Saturday, July 31, 2010

Tech FTW!

...and, I got it figured out the next day, and got everything done that I had promised would be done by that day...even though I had to scramble to make it happen.

Really looking forward to my trip to Vegas coming up...big Star Trek convention going on.  Shakespeare tonight, looking like it will be a good one (but our local "... in the Park" productions usually are).  Working in the yard today...and why do I always wind up having to deal with electricity?!  People seem to think us computer guys can fix anything for some reason.  Maybe I should stop being so good at fixing everything if I want people to keep asking me to do it, huh?

Thinking about setting up an Ubuntu system at work to play with.  Normally not my distro of choice, but the latest seems really good...that and it looks like it is made to be able to join a Microsoft Active Directory network easily.  I can do that on other distros, and I have, but it was a long, drawn out pain in the ass to do.

Anyway, another week goes by.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Tech Sucks

So, today was fucking WONDERFUL.  I'm set to build out 10-14 machines, only to find that the image I've been building decided to brick itself halfway through...what does that mean?  It means I managed to spend ALL DAY getting about 2 hours worth of work done, and ensuring I will be working probably a couple hours overtime tomorrow getting this done, as I said I could already and people are expecting it to be done.

I hate computers.

OTRS, Out!

So, quick one as it is late...but wanted to post because I forgot yesterday *headsmack*.

Well, the work I did with OTRS is a bust, it looks like...the other system we are looking at apparently does the asset tracking damn near automatically, and integrates with our Active Directory.  Also, we will be able to integrate with Accounting and HR...isn't that swell?

Kidding aside, this TrackIt program is looking pretty slick...I'm looking forward to really giving it a spin and seeing what it can do.

Anyway, it is late...night!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Flying OTRS

So...Of Liberal Intent is likely on hiatus for now.  Not that that should be any surprise, since it has been since 2006.  Man, I'm behind!  For some reason, though, this bugs me just a little more right now than it has, since I had a lot of hope for that one.

No matter...for now, I have way too much on my plate to deal with that anyway.  Maybe I'll just update that one once in a while when I feel like being political, instead of updating this one.  First, I'll need to update this one more often.

So...had work, was out of work for way too long, and have work again.  This time, was grossly underpaid when I got the job, but I was desperate so I took it.  Then I got a raise, a huge one, but still leaving me underpaid for what I do.  No matter...the important part is that I love my job, and I love my team.  I also am learning more from this job than any other I've been in before, and I can work on just about anything I want to in my spare time (not that I have any right now...).

The ticketing system we use there is great, too...completely free and open source, but I'd never heard of it before I started there.  It's called OTRS, and I am really liking working with it.  Seems they just installed it because they needed SOMETHING and had no budget to get a paid one.  They really didn't understand how to make it do all the things they wanted.  I have been taking it apart and having a lot of fun learning how it ticks, and making it do more and more for us.  Then, they say we should get a paid solution.

This distressed me...why?  Because I have learned a lot about this one, and am positive that I can get it to do everything we want.  It is truly an enterprise grade product...we just need to know how to implement it.  It doesn't do asset tracking out of the box, however, and that is what they need.  So, this weekend, I did some homework and found out that there is an addon to it called ITSM for IT departments, and it does have asset tracking; however, it was not called that, so it took me a while to find it.

I played around with it, and know how to set it up now...this makes me happy.  I hope my boss decides it is worth the effort to use instead of wasting money (at least in my opinion) on a paid service or program.

Well, that's all for now.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Rest for the Wicked

Wow.  It's only been about a month since my last update...I think this is a record for me or something.

Anyway, I'm going to try to update more often, not because I want to get "followers" so much as I need a place to put my thoughts up on occasion...you know, get them out of my head, let them air out for a while.  They get a little stale when left inside, you know?

So, that's the plan.  If you are reading this, and love to, then great.  I'm not writing for anyone in particular, and I'm not really going to be active in the greater blogosphere at this point in time simply because I lack time.  I really am writing this for my benefit, and if you don't like something I say, then that is your right to disagree.  You can even comment that you disagree, and I'll probably reply (I may reply to tell you how full of it you are, mind you, but if you stay respectful, so will I).

"But Jeff, if you're writing this for yourself, why are you writing to us to tell us you are, and why are you pretending to quote us asking this question?"

.............shut up.

Seriously, though, I am writing for myself right now, but I wanted anyone who might come here to know that is what I'm doing at this point in time.  I may even sticky that as a warning; not sure right now.  If I do gather a following, cool.  I don't expect that, nor am I going to work for it or get my feelings hurt when the inevitable happens and everyone hates my blog and spits in my porridge.

Anyway, that's all for now.  My goal is to spend ten minutes or so a day here just to get my thoughts out.  Let's see if that works out.