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Software I work with WordPerfect
(have to start with that as it signifies the beginning!) |
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There are many other little packages that I've worked and played with, but these are the main ones and I am from expert to fairly proficient at using them all.All of this software is software that I own and have installed on at least one of my home computers. I work with my main system which is a Pentium III 850 with 30gigs and 384mgRAM - awesome! I am not a programmer nor do I ever want to be a programmer! But, I do know and want to learn more about JAVA, JavaScript, ASP and CGI and I will. That is what I'm concentrating on now so check back soon to see any additions to my list! |
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Grodi is me, Barbara Grodaes! I got the nickname when I was very young. It was before Grodi was a 'grodi' word. I think it started in school when there were 3 Barbs but later on it came from my aggravation of people spelling my last name Groades and I'd insist that it was NOT grod like 'toad'! So I would spell it out "g r o D" pause "a e s." Then people would sound it out as they wrote, "grrrroaDi", pause, and then add on the 'a e s'. But the "grroadi" seemed to stick in their minds. I don't really know how it kept going but people have been calling me grodi forever and that's ok. When I first
started consulting, I was looking for a catchy name. In the offices where
I worked, I would often hear the comment someone would make to another...
"go ask Grodi - Grodi knows and if she doesn't, she'll know for you
by tomorrow!" So I
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How did
Grodi come to know? Then by 1981,
I was a fairly accomplished legal secretary and that is when I started
working for Don Sinclair, lawyer extraordinaire! His law practise was
in Red Deer and I immediately had to go to the big city of Calgary to
learn to use the AES word processor. I loved the AES and became very proficient
at using all of the features that it offered. I had to - I was the only
secretary working for a busy one-man law firm and I needed all the help
I could get! So I learned as much as possible in the area of word-processing.
Then, as things changed, as they always do, the personal computer became
the thing to have in the offices and we graduated to PCs and WordPerfect.
I learned WordPerfect from top to bottom and inside out in an effort to
utilize as many word-processing features as was humanly possible and became
a total expert with an urgency and growing desire to learn more and more. I moved to Calgary in 1988 in search of greener (pastures? - well green, anyways) and continued on with working with lawyers all while working towards getting into the IT industry. I took classes and worked like crazy learning everything I could about my new passion - COMPUTERS!! Then, in 1990, after 13 years of being buried in the legal field, I stepped out and from there I jumped head-first into living, eating, breathing and continuing learning computers. From building them from scratch to creating splashy video presentations! I have loved working and my passion for this industry has not subsided, it has incredibly increased! With consulting, the most common area that I have had tremendous success is in the training field. Teaching users to actually USE the computer and understand and be comfortable with what they are doing. I seem to have an uncanny way of making people comfortable and actually change their minds from hating their machine to loving everything they can do with it! All while learning about the frustrations it can be and what to do about it before smashing it with a hammer. Most of the time, the answer is - call Grodi! I have worked with ALL kinds of people - from the dirt (wheat) farmer in Saskatchewan getting his GPS system to work on his home PC to CEOs of Oil & Gas Industry giants (at least in their minds anyways)! It doesn't matter who the people are that I'm working with, I love people. My main focus in the past few years has been to, in a sense, 'marry' the joe-blow computer illiterate with the idea of becoming a comfortable computer-literate user. I have shown corporate owners that the PCs they have in-house and the people they have already employed, can and will do a remarkable job by simply learning how to use the equipment and software they already have. However, since I completed my Certified Internet Webmaster certification in April and received my designation as a Master CIW Designer with a concentration on the e-commerce, I am looking to move in that direction. Well, it has been over 10 years now and here I am, freshly moved to Edmonton and having a great time. I am networking and meeting new people and still .... continually learning lots!
live, love, laugh ......... learn! (golf)
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How does Grodi keep up and stay on top? Believe me, to keep up with all of the changes happening with this ever changing industry, one has to dig in, take the time to read (a lot!) and stay together with your network and resources that you have met and will continue to meet. I get a lot of daily industry news and you may be interested in where to go in your attempt to stay on top! Below is a list of links and subscriptions that I belong to in this endeavour: TeamGuru I also subscribe to a number of magazines that are delivered to my home. I will make a list, starting off with my most favorite: shift
- this is the greatest magazine and will be online soon!
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Who
is Grodi? 
