[CCC News] Assorted News 58 - A new hat + two arms, and an empty wallet!

[Michael Kean]

In this edition:

*A New Hat + Two Arms*
*New Offsite Backup options*
*An Empty Wallet*
*VHS to Memory Stick*
*----------------------*

I put on an extra hat... That makes four...

*A New Hat + Two Arms*

As of last month, I am now wearing an extra hat in the community. I am now
Station Co-Manager at 2ARM - that's Armidale's Community Radio Station next
to NERAM in Kentucky street. They installed a new transmitter a couple of
years ago which covers roughly 70km radius of Armidale on FM92.1; or
available to listen <http://2arm.net.au/listen/> online
<http://guyra.net/921stream>. I'm sharing this role with Peter Crick since
I can't afford to give it my full time attention.

This means that on Thursdays and Fridays, I'm up in the Kentucky Street
office from 11am to 1pm, often longer. Thus, Armidale customers are more
likely to see me on Thursdays and Fridays, although it's pretty common for
me to come back to Guyra on Friday afternoons.

I still have a lot to do there, but we're making good progress. I now have
the Program Guide updated
<https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=YXJtaWRhbGVjb21tdW5pdHlyYWRpb0BnbWFpbC5jb20&authuser=0>;
and of course we're always looking for new presenters
<https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n4k3gYLUk_pC8cz1YKOfwQxApuVSBNYc> and
sponsors. (30 second message reads cost $2 or less each, and community /
NFP announcements are free.) And yes, it's all run by volunteers, nobody
gets paid other than the radio techs and contractors.

*New Offsite Backup options*

There's a saying with computers that goes "A file doesn't exist unless it's
in three places"

Three places is overkill in most cases, but it is a good idea to have at
least two copies in case your computer dies or disappears. Google's Backup
and Sync <https://www.google.com/drive/download/backup-and-sync/> is a
great free option with unlimited storage for photos and videos; up to 15GB
for other stuff - your files are copied 'into the cloud' which means you
can access them from anywhere. If you need more than 15G they have
reasonable pricing plans
<https://www.google.com/intl/en-GB_ALL/drive/pricing/> for more data.

Microsoft Office 365 subscribers get 1TB included free.

If you don't want to use the cloud, I also offer an offsite backup service
from my Black Mountain server. This is done using open source software
"Duplicati" - this encrypts your backup with AES encryptioin, then
transfers them to my server via SFTP. This way, your files are scrambled
with two different passwords before leaving your premises.

Monthly Pricing for this service:
Amount (GB) Normal NFP
0-49  $       4.00  $       2.80
50-99  $       5.00  $       3.50
100-149  $       6.00  $       4.20
150-199  $       7.00  $       4.90
200-249  $       8.00  $       5.60
250-299  $       9.00  $       6.30
300-349  $    10.00  $       7.00
350-399  $    11.00  $       7.70
400-449  $    12.00  $       8.40
450-500  $    13.00  $       9.10

If you'd like to take advantage of this service, let me know. Setup is free
for this service.

*An Empty Wallet.*

Some of you might have noticed that it can take me a long time to source
parts for you. Here's why.

For the last two years I've been helping my father financially after he and
his wife separated. Centrelink refused to give him his aged pension because
of the shared assets and an outstanding tax bill. Thus, I've been his
pension and more for much of the last two years while they negotiated
selling the property. I was lucky with Cryptocurrency for a number of
months, but now have exhausted all savings and am basically living week to
week. We also had a few months where Caz was unemployed after her private
long term patient passed away.

The good news is the property has now been sold (or so I'm assured) and Caz
is now happily working at Guyra and Tingha MPSes, so this difficult chapter
should soon be over and I can get back to actually paying all bills on time
and being able to buy and carry stock rather than playing the 'wait for
someone to pay a bill so I can buy parts' game.

It's been a long time since I was last 'poor.' The world can be difficult
when this happens - banks, internet companies like to hit you up for $10
fees if a direct debit fails. (I have about 15 a month due to how I used to
operate as an Exetel agent.) Job scheduling becomes inefficient due to need
to return to clients at later dates when I have parts rather than stocking
them. I've likely gained a bad reputation for taking too long to order
things. It's also little things like having to check your bank balance
before buying petrol, etc; and not being able to afford to fix the LPG
computer in the car, so I end up paying 30% more each week for fuel than I
should be - stupid stuff like that.

Anyway, hopefully by Christmas things'll all be settled and I can get back
to optimum efficiency again! In the mean time, I'm still enjoying being
your IT guy, playing at the radio station and doing my weekly radio show
Thursday nights @6pm. Thanks for your continued support!

*VHS to Memory Stick.*

One of my services is converting VHS videos to Memory Stick - that's right;
I'm skipping DVDs these days as they're old fashioned. Most people have
smart TVs, and with a memory stick you can also copy whole videos in
seconds or share them on YouTube etc.

Cost is $5 per video cassette, or $3.50 each if you tell me the duration
you want recorded. Memory stick prices always vary, but you can usually get
several videos onto each stick. Videos are converted to MPEG2 files on a
computer for the best results I can get.

---

Well, that's it for another newsletter! Hope life is treating you well :)

Cheers, Mike.

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-- 
*Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.*
Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays.
http://coolhelp.com.au/
Mob: 0427 644 825
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