sidewinder

Right, for a while I've been completely bored with where I live, my job, just everything really. So I've been thinking about going travelling for a few months next year - afterall with no commitments it seems like the perfect time. But however, that was before the financial crisis had got as bad as it has. So now, while I still want to go, I'm a bit worried about not being able to get another job when I come back - does everyone think IT will see as many job cuts as other industries? So my main question is, does anyone know if its possible to take a sabbatical in a school? I'll ask the question anyway at work, but just wondering if anyone has done it? And does it depend on the LEA or the individual school? Cus I think Im skilled enough to get some sort of IT job when I return, but it would be nice to not have that worry

Agreed. Morris is a legend As for the IT Crowd, I had missed the episode before, so while the recap seemed a bit weird, I assumed it was just what Id missed in the last one lol It is very hit and miss though. Couple of superb episodes in the 2nd series but the rest are fairly poor

What I use: MP3Tag DB PowerAmp Hard work I had a similar thing, a complete mess of music, so bit by bit I've been tidying it all up with the above programs. Takes ages but you only have to do it once No way do I want iTunes or any other program 'helpfully' tidying it up for me

Remember paper talk is usually a load of crap. And Sky Sports isnt usually much better They're just working themselves into a frenzy because the transfer windows = easy work and lazy reporting. Just make up any old crap. Will City buy in January? Of course. But I would be extremely surprised if they get anyone massive, just cant see it, certainly not for the sums of money being reported anyway The players just dont want to go there yet because they arent in the CL, whatever the money on offer. They got lucky with Robinho, its only because Madrid didnt want him to go to Chelsea that he ended up there. Cant see Kaka and the like even think of going there tbh

I dont really like them either. My flatmate has his 32" LCD in our front room and Im not going to complain about that, but I've still got my old 28" CRT at my parents which will be my main TV if/when I live on my own. Far better at displaying anything that isnt HD (and I dont own anything that can produce HD anyway)

Yeah will work fine. I'd even hazard a guess plenty of people with HDTV's watch via SCART without realising it isnt actually HD

Im possibly the most unorganised person in the world so probably shouldnt even be here thankfully, somehow my memory keeps up so I do remember to do most things but its not the easiest way of working. But its just me! And thats how I work Our helpdesk helps a lot, though I currently have around 23 problems open in various states so all it does it clear the mass of notes off my desk My one bit of organisation is folders to put paperwork of different types into folders

lol you know what I mean Obviously its fiction but its the fact it tries to make out like its realistic when its totally stupid. And some people seem to believe it IS realistic! Maybe its just me, I dont mind a bit of action but it has to be within the realms of possibility. I dont mind suspending belief when the whole concept is fantasy, but a show about a CTU should have some basis in reality. Instead it just turns into a show about one guy who is seemingly invincible, is cliched beyond belief and seems to exist just so Americans can whoop and holla that he's defeating the nasty terrorists that they're told so much about

The USB cable can often be the cause here But we had something almost identical on a 500 series board a few weeks back, nothing would solve it, so it got replaced under warranty. Thankfully we had a helpful supplier too who dealt with Smart on our behalf

I just cant stand most of the American stuff. CSI is ridiculous, 24 is wildly OTT, Lost got too complicated for its own good and Heroes, well theres nothing wrong with it I guess, just didnt fancy it. Only one I do like is The Wire but Im getting through that incredibly slowly. Currently all I'm actually watching is: Lead Balloon IT Crowd Survivors Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe I just watch more films than anything, dont do much TV I want to start watching Mad Men and Weeds though, they look good. If I ever get time

Ive never seen anywhere that will recycle foam or polystyrene So it all goes to landfill, and while it may not be much in weight, it is in mass And I would expect an enourmous company like HP to have more than one size box in stock!

Another nightmare for you is that its already been posted http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/27227-something-look-forward.html

Pah, some of us have excellent fashion sense actually! Not me, but some might

First or second one, both are nice ps you do all realise she's going to go for the one the least geeks pick

They do mens clothes too! (honest)

Ive got a friend who is very good at making clothes but I think even she would struggle in 1 day! What happened to women being more organised Mandy?

Its ridiculous. There was a bit on The Register about HP, they'd sent out a stick of RAM in a laptop sized box. Loads of companies do it though. Received a few cables in a box big enough to fit a CRT in before. Apparantly part of the reason is small packages tend to get lost with couriers. This isnt the answer though, its so wasteful, especially when theres loads of polystyrene that cant be recycled (Art always use our cardboard to paint on so that doesnt go to waste)

so you assign a set password for everyone or one for each staff member? only currently looking at USB sticks, not laptops

Dont worry, this isnt a post asking which software, I have done a search But it seems TrueCrypt is widely used and recommended. However it seems that there is no built in recovery if teachers forget the password/encryption key Personally, I dont see a massive problem with this - it is their own fault, and anyway, surely sensitive data on USB sticks will only be a copy of something on the internal network? But the NM wants something where you can recover data. I assume thats onyl available in pretty expensive enterprise level software?

Without bothering to work it out properly, we are roughly 1:2 1800ish students, 900ish computers However as half of those are laptops, its not exactly an equal computing experiance for all

To be honest its the amount of toner more than the cost. If anything lower prices may actually make SMT less bothered about reducing wastage. Plus we have a supplier who is literally 2 minutes walk away, so while it may not be the best price, its worth it for the service

Pah, thats nothing. Ours for last year or the year before was £29k

Can you elaborate? I've obviously missed this

IMO its been round long enough now that its more hassle to resist installing it than to just install it It doesnt appear to break anything major (apart from the 'restore active desktop' button) Potentially you could confuse staff with the new interface but by this point I would expect most to have it at home anyway

Agreed with Elsie - the software is good, easy to implement and works well BUT the biggest obstacle is SMT. We've managed to convince them that students should be limited but so far teachers apparantly should be allowed to waste as much paper and ink as they want