April | 2018 | Birds on a Cable

Crafting an Infernal Contraption

By Will Jay On April 25, 2018April 25, 2018 In Fun Stuff, Misc

I’ve been telling myself for the last month and a half that I’m going to get into leatherworking. I bought all the tools, read through some beginner materials, and planned out my first project. But what was this? The man in this Youtube video is using some specialized vice to hold his leather in place while he stitches. I couldn’t possibly be considered a travelled Leathersmith without having one of those to work with! So, in lieu of actually working the leather, my first project became to forge a tool for it. This journey is chronicled below.

The Shoemaker’s Children

By Laura Jean On April 19, 2018April 19, 2018 In Work Life

My laptop has been bluescreening (BSOD-ing) for about 2-months, now. I have a hunch it’s related to sleep settings, or some aspect of a power shift that is broken: from power to sleep, battery to sleep, or falling asleep all by itself. Any change in the cached memory that isn’t finalized by a full shutdown is intensely discouraged by my machine. But who has time to fix it?

Working on the Wing

By Laura Jean On April 11, 2018April 19, 2018 In Tech Tips

Our clients are all over Chicago, and so we go all over Chicago. I’d say that our days are evenly split between a) a client’s office, working face-to-face on a project or problem of the day b) at the Nest, working screen-to-screen with our clients via PC/phone/email, c) bouncing from at least two to three locations, working catch as catch can from laptops, cell phones, on trains, buses, Divvys, foot or Uber. More and more, our clients have the same work-style challenges. Real estate agents are bouncing from office to showing to coffee shop to closing. Lawyers are at the airport, office, or at trial. Some work during their commute into the city via Metra (The Way to Really Fly!). And any of us on “vacation.”

Why The Cloud is Good for Small Business

By Sean Christopher On April 4, 2018April 4, 2018 In Tech Tips

Let’s talk about THE CLOUD. I won’t bore you with details about security risks or pros v. cons. Those types of details muddy the real value of The Cloud, which is keeping up with cutting-edge IT without a huge IT budget. This is especially significant for small businesses.

Maybe you’ve already been wondering, should we move our business to The Cloud? and what type of Cloud? Cloud data storage or Cloud computing? What’s the difference? Or, maybe you’re asking, What is The Cloud anyway? Isn’t it something for large companies?