Year: 2006

Work, work, and more work

Ever have one of the times that you feel like all you do is work?

And I don’t mean regular work, but mindless, brain-numbing stupid work, that could have easily been prevented if someone would have taken the time to do a little planning, and take your department a little more seriously?

Well, I’ve been having this kind of feeling for the last week or so. It’s been kind of hard to stay upbeat and positive when it’s all pushing down on you, especially when “that’s the way it is sometimes” and “shit happens” seems to be a recurring theme.

Today I was told that one of the higher-ups mentioned that he’s tired of hearing a lot of people throughout their day run into a problem and the more-often-than-not answer is, “I don’t know, ask Mike, he knows”. Now, this seems pretty cool to me – but it does have the added intesity of everyone relying on you constantly. That’s great for job security, but not so great for getting my own tasks done. Is it my fault that I am big fan of technology and that I try to keep abreast of everything and have a great capacity for remembering what I find?
So now we approach the dawning of a new era, where I will have someone added to my team – in a somewhat ambiguous capacity – which may or may improve things.
The way I see it, I’m currently working at about 180% overload capacity and the addition of another 100% capable person would drop 80% off me. This all sounds well and good, however the additional resource is coming directly at a time that the company’s infrastructure is expanding and becoming more complicated – so it doesn’t look like that much of my duties will be transferred.

Another interesting point is that the company is looking for a Linux-savvy person “to complement what you know, and allow you to learn new things, while allowing the new person to learn what you know”. I’m not sure how this will work out in the long run, but live and learn…

Anyways, this was a little rant, and I hope you enjoyed it.

A little reflection

So this morning, on my way to work, I get an urgent phone call that something is wrong with the network – people can’t get to the file server, or get out to the Net, nada.

So naturally, I do what any average person would do. Whip out my BlueTooth ear piece and connect it so I can have my hands free. Then I grab my laptop – someone else was driving – and connect to the Net via BlueTooth connection to the phone I’m talking on.

Once the net is up, I connect to my office VPN and check the status of the servers.

Servers seem ok, communicating nicely with each other and the world.

My guy on the other end of the phone is not a sysadmin, but is savvy enough to check some of the more advanced diagnosis problems, and it seems that the internal network computers are just not talking to the servers.

So I decide I’ll restart the server that hands out network access numbers (for the techies: DHCP server) and see if that does anything good for the universe.

No dice.

By now, I’ve pretty much arrived at the office and begin the point-to-point diagnosis of where it seems the failure is. I see that the servers, on their own switch, seem to be happily chattering away, but anything connected to that switch is not happy.

Power cycle the switch.

Nope. Not yet. So I power cycle the other switches that are connected to that switch, effectively disconnecting anyone connected to anything anywhere.

Still no effect.

Finally, I decide tht I’m going to swap a cable – a simple, 12″ cable – that connects one switch to the other.

Voila!

So everything works, power cycle the switches again, and all is well. What a great start to an even greater day.

This leads me to the following revelation: I am a hero.

Not a super-hero, just a hero. Batman was a hero thanks to his gadgets and capability to use them. I have some of that under my (non-utility) belt.

So there.

And finally, a review! Yes, a review!

So it turns out there was a production of a theatrical piece without me in it that was actually good. 🙂

The production is called “Stage Fright“, written by Charles Marowitz, directed by Shannon Kisch.

The acting is done by: my main man, Yossi Fackenheim, Rebecca Gillis and Yaron Shavit.
The shebang takes place at Merkaz HaMagshimim‘s Center Stage Theater. They’ve done something to the theater and made it different than other production that has ever been done there.
I almost kicked myself for not being involved, but you know my line – “I have a life. I have a JOB!”
I think I laughed harder during that show than I’ve done in a very long time. I highly recommend this to anyone that likes laughing.

They’ve got a lot of performances left, so be sure to head over there and catch one of them. They’re a hoot.

Dates:
December: 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, 26 and 27. These are all weekday evening performances at 8pm.
Saturday, Dec 23 @ 9pm
A special Friday matinĂ©e on Dec 15 @ 12pm, with a wonderful Daycare service for people with children that can’t make the evening events.
You can get more details via [email protected] or call 02-561-9165 x202.
Be sure to tell ’em Mike sent ya – I’ll be there again closing night!

Job opening

My company is looking to fill the following position:

Job Description:
MobiMate Ltd is looking for a MIS person. We are looking for someone interested in working with top edge Mobile technology and software; a committed team player aspiring to grow with the company. The candidate should combine excellence in work, service and human relations. The work consists of providing MIS services to the company, as well as assisting to develop the company’s future products.
An inherent part of the work will be acquire knowledge of our company’s technology and products; while being required to work with the latest mobile/PDA devices and contribute to a young and lively team.

Requirements:
– Service oriented
– Linux OS installation, administration and maintenance.
– Windows OS administration
– Familiar with SQL and databases
– Self learner and open minded.
– Independent in work

Advantages:
– Specific experience with RedHat, Ubuntu, MySQL, Directory servers, Tomcat or JBoss administration
– Knowledge of servers’ security
– Scripting knowledge
– Good written English
– Experience in building IT infrastructure
– Acquaintance with mobile/PDA devices and technology.

CVs should be sent to [email protected]

Home sick

So I caught something that makes me feel like my head is attached lopsided, and my right ear is about to explode.

It’s not any fun, I tell you.

At work yesterday, I barely managed to get through the day, and I’m at home now,and I’m working on paperwork for the office.

If you feel this bad and you’re a horse, they shoot you.

Boy, I sure am glad I’m not a horse.

Blog, rolling and more…

So now that I have this new blog, and I’ve chosen a nice simple, clean theme and adapted it to my tastes (so far), it’s time to get down with the nitty gritty of getting the “real” content in.

I’m looking for a good WordPress-compatible image/gallery plugin, one that will actually work. I’m open to any kind of PHP-based gallery, as long as there’s a decent plugin for WordPress 2.0. Any ideas, anyone?

So now I have the option to place pretty much any links I want on my site, and the social conundrum of a “blogroll“, I am going to add some links to anyone with a blog/LJ/site to rant/whatever. Drop a link if you want one posted. I’ll always appreciate a link back. (Tricky part about LJ’s – any friends-locked posts will not show at all.)
The lovely Silvia has asked why Bill Gates has never done any kind of “The Apprentice” TV show. All speculations are welcome.

YouTube is pretty fast these days….

So at the end of my last post I sent along an embeddded object of Michael Richards on stage at the Laugh Factory. YouTube removed it since yesterday due to the request of CBS, some sort of strange reason, etc.

Then I keep looking for somewhere else that this might be available and come up with this. They claim to have “obtained exclusive video” of this.
However, when you go to their site and try to watch it, you get:

tmz_baderror

Now, if I claimed to have exclusivity on somehting, I’d have a system in place that could provide a little more feedback than that.

New blogging capabilities

So I have this new blog, y’see?

And when I post, it get placed nicely at the top of my posts – just like in the past.

But now I have more abilities, capabilities, and when I post, it fires my post over to my LJ as well.

So go ahead and update your bookmarks/favorites/blogrolls/binary address files with my new address: [www.miketheman.net](http://www.miketheman.net).

I expect to be a little more active soon, as now that I have a proper blog.

Also, here’s a nice little clip of our dear Michael Richards, aka Cosmo Kramer of Seinfeld infamy, losing his mind. Continue reading New blogging capabilities