Happy Birthdays

It's not all bad when you share a birthday with Samuel Adams, George Muller, Thomas Nast, Meat Loaf, Lil' Wayne, and Avril Lavigne.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_27

 

Happy Birthdays, folks.

Verizon and Windstream Have It Out For Me

I am without Internet access this morning at home.  No big deal - an outage has to happen sometime, right?  We can't have a perfect world, so I am not all that upset about not being able to read e-mail.  I have many other things to do at 5 am.

 

However, one thing I chose to do was test the new tethering capability on Android 2.2.  Would I need a driver or special software?  Android 2.2 gave devices the capability to share its Internet connection via WiFi (which was a fantastic idea, by the way), but Verizon left that part out of the 2.2 update for the Droid.  I called them cock-blocks that day for that.  A statement I read spewed some bullshit about the Droid not having the ability to do that - a hardware limitation.

 

Folks have been rooting the Droid and making it a hotspot since the damn thing hit the streets.  It obviously has the capability.

 

Anyway, it turns out that if I want to tether it with USB, all I have to do is plug it in and turn on tethering.  Windows 7 apparently works well with it.  We got a private address and everything - it looked good.  However, I did not have access to the Internet.  I tried to browse the Web with the phone and got the page from Verizon that said: "If you would like to subscribe to mobile broadband..."  I was not happy.  If I have unlimited Internet access via my handheld device, what is the difference if I use that connection with a computer?  Why do I have to pay even more just to use the same service in a different way?

 

I didn't get an iPhone because AT&T wireless sucks in rural areas, such as the one in which I live.  Sprint is the same.  Verizon has coverage nearly anywhere I go, so I stuck with them.  Now they're sticking it to me.  And I am not happy.

 

I do now believe that when I move to a respectably-sized city I will be switching carriers.  Wankers.

Weekend Rumination

I have had some thoughts over the weekend and I have decided to stay with the new job for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time.  I am gaining a great amount of experience, the money's pretty good, and it is a lot more interesting than the last five years I've just spent in state employment.  I'm getting better at the new stuff every day (I'd said I was impatient and I was right) and I think I might enjoy it a little.

We'll see what happens.

Windows Internals

I've been reading Windows Internals, 4th ed. by Mark Russinovich and David Solomon this weekend, and there are things within Windows that I never thought existed.  Windows can be troubleshot to the finest detail and it seems I will be able to debug third-party software with just a few tools within Windows itself.

The 4th edition covers XP and Server 2003, while the 5th edition (the most current) covers Vista and Server 2008.  I chose to buy a used copy of the 4th edition to cover most of what we have deployed in the field, and to understand its limitations.  I'm trying to get the workplace to buy the 5th edition for us.

If I find anything else interesting, I'll certainly post it here if I feel passionate enough about it.

No One Knows What to Do When Their Needs and Their Dreams Conflict

I was writing to Scott this morning and discovered that I had something to say.

The new job has me at a crossroads.  I am back on a time clock and I feel like a monkey.  However, the salary is much higher than I was making without the clock so I figure at some point I'll get over it.  Still, it's demeaning and it makes me feel undervalued.  I also have absolutely nothing in common with anyone there.

I had some serious reflection time alone at lunch yesterday.  I'm giving up the better part of a business that, if taken full-time, could allow me to retire comfortably at 40.  Staying with the bank in my monkey chair with a headset on is less stressful and more focused, but I would retire with everyone else at 65 or something.  I really had to weigh my options and assess risks, and I still haven't really decided.  For the time being, though, I will probably keep showing up at the bank every morning.

I think my discomfort stems primarily from the drastic change.  I just left a job where I made my own schedule, knew everything about my job (and made it up when I didn't), and my boss bought the beer every time we met, which was not often.  I now work in the same building with my boss, I have a schedule set by the company, I have to follow a dress code, and I'm really confused about what it is I was hired to do.  Mostly, I don't like having an earnings ceiling and a boss.  Especially the boss.  That really bothers me.  I have found that I am more comfortable with making my own decisions based on my own experience and knowledge - the department I am in has its little need-to-know hierarchy and it's a pain in the balls when I can't make a decision because I can't get in touch with someone.  I do not feel empowered.

I have come to the conclusion that no IT department does IT correctly, and that bothers me.  I am finally experiencing that difference they speak of between college and the world, that challenge-invoking difference between education and practice.  However, that doesn't have to be that way.  I mean - seriously - when I get an e-mail from the Systems Administrator telling me to ensure I adjust the power scheme on every laptop I deploy, there is something wrong.  The company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on hardware, infrastructure, and management software that I should never have to touch a machine more than once to deploy it.  Group Policy exists solely for this purpose.  We have 600 machines deployed and it seems there is no standard.  How the hell does someone manage 600 devices by hand?  The answer: inefficiently.  Therein lies the source of why no one is very positive.  No wonder they're busy and "understaffed."

Whatever I decide, this job will give me some good experience to take to the next place.  It's not all bad - I am learning a whole lot about some specialized software and gaining enterprise-level hands-on practice.  This could be the start of a successful career in the banking industry.  I could just be feeling growing pains exacerbated by my impatience.  I will wait a couple more months to see if I can inject some sense into the workplace.

This is not to say that I hate working there, but so far no one has been very positive or outgoing and the whole lot of them are just downright strange.  I feel like I should just keep to myself and not bother with making acquaintances - there are no benefits to such things here.

Changes Forthcoming

I got a new job recently but haven't started yet.  I haven't bothered to tell anyone on Facebook or even Tweet about it.  My friends (or rather, those people who are on that list) don't read this blog.  When they start bitching about my not telling them my life changed, I can say "well, I posted about it on my blog."

I will lose my tablet computer next Thursday.  I'd planned to quit Friday the 3rd but we're furloughed.  So in losing my only mobile computer I have left since the state won't let me keep it, I ordered my next PC.  It's a customized HP Pavilion dv6z (looks a lot like this one) and I think it's the end-all for five years.  With a quad-core AMD Phenom II, 640GB HDD, and 6GB RAM, I should be set for at least that long.  They threw in a discounted HP Officejet 4500 Wireless All-in-One I couldn't resist getting that too.

I got the printer in yesterday and the slip-case I tagged on will be here tomorrow.  HP still says the computer will be built by September 2, 2010.  I ordered a Dell laptop for a client a day before I ordered my own from HP.  We'll see which one gets here first.