Everything In Between

This is stupid. This is utterly utterly stupid. Answer the following question:

Which of the following operating systems use Kerberos for authentication? (Select all that apply.)

• Mac OS X Server
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2003 Server
• NetWare

If you selected all of them, you got the question wrong, even though you’re technically correct. All of these operating systems can use Kerberos for authentication, but according to my prep tests for the Network+ exam, Mac OS X can not implement Kerberos.

It’s these kinds of questions which are totally pissing me off about these certifications. The last thing I wanted was this whole thing to turn into something I just wanted to get over with, but now it feels exactly like that because these goddamn test questions are quite simply wrong.

::writing slightly huffy email to these people::

Update: earlier today I have obtained my fourth computer certification in as many months, the Network+ CompTIA certification. :) Now to choose my next goal….

When I first saw this video showing Windows XP booting off an Intel iMac, I was really excited. Of course, Sara’s reaction was far more realistic:

I don’t see why it’s cool that an annoying program works on a good machine.

So I’ve totally bit the bullet and decided to jump right on the whole certification band wagon. I’ve schedule (and paid for) the next computer certification test that I’m going to take: the CompTIA Network+ exam on March 20th, a mere two weeks away. I think I know the material pretty solidly, so it’s just a matter of reviewing it all for the next two weeks. I’m feeling pretty confident about it right now.

This means that my goal of getting my cross-platform certifications in what seemed to some people to be a ridiculously short amount of time when I first told them my intentions will hopefully be realized. That makes me rather proud. It also makes me kind of broke, but I guess I can’t have it all. :) I’m hoping that my investments in these certifications really do pay off somewhere down the line so I can point to them and demand more money for my formidable knowledge.

That is the whole point of these silly certifications, isn’t it? To prove what I know and to point to the money I spent on them so people will give me more money in return? What a strange, strange economic system our society has developed to manage proof-of-knowledge requests.

It’s good to see friends. I feel like I’ve been swinging back towards a rather anti-social and work-focused period of time, what with the new job and all. Today I purchased training materials for yet more computer certifications (namely the CompTIA library of certifications) and began studying from them, which reinforces those feelings. (I’ve discovered the joy of cleaning the apartment to the sonuds of instructor-led self-paced video lessons. The scary thing is I’m being serious.)

Yet this evening I spent a wonderful, if short, dinner with a few friends. I had the chicken soup, as I’m still nursing myself back from the clutches of an evil cough and cold.

It’s hard to remember how much of a resource they can be at times. It’s even harder to remember that the friends I (apparently) have that I didn’t really know I have are a resource too. That is to say that it’s hard for me to remember that my definition of friend is really other people’s definition of best friend or close confidant, and that this discrepency means I have more friends than I think I do.

Which is nice. Especially when these people offer great conversation and the ability for personal insight. (Aforementioned insight involves relationship queries that, for the time being, I do not feel like writing about.) I’m looking forward to our next pot luck party.

I write all the time. This blog, for example. Maybe I should look into creating a book out of my blog from Blurb.com?

So far, most days at work have been pretty good. Quite a few have been pretty tough, but they’ve been good for the most part. This morning, however, was just awful.

Seemed like everyone just wanted to get into a fight with me about this thing or that. Interestingly, the worst of them all was this one woman who seemed super nice at first. Unfortunately, her system was completely wonked (it’s a word, especially when System Preferences.app is crashing left and right) and needed an erase and install.

After backing up her Home folder, asking specifically about any other data she might want to save (she pointed out a few folders at the disk root), then asking again about specific applications or anything else, and then again making sure there’s nothing else she wants to save before hitting that Install button to erase the disk (that’s four times now), she then realized (after the erase and install fixed her original problem) that she lost Microsoft Office and claimed that I erased it without telling her. And the icing on the cake? She (of course) doesn’t know where her original install discs are. One word: GRR!

For those wondering, this is exactly why tech support people will pretty much always assume you are a bumbling moronic idiot when helping you through something.