely, with the occasional on-site visit if required (maybe once or twice a month).

Although my company has lots of home and remote workers already, this is the first time I'll have managed one. Do you have any tips on how to make the arrangement as productive and pleasant as possible, in terms of how to manage him, what tools to use to communicate with him (eg slack), and how to keep him motivated and feeling part of the team. I know a number of you work from home, and some of you manage staff remotely (eg @Minion-Queen )

I'm looking forward to it as it'll give us a chance to really utilise a few online tools like Slack, Trello etc etc that are currently under-used because the team is sitting directly opposite each other and so often finds it easier to just open their mouths and talk.

@scottalanmiller said:

People ask me before using them and they don't even need to do that because I license them for certain use.

< considers where to post picture of @scottalanmiller in his pink, fluffy unicorn costume >

One thing I would like to do is have 6 weeks summer holiday when my kids are off and go travelling. But my company doesn't really like anyone taking more than 2 weeks off in a row, and we only have 5 weeks in total for the year.

When I was a kid, my dad was a University lecturer, so had 2 months over summer, and we'd travel round Europe for 4 or 5 weeks every year. Time of my life. Although he seemed to find both the cost and his annoying kids fairly stressful at times....

@scottalanmiller Nice. Have fun.

@scottalanmiller where are you moving to?

I'm no expert but "Ergonomic Keyboard" has always seems a bit gimmicky to me. Is there genuine science behind the designs? There probably is.

I think the most important thing is to use a wrist rest to lift her wrists higher up. If she hasn't got one already, I'd just get one of those initially.

Again, I'm no expert, but I wonder if wrist pain can be caused by general desk posture - does having the right chair at the right height have an impact? Is she taking sufficient breaks. Or is she hunched over in a bad posture typing away for hours at a time?

I dunno, I just wonder if these ergonomic keyboard were designed by health professionals or marketing teams.

But I'm a big fan of gel wrist rests. They're also great for whacking people over the head.

@hobbit666 bit messy there? :) Wouldn't be allowed in our house (by my wife) or office (by my boss).

@scottalanmiller Love it. Noisy though.

Humans work better in teams and teams work better face to face rather than remote. I'm pretty sure this is a fact.

I agree with Google. Do people need to be in the office every day? Of course not. Is it better if they live within commuting distance of the office and go in regularly? I'm sure it is.

@JaredBusch said in Yet another way Azure sucks:

Ah, here we go, it made a group and that lets you delete everything.

So you started a thread titled "Azure sucks" based on the fact that you just didn't really know how to use it properly?

What do you mean they "hid" the known vulnerability?

@Dashrender said in What Are You Drinking:

But if you're willing to splurg, laphroaig 18 is fracking awesome! Got it as a gift from one of my bosses.

That's a very generous gift. They don't make it anymore, but even if they did it would be out of my budget. Ten year old is about as much as I can generally afford.

Started to take my whisky drinking a bit more serious this year. It's an expensive hobby, but I'm avoiding the good stuff and focussing on the cheaper (but hopefully still good) end of the market. We've bought about 25 bottles and are making our way through them, trying to decide what are favourites are. It's a good hobby for lockdown!

Mostly Scottish single malts, but I'm also trying to up my bourbon game, as bourbon is probably my favourite drink. I've always drank Jim Beam, mostly because it is very cheap here in the UK, but I've got some Bulleit, Wild Turkey, Woodford and Maker's Mark. Again, only the cheap stuff, but they are a bit nicer than Jim Beam. Any recommendations always appreciated.

I was also amazed to read recently that there's a US law preventing casks from being used more than once. A law brought in as a result of lobbying by the coopers' unions. And also that casks are generally made from oak that is between 150 and 200 years old. That's a very old tree to be cut down and used once! So, US bourbon casks are used once and then shipped to Britain where they used over and over again by our distillers. Something like 80% of Scotch whisky is stored in bourbon casks, the rest in sherry casks. Thanks for all the wood!