Excel WebCT project comments

As I'm grading the Excel WebCT projects, some comments come to mind.

1. I am deducting for format issues - i.e. the intructions call for a total to be in a specific format, but you didn't follow that instruction. Why? Because in real like, formatting matters. The way data is presented really makes a difference on whether it will be readable, understandable, and make an impact.
2. Never Ever manually type in a conclusion - for ex. look at a column and type in that highest number. Have Excel calculate that for you ALWAYS (even if it's easiy to glance at the data) - because you never know when the data will change.
3. Use your common sense - if a result doesn't make sense, then you've probably made an error somewhere. For example, the average of 15, 20,25 35, is probably NOT 1500!
   

Home network Possibilities

A quick description of the network I have at home. I will hopefully flesh this out later. The purspoe is to demonstrate the possibilities - and reasons to setup an home network. "Outhouse" is an outbuilding I have in the backyard, wired for electricity and phone.

Machines:

1. mac mini in outhouse
2. iMac DV inhouse
3. WinXP machine in outhouse
4. Apple laserwriter select in outhouse
5. HP inkjet printer inhouse
6. Apple powermac in outhouse
7. playstation 2
   

The need: Get everything talking to each other so any machine can print to either printer, and all can access the highspeed itnernet from Cox. The cable drop is, of course, 30 feet away from the nearest computer.

Networking hardware: I'm using powerline adaptors from macWireless.com to connect the outhouse, inhouse iMac, and the playstation to the highspeed internet. The outhouse machines are all connected to a gigabit switch I got cheap on eBay, which is in turn connected to a powerline adaptor. The playstation 2 and the cable modem are connected to a second gigabit switch. The inhouse iMac DV is connected direct to one of the powerline adaptors.

The wrinkle: I need to be able to work on the Win XP box for class, but there is no physical space to really put it anywhere convenient. So I use Remote Desktop Connection - free from microsoft. This allows me to sit at one of my Macs, connect to the Win XP box, and control Windows as if I was sitting there. in fact, this entry is being typed on a 5-year old iMac DV machine, controlling the Win XP box - which is running Firefox over the highspeed connection.

Fairly cool, if you like this sort of thing!