The Year in Review ('08-'09)

After another fast-paced but wonderful year at Stanford, it's time to wrap up those final exams and move on to bigger or better things (or at least to a restful summer)! Congratulations, Meyer Tech Desk graduates! We'll miss you. As for everyone else, we look forward to seeing you again next year.

Stanford graduation meets Photoshop: I've modified this picture in three ways. Can you spot the differences?

The Year in Review

There were 17614 logged interactions this year!

Busiest Month of the Year
October - 16%
May - 13%
November - 11%
April - 11%

Busiest Day of the Year
Tuesday - 18%
Wednesday - 18%
Monday - 17%

Busiest Shift of the Year
3 - 4 PM - 10%
2 - 3 PM - 10%
4 - 5 PM - 10%

"Busiest" Consultants of the Year
Shannon - 10% (1830 interactions)
Emily - 6% (1196 interactions)
Yin - 5% (1010 interactions)

Most Frequent Interactions of the Year
Equipment Checkout - 39% - no big surprise there
Directions & Info - 16%
Tech Question at the Tech Desk - 9%

Intersession Approaches . . .

. . . like a cat sleeping on your laptop.

For all you staunch Meyer patrons, summer intersession hours start on Thursday, June 11th and end June 22nd. The first floor lobby will be open. But the 24-Hour Study Room which you have come to know and love will be closed for the summer. If you're really desperate to get your 24 hour study room fix, it will open two days early on September 19th.

And now for the intersession and summer schedules for your two favorite libraries!

Meyer Library Intersession Hours
Monday - Friday: 1- 5 PM
Saturday, Sunday: Closed

Meyer Library Summer Session Hours
Monday - Thursday: 9 AM - 9 PM
Friday: 9 AM - 5 PM
Saturday: 1 PM - 5 PM
Sunday: 1 PM - 9 PM

Green Library Intersession Hours
Monday - Thursday: 8 AM - 9 PM
Friday: 8 AM - 6 PM
Saturday: 9 AM - 5 PM
Sunday: Closed!

Green Library Summer Hours
Monday - Thursday: 8 AM - 9 PM
Friday: 8 AM - 6 PM
Saturday: 9 AM - 5 PM
Sunday: 1 PM - 9 PM

Click for additional library hours.

The Week in Review (5/28 - 6/4)

Happy Finals Week Stanford!


FAQ: Where can I go to get my dissertation bound?

Although the Meyer Tech Desk does not offer binding services, there are several other groups who do.

Option 1:

Bring printed copies to the Binding and Finishing office in Meyer Library (room 380). The cost is $16.00 per bound copy; exact amount can be paid in either cash or check payable to Stanford University. There is a 4-6 week turnaround time. Students will be informed when to pick the bound copies in the Binding and Finishing office. Contact Heather Bolei with questions at hbolei@stanford.edu or (650) 736-2011

So, if you're looking for the Binding and Finishing Office, go upstairs to 380; it's to the right of the stairs.
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/meyer/about/floor_plans/third_floor.html

Option 2:

Students who want to pay by credit card or desire rush or direct shipment may take printed copies to Postal Annex, 30166 Industrial Parkway SW, Hayward, CA 94544 (located in the Targer Center at Industrial and Whipple; 510-487-4017. These copies will be shipped off to the HF Group Bindery for binding and then shipped directly to the student. Students should request “Stanford Style Ph.D” for binding identical to that used by Stanford. For questions related to this binding option please call: HF-Group Customer Service: (800) 253-5456.

(Taken from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/pdf/docdissdir.pdf)

The Week in Review

Busiest Day
Thursday - 25%
Monday - 16%
Tuesday & Wednesday - 15%

Busiest Shift
1 - 2 PM - 10%
2 - 3 PM - 10%
4 - 5 PM - 10%

"Busiest" Consultant - Tech Desk newbies take over the leaderboard!
Tim - 15%
Peter - 14%
Terence - 13%

Most Frequent Interaction
Equipment Checkouts - 49%
Directions & Info - 15%

Interactions of the Week

5/28
Helping a patron recover his unreadable flash drive using PhotoRec. PhotoRec is an open-source (free as in speech and beer) data recovery application. Recovered some files. Lesson learned: eject your flash drives BEFORE yanking them out of the USB port.

6/2
testing headphones
got rickrolled by Will

6/4
The Band was at Meyer.
A table broke.
-WillA

6/5
patron called saying he jumped on a table in the 2nd floor in meyer and broke it so he wanted to figure out how to pay back for it. lol
-Tim

The Week in Review 5/21 - 5/27

Meyer Tech Desk News

Need a Group Study Space? Then Area 220 is the place to be!

After having been blocked off for several weeks, Area 220 is now back in commission. New features include round tables, chairs, nifty futuristic-looking furniture, and floor-to-above-your-head whiteboard walls. That's right, you can write on the walls! There are markers and microfiber cloths available for use in conjunction with the whiteboard. Area 220 has also been designated as a group study space, so the buzz of intelligent conversation is expected and welcomed. Consequently, if you are looking for a quiet niche, this is probably not the best place to go. Like most services in Meyer, Area 220 is available on a first-come, first-serve, and reservations are not available.

Please email any comments or suggestions to studyspaces(@)rescomp(.)stanford(.)edu.

Yes, you can write on the walls!

Funky modernist industrial furniture.

(He's doing it wrong...)

The Week in Review (5/21 - 5/27)

Busiest Day
Wednesday - 27%
Tuesday - 27%
Thursday - 20%

Busiest Shift
3 - 4 PM - 10%
1 - 2 PM - 10%
2- 3 PM - 10%

"Busiest" Consultant
Peter - 27%
Shannon - 12%
Tim - 7 %

Consultants, this is shameful. No single consultant should be responsible for nearly a third of all logs during the week. Log your interactions!

Most Frequent Interaction
Equipment Checkout - 51%

Interactions of the Week
5/21
Rockstar consultant Peter updated the Apple video adapter display to include the new generation and flavors of Macbooks.

5/21
my rcc can't fix my internet.
how old is the laptop? new
what are you running? vista
well there's your problem.
(the broadcast flag needed to be set to 1. the rcc in question will receive ninety verbal lashes and a raised disapproving eyebrow)

The Week in Review (5/14 - 5/20) & Spiral Quickie

Oh Bawls.

The Week in Review

Busiest Day
Wednesday - 21%
Saturday - 17%
Tuesday - 16%

Busiest Shift
1 - 2 PM - 11%
3 - 4 PM - 11%
2 - 3 PM - 11%

"Busiest" Consultants
Tim - 20%
Peter - 11 %
Shannon - 9 %

Most Frequent Interactions
Equipment Checkout - 48%
Directions & Info - 18%

Interaction of the Week
5/21
a defective bottle of bawls was discovered in the break room. Not only was it lacking in the bawls substance, it also had a huge glass-blown hole in the bottom which explained the lack of bawls.


Contrary to the ingredients list, there was a distinct lack of caffeine and Bawls in this bottle.


I finally mastered making spiral text in Photoshop!

Spiral Text Quickie
1. Find a spiral shape to trace. There is one available in the shape library in CS4.
2. Set the freeform pen tool to magnetic.
4. Carefully trace the spiral using the pen tool, and double click when you're done.
5. Select the text tool and hover the cursor near the beginning of the spiral. When the normal cursor shape is crossed through, you are near the path.
6. Click and begin typing. The text should follow the spiral path you just made!
7. Don't worry if it isn't perfect on the first try. You can transform the spiral path (and therefore the text) afterwards if you find it's too big or too small.

New Consultant Profile & The Week in Review (4/28-5/13)

The Meyer Tech Desk would like to welcome Terence Li, who appears to be in the midst of streaming video from the Flip onto an unsuspecting laptop through sheer force of will.

Name/Nickname: Terence Li
Class: 2012, "OH TWELVE!"
Major: und (it's short for undeclared/ undecided)
Hometown: San Francisco (the city, not the suburbs around it)

What kind of experience are you bringing to Meyer?

I bring all that is unimportant, but important to me. When there comes a time to tell stories, my stories will be told. To answer this question, I bring to Meyer some computer-related experiences regarding the Adobe CS3 platform and umm, some Mac applications. You know, the ones that consultants are required to know. Yeah, I bring those expertise.

Why be a Meyer Tech Desk Consultant?

The red & white flyer claims that this is the best job on campus and to test the validity of those words, I landed myself with a position as consultant. The thing is, I have not really looked into finding any other campus jobs and so in reality, I am not qualified to declare that this job is the best on campus. However, from what I have been hearing about research positions and callers... I would stick with this one.

Outside of Meyer, what do you like to do?

The second I set foot out of Meyer, I bike home to my dorm. Biking is something I like to do. I do a lot of homework, read a lot of books, listen to music, and I enjoy strawberry milkshakes from Stern late night. On that note, I also love drinking green tea boba from Lag late nite (Yes! I know that it's pretty much 3 gigantic scoops of green-colored ice cream with poorly boiled tapioca... but who cares?!). Aside from food, I like interacting with people and socializing. I am involved with theater (when I feel like it, I'm actually pretty theatrical) and yeah, before I forget, I also love to do... and I love to do.... and of course, I love to do...

What is your dream job?

My dream job is being a highly-trained undercover agent who busts illegal gang activities, human trafficking, and domestic abuse! I work as a professional and sincere elementary school teacher by day and trek & wreck the under-the-radar secret tunnels of wrong-doings by night to dawn. Hmmm... wait, that would involve zero amount of sleep for Terence though. Oh well. I guess a dream job is the one that can only happen in my dream.

What is your favorite movie?

This is a hard question for me given how little I pay attention to the movie industry. To throw one out there, I really loved Click, the one with Adam Sandler.

Favorite song?
OH MY GOSH... all this favorite stuff. See, I'm the type of guy who doesn't really like to rank things. I would much rather just homogenize like 10 songs and say that I like all of those and not declare one to be my favorite. Maybe it's because I feel that people would judge me based on that one song. A favorite song is by the Backstreet Boys. You guess it.

Favorite book?
OhH!! I loved American Born Chinese.

Favorite piece of software?
It's a legendary battle between WC3 and SC.

Favorite website?
XANGA!!!

Favorite way to waste time?

Boy do I love going to late night with my dormmates. Even after I tell everyone I am going to sleep at midnight, if anyone suggests going to Lag or TAP at 11:50pm, my conscience dictates my actions and she would always agree to go, eventhough my mind necessitates sleep & rest. Oh well. It is a perfect time-waster, all-hands-down.

If you could have any super power (not flying), what would it be?

Why not flying?! Shoot, I want the power to animate things. I want to be granted the superpower of "ANIMATION!" Call me the animator or the giver of life. I do not mean to draw such a parallel between God and me... but you gotta admit, it is a pretty tight power huh? Yeeeahhh, I see you smiling.

What is a question we should have asked about you, and what is the answer?

If the point of this question is to get me to free-associate so that I would slip up and tell you all about my secret mission, which requires that I make friends with all the Meyer Tech Desk Consultants and improve the service of MTD as well as bringing to the attention of the patrons the importance of throwing away their coffee cups instead of putting them in the recycling, just know that I am not going to tell you anything because I don't want you all to know the reason for my insanity... well, so, I just won't answer this.

The Week in Review

Busiest Day
Wednesday - 24%
Tuesday - 12%
Monday - 12%

Busiest Shift
1 - 2 PM - 11%
3 - 4 PM - 8 %
4 - 5 PM - 8 %

"Busiest" Consultant
Shannon - 12%
Peter - 11%
Michael - 10%

Most Frequent Interactions
Equipment Checkout - 41%
Directions and Info - 15%
Poster Printing - 10%

Interactions of the Week
5/13
10 PM
peter knocked the "equipment checkout policy" sign over
-Michael
10:10 PM
Fixed the "equipment policy" sign despite Mike's assessment that it was broken.
-Peter
5/14
I want my 10 cent refund from a month ago. Uh...we can reprint something here if it ate your print job. No, I want a refund. Uh, okay we don't do refunds, and there's no way to refund. Did the policy change? I dunno, but Shannon's offering you two nickels! I want to refund it! Um. Sorry, no refund system. Okay it's not worth it anymore. *leaves*
-Peter & Shannon

"Breaking" News

Rosanne (the printer) has lapsed into an electronic coma. Do not print to it.

The plotter's magenta nozzle (the one responsible for "Stanford Red") clogs with maddening frequency. The symptoms are as follows: stripy headers, and a gross orange-brown (like a dead Longhorn) color instead of Stanford Red. To fix it, run a nozzle check and do a deep head cleaning until the test comes clean.

If a mini dv tape refuses to play in a regular camera and/or gives a message like "Incorrect tape specification playback is restricted," chances are that tape has at some point been used to record in HD, which an SD camcorder will not recognize. You'll need to borrow an HD camcorder to upload the footage.

A New Consultant Profile

The Meyer Tech Desk welcomes Sang to the elite consultant task force!

Name/Nickname: Sang Won Lee. Call me Sang. :)
Class: first year graduate.
Major: MS&E
Hometown: Seoul, Korea

What kind of experience are you bringing to Meyer?
programmer, web designer, beauty product manufacturer and rock band agent,

Why be a Meyer Tech Desk Consultant?
Exchange rates were awful and I always wanted to learn film editing skills.

Outside of Meyer, what do you like to do?
basketball, cooking, music, music and music.

What is your dream job?
A carpenter, cook and composer. ( Too much TV will spoil you)

What is your favorite movie?
What's eating Gilbert grape?, Clean Slate, Sideways, Forrest Gump, Once, Eternal Sunshine, Me, you and everyone I know. too many......

Favorite song?
I could spend a day to answer this question.
Radiohead - nice dreams, let down.
Byul - 2 (Try this.)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
.. and more.

Favorite book?
Paul Auster's Leviathan

Favorite piece of software?
notepad

Favorite website?
my personal website.

Favorite way to waste time?
Feeling guilty about wasted time

If you could have any super power (not flying), what would it be?
rainmaker?

What is a question we should have asked about you, and what is the answer?
"Are you a favorite person of anybody?" is a five minutes-long movie made by Miranda July. Check youtube.

Also I want to add that my bro plays goth rock. check this out. www.adoom.com. I made the website.