Diary of a Network Geek

Well, this is a little too timely...
But, it could come in handy, so, for all you out of work computer geeks out there, here is the Survival Guide to Homelessness. It's a blog done to promote a book that is all about surviving on the street. Though, the blog gives plenty of good advice. In fact, it brought home for me just how important getting my tire fixed really was! I had no idea how important a car could be if you're homeless.

Okay, okay, I'm probably not ever going to be actually homeless, but it is something I've had nightmares about since moving down to Texas from Chicago. I mean, I didn't really know anyone when I moved to Houston, so I was almost all on my own. I left all my family behind and almost all my friends, too. It was scary as Hell. Well, the worst has happened, or is happening, and I'm still making it by, with a little help from my friends. Some new, some old, but all friends that I've come to rely on. Thanks youse guys!

Ah, the old days...
Yes, this past week or two sure has felt like the old days. Long, long hours that are appreciated only by a select few. Coming home to an empty house. Being at work late on a Saturday night. Yep, it sure seems like old times. The joys of being a Professional Network Geek. Well, at least I solved my little "issue" and, with the help of an equally dedicated co-worker, I have just a bit of testing to do tomorrow and we should be good to go for the mini-rollout.
In a nutshell, my last problem was getting the LILO information to update on the Linux-based ZENWorks Imaging partition on the local drive. Everytime I would get the damn thing installed, then added an image to the disk, the menu that let the user go into the recovery mode (ie. the Linux partition) would go away. So, after chasing my tail for a week, while sick as a dog, incidentally, I finally noticed something in the documentation that indicated a particular order to do things. Yes, once I read the "fine" manual, it was clear that I had to first enable the ZENWorks partition, then apply the updated LILO config that gave the user a boot option menu. Since I know that "once is luck, but twice is skill", I tested this on a desktop and a laptop and a second time on a second desktop. All three worked like a charm. Yea! Now, I can go back to my regular 45 hour work week. And, maybe, I'll get a little rest and get over being sick.
Just as soon as I finish the laundry and ironing and pay my bills and go grocery shopping.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
but I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep."
- Robert Frost

See? I told you there'd be more sushi links!
This time it's really only sushi in spirit, but still, it looks like sushi. I actually have links to three different sites. First, there's the bOing Boing article about "Twinkie sushi", which actually has several links to candy "sushi", as well. Then, also via bOing Boing, there are two chocolate "sushi" links. First, Suedy's Koo-Ki Sushi, which has some really good looking faux sushi. I mean, the pictures really look like the real thing. Second, there's the simply named Chocolate Sushi, which pretty much says it all!

Hmm, yummy! The perfect set of Fun links for a Friday!

That's just an expression!
Oh, for Pete's sake, it really is just an old Marketing expression that means, "use our own product". In my case, I should take my own advice. I was reading something I posted on someone else's blog some time back, where I was telling her "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on." Good advice, and I should take it.
Things have not been going quite so well. After my heroic efforts last week, everything fell apart on Monday. I had to start all over, yet again. Well, that was a Bad Thing and it resulted in The Talk. I think it was meant as a pep-talk, but any time the phrase "it won't mean your job. Yet." gets thrown around, I'm anything but encouraged. Look, I know I haven't been performing to my fullest capacity, but I thought I was doing better than that!
I just wish I knew where I was going to live month to month. I figure I'm going to have to sell the house for the money, no matter what happens thanks to almost $35k of credit card debt from my year out of work. (Or, as I call it, My Year From Hell. Though, that may become this year!) Ironically, when I lost that job, I was about a year from being debt-free, except for the mortgage. Now, well, now, I don't see how I can survive without declaring bankruptcy.
My therapist said that the unconditional love of the animals at H.O.P.E. is probably a Good Thing and that I should continue to do that. I wish I knew what my living situation was going to be so I could decide about adopting a dog. I'm not even sure that I won't get my Hildagard back at this point! I don't know much of anything about my future. Frankly, that scares me. I don't even know enough about what's coming to try and plan anything.
I'm coming down with a cold. Again. And, I'm working late, again, on the stupid images.
Oh, and I got a flat tire this morning without a spare in the trunk.
So, do I tie a figure-eight knot or a monkey's paw? Which is easier to hold onto at the end of my rope? (Donations and/or ad clicks welcome.)

Man, I should work for the Chicago Sun Times.
Well, thanks to an article, or entry, or whatever, over at Slashdot last week, I have a new post about SCO. Been a long time since we've heard much about them, hasn't it? Well, there's a reason. According to this summation of a News.com story on Slashdot, a judge was very critical of SCO's alleged "proof" that they had copyrights being infringed upon by the OpenSource Linux. To quote the quote they quoted, "... it is astonishing that SCO has not offered any competent evidence to create a disputed fact regarding whether IBM has infringed SCO's alleged copyrights through IBM's Linux activities". Yeah! So there! Of course, those of us who have been following this case at all already knew that SCO's case was thin at best, but still, it's nice to know the judge hearing the case agrees with us. I, at least, take comfort in the fact that I can spot blindingly obvious legal facts when I see them.
Damn, I should've gone to law school.

As a fourth-generation Chicagoan, I celebrate this day a little differently.
You see, not only is this a day that greeting card companies crafted into a reason to waste money on cards, flowers and candy for someone who should love you without all that junk, but it was also a very important day in Chicago history. Today is the day when, in 1929, Al "Scarface" Capone gathered together seven of his closest friends and gunned them down. Yep, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Old Al was clever, too. Not only did he get seven of his arch rival's men together, but he dressed his hired guns up as police officers so that if they were spotted any witnesses would assume everything was under control because the police were already there! Yes, sir, that Al sure was an innovator.
So, as you shell out your hard-earned cash for disposable junk that will most likely go to waste, remember how they used to celebrate St. Valentine's Day on the South Side. Feels about the same, doesn't it?
(Oh, and sorry about yesterday's tease. I just couldn't resist!)

She's a cute, little thing.
She's got short brown hair, which is nice for a change. And I could look into her dark brown eyes for days. She's a little on the skinny side, but I bet I could fatten her up well enough. I'm pretty sure I knew her sister quite well, but I'd never be so crass as to bring it up. Her parents tell me she's a bitch, and that she doesn't like little kids or cats, but that's okay. I think she's a sweetheart. Her name is Annie and you can see her picture if you follow this link to her on-line profile. Take a look. I promise, you won't be sorry.
And, just in time for St. Valentine's Day, too!

Oy, more sushi?
Oh, yes, more sushi. And, you know what? There's more to come, too! This time, though, it's "printer sushi". Yep, that's right, there's a nut out there "printing" sushi. Actually, he's printing things on the seaweed wrapper that makes the sushi, but still, it's sushi that's been printed out, or on, and served up. And, people seem to dig it! Oh, what a world.

I know, I know, it's goofy, but it's also Friday, so just click on the link!

It's a fine line between idiot and hero.
I've crossed that line. To the hero side, you weisenheimers! Notice that I've been a little quiet on what I've been doing at work since I got back from Florida? Well, that's because things have gone horribly wrong. The whole idea of having a single base ZENWorks for Desktops Imaging installation of Windows XP just didn't work out the way we'd planned. It was taking too long to make the "addon" images to customize everything for the individual models. And, every little, tiny change Dell made in the chipset was making the addon images fail, too. So, about two weeks ago, I was told we were abandoning that line of thought and going with what I originally suggested, namely, an image per model. And, that I had until Monday the 14th to get it all working.
Yikes!
Well, I got it pretty well there until Monday a fatal flaw was found. With the Dynamic Local User option enabled, when we installed Groupwise as one user, none of the other users could access it. Not even the local administrator of the machine! WTF!? So, I rebuilt the image, twice, each time making sure that all the updates were included. No go. Then I tried every variation of installing the Novell Client and the ZEN for Desktops clients. Same thing. As soon as I hit the network, in any way, only the user that installed Groupwise could access it, or the directory it was installed in. After almost a week of this, you can image how stupid I was starting to feel! Though, no one else could come up with an answer for why this was happening, either...
Well, this evening, at about 6:00pm, I found it. The answer was in the Local Security Policies. The setting was unser Security Options, Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts. It was set to "Guest only: local users authenticate as Guest.", but should needed to be set to "Classic: local users authenticate as themselves." As soon as I changed that, BAM! It was all working just like it was supposed to work. I tested it twice and got out before something else went wrong!
So, yes, it was a fine line between idiot and hero, but by the end of my very long working day, I was the hero. Again. Yea, me!

Carly Quits!
Holy Cow! This is pretty damn big news. Apparently, Carly Fiorina has resigned as CEO of HP, effective immediately. According to this article at the Register, she cited differences in strategic vision between herself and the board. However, her "stunt-double", Robert Wayman, was complimentary in his memo regarding the change in management. Wayman, HP's CFO, is temporarily taking over as CEO and will lead the hunt for Carly's replacement. I wonder if that's going to mean layoffs or other unpleasantness here in Houston? God, I hope not. We've had enough punishment in the IT job market and things were finally starting to look better.
Well, we'll have to wait and see.