Work Journal For Week of March 06, 2000
Last Update: Sunday, March 12, 2000 05:03 PM
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Windows 2000 server training today was limited and of marginal benefit. No hands on work, 6 hours of lecture with 2 hours of it being on Active Directory. I still stand by the statement I made around Christmas time, that in theory Active Directory sounds great, but until I see a full blown implementation in operation for a decent period of time it is not for prime time use.
Found out how good my neighbours are today. Myself and a neighbour both missed the last bus home. I lent him my cell phone and he called his wife. We then took the train to the end of the line where his wife met us. I got a car ride right to my door.
The people at work are a bit nervous about my job hunting. I got asked today by my supervisor if I had talked to the agency about them possibly needing to replace me, what kind of notice I would give, and when I would know if I got the job. I basically said that I do not plan to say anything to the agency till I have a new job, I will give two weeks notice and that I will know on Friday if I got the job. This answer seems to have eased their concerns somewhat.
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Worked at the Telus Advertising Services building today. Interesting to be working around the marketing types and hearing words like customer satisfaction, fair pricing and competition. Even stranger still is that there is conviction in peoples voices who are saying these words. I'd looked around to see that those who are speaking these words are the younger marketing people who are not disillusioned yet or managers who have to inspire their staff.
Other item that is interesting is that now with multiple local suppliers of phone service that there is now becoming a battle for advertisers in the yellow pages. Who's yellow pages do you advertise in. Small business make up the bulk of the yellow pages, they likely can't afford to advertise in two or more sets of yellow pages. Restaurants who likely derive a fair chunk of their business from the yellow pages are in a tight spot, they must choose the best yellow pages for exposure.
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Wanted a new hard drive for a clients laptop so had the hardware guys order one. In the mean time the client needs another computer to use so the hardware guys get her a loaner PC. The problem is that they put the hard drive from the clients laptop into the loaner. Don't they get it that I ordered an new hard drive cause there is a problem with the drive that is in the laptop ( no.... software support knows nothing, zip, nada about hardware thus it must be a software problem, lets humour them by putting the bad hard drive in the loaner laptop ). So why would they put the users drive in the loaner laptop? The user continued to have the same old problems and be very unhappy cause the overpaid walnut for brains hardware support person does not get the concept of a loaner to tide a person over while their hardware is being fixed. Loaner equipment + no brain hardware support person + faulty equipment = customer dissatisfaction.
This is why I wish I had more control, I could do a better job, and provide my clients with much better service. But there is a service agreement in place, so I will just have to live with things as they are. The more I have to deal with service companies to provide services I am more than capable of doing myself, the more I dislike outsourcing.
Not sure if it is the increase in gas prices but there were a lot more people on my bus this morning. Usually one or two people can't get a seat and have to stand. Today it was standing room only, and lucky me was one of those left standing. That's what I get for sleeping in and having to catch the bus a stop further down the route than normal. I don't mind standing, but it is impossible to read or catch a nap standing in a moving bus.
Typing this up in Outlook at work and when Outlook locked up on me along with Word. Hit the power button and rebooted the PC. Good old Outlook ( insert sarcasm here ) saved this message and one other I had open as Drafts. I was expecting to have lost my work and was pleasantly surprised to have my drafts intact when I fired up Outlook.
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My thanks to Tom Syroid for pointing out NeoTrace. NeoTrace is a very good ping and traceroute utility. With NeoTrace I was able to quickly confirm my suspicions that Shaw scans their internet network on a regular basis. My PC is scanned by a class A IP address at least once a day. This class A IP address is a part of the network Shaw uses for it's cable internet network. The name of the server or PC that scans me is authorized-scan.security.home.net. If the name of this computer really indicates what it is purpose is well I guess that is OK.
Got bit back into doing the computer thing at home last night. Between feeling under the weather, feeling a bit stressed waiting for word on a the possibility of a new job, and a rash of TV movies I have wanted to watch I have not spent much time in the lab during the past week. Last night I updated the Novell client on my main PC, played with the settings on ZoneAlert, and used NeoTrace to gain some insight on the addresses that ZoneAlert tells me are scanning my PC.
Saw an interesting cartoon today. Snoopy is sitting at his typewriter typing a letter. "Dear Revenue Canada, I am writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list." Oh how I wish it were so, that a meer letter could get my money out of the clutches of the hands of the Canadian Government.
I'm back at the Advertising Services building again. The guy that was off sick on Tuesday is back, but has to go to the doctor later today, and now the guy I worked with on Tuesday is off at Windows 2000 Server training for the day. So far I have just been watching the queue for new calls (none) and typing up these notes. Yes I have been earning my keep so far today haven't I!
Oh fudge!! I made a call to the headhunter for an update on the position I interviewed for. Turns out someone else got the job. I knew this could happen but I also thought I had a good shot at the position so this news makes me want to sulk a bit. No other opportunities on the horizon at the moment, so I guess I just have to keep on looking. Or if I can get an extension to my current contract I can then start to use the stability it may provide to pursue other interests such as sports in my spare time. Went and bought a brownie and an ice tea at the cafeteria thinking a sugar high might make me feel better. It didn't!
Settling down with the realization that the fantasy of enjoying the excitement of a new job is not in my immediate future and that I have to settle for the monotony of my current contract job for a while longer. No one ever promised that life would be easy or fun all the time, but seems like about once a year the hope of some interesting job gets dangled in front of me. I make the short list and then boom, I fall flat on my ass as the carrot is taken away. Then I'm back to what ever I happen to be up to at the time.
Very quiet day work wise. Few new calls in the queue, install a sound card driver here, a piece of software there. All very minor stuff, requiring very little brain power which suits me just fine today. I'm in a vegetative mood which means tonight I will probably watch Angel and ER ( no repeats please and thank you ) on the boob tube then call it a night.
Talked to a buddy who is going to leave his current position. He has been stuck in a bit of a dead end IT support position for a while and would like to move on. In preparation he is going to take a short intro Java course to see if it interests him enough that he would like to move into the programming ring. He has done some coding in the past but nothing significant. I thought that this was a pretty good idea. Go stretch the mental muscles a bit and test the waters in an area that could help refocus his career. He like me is a bit of a jack of all trades, and there are people looking for people that are not specialists but have a broad range of skills. It is this type of skill set that was required for the job I mentioned earlier that I didn't get. Darn interruptions, I had a little thread of an idea of where to go with this when I started this, now where did it go. Oh there it is on the floor by my feet, a broken thread of thought. Too thin and damaged to do anything with now. May be things will be come clear again later when I am putting all this together in FrontPage at home.
If your looking to register a domain name, take a look at EasyHosting.com. They charge $15 Canadian to register a domain and also have a domain parking service.
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TGIF, THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY, that mantra has never been more true for me than it is today. Having not gotten that job is not bothering me, but it is making me rethink some of my plans. With the weekend only 7 1/2 hours away, I will then have two whole days to review career plans etc..
It is not so much that I want to change careers but need to rethink the direction. I really like working in IT and can't imagine working in any other industry. I have been doing end user support long enough, and have for a while now wanted to get into server support. But I am stuck in a rut. People look at my resume, see a long history of support roles and pigeon hole me into a niche. Every time I try an break out of that niche I have problems, though I have certifications for server support and have done some, it is not enough to get me a server support job.
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Sick day.
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Spent the better part of yesterday sleeping. The cold I have been nursing all week has moved into my chest. Surprisingly after sleeping most of yesterday, I was able to sleep through the night as well. After picking up some medicine from the drug store, and following the directions I seem to be beating this cold bug off.
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