Techjob on Planet Hawleywood

What is crufty and bogacious?

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Crufty:

Meaning: This term, often used in computing, describes something that is cluttered, messy, and overly complex. Think of it as: A software program with a lot of unnecessary features, confusing code, or a user interface that’s hard to navigate.

Meaning: This term, often used in computing, describes something that is cluttered, messy, and overly complex.
Think of it as: A software program with a lot of unnecessary features, confusing code, or a user interface that’s hard to navigate.
Bogacious:

Meaning: This is a more informal and somewhat dated term, meaning excellent, impressive, or outstanding. Think of it as: A synonym for “awesome” or “fantastic.”

It took so little to make me happy back then...

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

After working at the County in the Justice Center I was flabbergasted to have an office in which we could open the windows and get fresh air.

Little did I know that within a year that little perk was on a very short list at a job from hell.

Ohio Linuxfest 2023

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I made it.

Friday was good, but I got here late.

TimeAttended?9:00Arduino Meets Raspberry Pi Using O.L.D. Programming Techniques – Cameron Hughes and Tracy Hughes10:00Exploiting the IT Value Stream: Iterative Automation Strategy – Brad Krumme11:00Syslog for Fun (and Profit?) – Warren Myers13:00History of Computing – Ken Elliott14:00NixOS from Basics to Devops – Adam Stephens15:00The Outstanding Advantages of Being a Linux-Based Artist – Thomas Hancock16:00Simulated AI Hardware: a Toy Matrix Multiply – Zak Kohler17:00✔Keynote: Open Source Can’t Win – Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier YouTube Stream

4 Years!

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Each year on our anniversary dates, employees get a box of chocolates and a magnet signifying how long we’ve been with the company. Today I got my 4-Year magnet and a confectionary treat!

They really miss me!

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This morning I was plagued by repeated robocalls in the car on the way to work. I just kept rejecting them (they were interrupting my audiobook!)

Not until I arrived did I see the voicemails I got. It turns out these calls were not robocalls - they were my old job trying to get a hold of me.

There’s a SEV-1 (production outage) at my old office and apparently no one told the help desk that I don’t work there anymore.

Fort Impostor

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I have named my office “Fort Impostor” and this is my…manifesto.

“The Fraud Police are the imaginary, terrifying force of ‘real’ grown-ups who you believe – at some subconscious level – are going to come knocking on your door in the middle of the night, saying: We’ve been watching you, and we have evidence that you have NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING. You stand accused of the crime of completely winging it, you are guilty of making shit up as you go along, you do not actually deserve your job, we are taking everything away, and we are TELLING EVERYBODY.” Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

Do It Out In The Open

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I attended my first Ohio Linuxfest this year (2017) and had a great time. I found the lightning talks especially inspirational.

One of the talks I especially like were the lightning talks. Lightning talks are a series of short (5 minute), impromptu talks that anyone can do.

They hand you a microphone, and you say what you want to say.

There were a lot of Linux advocacy speeches (as you’d expect) and “How Linux has affected me” type talks. One of the talks that hit home with me was a gentleman who talked about how when he attended his first Linuxfest, Linux was not his career. Fast-forward a few years, and he is back to say that he now has a Linux job that he secured by being active in the community and meeting people and learning on the job.

2017 Cleveland Givecamp

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I made it to Cleveland Givecamp this year after many years of wanting to go but never having the guts.

I added this to my LinkedIn page:

Technical Volunteer, Cleveland GiveCamp Jul 2017 I volunteered at Cleveland GiveCamp and assisted “The Valentine Project” in refreshing their web presence. I served as site admin by managing hosting, DNS, loading the initial CMS and database and configuring email. I handled site security by configuring SSL and hardening user accounts. I also assisted with scrum-style checklists and documentation to deliver a finished product in just over 24 working hours from July 21-23, 2017.

In case you forget.

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

During my time working at the Sheriff’s Office, I had the privilege of being able to traverse the building freely since I was part of IT.

Any room that had a computer was a potential visit for us in case we needed to plug something in or turn something off and on again.

One afternoon, a few of us were tasked with setting up donated computers in one of the classrooms.

So Glad It Wasn't Me

Thu, 02 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I had to be part of someone else’s bad day, and it sucked.

Please keep confidential, unknown to at this time. Meeting is scheduled for 9:00 tomorrow, in the conference room. Please have someone get his laptop shortly after 9:00 and disable him from the system. Please also have someone discreetly gather his personal items from his work area and bring them to the conference room as quickly as possible.

Linux Doesn't Ask "Are You Sure?"

Mon, 28 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Are you sure you want to ruin your entire day? (Y/N)

Preface: This happened a couple of years back and has completely resolved since. It’s also one of those events that fellow sysadmins might relate to that make you go back and rethink (and rewrite) your backup scripts and policies involving production machines and how to not be stupid, in general.

Today is the day after Easter.

This past Good Friday was not… well… good.

Birds of a Feather

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

While attending a fundraiser at a bar tonight a girl approached me and asked if the penguin on my shirt was the Linux penguin (It was).

I spent the next 40 minutes chatting with her and her boyfriend (a chef) about Linux and other assorted geekery.

Totally restored my faith in humanity.

Thank you, Anthony. I wish I would have gotten your girlfriend’s name. I hope her brother finds a Linux job. And I wish you nothing but success in the kitchen.

I can install Linux on anything!

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Hail Linux

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

PSA:

Just so everyone knows: I am a Linux administrator. I have been for a few years now.

I DO NOT own any windows machines although I DO use them at work.

If you choose to click that “Upgrade to Windows 10” button I’ve been hearing about you are on your own.

I will be happy to help you figure out what went wrong and try to fix things - but don’t call me and ask things like:

Toilet Timer

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The bathroom lights at work have automatic motion sensors. This happens more often than I’d like.

Nerves of Jello

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Ever have a really bad day? Or a bunch of bad days in a row? Me too. I’ve masked the names to protect the guilty.

For a very long time I have been aware that stress can take a toll on your health. But in my experience, it’s never been immediate like it has lately.

It started this past weekend with an on-call nightmare: I got two calls about Asterisk, (not my specialty) on Saturday. One guy just needed it started. He had rebooted his machine and now it didn’t work. Easy fix. But the call ruined my lunch. By the time I was done my frozen pizza was almost frozen again.

Probably the worst day ever

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

After it was all over, I knew I was going to have to write about it. I don’t know why. Perhaps I like re-reading my miserable days? Maybe there’s something inside of me that feels it necessary to document these things? My therapist asked me once why I write about my problems and then keep the results? Why don’t I write about them, then throw them away? I don’t know. Maybe that’s a good idea.

Bye-Bye County

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

My last day at the Sheriff’s Office. Brandon made a post on Facebook. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

The "No-Help" Desk

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I miss ThinkGeek and their witty IT-themed apparel.

Programmer Anal

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

There is a distinct disadvantage to being a Programmer Analyst

Programming on a Full Brain

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I like my job. Remember that.

“It helps to remind those who think of programming as a “cushy job” that programmer burnout rates are high, programmer divorce rates extraordinary, programmer work hours are obscene, programmer job security is next to non-existent, programmers come home from long work weeks of programming to spend hours more in unpaid self-training to keep up with a field that abandons those who stop learning for even six months.“Found on USENET