The BLOG of Jerry Hartzell

A week off from college

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:34:16 +0000

This weekend is Labor Day weekend and I have the week off from reading assignments, uploading discussion points, and creating code for programming projects.
However, next week our class begins learning JAVA. I have begun reading the first assignment that so far is the history of personal computers and programming. It is very interesting to see how the personal computer and the Internet evolved in just 10 short years to since the first Apple computer was released in 1977. The release of the low cost IBM computer is really what launched the overwhelming interest into computer for home and business.
I have been bad about posing information regarding my studies in Visual Basic. But now I have a week off and plenty of time before the next class. (Yeah right!) and will hope to do better as I begin my JAVA experience.

More later,
Jerry

Twitter – Loss of robust content

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:15:20 +0000

Ok here it is my evaluation of using Twitter as a content generation tool for websites and BLOGS.
I have been using twitter now for almost a year to upload content to this BLOG. At first it was cool to being able to upload 140 characters to my BLOG so that visitors could see that I was mowing the lawn, painting the garage, or even fishing. But it soon lost its luster because the limit of 140 characters to supply quality and interesting content, and I might add – no graphic uploads either. Who wants to know that I am carving a relief carving without seeing a picture of it.
**** BORING*****
So there you have it, my evaluation of why Twitter stinks as a content generation tool. But I see the place where it would be interesting to know if your favorite singer or actor is using the restroom, taking a nap, or eating dinner and Twitter allows you to check up on your BFF to see what they are doing.
Well my twitter uploads will be removed today, (They were boring anyway) and I will begin focusing on woodcarving and more interesting technologies.

WoodCarving Grapes & Leaves

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:57:33 +0000

Here is a very interesting time lapse video of carving the classic Grapes and Leaves pattern

Hope you enjoyed!

WordPress 3.0 Upgrade!

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:34:29 +0000

WordPress has recently release version 3.0.

My experience in upgrading from WordPress 2.92 to verson 3.0 was painless. I used the automatic update and within 60 seconds it had successfully completed.
I have reviewed my sites and as far as I can see there are no issues with site graphics or content layout.

Post your experiences with upgrading to WordPress 3.0 here.

Hand Forged or Ground from Flat Stock? Which is a better knife?

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:14:47 +0000

The following article about carving knives is from the pages of www.deepwoodventrues.com, where you can find more interesting information regarding carving knifes and carving in general.

Woodcarvers are on a constant search for the perfect carving knife. In that search, they sometimes ask me which is better, a forged knife or a ground stock removal knife?

First, some definitions:
Forged: heated and shaped from one shape to another with a hammer and anvil or power hammer close to final shape and then heat treated.
Stock removal: ground to shape from a flat piece of steel and then heat treated.

My answer may sound diplomatic and even evading a clear answer but here goes.

Metalurgically, neither is better than the other.

There are bad handforged knives and terrible stock removal knives that would not even make a good butter knife.

For the rest of this article, visit http://deepwoodsventures.com/shoptalk7.html

Back to School!

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:35:38 +0000

Hello everyone,
I apologize for not keeping this BLOG updated and I promise to try harder this summer to keep content current and up to date with me and the family and my carvings. But things have been very hectic as of late.

The big news is that I started back to school at Indiana Wesleyan University in January. I enrolled in their LEAP program which will allow me to complete my studies in Business Information Systems. This will give me that long overdue Bachelor’s degree.
So far the classes have been interesting and I have learned many new things in regards to business methods and communications. I should be moving into the more technical classes in a month or so, with programming using .NET and Javascripting. I am ready to dive into those topics and for sure will be posing comments about these studies right here.

Ok the next news item is that the East Central Opportunities, Inc. (ECO) the company I currently work for is closing on April 30th, 2010. Yup, In just a few short days, I will be unemployed, but I do have a couple of options in this area and am looking forward to getting out of the Not-for-Profit world and experiencing a new IT focus in a different business environment.

Hartzell Technology Group is active again

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:57:14 +0000

Today, it was made official that East Central Opportunities Inc. / Prep4 Business Solutions will be shutting down operations.

I have been employed by ECO for just over 10 years as the IT Director, or more commonly called the “IT Guy”. As the IT guy for ECO I was responsible for all technology systems and data reporting. When ECO had the contract to manage the WorkOne offices in Region 6 (Rush, Fayette, Wayne, Randolphh, Delaware, Henry, Jay, and Blackford Indiana counties) I built and managed a 10 location wide area network and actively outsourced my IT experiences and website development skills to other organizations as well.

Hartzell Technology Group is my company that was established as my moonlighting initiative in 2004. When ECO lost the contact to manage the WorkOne offices, I agreed to work solely with ECO to outsource IT Services. Now that ECO has begun to shut down, I once again will seek to assist other companies and organizations with there website development and Information technology needs.
My contact information is listed on the Contact-Jerry page or you can call me at 260.251.2883. I will be updating my resume to clearly communicate all the technical skills that I offer.

What does it mean to be a true RedSox Fan?

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:28:49 +0000

I have been a Red Sox fan since the days of Ted Williams. Yup as a youngster I watched Ted Williams, Carliton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski play in what I think is the greatest ballpark ever built, Fenway. (Well watched on TV, that is)

I was a fan of other teams as well, like Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now Cincinnati was a great team and when I was young we would vacation at Riverfront for two weeks every year. But these other teams just could not hold a candle to the stigma of being a Redsox fan. Watch this video to fully understand what I am talking about here.

Computer Hardware- Just not as important

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:27:49 +0000

Over the last few years I have seen a real public shift from a focus on computer hardware to an almost overwhelming fascination over applications. I give credit to this shift to the cell phone. Since cell phones have evolved from a flip talk device to a miniature computer used for personal online browsing, e-mail, calendaring, tracking oil changes, and ordering pizza.
The popularity of the Apple computers is also somewhat responsible for this transition. The hardware platform for the MAC is somewhat limited to just a few processors, unlike the PC where you can go crazy trying to figure out the hardware options. Again the Apple computer is all about applications instead of the hottest running hardware.
I believe this focus on applications is from a maturing user base, as people are now more interested in results computing.
There are some folks out there that just have to have the fastest computer on the market. Many gamers fall into this category of user and there are still some of those who thing they can type faster if they had a quad-core with 12MB of RAM. Sorry to tell you, but for typing speed, most cannot type faster than what an old 8088 processor can handle.
Today, the computer is just a needed piece of hardware that is required to connect to facebook and myspace, or simply used to type the term paper and listen to music. The speed of these machines is of no real concern as long as it meets the minimum resource requirements.

Are you intrested in Chip Carving?

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:36:08 +0000

Chip Carving

Chip carving is a simple process but gives a complex yet elegant look to your project. I have always been intrigued how chip carvers maintain that constant uniformity in their designs. In searching the internet I ran across the website my chip carving where I discovered a down to earth teaching video on how to hold the chip carving knifes and more.
So if you are intrested in learning how to chip carving I recommend going to www.mychipcarving.com

Chip Carving 100 – What Is Chip Carving? on Howcast