"You have to multitask..."

Today was a bit different...it even started out different.

I forgot about the policy that I helped implement, so that we don't have to wear ties on Friday. I forgot about it until yesterday when I was reminded via a comment someone else in the department made.

This morning, I spent the first hour at my desk talking about various things with the other folks in there. Mostly this consists of venting our opinions on the various people that are whining about their computer. There are a couple that everyone would rather not go to - but those are few. Then there are those that a particular set of people would rather not deal with. Normally, I am one of those that doesn't care who the person is - I don't have a preference or difference to the person that I am assigned to help. I do, however, have a preference to some of the people that I would like to help.

After that was all done being discussed, I headed over to work on the LDAP server again, and that was short lived. I didn't get very far, because of the amount of reading that I have to do for this current step...getting them to see each other. I really have no clue what I am doing - just hacking stuff up and hoping that it works. BUT...that is what I am good at...I guess. I did that for a bit, and then worked on something else with the former Dell guy and that lasted until lunch...oh, I remember.

Our boss came in, and wanted to know what switch in the Server Room the computer labs were hooked up to. O_o wtf? I don't have a clue...the switches are something that the microsoft guy takes care of, and even moreso are the labs. So I go on a wild cable chase to find out what switch they are plugged into...tell him, and he wants more specific information, like what port. o_o The microsoft guy was out sick today, and we already called him once to find out the switch...I was not about to call him again. So, I go looking in the computer labs and find the boxes where the switches are stored in there, and look for labels...and then trace them back to the Server Room...and tell the boss - he wants to know where the printers are hooked up now. v_v So, I tell him that they are hooked up to the switches in the labs. That was fine, because they were on a separate cable that hit a patch panel in the labs that routed to a different port in the Server Room.

THEN, we try to find where the third computer lab switch hits the Server Room, and here's where it gets interesting. It has a label: TCBASS.26-42 and this means nothing...to no one. So the Dell guy gets a ladder, and he traces it through the ceiling tiles to the other end of the room...where it crosses over, into the middle computer lab from the one on the left...then he traces it into the computer lab office which is in front of the middle lab as you enter from the hallway...then he traces it BACK into the middle lab :? and across the room, and down to the other side of the room, and after that I had to leave. Apparently it goes to the Server Room, in one long-ass, round-about path...there could have been at least 100ft cut off that cable, and it would have been easier to route.

After lunch, I have to man the phones, and get a phone call from a student to the helpdesk asking why his computer can't hit the school website, but can hit any other website on the internet...I have no clue why *your* computer can't hit it...mine can...everyone else can. It must be *your* computer that has the problem...and I am not paid to support *your* computer. As I am explaining this to my boss, he tells me about a computer/server in the Server Room. O_o

He wants me to go in there, and find which one, out of 10, hard drives is the one that is failing in a 650GB RAID server, pull it, put RHEL on it, and turn it into a webserver. Um....ok....I am already struggling with the current Red Hat server that I'm working with, and he wants me to make another one too. I ask if I can just work on one at a time - because I've already got a "real" project going, and adding another hard drive to some computer's configuration to be a web server is not necessary...we have enough web servers, and we have Windows File Sharing, and we have Internet Access...any computer in the building can be turned into a web server, with ftp and samba...we don't need another Red Hat box floating around.

So at this point, I don't know what I am doing anymore, and told him that...but he didn't believe me. v_v I go to the Server Room, and take apart that massive-ass computer, and find out which hard drive (I think) is the one that is failing, and tell it to rebuild the array. I don't know if it's doing it or not, but it's got a blinking cursor on the screen, and that's where I left it when I went home today. It doesn't work anyway, and it's a freakin' old box (133MHz processor, if that tells you anything) and it's already crashed 3 times, and none of the drives are the same size, or type...supposedly they're all 45K RPMs though...We need to stop redeploying old equipment.

What I don't get is that the boss's keep saying that we need to pull in all the old equipment from the workstations and stuff, but yet they keep wanting to redeploy old servers that have known hardware issues. It doesn't make sense. I know that even I have tons of old desktop computers here that I am deploying as servers, but if there is a hardware issue, I part it out, use it in another computer, and trash the broken box...I don't format the drive, and stick it back out there, and hope it works for a while. That's ridiculous.

I spent the last hour of the day with the Dell guy helping a girl (who was cute) out with her Catalog that she was doing for her job - they sell leather stuff, like passports, luggage tags, boxes, etc. She was uncertain how to layout the pages. Originally the Dell guy was recommended because he does photography...but I was around too, and my opinion was asked, because I do web design, and did newspaper design. So we put our heads together, to find a layout we could agree on, and I picked out some colors and fonts for her to use, and hopefully she'll be able to work with that. But after I started thinking about it on the way home, there are some other ways that she could have laid out the pages so it would make more sense. But it's probably too late for that now. I may try to find her on facebook, and offer a few more suggestions.

Hambone is on his way over soon, and we're going to play Dungeon Siege 2 tonight. We're also going to dinner too, and probably to play pool with the Dell guy and some of his friends this evening too. [Wizard] is still moving, but when we asked if he would like help earlier, he said he could handle it. I hope he's doing all right with that. I remember when I moved though, I had fun while everyone was helping, but I didn't want anyone around once it came time to unpack...I wanted to be able to do my own thing without people offering their interior design "advice." So it will probably be next weekend before we get to hang out....

===============15 minutes later====================

...ok, I found the girl...on myspace - not one of the easier things I've done, but once I did, I tried to send a message to her with the info, and in true myspace.com fashion - the messaging is down. What a ghey website.

Anyway...Hambone is on his way over now, and I have a lot of journals to encrypt from the past - since folks at work know about my journals now. So I'm out.