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Thursday, February 20, 2003 ( 11:55 AM ) iggry Work Monday was Presidents day! I had an extended weekend! Tuesday, I started writing a proposal to revamp the office network. We have a generic file and print server that is open to everyone, and the managers have decided that it needs to be organized. I agree with them, to give an example of the chaos, we have an application, application2, and apps folder all with different versions of the same stuff. Also attended the 8 hour "Language is the Key" class. Wednesday One of our servers was infected with the WKQ.C variant of the Klez virus. Luckily it was limited to the only a couple of folders. I removed the virus, and ran scans on other servers as well. I started re-vamping another laptop that had Windows NT4 ntfs hard drive. So far, I have managed to install DOS on it, but not much else... The laptop has is a Pentium 90Mhz, has no CD, only a floppy drive, and an 800Mb disk drive. I have found a network card, I need to install it, put the creature on the network, and install an operating system. The office plans to donate it to charity, and take the tax writeoff. And I continued work on my proposal... Well, there's my exciting work week so far... (This is protection for me, so when my manager asks what I have accomplished, I will have a place to refer to) # Wednesday, February 19, 2003 ( 4:23 PM ) iggry Assalamu Alaikum All Family I've had a busy week! We had a three-day weekend for Presidents day, and I spent the weekend helping my son finish his science fair project (making sure that he did most of the work....) We completed, and tested a solar oven. It probably wasn't the best project to choose in the winter, but where there's a will, there's a way. It became an indoor solar oven, powered by a heat lamp, with promises to test it in the summer also :-). Anyway, we finished it, and made three batches of cookies. I assigned myself the arduous task of official cookie sampler (to assure QA and all that other important stuff of course). He completed his report, and we turned in the project on Tuesday. My younger son is sick. (The older one was sick before) What a rotten way for him to spend his day off! Fever of 102F, in bed and coughing. Sayang and I are being very careful to avoid catching this from the kids. Eek, I have referred to my wife as wifey frequently, both in the office, and on this board. One of my co-workers said "Wifey" was a book about an adulterous wife, and her numerous affairs?!? I immediately questioned his reading habits, but also in no way want to affiliate my darling pious spouse with such stuff. Another co-worker recommended referring to her as Sayang, which translates to "my love" in Malay. So, no more using wifey. Language is the Key Yesterday, I got to spend 8 hours in a mushy class "Language is the Key". There was some useful content, like how to make an efficient request. But mostly it was about controlling one's moods. There were many areas where I bit my tongue because this guy was way off base. He said we should always promise to get our tasks done, and apologize if we don't. (We should specifically say I promise I will finish this by tomorrow). Then he went on to say that people who say they will try to get something done have no intention of doing it. By promising, and keeping our promise, we become people of integrity. However, his underlying message of this section: If we don't promise to do it, then we aren't accountable for it. I asked him if we should hold to our word even if we don't say "I promise". He told me that no body does that. I told him that those same people wouldn't keep their promise either. He changed the subject... He also spent about an hour about assessing individuals, and how everyone will believe that they are an attribute of their personality. For instance, a little girl doesn't respond when she is spoken to, and someone comments "she's shy". Then she doesn't raise her hand in elementary school because she is shy. So she believes she is shy, and limits her opportunities in the future based on her belief. His premise: If you hear an assessment all of your life, you will become the embodiment of that assessment. My co-worker asked about communist China. From birth to death, people in china use to hear that they were communist and atheist. Under the supposition, since they heard it all their life, they would believe they were communist, act like communist, etc. He ignores the comment, and continues with his presentation about choosing to not believe peoples assessments. Later he said we should practice forgiving, and we all have the ultimate example of forgiveness in the 'guy who died on the cross' whose final words were Father forgive them for they know not what they have done'. Excuse me? This company has Muslim, Hindi, and Buddhist employees: All of which are required to attend this class. One of my co-workers commended me on biting my tongue (really hard I might add). He would have had more credibility if he could substantiate his theories with more evidence rather than asking us to believe it because he said it was true. The general consensus of us students: It had some valuable information that could have been covered in about 2 hours, but the other 6 hours was fluff based on his personal (and questionable) opinions. Also, the religious undertone is not acceptable for the corporate environment. I lamented to sayang about my classroom experience, and I had her rolling on the floor :-) # Monday, February 10, 2003 ( 4:22 PM ) iggry Eid MubarakYEA Eid is tomorrow, and I don't have to work :-). I have to take a vacation day because it's not an official holiday here, but still. It's always fun going to special prayers as a family, and since it is downtown this year, we get to ride the train and my kids love that! A lot of my friends still have to work, so it is either Open house at the mosque, or eat out. Haven't decided yet, and it will be a family vote type thingy. Tired of typing CD labels into my database. I am taking a break this afternoon (after doing it all morning) and learning Visual InterDev. It is a computer program that simplifies writing web pages among other things. But they told me to focus on ASP, so I'm becoming a web developer :-) Eek, my hot water heater is leaking! It fills about a cup every two minutes right now. Alhumdulillah, we still have hot water, but the heater needs to be replaced... # Friday, February 07, 2003 ( 9:10 AM ) iggry Jazak-Allahu khayran for all the kind comments. I am still employeed, and will be placed at another client eventually... The economy is stressful sometimes, but Allah willl provide, and will take care of us Heh, I'm keeping busy. The last two days, I copied 3.6gb of data from the network server to CD, I inventoried and organized 150 CD's in the library (half done there :-) ). Fixed a computer, and reinventoried the software in the office to make sure we hadn't accidently pirated some software. This is a big problem for us small/mid sized companies. Last year, team A created their development platform with Windows Server, and SQLSVR, Team B on a separate project created duplicate machines, and Team C another server, and a web server. Because of the lack of coordination between teams, we ran out of licenses, and had to buy more software, when each team could have shared the same servers... That type of disorganization gets expensive quickly! Sorry, back to work :-) # Tuesday, February 04, 2003 ( 6:27 PM ) iggry Eek. I came in to work yesterday, and all was well. I got ahead of my teammates again, and started doing Office computer Administration stuff. Today, I don't even have a chance to sit down. My project manager senses my arrival, hunts me down, and escorts me to the branch managers office. The two of them tell me that the project has been put on ice. All of my billable work is gone, and I am now overhead. *Blah* My beautiful code will be safely packed up and stored on some cold server awaiting a day to be completed and published. I have plenty of System administration stuff that I can do, so I can earn my keep (and salary :-) ). Since I am not directly earning profit for the company, I am not eligible for bonuses, and I am more expendable than someone who is contributing to the bottom line. I'm a little worried...(as is the rest of my team). Last time this happened, I ended up working in a little town in sunny Mississippi until they found a more permanent site for me. (Which was actually pretty nice, except I was removed from wife and kids for almost 7 weeks). Grrr, our Islamic Foundation was sorta on the local news last night. It was an unflattering piece discussing a 'suspect terrorist' visiting and speaking at a convention in 1988. Here is what our CAIR representative wrote:
If things get too quiet at home, I can always count on our news stations to cite half-truths to stir up trouble again.... Well, I am off to being a model employee, and offering my help anywhere it can be used. If anyone needs a charming, and professional computer consultant, please let me know, and I can give out resumes. :p # |
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