31 October 2008

Halloween 2008

04 October 2008

Be Prepared - by The Lone Gunman

Remember The Lone Gunman? Today I have him as a guest blogger, writing on a topic close to his heart. I only made some minor changes here and there, nothing to diverge from LG's POV. Enjoy!

寧為太平犬,不做亂世人 - "It is better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period."

If you have been watching the news lately, you might have noticed the historical changes going on in the banking sector. We live in a very chaotic period and the odds you will be laid off or have your income reduced in some way is very high. If you are laid off how long will it take you to get a new job in this business climate? Probably longer than most times I believe. So it is time to take a good hard look at your life and ask yourself, "What would I do if I get fired?" Make those cuts now while you still have a job if you can and set aside some emergency supplies. You should have supplies on hand anyway in case of a natural disaster. How long was the power out in Houston after Hurricane Ike? Most people had no damage to their homes, but were without power for days, some weeks. How well would you live in times like that?

Water - I believe the recommended amount is at least one gallon per person per day. It is just a good idea to have some water on hand at all times in case of disaster.


Food - Stock up on what you already eat. If you are like me, it is easy to run to the store a few times a week to pick up this or that and supplement meals with take-out. What happens if you cannot go to the store for a week or so? Would you be able to feed your family? I have a few kids so I feel a greater responsibility to be prepared, instead of 2 boxes of spaghetti, I buy 10. Instead of 5 cans of beans, I will buy 20. This type of thing lasts a long time, most canned goods last 2-3 years easy, so it won't go to waste and will be eaten eventually if disaster doesn't strike. Make sure you check the expiration dates on products when you purchase them. I have found cans with a year difference on the same shelf.


Baby items - If you have an infant then you should stock up on formula, diapers wipes, etc. The whole Idea is to be as self-sufficient as possible if you are without an income or disaster strikes. One hundred years ago this type of thinking/preparedness was second nature. People had no one to go to for help when disaster struck.

Here are a few links to get you started, take and leave what you need for your personal situation.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm
http://tirec.mysite.com/rich_text_2.html
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/whatToDo/DeindustrialAge.htm

03 October 2008

Ticket Agent?

Re-org, it is part of the corporate life. My server group just almost done with one. Much to my relief, I am being moved to another group inside the umbrella group. I will be up front tackling problem tickets. Supposedly I will regain my Netware admin rights, which I gave up when I moved into the current, Windows-only group. I am not worried that the Novell resources are being moved to ActiveDirectory, starting with the homes. For all the scripts I wrote for AD, I still prefer to work with Novell. I like the fact that a home folder is created automatically for Netware users as the accounts are created, whereas with Windows, especially when shares are involved, the home folders must be created separately after the fact.

Hopefully soon I will no longer be involved with the current migration project. I've been dealing almost exclusively with the project years ago since I was in the LAN Account Admin group. Since coming over to the server group, things only got worse. Sure I had some exposure to Robocopy scripting, but all the paperwork involved in requesting storage space, backup, change control, is just too much for my technical mind. The forms are probably among the most user-hostile in the world. You have to have a lot of prior knowledge to fill them out, just one illogical field in the hundreds and you are stuck.

It will be months before I will be free from this tedious project as I slowly transfer knowledge to other people in the group. It helps to have hope, to see the light at the end of the dark tunnel.