First of all, a hearty congratualations to Denise for making it thru the day yesterday... various elements (including the elements) conspired to make the day difficult for her, but she survived. One more exam to go, tomorrow evening, and it's all over with. *grin*
Studying for the exam is going well, even though reading the MCSE Premium Edition Training Kit for hours on end night after night isn't exactly scintillating. Except for one surprising little nugget that I got last night while studying about print servers and printer pools, where MS recommends that all printers in any one printer pool be in the same physical location (obviously). And if they're not? "The disadvantage is that users will not be able to readily locate their printed documents. The advantage is that users will receive a lot of extra exercise." Had to laugh when I read that, because the book itself is very, very dry, as you know if you've ever read any of Microsoft's training materials. To be honest, I'm surprised that MS let that sentence in; I'd wager it was an oversight by the editor.
Anyway.
The test is in fifteen days, and I think I'm going to be in good shape for it, except for Active Directory, which is a pain in the nuts that I'm going to have to spend a lot of time reviewing. I will take that exam on June 3rd, and I will pass the sumbitch. Then I can plan for exam 70-218... after which I'm supposed to receive a $2,000 bonus from my boss. I do hope I get it. Unfortunately, my company has a history of not keeping promises very well, but let's not get upset about that until there's actually something to get upset about.
Not a great deal else to report right now, except for one small thing: I've added a link to Ashleigh Brilliant. Check him out each weekday. He's a sharp cookie and very witty.
And now... off to start my day.
Posted by Zathras at May 19, 2003 09:22 AMFrom everything you've said, I'd be cautious about the 2k bonus happening.
Y'see, this is why I've tried to avoid the corporate world so much - just these backwards scary-ass politics/promises. Too much man, too much.
*CRUNCH CRUNCH* Na-chooooes...
Posted by: Shaw at May 19, 2003 10:58 AMTechnically speaking, it's *three* days left... I have an exam (plus two term-papers due) at 5pm Tuesday, then for my other class I have a set of homework, an optional term paper, and final exam questions I need to turn in via email by Thursday evening. :^P
Posted by: Moggy at May 19, 2003 05:11 PMmmm...Macho nacho monday nite. *CRUNCHA CRUNCH*
Posted by: Shaw at May 19, 2003 08:55 PM*discreetly spikes Shaw's nachos with oregano leaves*
OK, so a few more days, technically, until Moggy is free, then. I still think that's pretty screwy... I mean, that's like having a honeymoon two months before the wedding. Seems like the graduation ceremony should be a culmination of everything and the actual *end* of all of it. Ah, well, you know me... something of a sucker for tradition. Usually in the romantic area, but sometimes in others as well. :-)
Posted by: Zathras at May 19, 2003 09:39 PMWhooooooa maaan! High times Nachooeees
4-200000
yeeaaaaaaahhhh
Freedom Rock dude! Turn it up man!
Posted by: Shaw at May 19, 2003 09:45 PM*GRAAAUGH*!
nacho hangover!!
*bleguh* - damn, my stomach feels worse than when I was dealin' with my ex-girlfriend/friend. Gonna take some nacho macho/ex-girlfriend hangover pills ... ugh
Posted by: Shaw at May 19, 2003 11:12 PM"OK, so a few more days, technically, until Moggy is free, then. I still think that's pretty screwy..."
Well, I did figure out some logic to it. :) It's probably because there's only two places to hold graduation for departments that have more than 50 undergrads to deal with... Even with commencement being held approx. twice a day every other day at each venue, it takes about two weeks for everyone to have the ceremony. Finals run from 5/19 - 5/30 so if they started graduation ceremonies on 6/1, by the time they got through a tenth of them, everyone would have moved home for the summer!
Posted by: Moggy at May 20, 2003 12:13 AMwhat? commencement being held twice a day every other day???? I'd hate to see the budget for getting commencement speakers . . . hoo-eee
Posted by: Shaw at May 20, 2003 02:00 AMPretty close...click on my namelink or go here if that doesn't work:
http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/seniors/commencement/
Keep in mind, this is a university with (last I heard circa 1997) 40k students, so that number of departments/graduations is basically necessary. Imagine trying to have commencement for 15k people every year!
Posted by: Moggy at May 20, 2003 10:58 AM"'The disadvantage is that users will not be able to readily locate their printed documents. The advantage is that users will receive a lot of extra exercise.'"
Personally, I'd place all the printers in different locations throughout the building purely for the joy of watching my co-workers "exercise" -- I'm a nasty little piece of work that way sometimes. I think it's why all the other nasty pieces of work like me...if I were employed as an admin, the results would be 1) I'd enjoy myself and 2) I'd probably get fired very, very quickly for doing it. ;^)
"...the book itself is very, very dry, as you know if you've ever read any of Microsoft's training materials."
I shall quote the valedictorian for the 2003 English grads: "...then you put the book down, teeth bared and lips curled, because surely no great mind wrote this." (Which is exactly the annoyed "what kind of moron NEEDS this level of instruction" gut response I get when I try to read MS literature -- or attend undergrad lectures -- of any sort.)
Posted by: Moggy at May 20, 2003 03:59 PM*chuckle* It's pretty obvious that no one individual writes the entire training manual for one of these MS course instruction books. In fact, I'd be rather surprised if any one person even wrote a single chapter, to be honest. It's dull stuff, no doubt about it.
As to the fun stuff you can do when you're an admin, hoo-eee, I don't even want to go there in a public venue. *grin* Can you say, "packet sniffer on a non-switched network"...?
Posted by: Zathras at May 20, 2003 04:47 PM(da packet sniffer sniffs da nacho hangover/ex-girlfriend hangover meds b4 I take it).
Prob. 'puters wrote the stuff. So, when the hell are they gonna put out the "Microsoft Exercise Book for Techies"? Might save co.'s some moolah on health coverage. . .
*gulps down meds - gonna regurgitate da experiences I had into an article in a week or two for my mag*
Posted by: Shaw at May 20, 2003 06:56 PM"As to the fun stuff you can do when you're an admin, hoo-eee, I don't even want to go there in a public venue. *grin* Can you say, "packet sniffer on a non-switched network"...?"
*snicker* Oh, come on -- I know you wouldn't dare do much of anything interesting, you're too upstanding for that. I, on the other hand, would invade my mother's own private IM chats.
Posted by: Moggy at May 20, 2003 11:51 PMActually, I have done a fair amount of that kind of thing -- but I must add that I do it to learn about how networking works, not to actually snoop on my coworkers. The stuff I learn about them that way is incidental, and yes, I do keep it under my hat.
Posted by: Zathras at May 21, 2003 09:29 AM