Just kidding

Looks like my domain is still in limbo.

My Domain

It is back online. I guess the domain transfer from my previous provider to the new one went well. I'm going to be testing the accounts tonight to make sure everything is backup up ok.

Day of sadness

I would just like to inform everyone that today reaches a bit of sadness that I have been expecting for a while now. My very first e-mail account has been closed. This account has been with me since I was in grade 8, for those mathematically challenged that makes it about 15 years. The service from the provider eventually forced me away to find greener pastures.

Because of this change please be aware that all my domain related accounts will be inactive for a week as domain ownership moves from my previous hosting service to my new one. At one point I can actually say I was a proud member of the internet community through the host but as they grew bigger they also grew less feeling to the community around them. I liked the idea of getting messages from the president every Christmas season wishing everyone a happy _______, the greeting was in about 20 different celebrations. I liked the idea that they would work on firming up the local infrastructure by connecting directly with other ISPs to create a bigger web then relying on the local major providers. But alas all that has passed and with it I sign my first e-mail account to the eternal ether and hope that things get better from here.

Happy new year

Ok so I'm late but so have all my thoughts of new posts. All that is ok because right now I'm rocking out to the new Foo Fighters album called Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace which I must say is quite cool when played at about 20db louder than you should listen to it. (Hmmmm. Wonder where the neighbours are because they aren't complaining)

As promised here is the post about "Management's spin on bad ideas".

I found out though some accidental cyber stalking that one of my previous managers listed quite a number of interesting achievements from the company he left. The most interesting of them is the fact that he managed to "Lead initives to outsource email management". This on it's own seems like a great idea. A medium sized company now allowing a third party to offload some of the IT processes and freeing up staff to do more worthy things.

Let us look under the covers just a little first shall we? The company in question had a well established e-mail system in place prior to his arrival. The processes in place to be able to manage the previous mail system were well defined. The Linux administrators made sure that everything was up to snuff and working on a shoe string budget was more than possible for them. They had the mail server working with over 300 users on a small little P2-400, I believe, with a paltry 64 megs of ram for the longest time without causing any issues.

So what happened? Why did such a good system get thrown out and replaced with a Microsoft Exchange system? The answer is simple. After a select removal of staff, me, the rest of the staff saw little to no reason to say and starting looking for new places of employ. The two Linux administrators that were there left with little time between them. With no administrators for the mail system something had to be done to keep the world turning?

The solution was outsourcing the mail services to someone who could handle the problem and do it quickly. It was done with I'm guessing with some issues but a mostly transparent transition from one system to the next. The manager was undoubtedly hailed as a hero for another successful project.

The real problem. After successfully destroying a great IT group for selfish and misguided gains the manager managed to incur an on going expense to the company because of his inability to lead.

As a footnote it seems that said manager has yet to hold a job for more than a year and a half anywhere he goes.

In a way I think I may continue the quiet cyber stalking. Should I ever be in a position where I can hire someone it would be good to use the Internet to find out how some of the IT community works. There are good people out there that shouldn't have to deal with people like him.

A week of work

Ok I have now done six days of work at my new place and it has made me very happy.

The people there are very receptive to having new team members join. It is a small enough organization that I will eventually get to know everyone there. It is great and filled with many learning opportunities which is what drove me there in the first place.

Naturally there is a down side to every place that you work. So far the one I have found is it seems that there are boxes of doughnuts at every turn. This is a test of will to see how long I can hold out without over indulging myself. The company really knows how to keep T.H. in business.

I can see a lot of things that I can do at the company both as my hired role of Network Administrator and as System Administrator. Some will take some convincing while I hope others will be much easier but I won't know until I try. It is times like this I wish I payed more attention to what Luc was doing in years gone by.

The best I can say is I'm happy to work there and I can see a me spending a long time there. Previous posts I had held always had an iffy feel about them but not here. I'm happy and I think I will stay awhile.

The Monday Post

Ok as promised here is the Monday post.

As you all know I have been working at finding a job for the past couple of months. I can now say that I have found one. As of 4:30 today I signed a offer of employment and am now working at TotalLine Transportation.

Some of the finer points are still up in the air but from now on I'll be working from 8:30 to 17:00 at a good job. The people there are great from the ones that I met and and I'm sure that I will enjoy it as there is plenty of learning opportunities there.

Oh and it is still Monday so if anyone was saying anything about "Where is the post?" remember I never promised a time.

The Nerd Handbook

The Nerd Handbook was posted on Digg today. Naturally this is some kind of fluff material that is closer to humor for wild thoughts. Not this piece though. Some of it struck close to home. I can also think of a few people this could apply to as well for understanding .... at least if I left my 'Cave'.

How religion failed my friends

A little while ago I was walking along with my wife and a couple of friends and they were discussing the changes that were happening at their church.

Now let's start off with the fact that I don't care that much for religion and I excluded myself from this conversation and was more of just an observer. Anyway I observed the following.

Over the years through faithful service my friends have been having the feeling of being pushed out of their church as things have changed. These reasons are long and complex but the summary is that after trying hard to keep the better parts of the weekly services in they are now being dropped by the current clergy. This results in less of a role for the choir and a borderline insult to choir as well.

I don't hear many people saying that these are good changes. If church is for the masses then this is a failure of the church as they are no longer working for the masses but a select number of individuals who, frankly, may not be around for much longer.

Coming posts

I have been a little on the lazy side for posting I know but I have thought up of three more posts I just have to get around to them.
1) How religion failed my friends
2) Management's spin on bad ideas
3) (I actually forget)

Anyway I will work on posting them when I have a chance this is more of a reminder of what I want to post on.

And everyone thought....

That my cat was crazy.

Working

I found this on Digg. It is someone's blog about working or the lack of. I'm surprised to read a story like this because it shows that there are people out there that are happy doing nothing. In essence getting a free pay cheque. I find this troubling because I like to work and actually feel that I earn something. I enjoy creating things to make my life and other's lives easier in the field. I strive to make everyone's life this easy. Until then there is far too much work to do for everyone and free rides like this shouldn't be allowed.

That is just my opinion and I'll stick to it.

Youtube

Just saw the chess master Gerry Kasparov kill Bill Maher in a live interview. This was an entertaining interview. Gerry puts on a good show.

Employment news

Well it seems that two more job positions have slipped from my grasp. The first one I don't fault really though. It started off as an System Administrator role but then mutated into a development role. I have some tendencies for development but nothing near what they had in mind. Oh well.

As for the other role I was up for it seems that I was not selected as the candidate but not given a reason why I was over looked. I have asked why but the question seems to have gone into limbo. I don't hold my breath for a response as it is a large company but I do hope I get some kind of answer.

So here I am still unemployed and still looking.

New toy

Now here is something that I would like. mccoe64g8mpr-03a

Job hunting

Just a quick update since I haven't posted in a while. I'm still looking for a job and things are going about as normal as one can expect. Just heard back and I didn't get the job at both Rogers and the Zoo.

I'm not surprised about either really. Rogers is a Linux/Unix/AIX show while I'm a Windows Administrator and the Zoo changed what they wanted to be more of a development role rather than an administrative role. I'm still staying positive as good things come to those that wait.

Anyone looking for a Windows System Administrator with junior skills in Network Administration, Visual Basic development?

Sharing the joy

This ranks right up there with semi-conductors.

Par!

WooHoo. We hit par with the US dollar!

Anyone up for some shopping in the US?

Back home

After what seems like a month of being a way we have finally returned. Everything seems normal for the time being and everything is good. Now there is still the issue of dealing with space. Space for all the wedding gifts that we didn't get around to packing away before we left. Finding space on the network for the near 30 gigs of photos we took while we were away. Finding space in the calendar to just sit back and relax.

Photos will be posted but as Bubbles said it will take time. There are many photos that need to be stitched together so they will take a while but they will come eventually.

Greetings from Italy!

Ha I'm in Italy and having fun. Been here a few hours already and had some real pizza while my new wife has had some real seafood.

Yummy. Pictures to follow on our return.

Honeymoon

Be back after Greece and Italy.