Adventures in Technobabble

Just to let everyone know, I am moving my blog off to my own server. The new address will be blog.christophermichaelwebb.com. I had resisted for quite a while as wordpress has some powerful clout on the search engines, but I feel it’s for the best as I like to have full control over my sites. Hope to see you all there.

You know, I think my main reason for going into IT was that it is constantly changing and there is so much to learn that it seems constantly new. I started in consulting and loved it. Everyday somewhere new, a new task with new technologies. After a while, I grew curious of what it would be like to work in a dedicated environment. This period coincided with a time of downsizing at the consulting firm I was with. I took the opportunity to hop on at a data center with Lockheed Martin. At first, I thought it would be exciting, learning about clustering and the different issues that are involved with large enterprise environments. Honestly, though, it’s pretty boring. At our office, we have no senior systems administrators, so there isn’t really anyone to observe or learn from. I’m not saying that the guys I work with aren’t smart, not by any means. We just all lack that experience and the other benefits that come with it. The environment we are in is pretty stale, it has been running for a couple years now and is 90% stable and with everything being redundant, there never seems to be an emergency. Really, this is what most companies want and something that I would love to set up, but i feel no connection to the environment as I had no part in the installation or configuration of any of it.

One thing that has made my time with Lockheed wonderful is the scripting. I got to really dive in and learn scripting and WMI and how AD works because there are constantly large, mundane tasks that need done across the network. I started doing a lot of scripting. I think that my big debate right now is “Where do I want to go with my career?” I like the consulting work and administration when there is opportunity for change, but really, i feel like my true passion for IT comes with the idea of creation. I loved setting up networks from scratch, from the routers, to switches, to deciding which servers, desktops, and OS’s to use. There was a lot of control there, but I don’t think the control is the main thing that made me love it. I have been studying up on Visual Basic and .NET 3.5 lately, to try to get into application development. I would like to move to C++, but already have a fairly solid knowledge of VB to start there. My thought is creating versus maintaining, obviously creating is more exciting(at least to me). I guess I’m not sure what I want, I just feel a bit burnt out and can’t seem to focus today. There hasn’t been anything too exciting for me to post lately, either, so I thought I would just throw my thoughts up as an update.

July 31, 2009 (Last Friday Of July) is the 10th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day!

A sysadmin unpacked the server for this website from its box, installed an operating system, patched it for security, made sure the power and air conditioning was working in the server room, monitored it for stability, set up the software, and kept backups in case anything went wrong. All to serve this webpage.

A sysadmin installed the routers, laid the cables, configured the networks, set up the firewalls, and watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that runs over copper, fiber optic glass, and even the air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. All to make sure the webpage found its way from the server to your computer.

A sysadmin makes sure your network connection is safe, secure, open, and working. A sysadmin makes sure your computer is working in a healthy way on a healthy network. A sysadmin takes backups to guard against disaster both human and otherwise, holds the gates against security threats and crackers, and keeps the printers going no matter how many copies of the tax code someone from Accounting prints out.

A sysadmin worries about spam, viruses, spyware, but also power outages, fires and floods.

When the email server goes down at 2 AM on a Sunday, your sysadmin is paged, wakes up, and goes to work.

A sysadmin is a professional, who plans, worries, hacks, fixes, pushes, advocates, protects and creates good computer networks, to get you your data, to help you do work — to bring the potential of computing ever closer to reality.

So if you can read this, thank your sysadmin – and know he or she is only one of dozens or possibly hundreds whose work brings you the email from your aunt on the West Coast, the instant message from your son at college, the free phone call from the friend in Australia, and this webpage.

Show your appreciation

Friday, July 31, 2009, is the 10th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication. (All day Friday, 24 hours, your local timezone).

Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do.

Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

Spread the word

So I am no longer working as a consultant here in Indianapolis; I have taken a position Systems Administrator with another company here in Indianapolis.  I enjoy consulting, but have always wondered what it would be like to work in a dedicated environment where I wasn’t constantly running off to put out another fire.  It seems like a decent job, but man it is so much slower.  At first, I enjoyed the break, but now, I am starting to get a little bored.  Hopefully things pick up soon.  5 guess it’s a good thing I have a job at all in the current economy.

OK, so there’s a new restaurant open in Fountain Square. It’s called Naisa Cafe. They are a nice little asian restaurant. They pride themselves on not being just like the rest. I gotta say, I’ve been there 3 times already since they opened two weeks ago. Definitely check them out sometime when you are in Indy. Try the seafood cheese wontons.

naisacafe.com

I wish Intuit would die.  I just had to say it, that’s all I really wanted, but since I am on here, I might as well say why.  Every client that I have that uses Quickbooks has had files corrupted for one reason or another at least once a year, if not more.  Their software is almost as shoddy as Microsoft’s.  I just spent 4 hours trying to rebuild a qbw file for a client.  Their tape drive crapped out yesterday and the new one hasn’t arrived yet, so of course, quickbooks decided to take a dump on them.  It’s like they want their software to not work.  It’s just too easy to corrupt the files, especially in an office with multiple users accessing the information.  This is an accounting firm and it’s April 15, so needless to say, they were extremely panicked.  Why would intuit make it so you can “verify/rebuild” only from within the file?  if it’s corrupt and you make a tool to repair the file, why would you only be able to access the tool from within the file that is corrupt and inaccessible?  Anyway, this is a pretty pointless post so I’ll quit gabbing.

I did have something somewhat important to say already, but since this is my first post, I will just do a brief introduction.  I am an IT consultant out of Indianapolis.  This blog is mainly about things that I discover while working, which may or may not benefit others to know about.  I am writing anonymously because I may also occasionally end up writing about my experiences with clients and even my personal life.  I just don’t feel you need to know who I am; I’m sure my clients would appreciate me not giving out their, or my, information, as well.  On another note, I hope you don’t mind that I can’t write or spell and hardly ever use punctuation.  I am fighting hard to make sure this first post looks decent, but it’s not normal for me.  Also, I tend to be a bit vulgar when speaking about personal experiences and not just tutorials and informationals, and I don’t want potential employers/clients to see that.  Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the blog.