December 10, 1997

Dear Colleague:

The following was found on the Internet.

Yesterday,
All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
Now my database has gone away.
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly,
There's not half the files there used to be,
And there's a milestone hanging over me
The system crashed so suddenly.
I pushed something wrong
What it was I could not say.
Now all my data's gone away and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.
Yesterday,
The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
I knew my data was all here to stay,
Now I believe in yesterday.

After each training session, have trainees write directions.
• Ask each student to write the directions, from memory, on an index card and then exchange cards with another person.

• Have trainees follow the directions on the cards they received. Don't worry when some trainees become frustrated when trying to follow confusing directions.

Benefits: Seeing where they went wrong helps reinforce the right steps for trainees. They'll also see that it's all right to make mistakes. And when they get the cards right, many will keep them as job aids. (Cited in "communications briefings" of Alexandria, VA)

To relieve shoulder stiffness do arm circles. Raise your arms to the sides, elbows straight. Slowly rotate your arms in small circles forwards, the backwards. Lower your arms, then repeat three times more. To relieve hand and finger tension do finger fans. Hold your hands out in front of you, palms down. Spread your fingers apart as far as you can. Hold for five seconds, then make a tight fist. Repeat three times.

I recently received the following Technical Bulletin, Cleaning of DAT tape backup drives from Amsys Computer of Ridgefield, CT:

"Backup is the most important process in any computer system. Maintaining the hardware that performs the backup process is equally important.

"Just like an audio cassette recorder or a VCR, a DAT drive needs to be cleaned on a regular basis to ensure that your data is being reliably recorded and to prolong the life of the drive's recording heads.

"Most modern DAT drives have an LED indicator that functions as a 'Clean Me' indicator. While a useful feature, the 'Clean Me' indicator is triggered by excessive data errors caused by heads that have become seriously clogged by dirt. To insure optimum performance and to maximize its lifetime, the drive should always be cleaned well before the heads reach the condition that triggers the warning LED.

"Based on manufacturers' current recommendations, a simple yardstick by which you can determine when to clean your drive is a follows:

"If your nightly backup fits on a single tape it would be prudent to clean your DAT drive once a week. If your nightly backup requires two tapes, clean the drive twice a week.

"Proper cleaning is both quick and easy: simply insert the DAT cleaning tape in the drive and wait about 30 seconds ... when cleaning is completed the drive will eject the cleaning tape. Use the 'tick box' form that comes with the cleaning tape to keep track of the number of times (and dates) you have used the cleaning tape ... they have a limited functional life and must be replaced when exhausted."

In Windows, to select a block of text to highlight, single-click on the start or the end of the text you want, then hold down the Shift key while you click at the other end. To select a single word, just double-click on it. In "Microsoft Word" or "WordPerfect," you can select a paragraph by triple-clicking on a word.

I used to recommend that where you have a long technical term or name used often in a document, to type some abbreviation for it and then use the Search and Replace feature of your word processor to convert all instances of the abbreviation to the full term. Now, with the AutoCorrect feature in "Microsoft Word" or the QuickCorrect feature in "WordPerfect" these can be set up ahead of time and you will not even have to do the Search and Replace.

Warning: Only 751 days to the year 2000; only 24 month ends.

Cordially,
Ricki Letowt

P. S. Mental backup in progress. Do Not Disturb.

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