May » 2007 » Judith Galang's Blog

How to Deal with Negative People

The other night some friends and I were discussing the draining power of negative people. Energy vampires are everywhere. They readily discover all flaws with the status quo in the office then resist any efforts to implement change. They seem to continually be cursed with romantic woes, none of which are ever their fault. Sometimes we all can get into a rut. Sometimes even the most optimistic person can notice only the negative side of things. I’m not talking about anyone undergoing an occasional spurt of negativity. But some out there are just plain negative. They seem to get very chatty when sharing problems but grow silent when discovering solutions or quickly discover why every offered solution won’t work. They are incapable of “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel” or finding the “silver lining”. If you give in to their negativity, they can quickly sap your thirst for life away.

So how should you deal with negative people?

Catherine Pratt over at Life With Confidence discusses 10 strategies on how to deal with negative people. Here’s one I plan to use the very next time I’m stuck talking to an energy vampire:

3. Say, “Now tell me something positive.”
Right after they’ve finished telling you some tragic story, say to them, “now tell me a positive story”. Some people have no idea how negative they’ve become. That’s what they’re surrounded by day in and day out so it’s just become a way of life for them. By being given the reminder, they may actually realize that being negative isn’t the kind of person they want to be and may start to work on becoming more positive. Or, they may decide it’s not worth telling you their horror stories because you’ll ask them to think of something positive. Sob sisters (always whining, feel the world is against them, feel they’re victims) will probably not find you very attractive anymore.

I’d like to add another bonus strategy.

11. Read the The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

This book focuses more on dealing with your own limiting self beliefs and achieving personal happiness. In doing so, you would be able to remain blissful even if surrounded by scores of negative folks. Simple yet profound, The Four Agreements is a book I constantly recommend.

How to Deal With Negative People [via Life with Confidence]

Quick Akismet Update

I recently installed the Akismet blog comment spam filter. As of today, Akismet has already filtered out 57 spam comments. The blog does have 1 comment thus far, although that doesn’t really count since it’s simply a trackback. That’s not unexpected, though, since publicizing the blog has yet to commence. Thanks to effective spam filtering I have one less blog administration task to worry about.

If you use WordPress you can download the Akismet plugin. Not on WordPress? Akismet is also available on for various other systems and platforms.

Biggest Jersey City park in a century to be built?

The Jersey Journal reports that ambitious plans for a potential park got a big boost as Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said his administration is recommending spending $3.2 million from the Open Space Trust to acquire the last 5.6 acres needed for the 13.6-acre Bergen-Lafayette tract.

If this project moves forward it would be the largest park to be developed in Jersey City in a century. There are still quite a few issues which need to be worked out before that can happen, though. I am hopeful that the remaining obstacles can be overcome. More open space is always welcome in an urban area.

Big park for Bergen-Lafayette [via The Jersey Journal]

Make Microsoft Word less Annoying

Rick Broida over at Lifehacker has written a nice how-to on making Microsoft Word less annoying. The comments seem to reinforce the most intriguing tip I saw: Ditch Word altogether.

Heh. We do use Microsoft Office at the office, but I think I will take the plunge and try out the Open Office suite at home.

Here’s a bonus tip not included in Broida’s post.

Turn off Reading Layout. One of the first things I noticed when I began using Office 2003 was the Reading Layout “feature”. When opening Word documents as email attachments, Word 2003 by default would open the document in Reading Layout. This was supposed to make documents easier to scan through but the first thing I’d do would be click the Close button and view the document in another Layout mode.

Here’s how to turn off Reading Layout:

Click the “Tools” menu and choose “Options”.
When the “Options” multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click “General”.
Uncheck “Allow starting in Reading Layout”.
Click “OK” to close the dialog box.

Customer satisfaction via online knowledge bases

www by hugoslv on sxc.hu

Companies are very concerned with providing more effective (and more cost-effective)

technical support. As an information technology manager, I receive another SOA, remote support strategy, CRM, or other service related notification via email on an almost daily basis. With these new hot buzzwords and with so many strategic options available, it can be easy at times to lose sight of the ultimate goal.

What is that ultimate goal? Customers with some sort of technical problem want to solve that problem quickly and easily. Some prefer to speak with a representative on the phone. Others prefer finding the answers themselves in the relevant manual.

I am of one of the “self-help” types. I hate being placed on hold. I hate to perform troubleshooting steps I’ve already performed because the support technician must follow a certain script. I hate listening closely because menu options have changed. Unless I need hand holding, I’d rather not obtain my support over the telephone. In most technology-related situations this means I want to find help another way. In other situations, such as getting a pre-qualified mortgage, I’d like that hand holding and trying to get in touch with a human being becomes more of a priority.

Recently at work, we came across an issue in which the the inventory management software system’s database was not successfully getting transferred to the barcode scanner Palm OS PDA. The manuals are all well written and easy to follow. But this issue wasn’t listed as one of the common troubleshooting problems.

Did the problem lie with the Palm OS, the PDA’s hardware vendor, or the inventory management system? I made sure that the latest version of Palm Desktop was installed. Since the PDA was a special type with a barcode reader installed, I thought I’d try contacting them. We decided to telephone for support because the online FAQ focused more on vendor’s generic products. I am grateful to have encountered the following feature:

After being placed on hold for a couple of minutes, a recording notified me that a technician would call me back. Sure we still have to wait to get help, but at the very least we don’t have to suffer through indefinite hold periods.

While waiting, I thought I’d take a look at the inventory software’s online support page and see what I could find there. Lo and behold, I picked up a similar-looking issue on the common problems page for our particular software package. The question posed was not the same as the issue we were experiencing, but it also had something to do with the database. It was worth a closer look. The issue and solution looked promising so I tried it out. Success!

By maintaining a thorough and updated knowledge base, this software package vendor helped us to find a solution quickly. Next time, I know to begin my support quest with the vendor that combines various technologies, rather than those individual technologies themselves. Going straight to the inventory software maker would have made more sense than starting with the hardware manufacturer or operating system maker.

A simple feature that allows users to avoid long hold times and a frequently updated (and searchable) online knowledge base resulted in a satisfying technical support experience. Neither of these two things involved outsourcing or advanced SOA strategies.

Internet Radio in Immediate Danger

Have you, like the vast majority of other music listeners, grown tired of mainstream broadcast radio? Internet radio sites, such as last.fm and Pandora, offer a wonderful alternative to broadcast radio with a wealth of listening features. I know I’ve personally discovered a plethora of new music that I actually enjoy through these sites. These webcasters are completely legal and offer a way for those whose tastes have evolved beyond standards available on broadcast radio to discover new music without resorting to risky piracy.

I abhor piracy and strive to support artists I like. Internet radio allows music lovers like me to better determine who should receive my support.

However, if the Copyright Royalty Board and RIAA lobbyists get their way, Internet radio will be silenced. New fee structures would effectively raise rates for webcasters by 300 to 1,200 percent. Interestingly, these increases would only affect Internet radio. AM and FM broadcast radio would be left alone. The new fees are supposed to go into effect July 15, 2007.

I sincerely hope you join me and prevent this from happening. Savenetradio.org closely watches this situation and will allow you to get involved. Stay tuned as I plan on sharing updates and action items to help save net radio.

How’s Your Air?

The American Lung Association has released its State of the Air 2007 report. In short, the report finds that more than 136 million Americans are living in communities where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution. Polluted air hurts us all, but most especially children, the elderly, and those living with chronic lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, or who have diabetes and cardiovascular disease. From the link, you can check on the quality of the air in your area either by typing in your zip code or selecting your state from the map.

State of the Air 2007 report