Certification direction change

Well after getting my start on studying to upgrade to MCSE 2003 I learned a few things that forced me to change direction a bit. I seems I missed the boat by a long shot and the MCSE upgrade path was retired a year ago! I'm glad I found out now after only two weeks of studying for a defunct exam and not in three months. The rather bad news for me is that now instead of taking just a few tests to upgrade my certification I must now start from scratch and take ALL of the exams to get 2008 certification. It isn't really all that bad because I will learn more in the process than I would were I to just study for an upgrade test.

Also I discovered that there is no such thing as MCSE 2008. I won't get into Microsoft's new certification structure because no one here likely cares... but my new goal is a cert call MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) - Enterprise Admin which is to the best of my knowledge the equivalent of MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems engineer). This will probably take me the remainder of the year to attain and I've already started studying for test #1. One thing that is mildly annoying is that the computer based training modules available are all comprehensive. Why is that a bad thing you ask? Well because it assumes I am NOT already an MCSE and it covers not only the advanced topics and those unique to a 2008 Microsoft network evironment but also all of the basic and fundamental concepts I have been familiar with for the last nine or ten years. Oh well, I will probably learn a few things that I have forgotten.

I'll keep the blog updated on my progress.

Adventures with powertools

Mission: To install an invisible dog fence.
Requirements: Create a complete circuit around property with buried wire.
Problem: Driveway must be negotiated somehow and existing expansion joints not deep enough to accommodate wire safely.
Solution...

So I go to Home Depot to rent a concrete saw right? Easy enough if you know what you need. Now this is for everyone's future benefit: When the tool rental dude says, "For an extra $8 you can buy a diamond blade OR you can just use the standard blade already on the saw which should work for concrete" -- the correct answer is "Why yes; yes I would in fact like to buy the brand new diamond blade for an extra $8.00. Here's my Visa."

My answer was incorrect. I said, "If the regular blade works then I'll stick with that; after all I am only cutting across a driveway." What I actually said without realizing it was this, "No thank you, I will take the cheap-ass blade that wasn't really designed for quality concrete cuts and has as a side note already been used by at least one other renter for who knows what purpose for who knows how many hours. Here's my Visa."

It turns out the used blade was for lack of a better word, or rather for lack of any motivation to find a better word, poopy.

Here is a quick rundown of my learning experience (and yes I did adapt quite well and quite frequently... ... ...)

Part One
- Make a chalk line at the end of the driveway for the cut
- Plug in heavy duty extension cord in garage and stretch it out with the saw plugged into it only to find it is about 24" too short to reach the whole cut.
- Find another extension cord and add it to the chain.
- Start cutting
- Remember that I bought safety goggles and put them on
- Start cutting again... lots of dust... 5" and it stops.
- Sit puzzled for a moment.
- Check outlet (still plugged in)
- Run downstairs and check breaker (that was it!)
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. SHITE!
- Run downstairs and flip breaker
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. SONUVA!
- Run downstairs and flip breaker
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. MOTHER(%$#%JACK(*&!F%^&PUSSBUCKET!!!
- Fume for a moment
- wipe sweat off of brow
- Realize that surge protectors have a built-in breaker; bring one outside and plug the saw in directly.
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Man this is dusty... wipe sweat, err, concrete paste from my brow.
- Suddenly I see a label half covered with concrete grime on the saw that says "ALWAYS PUL@@@@@@@OWARD@@@@@@@@@"
- I wipe the grime away to see that I have been pushing the saw forward instead of pulling it towards me. %&@$*&!@%$*&%$*&%@*&@#%%&*$%&@#!!!
- Go to the opposite side of the drive and start again hoping against hope that I will meet the line I have already cut.

Part Two: The Other Side
- Start cutting... 1" stop. reset. 1" stop. reset. 1" stop. reset. WTF???
- Notice that the wingnut holding the blade depth in place is loose and the blade is cutting 6" deep instead of 2" which I had set earlier. Fix it back at 2"
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
Man it is really difficult pulling it to me because the saw is now spitting dust literally right into my face.
- Get an idea... run inside and get a box fan to also plug into power strip... turn fan on high and point at saw.
- Start cutting again... YES IT WORKS!!! WOO HOO ... 3" and stop. Hhhhhhhhhh... fan loses me 3" of progress.
-Start cutting again veeeeery slooooowly. 10" after about 30 seconds then stop.
- Basically repeat this very slow cutting and I actually finish and unbelievably I hit the line on the other side almost perfectly.
- Take shower
- Return saw to Home Depot
- Blog about it so all my friends can ruthlessly mock my inability to do anything like this right the first time.

Coolness in its infancy

I'd say give this technology 10 years (maybe less) and it will be at a level we would today consider sci-fi...

More information is just what we need right? I won't delve into the potential positive or negative ramifications (there are arguably many on either side) but merely from a geek point of view this is super cool stuff.

Time to start studying...

Well the time has come for me to get off of my butt and upgrade my Microsoft certification. I am a MCSE 2000 and I would like to be an MCSE 2008. This will take two steps... first upgrading to 2003 and then from there upgrading to 2008. Fortunately I know enough already about the 2003 environment that I think I can get by with just grabbing a couple good study guides and then taking the two tests required to upgrade. This step is necessary because there is no upgrade path from 2000 to 2008 and I would have to take the entire series of 7 tests to attain 2008 otherwise. The upgrade from 2003 to 2008 is as I understand it a single (albeit long) test. Now that step will take some additional training but my company is going to pick that up I think. I may still have to pay for the actual tests but that is fine... in fact I've found that I study a bit harder when I am covering the cost of the test ($130 a pop last time... who knows what they cost now).

My goal? To have my MCSE 2008 by the end of the year or very shortly after the 1st of next year. Since we are in a salary freeze this year I am hoping this cert upgrade will help in getting some kind of increase next year but my real motivation is just to get current.

Next year we will have replaced our Lotus Notes/Domino email server with MS Exchange 2007 so after I get my MCSE2008 cert I may move towards getting a specialist certification in messaging but that is down the road and one thing at a time.

A religious post.

After this I will be sure to post something trivial.

Over the weekend two people I know accepted Christ as their Savior. The first and nearest my heart was my 8 year old Son!!! He has been asking the right questions for about a year now but neither my wife nor I had peace that he really understood the implications or why he needed to be saved. Recently though he began showing real conviction about his need for Christ and Saturday morning I led him in praying for Salvation and his little face was glowing. That really made quite an excellent early Mother's Day present for my wife and it is a huge weight off of my shoulders to know that both of my kids have their eternal destinies worked out.

The second person is my step-grandmother. My wife had several opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with her a couple years ago after my grandfather passed away but she just wasn't ready. She recently suffered a heart attack which naturally opened her eyes to her own mortality and my little brother's wife was able to share the Gospel with her and this time she did give her life to the Lord. So I am very happy about both occassions and thought I should put it up on the blog.

Using a JPG as hidden lockbox.

Found a very cool way to hide important files on your computer without using encryption or anything.

1. You put your file (i.e. online banking passwords or something) into a Rar archive (i.e. secret.rar).

2. Put a jpg image into the same directory (i.e. picture.jpg).

3. Open a command prompt and go to that directrory.

4. Now type 'copy /B picture.jpg + secret.rar picture.jpg'.

What you end up with is a file that looks and acts just like a jpg but the file size will be the sum of both files. To access to the Rar portion of this concatenated file you simply right click it and use the 'open with' option then choose WinRar and voila you can access your secret data. The only catch is, if you were to try to edit the jpg with a graphics application, you risk corrupting the Rar file it is attached to.

Once a year I must say it...