The Corey Story

twitter and maintenance

Corey — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:48:30 +0000

I go on twitter maybe once every 3 weeks. I hardly ever update it, rather I just like to see random tweets from different people. Every time I try to use twitter it is down and I am presented with a giant whale being carried by pigeons saying “We’ll be back soon!”. Twitter and maintenance go hand in hand.

[ratings]

You have to love business in America!

Corey — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:46:13 +0000

My car’s check engine has recently lit up prompting me to call the good old Volvo dealership for an appointment. Alas, since I am not 25, I am not eligible to receive a loaner car. I find this to be an interesting business practice. If a 17 year old kid walked in with 25k in cash, they would bend over backwards to satisfy the customer and have them drive out in a shiny new Volvo. However, this same 17 year old could have an issue with their automobile and would not be able to receive a loaner. Why? If you are old enough to purchase a vehicle from a dealership, they should entrust you with receiving a loaner car. I have to find someone to take time out of their schedule to follow me up on two occasions for my car. Thanks Volvo, I will remember this next time I go car shopping…

[ratings]

Random musing of the day

Corey — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:30:12 +0000

As I was driving today, I was passed and viciously cut off by an SUV going 80 MPH on a 50 MPH road. The irony of the situation? The maniac driver’s vehicle had a “baby on board” sticker plastered boldly on their trunk window. I thought that usually meant that the driver was careful and protective of their child?

[ratings]

Finding a deal on craigslist

Corey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:05:07 +0000

Over the past month, I have been actively searching for a place in New York City for a month. Naturally, I turned to craigslist looking at sublets and temporary housing. Here are some trends that I noticed:

Move quickly to close a deal : People move fast, so if you want to get a deal, you must be on the ball. If a phone number is provided, call it to get in contact quicker.
Beware of wiring money : Don’t EVER wire money to someone to try and land a deal. This is a major no-no as most people requesting money to be wired to them are scam artists. If you wire money to someone, there is almost no way of tracking it and no way of recouping it after you are left in the dust!
Try and deal locally : I wouldn’t recommend purchasing something via craigslist unless you have a recommendation for someone or you can physically go and look at something before you take it.

craigslist is a great resource, but must be handled carefully and logically. Use your best judgment and you will usually be able to come up with something that meets your needs

[ratings]

Back!

Corey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:55:40 +0000

Sorry for the long delay between posts everyone! I was busy graduating from college (TCNJ 2008) and getting everything together to begin working! I am looking forward to writing again and will update frequently, so keep checking in!

The importance of support queue upkeep

Corey — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:01:01 +0000

In an age of SPAM and mass advertisements, it is critical to keep an eye on the support system at all times. With b5media, I try to check in with the support queue 4 or 5 times a day to clear out unwanted SPAM from the inbox. This allows me to better fill my working hours resolving issues for bloggers and employees of the company. If you allow too long of a gap between checking in, it decreases the amount of time you can actually dedicate to issue resolution. Clearing SPAM can be a tedious and tiring task, but your work efficiency definitely improves if you clear it throughout the day instead of waiting until the next time you sign on to work!

Response time critical in support-related roles

Corey — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:48:46 +0000

I work for b5media providing support to a network of 330+ blogs. As the main line of support, it is critical that I keep a close eye on the support queue at all times. One of the things I have noticed with my job is how critical response time is. Whenever a ticket comes in the queue, I look at the difficulty of the task at hand and determine whether it is a quick fix or a long term issue. If I think the ticket will last in the queue for more than a day, I typically respond to the person who sent the ticket in and let them know we received it. I try to let them know who the ticket was assigned to and give them a general time frame it will take before the issue is resolved. Without a relatively quick reply, people become nervous and wonder if their issue is being handled. A quick note eases these tensions and gives the person enough information to know their issue is being considered.

If you work in a company with a support branch, it is imperative that responses be sent out quickly to the ticket senders. An automated email doesn’t do the trick either as it is overlooked and not taken into consideration by the person sending in the ticket. If someone in support takes a minute to construct a personal note, the person feels much more involved in the situation, which is positive for the company and the people involved.

[ratings]

The importance of a “me” day

Corey — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:37:57 +0000

Over the past few weeks I have been doing a ton of work all around. Projects for school, b5media, WordPress consulting and theme design. As this weekend is nearing an end, I realized I haven’t had a “me” day in awhile. What I mean by this is a day you take for yourself and relax and enjoy being alive and well and living. I love working - building and creating things really excites me, but it is also important to take some time to rest and do something different. People work so hard day in and day out - everyone needs a “me” day every now and then, have you taken yours lately?

[ratings]

b5media job openings

Corey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:03:55 +0000

Interested in working for a fun, forward-driven media network? Check out the current job openings for b5media as posted on CEO Jeremy Wright’s blog. If you get the director of tech job, you will be my boss

[ratings]

WordPress 2.5 user experience review: Admin welcome screen

Corey — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:09:50 +0000

With the release of WordPress 2.5 and the heavy duty modifications made to the admin section, I wanted to write a few pieces about the nature of the user experience after the changes. This being my first entry, I am going to talk a bit about the new welcome screen of the admin section. An initial glance shows a complete overhaul of the UI, which might scare some WP veterans, but to new folks would appear very stylish and “web 2.0″. I am a big fan of the “Right Now” bulletin posted up top. It provides quick metrics about your site and is a solid reporting tool. Scrolling down the screen shows different RSS feeds and information sections. The nice part about this is that each box can be edited to display whatever information you would like. This gives the user more control of their admin section. However, one thing I don’t like is the amount of scrolling involved with this all. Granted the important metrics are posted on top, but a lot of visible information is left off the initial screen, which leaves the user to scroll hefty amounts to see everything contained on the page. I also think the “Right now” box could and should be built into a reporting supertool providing key metrics and information about much of the site. A tabbed menu could provide access to recent comments, incoming links, site visitor statistics and more. I think wp-stats should be included in the core build also. Visitor statistics are of prime importance and WP should come fully equipped to report on such vital information. It could report on a variety of things such as the most popular posts and content to provide users with key information regarding their site.

The navigation menus are scaled down greatly from previous versions of WP. The information is all still there, but much more cut and dry. With that, I am going to end my first review and invite you to comeback during the week to catch the second entry, which revolves around the new navigation structure of wp-admin

[ratings]