Megan is awesome.

I’m here on the overnight, and Megan is with me, using the iMac (which I’ve color calibrated pretty well using the built-in utility) and I’m thinking about what to put in my blog. In addition to speaking over Google Talk with Kevin from Washington, and putting off reading my book for HIS102.

When I asked what to write for my blog, Megan suggested I write about how awesome she is. So, for a bit of a change of pace, this post is approximately 73% dedicated to how awesome Megan is. (If I were to include more sidenotes, insignificant details or exposition about the situation, the number would’ve been something like 67%.)

Basically, Megan is awesome. :)

That’s pretty much it. I don’t have screenshots or anything prepared like I did for my post about how Vista is awesome. “oops.”

March 30, 2008 | Tags: | No Comments »

Return to Overnights

Well folks, it’s finally happened. I’m working another overnight! It feels like it’s been a month or so since I’ve worked one, and I’ve got to say, I’ve missed it tremendously. There’s nothing quite like sitting here in the lab, half-asleep, playing Trainz 2006 on the iMac, then switching back to OS X to make a youtube video. (I’d put in a whole paragraph about how awesome I think it is I’m being paid for this, but I think my supervisors might see this. I’ll probably give Eric the link to it when I send him my report e-mail.)

I’ve got to admit, not only did I play around in Trainz then iMovie, the overnight affords a really interesting cross between homework and play. I started reading the book for History 102, “This Earth of Mankind” which I intend to continue reading as this shift progresses, and finish reading tomorrow and on tomorrow’s shift.

I’m bringing the iMac tomorrow too, or rather, I might just leave it here at the helpdesk. I hear a rumor that Megan is coming in tomorrow and we’re working on the photos of her images using the iMac’s almost-properly color calibrated screen.

On the note of color calibration, I did go ahead and order an X-Rite whatever it was called through the MAC On Campus pro deal thing for photo majors. My intent is to use it on the ThinkPad, the iMac, along with probably the helpdesk machines and Megan’s laptop. I love color accuracy!

It’s also worth noting that I went back and looked at one or two of my old videos. There’s one from when I started working at the helpdesk that, when I look at it now, seems really hilarious. Basically, I can sum it up by saying that I was rather unhappy about Office 2007.

I’ll make my close of this entry with an interesting observation. It’s after spring break. Like, there’s only a few more weeks left in the whole school year. And yet, there are still people forgetting their NAU ID cards when they come to the lab at 5 a.m. Not cool. I think I’m going to use Meaghan’s “when you signed up to be an NAU student, you agreed to the terms in the student handbook, which say you can get in trouble if you aren’t carrying your ID card at all times” speech on the next person.

March 29, 2008 | Tags: , | No Comments »

Windows NT 4.0

I’m writing this post for my blog to inform my readers, who may or may not care, that I’ve got the ThinkPad A21m booting and running Windows NT 4.0. If you heard about the project for this Pentium III machine running at 700MHz a few weeks ago, you’ll know that I almost completely gave up. The main struggle was that everything was running perfectly with the exception of the Ethernet in the machine.

I was able to get the ethernet driver installed using a little bit of a trick. I installed the driver for an NT4 supported card so as to get the networking stack running. I then installed the Lenovo ethernet driver, and from there, I removed the driver for the card I didn’t have. I’d say that it was a fairly clever ploy and that it worked fairly well.

Right now I’m in the process of installing Internet Explorer updates, after which I’m going to go through and install all of the drivers, the power saving utilities, and the Lenovo documentation. I’ve also got Visual Basic 6, and I’m pretty excited to say that I want to get Office 97 rolling on here.

Overall, I’m pretty excited about the machine. This is going to be one of the highest end machines I’ve ever had running NT4, and it’s going to be running it in the most complete way I’ve ever used NT4. Add to that, it’s in a convenient foldable slab format that I can take with me to the helpdesk, or wherever else I want to have NT4 with me.

Another thing I’m (quite oddly) looking forward to is playing with Visual Basic 6 again. It’s been a very long time (gee, it was like tenth or eleventh grade I last used VB6) since I’ve used Visual Basic and I’d like to see if I still remember anything at all about it. If I do, I might like to write a few little applications, and who knows, maybe I’ll put them online for other people to take a look at.

March 28, 2008 | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Campus Wireless.

I’m not going to lie. In this school year, I have become increasingly more reliant on my mobile computer, be it the old-but-good-for-writing IBM ThinkPad 760cd, or the “old and busted but still works once I get a new power adapter for it PowerBook G3″ or even my nearly brand new Lenovo ThinkPad R61i.

It doesn’t really matter for what I’m doing during the day, just taking notes and doing the occasional pixel pushing with the ThinkPad in my spare time, not that I really have very much spare time while I’m walking around and in classes.

One thing I’ve noticed though is that finally the wireless in the Biology and Communication buildings finally work. Wireless was just installed by ITS in the Comm building right before spring break, and I’ve finally figured out how the new wireless system works. It’s convenient for getting onto Vista or checking webmail, but it’s not convenient for checking e-mail with thunderbird or chatting, which is what I’ve got a tendency to do during classes. It’s also worth noting that the wireless works very well on my overnights, in the business building, and in the student union.

Oddly enough, one of my favorite places to be on the Internet is in the Gabaldon laundry room, and wireless still doesn’t work very well in there. I think I’m simply going to reallocate that time to “photo tagging” so I can actually start powering through my photography keywording project.

It works better than it has before, and almost any time during the day I can be online writing my blog or wasting time in IRC. I’m almost chatting in IRC as often during classes as I am during work. “oops.”

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CIS120 Lab Aide?

Yesterday, I rocked the PowerPoint exam. I rocked it pretty hard, and when I was done after less than half an hour, my instructor made it a point to let me know that I was doing well in the class. He continued the conversation by letting me know that there would be nineteen or so sections of CIS120 next semester. He then asked me if I’d be interested in being a lab aide for CIS120 next semester.

I think it would definitely be an interesting thing to try out, I know no details of the opportunity yet, nor do I know whether or not I’ll accept the offer. My main concern is pay and compensation, and exactly what’s involved in the position. I’m also really considering how many hours I’d want to work at the CBA and how many hours I’d want at the helpdesk. I’m thinking that I don’t want to make CIS120 lab aide my primary profession, but I would definitely like the opportunity to try it out, and spend a bit more time in the CBA.

March 27, 2008 | Tags: , | No Comments »
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