If you ever work for me, and I hear one of the following excuses, you’re fired.

50 Reasons Why We / It / They Can’t Change

1. We’ve never done it before.
2. Nobody else has ever done it.
3. It has never been tried before.
4. We tried it before.
5. Another company/person tried it before.
6. We’ve been doing it this way for 25 years.
7. It won’t work in a small company.
8. It won’t work in a large company.
9. It won’t work in our company.
10. Why change — it’s working OK.
11. The boss will never buy it.
12. It needs further investigation.
13. Our competitors are not doing it.
14. It’s too much trouble to change.
15. Our company is different.
16. The ad department says it can’t be done.
17. Sales department says it can’t be done.
18. The service department won’t like it.
19. The janitor says it can’t be done.
20. It can’t be done.
21. We don’t have the money.
22. We don’t have the personnel.
23. We don’t have the equipment.
24. The union will scream.
25. It’s too visionary.
26. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
27. It’s too radical a change.
28. It’s beyond my responsibility.
29. It’s not my job.
30. We don’t have the time.
31. It will obsolete other procedures.
32. Customers won’t buy it.
33. It’s contrary to policy.
34. It will increase overhead.
35. The employees will never buy it.
36. It’s not our problem.
37. I don’t like it.
38. You’re right, but ….
39. We’re not ready for it.
40. It needs more thought.
41. Management won’t accept it.
42. We can’t take the chance.
43. We’d lose money on it.
44. It takes too long to pay out.
45. We’re doing all right as it is.
46. It needs committee study.
47. Competition won’t like it.
48. It needs sleeping on.
49. It won’t work in this department.
50. It’s impossible.

E.F. Borish
Product Manager
Milwaukee Gear Company
Product Engineering Magazine, July 20, 1959

Ok, I’m about to go on and on about how much I love the Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multifunction Center with Wireless Interface and Duplex, but before this turns into a giant love fest, let’s start with the bad news. Software installation is a bit of a nightmare.

Software Installation

I installed the printer to work on three different Windows machines and one MacBook laptop. The MacBook installation went best, but not without issues. However, the Windows installations were all three a nightmare.

On two laptops the installation completed successfully and during the setup I was able to see the printer and select it. The problem is, even though the software can easily and routinely find the printer… it could never connect to it using the printer name. I had to go in and manually configure the printer port to use the printer’s IP address. This was the case regardless of if I used the wired Ethernet or WiFi to connect the printer to the network.

On the desktop Windows machine, the install failed mid-way through and gave a cryptic error message that was less than helpful. I had to fully uninstall the software, and then I had to use an almost unnoticeable setting in the install CD to “repair” the installation. It at least allowed me to get the software installed, though I still had to make the manual modifications to the settings.

By the time I had wasted about 3 hours on the machine I was able to use all of the printer and scanner functionality except one thing. The machine has a “Scan to…” function which allows you to walk up to it, put in a document, and from the menu on the printer choose to scan the document and send it to one of your configured computers. I was able to get this to work on the Mac with no problem, but could not make it work on any of the Windows machines no matter what I tried.

If I compare this software installation process to the Canon multi-function printer’s software, I’d give this one a “D-”. It works… kind of. And only if you are a power user who is really good at solving networking problems.

Hardware Installation

Ok. Things start getting better here. With the exception of the fact that this printer is about 80 pounds, physically setting it up is actually pretty easy. You unbox it, put it where you want, and plug it in for power, and optionally ethernet or USB. Personally, I recommend the Ethernet route over the wireless, because wireless configuration can be a tad finicky at times.

Adding the toner cartridges is as simple, or more, than other color lasers. Open the front door, slide the tray out and insert the various color. You’re done! The only bad news is, the cartridges that come with it don’t seem to last very long. Either that, or I was doing a lot more printing than I thought I was doing!

Print Speed

You know, they claim that this printer can do 21ppm in either color or black and white. Guess what. They aren’t lying! I kid you not, this sucker is so fast you can print hundreds of pages in minutes! I LOVE it! Now, if you try and print them two sided, it will really slow things down because of the changing mechanism.

But then again, if you had to print a lot of two sided printouts of the same thing you could always feed the paper through on side one first, then on side two for a second pass.

Print Quality

The black and white text is fantastic. And in general, color printing is quite good. However, this laser doesn’t seem up to the task of printing realistic photo quality prints. I’m not complaining because I’ve never seen a color laser printer print a photo I like. Inkjets are far better at this task, or if you really want to do it right, get a dye sublimation printer like a Xerox Phaser. Solid wax printing is truly amazing!

Scanning

One thing that I really love about this machine is that it makes a great scanner. Everyone in the household can share it because it works right through the wired or wireless network. It has an auto page feeder, and will scan stacks of documents that are either one sided or two sided. It’s quite fast, and the scan quality is excellent!

Copying

Yes. It makes copies. Black and white, color, whatever! It will do them one sided or two. And it will enlarge or reduce things if you want it to as well.

Faxing

Faxing? Um. This is 2009. I don’t do faxes. But I’m sure it works. You can probably use it for that right after you answer your pager.

Summary

Yes, you should buy this machine! If you can in any way afford it, it will spoil you rotten and you won’t want another machine for years! That is all. Buy it. Now.

What are you waiting for?…

This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure of hosting the WordCamp Dallas event. I got to see a lot of people I met last year, as well as plenty of new faces. And it was a wonderful experience! Unfortunately, this weekend was also marred by a silent struggle in our family as we were forced to watch one of our two beloved dogs suffer the agony associated with the end of a prolonged battle with kidney failure.

Sandy was a Greyhound mix who we adopted more than ten years ago. My wife and I were walking through the mall on a Saturday afternoon, and the SPCA had a small booth with a few dogs who needed a home. When I spotted Sandy laying on the floor I thought she was an absolutely beautiful dog. I walked over and knelt down to pet her, and when she saw me she stood up, stepped toward me and put her head right up to my chest as if she knew and trusted me all her life.
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I don’t have a lot of information on this video’s background except that I believe the building in question is located in Poland. Of course, there is some speculation that the building is in Germany, becasue as everyone knows… Germans love David Hasselhoff!

Having said that, it’s amazing that they could choreograph so many lights to change colors and come on in these complex patterns. It must have cost a fortune just to put it on.
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The Muir Woods are honestly one of my favorite places. Less than 30 minutes from the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, you can be standing in one of the last remaining giant redwood forests on Earth. Surrounded by these magnificent towering creatures, many over 600 years old, it provides a peaceful place to sit and contemplate both the insignificance of what it is to be human, and the impact that we as a species can have on our planet.

Once the northwest was covered by ancient growth forests with trees as old as 3,200, whose bark alone measured up to 2 feet thick. But throughout the 19th century, American logging all but decimated these creatures. Now, the only giant redwoods and sequoias that remain survive in national and state parks. Thank God for small wonders of government intervention.
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While flying back from Washington State to Dallas a couple months ago, our plane went right by Mount Ranier. I whipped out my Canon 5D Mark II and snapped a whole bunch of photos of the magnificent landmark, and I thought I would share them with you guys in case anyone wanted to use one for a desktop wallpaper or whatever. I hadn’t posted these photos when I posted 101 Photos from Seattle, Washington, so here you go!

I currently have the one you see here to the right set as my wallpaper and I love it. For those of you who don’t know, Mount Ranier is a volcano and it’s the tallest mountain on the west coast. The US National Parks has a Web site on Mount Ranier so you can learn more if you are so inclined to visit.

Thank you Wikipedia for the following description:

Mount Rainier is an active stratovolcano (also known as a composite volcano) in Pierce County, Washington, located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle. It towers over the Cascade Range as the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and Cascade Volcanic Arc at 14,411 feet (4,392 m).

The mountain and the surrounding area are protected within Mount Rainier National Park. With 26 major glaciers and 35 square miles (91 km2) of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each over 1,000 feet (300 m) in diameter with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world’s largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters. A small crater lake about 130 by 30 feet (40 m × 9.1 m) in size and 16 feet (5 m) deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 feet (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 feet (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves.

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I saw this video weeks ago, but never posted it. However, every single time I ride my motorcycle on the highway I think of this. I can’t help it! It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen on a motorcycle!

This guy is laying down on his motorcycle riding through traffic in India, where no one respects lanes, and texting on his cell phone! Unbelievable!!! I wish I was actually this good.
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I happened to be at the capital building in Austin, Texas at just the right time in the afternoon to go around back and snap this shot of the sun hiding behind the dome. I love this photo because the flag was being blown by the wind and just the way the sun makes the building glow from behind.

Figured I’d share it in case anyone wanted it for a desktop wallpaper!

Please count the people below, wait for the picture to change then count them again. This is guaranteed to drive you crazy!

Where exactly did the extra guy come from?

A doctor on his morning walk, noticed an older lady sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said, “I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look! What is your secret?”

“I smoke ten cigars a day,” she said. “Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint. Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food. On weekends, I pop pills, get laid, and don’t exercise at all.”

“That is absolutely amazing! How old are you?”

“Thirty-four,” she replied.

For those of you who have been long frustrated by the fact that you can’t have a reasonable freakin FaceBook username, and instead have to have something like http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1529863541, well the times they are a changin’!

Tomorrow you are going to be able to choose your own username for your shortened FaceBook URL. So, you could get http://www.facebook.com/SexyBeast for example (that’s probably already been pre-assigned to me. Sorry.). But you are going to have to compete with millions of other people who are trying to do the same thing! So you better get there quick, and pray to the gods of everything technical that the FaceBook servers can handle the onslaught! (I’m betting they WON’T.)

Choosing a name is supposed to be simple. Just go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ and I guess as long as you are logged in you’ll be able to pick it. Right now it just shows a countdown timer, and I already had problems loading the page once, so I’m telling you the demand is going to be fierce.

Anyway, if you’re a loyal OMB reader drop your new FaceBook URL into the comments when you get it so I can go check you out! Oh, and friend me while you’re there if you haven’t already…

Last night seemed like any other normal quiet evening. Well, up until the tornado sirens started going off throughout the city!

Below is a simple little video I threw together illustrating the speed with which Tornadoes pop up in Texas. Luckily, in Frisco we have an early warning system to notify people when a serious storm is approaching. This system is truly a lifesaver, and if you ever hear it going off it’s time to get the heck inside a building!

Well, I was at home last night when that sucker started going off! And within a few minutes I began recording the clips that are assembled here. Now, there is no dramatic tornado footage, but once you understand the speed with which they appear, destroy and leave, you can understand what makes them so dangerous.

And if you didn’t have the early warning sirens, just imagine getting caught outside in this while jogging or walking the dog. You’ve got a real problem!
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