Diary of a Network Geek

Is Neo the Messiah?

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article about religion in science-fiction, especially the Matrix movies. It's interesting to me because I've seen similar connections myself for a long time. Back in college, I wrote a paper about how similar the Luke Skywalker character was to the archtypeal hero from myth. It's a short hop from that to the archtype of the messiah. The interesting thing to me, is that this: a) appeared on the Christian Science Monitor and b) was mentioned on Slashdot. Religion comes to Slashdot. I think it must be a sign of the end times.

I love paper art.

I have ever since I was a kid. My Dad brought home a couple of origami books from work one day and I was hooked. They were just some samples from a printer, who turned out to be a gangster, but they opened up a whole new world for me.
I've played with origami, or Japanese paper-folding, ever since. I can do some things from memory, like the ubiquitous "flying crane", but most of the time, I need someone else's directions. So, of course, I found someone on the web... The site is called Paper Folding. It's well worth the look.

Enjoy!

Is such a thing possible?

Well, according to this article on Yahoo, it just might be! Imagine what it might mean to the future of publishing. Add in some wireless connectivity and you've really got something here. Textbooks that change based on which class a student is in when they're opened. An entire university library available to students on campus, wirelessly. Books that can be downloaded from the 'net directly to a reading device.
Then, of course, there is the interactivity aspect. The article talks about catalogs that can be used to place electronic orders. Add in the ability to automatically update inventory, price and availability and you've really got something.
Of course, we're a ways off from that, so it's still science-fiction, but the possibilities are endless. In a fully networked world, devices like this might replace PCs alltogether. They would become the ultimate PDA. It could be the Next Big Thing. We're always looking for that Next Big Thing to invest in or adopt. The concept of "digital ink" has been around for some time, but it looks like they're finally getting somewhere with it. It sure will be interesting to see if they finally pull it off!

with an asteroid.

Actually, this story has been at Space.com for some time, but I'm just getting to entering it in here now. It seems that there's a group of scientists who are allowed to name celestial objects and they quite often name them after people they wish to honor. Well, a couple of these folks were Mr. Rodgers fans and they decided to memorialize him by naming an asteroid in his honor. This is not an honor that can be purchased or that is given lightly, by the way. These guys are pretty serious about this stuff. And, I think it's really cool that they decided to honor someone who meant so much to me as a kid this way.

Transmissions are hard things to ignore.

But, I'm trying. My friend worked on my car, but it looks like the transmission is slowing going out. It still stalls out if I get over 45 MPH, then brake. But, I can keep that from happening if I drop it into neutral and rev the engine over 3000 RPMs, then pop it back into drive. It's a little strange to do, but it does actually work. Of course, I don't know for how long it will work, but still, it's getting by for now.
In the meantime, he's going to see what he can do about getting my other car running again. As bad shape as it's in, that old Tracker is still better than the Explorer right now.
I have to tell you it's a little disheartening to have these kinds of problems and not be able to afford getting them corrected. When I got into IT, I thought I'd never have to worry about that kind of thing again. Of course, I never expected to have a glut of Network Engineers in Houston or a lack of people interested in Certified Novell Engineers. And, I never thought I'd take a $13,000 pay cut just to keep my house, either. Things never do seem to work out the way we expect, do they?

Ah, well, I'll survive somehow.

Time for a little Novell propaganda.

As a Certified Netware Engineer, I always appreciate hearing stories about how people are moving from WindowsNT to Novell. Here's an example of a hospital that moved to Novell for the stability. Frankly, it frightens me how many hospitals run on an operating system, WindowsNT, that needs to be rebooted on a regular basis.
Also, there's an announcement on Novell's Main Certification page about their new certification program: the Novell Certified Linux Engineer. Now, this is cool. A big name, known for being a leader in certification programs, getting behind Linux. I think that's great. I hope this really takes off. I won't be able to worry about it for a year or so, but I look forward to pursuing this certification, too. Way cool.

Blog of a fugative heiress?

Maybe, maybe not. I saw the story on Wired News, but it's been other places on the 'net, too. It's possible, of course, that this fugative from a repressive, arranged marriage is legit, but there's enough controversy surrounding it that it quite possibly is just a stunt. Some have speculated that it's just a creative attempt to generate some buzz about a fictional account of an escaped "poor, little rich-girl". Who knows for sure? No one, yet. I'm sure it will come out eventually, but for now, no one really knows.
It does, however, harken back to an earlier entry I did about Anonymous Blogging.
Anyway, it raises some interesting ideas about who might want to have an anonymous blog and why. I wonder if she's trying to communicate with anyone from her past via her blog?

Has mac finally figured out the PC's secret?

I've seen articles about it before, but it looks like they finally have a site up and running. HappyWare is selling a device that they call CORE, which is, basically, a cheaper clone of a Mac. I'd say that it's about time. After all, it was the proliferation of cheap clone PC hardware that led to it's dominance in the market. Apple made the first real personal computer, but kept the hardware proprietary and, therefore, doomed themselves to being the "number 2" personal computing solution. IBM, on the other hand, really let loose and, through decentralization, took over the market. All of which is what let Bill Gates dominate the software market. Damn Apple!
Anyway, now you can get a cheaper Mac clone. I say, go for it! If I only had money, I would. I've always secretly craved a Mac, just because they have nice graphics. Maybe one day....

No, I'm not training to be a moyle!

Hey, if you didn't get that joke, I am NOT going to explain it to you. Actually, I've been thinking a lot about the content of this blog lately. Originally, I had intended it to be an unflinching look at what it's like to be a Network Engineer in today's marketplace. But, there have been so many news stories about people being fired for the contents of their blog that I've tried to be careful what I say about who. Well, I haven't been all that careful about ThatDamnBoatPlace, but that's mainly because the fired me in favor of someone I felt was severly underqualified. And, since they had to bring in numerous contractors to do what I could have, but she couldn't, I guess my opinion is close to Reality. After all, good Network Engineers don't just magically appear, even in Houston.
But, I digress. I don't know that things I said about how foolishly money was being spent, or "saved", at ThatDamnBoatPlace had any bearing on their decision to "let me go", but it might have. Shoot, I don't know that anyone is actually reading this thing, but I pretend that people are when I write the entries. I know, actually, that a former co-worker from ThatDamnBoatPlace read it at least once, because he commented on how he couldn't wait to see what I was going to say now that they'd kicked me out. Of course, that was more than a year ago, so I don't know if he's read it since then. I sort of hope that he has, though, so he can pass the info along that I think they're stinky, poo-poo heads.
Reguardless of whether anyone is reading it, or read it, or not, I'm playing it pretty safe. Why should I screw up the job I've got? It was damn hard to come by in this economy and I'd be in big trouble if I lost it. Shoot, I'm having a hard enough time making our finances work even with the job! Of course, now that the market is starting to even out, and all the greedy people have finally bailed out of the IT industry, things ought to get easier for someone with my experience to find jobs. Only time will tell, but I hope that the IT job market will imrove again. God, I hope it will. In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to beef up my resume so that I'm the Senior Network Engineer that everyone in Houston wants to hire!

[ Posted by mail via mail2mt.pl ]

What happens when you torque converter goes out?

Well, for starters, you stall at stop lights a lot. That's what happened to me on the way home on Friday. Twice. I almost messed myself.
But, I got it home and called a friend of mine who has his own garage business. He's real good about trading me free computer advice for free car advice. And, he's got damn good rates, too. Mainly, though, it's just nice to have someone I know I can trust.
Anyway, he came by and took a quick look at it on Saturday, which is when we discovered that the Explorer had: A) a leak and B) almost no transmission fluid in it. So, we poured in the magic transmission goop that he said we should buy and got a quart of trans fluid to pour in, too, just in case. Well, that helped a lot, but it still stalls out at a stop light if I get it up to 45 mph before stopping. So, he's going to take a look at it tomorrow for me.
He says he thinks it's the torque converter solenoid that's sticking, whatever that is. It sounds expensive. *sigh* But, not as expensive as getting a transmission rebuilt! So, all in all, it could be worse.

Stay tuned!