Monthly Archives: August 2009
Remotely Shut Down Your Computer With a Cell Phone
One of my favorite things to do with my cell phone, is to show my friends how it can shut down my computer. Better yet, set up on their computer, this is a cool trick to make others think that you have super powers.
You will need Microsoft Outlook configured with a POP3 E-Mail service (e.g. Yahoo, Google), a text to E-Mail service (e.g. Kwiry), and, obviously, a cell phone that can text. None of the steps are very complicated. It should take around 15 minutes for everything to be up and working.
- Create a shutdown.bat file. Open Notepad and type c:\windows\system32\shutdown -s -f -t 00. Then, save it to your C drive for easy reference.
- Set up a Kwiry account. This services forwards any text messages it receives from you to your cell phone.
- Set up a rule in Outlook that will tell the computer to shutdown the computer. Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts. Then click, New Rule. Select “Start from a blank rule” and make sure it’s set to “Check messages when they arrive” and click Next. On the next page, check the box that says “with specific words in the subject line”. At the bottom of the window, click on the “specific words” link and it will allow you to enter the subject line that you want it to look for. Any message sent from Kwiry begins with “your kwiry -”. To make things simple, type “your kwiry – shutdown.” Click Add and OK. Then click Next. On the next page, select “start an application.” Click on the application link and find the shutdown.bat file on your C drive. In the browse box, change the search parameters from Applications (.exe.) to all file types. Then click Next and Finish.
- Send a text message saying “shutdown” to Kwiry (59479). As soon as your Outlook E-Mail inbox refreshes and your message comes through, you computer will open the shutdown.bat file and begin to close your computer.
For a helpful video, visit Instructables.
I love this tutorial, because it truly shows the capabilities of today’s technology. Set up correctly, I can control my computer solely with my cell phone. Enjoy!
Cut the Tension
Back story: I was watching the Price Is Right when they were playing Cliff Hangers. (It’s the game with the yodeler.) For every dollar the contestant misses the “actual retail price” of each of the three items, the yodeler climbs one step up the mountain. If the guesses exceed $25, he falls off the cliff. The song that’s played is fun and catchy.
Anyways, I was in a meeting not long ago that seemed to be dragging on a bit and started playing the song. Everyone lightened up. Here it is:
The Price is Right – Cliff Hangers (Hover over link to show the WordPress audio player.)
The song is definitely out of the ordinary, but have fun with it; listen to it after a bad day, change your ringtone, change your friend’s ringtone…
Invisible Buckets?
Did you know that we all have an invisible bucket? It’s true. No, it’s not hanging on our waist or dragging behind us; it’s more of a representation of our current state of happiness. In tune with our day-to-day encounters, our buckets are constantly being filled and emptied. If we have a positive encounter with someone, our bucket is filled. If we have a negative encounter—such as being harshly admonished—our bucket is emptied.
In addition to having a bucket, we each have a dipper. These dippers are also representations; however, this time it represents our actions. If we cause a positive encounter—by making someone feel good—we use our dippers to fill that person’s bucket, and also to fill our own. Our bucket is filled, because by filling another’s bucket, we are building our character. Contrariwise, if we cause a negative interaction to take place, we dip from the other person’s bucket and also dip from our own. Our buckets are being dipped from, because by dipping from another’s bucket we are demeaning ourselves.
In our everyday lives, interactions can mean the difference between having a great day and having a horrible day. If a thousand things are going right and one person says something negative, we still tend to feel bad. For example, imagine yourself at work or school. You are about to be honored for doing a great job on a big project and are really excited. Someone comes up to you and makes a joke about your project in front of your peers. For one reason or another, that negative comment seems to dip deeply in your bucket. The good news is that you can make a positive out of the situation.
Whenever I am personally faced with a situation that tries to undercut my character, I don’t sink to the level of insults. It may seem difficult at the time to resist retaliation, but by not sending back an insult, I am expressing confidence in myself.
I have personally witnessed people around me reflect my actions. When I am respectful, they are respectful. When I am rude, they are rude. I have also been victim to acting like others around me. In any of my interactions, I remember that I have a bucket and a dipper. If by filling others buckets encourages them to fill mine, then why not? I challenge you to go out and start filling others buckets. You can’t control others’ actions, but you can become the bucket filler you were meant to be.
The Bucket Theory is based on the book, “How Full Is Your Bucket.” It is an outstanding read and is worth checking out. For more information on the book and the Bucket Theory, visit: www.bucketbook.com.
Research Paper: Green Energy Policies
Last month, I attended the Close Up Student Summer Academy in Washington, D.C. The Academy was an outstanding experience that furthered my knowledge of government. An optional part of the program was to complete a research paper for the University of Virginia. I chose to do my research paper on green energy policies and why they are greatly important to the success of our nation.
I wasn’t allowed to solicit help for the assignment, but now that I have submitted it, I would really like some feedback. The paper has been uploaded to the link below as a PDF.
First Day of Golf Tryouts
This week marks the start of high school fall sports. Today, marked the first day of golf for my school. I realized that the amount of time that I was out of town this summer really did put a hindrance on my golf game. For today’s tryouts, I didn’t necessarily play bad, but I was a little rusty.
Today was one of my days off from work, but because they need additional staff, I was called in. Of course, as I finally turned in around two o’clock last night, I expected to be able to sleep until at least ten. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Despite all odds, I still managed to fall somewhere in the middle of the golf scores. I didn’t play my best, but I definitely know that I—as a rested body with energy—will be able to play better tomorrow.
Free stuff… I’ll shop there!
I had a very pleasant experience at the mall last week. Before I headed to the WV SADD retreat which was a couple hours drive away, I needed to purchase some new tires. My dad went to purchase the tires, and on the way back home, discovered that I needed an oil change and alignment.
Dad had an appointment so I was the one who went out for the car maintenance. The best price happened to be at a mall department store. The car was going to take about an hour to be serviced, so I decided to browse through the mall. I had a bad craving for a pretzel and stopped at the pretzel store. I remembered that I had bought a discount card at school. The card gives discounts for different restaurants and food places; the pretzel store gives “buy one get one free” on pretzels for that store.
The store had a new manager, and he came out to see the customers. As I was picking up my pretzels, he insisted on me trying out a couple sandwiches—a pepperoni roll and a hot ham and cheese sandwich. They were both delicious, but more than that, they were free.
Without even realizing it, I had just been subjected to a very effective form of marketing. Receiving those sandwiches for free made me feel great about my purchase and about the store. The store may have given back some of its profit, but it knows that I enjoyed receiving the free products and will likely return.
Personally, I hope more companies begin using the “free” business model. As a student, I don’t have a lot of free dough in my wallet. Maybe if I received more free goodies, I might be more willing to fork some of my money up. Yes, the economy may be bad for business, but this is the time for companies to start giving a little back.
Radiation Scare
Because my dad is a principal, we get some inconvenient calls at very inconvenient hours. At 1:41 A.M. today, our phone rang with “Emergency Calling” showing on the caller ID. I happened to be up watching TV at the time, so I was the first to answer. The man on the other side says, “We are trying to reach the principal of Meadow Bridge High School.” Dad then takes over.
Apparently, a semi-trailer truck carrying radioactive material turned over on I-64 around Sandstone Mountain in Sandstone, West Virginia. They wanted to open Meadow Bridge High School as a fallout shelter. Because my dad is the principal, he needed to go.
The next thing I know, all of the lights in the house are on. I turned on the coffee, gathered the emergency radios, and found my camera. Within 15 minutes, Dad was out the door and on his way to Meadow Bridge. One problem: the shortest drive to Meadow Bridge is on the road with the spill, so Dad had to travel an alternate route that took about an hour—a half hour longer than taking I-64.
A few people from the school and local emergency response centers called our house with updates. Around 2:45 A.M., I heard for the first time that the emergency was called off. I called the Summers County response center around 3:00 A.M. They confirmed that the emergency had been called off, evacuees were being sent back home, and vehicles were allowed to pass through the area.
At the present time, Dad is on his way back home (hopefully driving on I-64) and everyone is safe. This could have been a lot larger of a problem than it turned out to be. Kudos to all persons involved in the emergency response effort. Since it’s now 3:36 A.M., I’m heading to bed.
Twitter Verifying Accounts
Twitter has taken another step in making it not only the easiest social network to use, but now also the safest. Last month, Twitter unveiled Verified Account Beta, an experimental, but effective means to genuine a Twitter Account—proving that the person behind a Twitter account is the real person.
At this time, Twitter says that it is ”starting with well-known accounts that have had problems with impersonation or identity confusion.” For those of us not lucky enough to have multiple inpersonators, that statement means that the chance of having a verified account rests in luck. I did go ahead and fill out the application form a couple of days ago.
Twitter is a social network facilitating real-time updates from its users. In recent months, Twitter users overseas have used the service for serious reasons like to report news in Iran where there was a media blackout. Most commonly, however, Twitter is used by everyday people to broadcast to the world what they are doing.
