What a week....

Well now....after a week of schooling I'm not quite sure what to thing of it. I managed to get checked in, get unpacked and situated before starting classes first thing Monday morning. I made it to class just fine and was a bit overwhelmed on day one. This classes wasn't the so called "BOOT CAMP" that I had envisioned. On day two books had been handed out...which just so happens to be the first of a series I had already purchased in preparation for this class. I already had a good start on the book, having read three quarters of if before even showing up for class. I managed to memorize 99% of the questions from the sample test which is what the teacher reads from to prep you for the actual A+ exams. The teacher traded me his Exam/Cram book which is written by the CompTIA people for my school issued book, since I already had a copy. So I have managed to acquire yet another computer book to pull data from and more tests to memorize. On day two I was told that the Network+ class that I had scheduled for next week had been cancelled and I had not received notice regarding this situation. I was not happy at all. At our lunch break an instructor, whom I had made good friends with on my first day, asked, "what I was so upset about", so I told him. I said, "when I booked this class your school was in a big hurry to get the money from me(RMGC) and I had to pull some strings to make it happen so quickly". I have reserved a room, a company vehicle and have left my two co-worker to carry the load for two weeks, while I am away. I was just informed that there is no Network+ class scheduled for next week and I'm a bit upset since no one has bothered to inform me of this, yet. He tells me, "he will look into it". Two hours later I am informed that no Network+ instructors will be available next week for the last two days, BUT the schools director will personally fill in during their absence and apologized for the scheduling mix up. I'm not sure what my instructor friend said but it sure seemed to have lit a match under someones ass. At my next break My instructor friend asked me how my mad was going once again, to wit I replied, "I don't know what you said but it sure made a difference". I told them about your situation and that after five attempts to reach your counselor no one has let you know what was happening. He told the director that we see hundreds of military people in here, of which most, just don't care about IT, they are just here because they have to be to keep their status, nor do they need to take the exam. He said, "we now have a student who he found to be very passionate about the field and you treat him like all the others students, who just don't care. He asked me how I liked the class and what I thought of the curriculum. I told him I imagined it to be more aggressive than it was and that it was very laid back. I told him my instructor was very nice and seemed very knowledgeable but even he didn't think any of us would pass regardless of knowing the answer to every question on the sample test he has given. I said doesn't that seem odd that a boot camp class would start out by saying even after I give you this data it will still not be enough? It seems as though he is unsure what is even on the test himself even though he had taken it just taken it four months prior as a refresher. He said I'm going to hook you up with every bit if testing material he had. I hand him my flash drive and and hour later I have 1500 questions he says are damn near verbatim out of the test. He says learn all of these and I guarantee you will pass two days later every one of his students did pass both exams so now I'm a believer. So now it's Friday and I have the task of learning 1500 questions, in addition to the 500 already under my belt. He also got me scheduled to test out on Monday which is something else I later was informed was not included in the tuition. So we shall see how it goes in Monday. Wish me luck...LOL

Guess Who's on the No-Fly List???

Why...I don't know. A few years ago I was able to treat my family to a vacation in my home town in upstate New York. On this trip we ventured over into Canada (a mile from my home town) to a little place called Upper Canada Village. Upon our return to The States I was questioned (interrogated) for a good five minutes as to what my business was in Canada and what I was doing in New York. I dismissed him at the time as an over protective member of The Homeland Security Team. Last week I treated my family to a Walt Disney World Vacation. We arrived at the Las Vegas airport and I entered my information into the Kiosk and was informed that I must approach the counter for assistance. It took the woman some time to pull up my information and then finally my boarding pass. After a long week at Disney World, we left our room at 5:00 AM and attempted to check my baggage and receive our boarding passes at the resort to make it a smoother process at the airport. Orlando can be a nightmare during Spring Break and anything you can do to save time is helpful. After twenty minutes of pounding on the keyboard I was told that I would have to retrieve my tickets from the airline counter in person, but was given boarding passes for my wife and two children. I arrived at the airport to huge lines and was told to talk to a woman at the outside check in. She told me to go to the First Class Check-in Counter. After being asked for my ID and several minutes of her typing on her computer, and a phone call to her supervisor, he arrived at her computer and entered something into it, before being issued a boarding pass. I asked them if their was a problem since it had taken so long to be issued a ticket in Vegas as well. She informed me I was on the list. I asked, "what list"? She said, "the list". I hurried to the gate worried that my being held up, wouldn't allow for enough time to get through all the airport security. We finally made it home. This morning just for fun I typed in Patrick Martin No-Fly List and there it was several of articles written about my name being on the No-Fly List. I have found that "No Fly" doesn't necessarily mean NO FLY. Most times it sends up a red flag to check the ID more closely. Which explains why I was able to fly after an ID check. What gets me though, is I'm named after my grandfather who was an Olympic gold and silver medalist. How much more American can you get?

Arcade Museum on the Pier

Leave it to the IT Geek to find his way to an arcade museum. I managed to stumble on an old pong console and had to get a picture. Also on display where a huge collection of old nick-a-lodian machine that you could put your money into and they would show a short film. They where way ahead of their time..in their time and where a cool old school treat.

Crookedest Street

Lombardy St. is another recommended hot spot in SF area. We put the company Expedition through it's paces navigating its long wheel base down through a very steep, and as the name states, a very, very "crooked" street.

Rice-A-Roni The San Francisco Treat

One of the things that I had hoped to get the opportunity to do, was to ride on a Trolley Car up and down the steep streets of San Francisco. We never did get the chance. I did get to see several of them making their way around town and it will be something I will just have to wait to do, till my next trip to this city.

Escape To Alcatraz

One of the highlights of this adventure was a tour of Alcatraz Island. This was one of the best twenty-six dollars spent. I have seen several documentaries on the history channel, about The Rock. None of them compare to being on the island in person. It is eerily beautiful. Plant life is abundant covering almost every surface of the rocks. The audio tour allows you to immerse yourself into what life was like on The Rock. One of the greatest things was to be able to meet only remaining survivor inmate of Alcatraz, Darwin E. Coon. I have just reading his book and it is very good. He also states that he played a part in the Grate Escape from the island. He helped smuggle tools from the kitchen back to his cell and to Mr. Morris and the Anglin Brothers. It will make a great addition to my library. It will definatly be a place I will revisit with my family.

Wirl Wind Week

Wow...that is all I have to say, about last week. I was off on Monday when the "anomaly", occurred that took out our Atlantis Server. Tuesday was spent researching whether or not the two failed hard drives could be restored and locating replacement drives. Wednesday, was a really long day! I was out the door by 5:30 AM so that I could be in Reno by 9:30 AM to receive the two replacement hard drives from our vendor at Computer Land. I raced back to Round Mountain arriving at work at 1:30 PM. It was determined, that data recovery is impossible (by standard means) on a server, that has two disk failures while running RAID 5. At 5:00 PM we where on a conference call with a data recovery company in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was agreed that we would drive to Navato, CA with the disks. I was given a company car and a co-driver for the trip. After packaging up all the drives carefully into one box, we where on the road by 6:30 PM. Nevada driving can be dangerous at night. There was no moon to drive by and both of us had already been up and worked for a good fifteen hours prior to leaving on this road trip. Athletes prepare for running long marathons in advance by eating lots of pasta or carbo loading in hopes that it will be converted into energy while competing. For the IT Tech it seems to be the opposite. I hadn't eaten anything all day, nor would I, until the next morning. My only caloric intake consisted of Venti sized coffee's from every Starbucks I could see. I call this caffeine loading. My co-driver started out the drive, to give me a break since I had already been on the road for eight hours prior. At Boomtown on the west side of Reno, we switched. This was new driving territory for me. I have been to San Diego, CA along the more southern route but Donner Pass was a new experience. The cards where stacked against us as we left Reno at 10:30 PM. We had both been up for nineteen hours and where exhausted. Luckily for us there was no snow on the pass and despite the rough roads where able to make our way up the pass with relative ease. We kept seeing flashing signs that indicated that Donner Pass was closed to west bound traffic and then there it was a road detour sign. It took us well off the beaten path past a lake that we joked looked as though it was used in the making of the cult classic Friday the 13th. looking back now it was apparent that we where becoming a bit punchy due to long drive. We wound our way through the back road detour, making the whispered chi, chi, chi, ah, ah, ah, sound, that was heard when Jason, was watching one of his victims. We somehow managed to make it out of the woods alive and passed Grass Valley. I know why they call it Grass Valley, because it smells of grass. I love the smell of grass. It reminds me of home (in Upstate New York) and it was a refreshing eye opener. Two hours out my co-driver it tired and drifting in and out of sleep he apologises for drifting off and I tell him, "I got this". One hour out and I can smell the ocean now and I know we are almost there. The roads are narrow due to road construction and there is a fair amount of traffic on the highway despite it being 12 AM. 1:15 AM we have arrived at our destination...thank god. The salty air smells good and the cool air is invigorating as I gather up the important package that I had seat belted into the seat. Thank god for GPS. Our destination just happens to be in an industrial section of town and accommodations are sparse. The GPS unit has proved to be a lifesaver already in the two short weeks that I've owned it. We managed to do a search of motels in the area and make our way towards a Marriott nearby. We check in and I set my alarm for 2:30 AM, the time they say they will call with an update. 2:30 AM...no call yet....3:00 AM...I dose off. My cell phone rings at 5:00 AM. Our first update regarding the drives comes in. Now I'm awake and wondering if this little venture is going to pay off for us. I get cleaned up and call my partner. "Are you ready to go site seeing while they perform their magic", I ask? I was starving since I hadn't eaten all day, the day prior. My partner is a brick shit house and is two of me put together and is always hungry. We search the area for a place to have breakfast for almost an hour and decide that there is nothing in the area so we decide to head into San Francisco. We punch Fisherman's Wharf into the GPS and away we go. The Golden Gate Bridge is an amazing structure and we make our way across as I take a few photos.

After crossing the bridge we come up on a toll road. We are in the fast lane and neither of us have any cash or change. My partner panics and drives through. I'm sure we will get a ticket in the mail with a photo of the two of us checking our pockets for loose change....LOL. We make our way to the Fisherman's Wharf and park. We are starving and make our way to a restaurant on Pier 39. I'm a very liberal guy and pretty open to the acceptance of an alternative lifestyle. My partner on the other hand tends to be a tried and true redneck. San Francisco is well out of his comfort zone. We take our seats and look over the breakfast menu. Our waiter, approaches our table and takes my hand and introduces himself as David. My partners mouth hits the floor. I have to admit I have never had my waiter shake my hand and sure as hell have never had one hold it like he was about to propose. I smile ear to ear, knowing what is about to happen. David, now turns to my partner and proceeds to hold his hand. I am now waiting looking at the floor in anticipation for Davids arrival to it. My partner shows great control and I am impressed to see how well he does. I allow him a moment to collect himself and recover. "I need a Screw Driver", he says. David...David, can I get a Screw Driver! I wasn't sure if he wanted a stiff drink or a sharp instrument to shank the waiter with. My partner says, "I've never been to a jail yet sober I'll be damned if I'm about to start now...We're going to Alcatraz". The worried look leaves my face as I realize it was the stiff drink he was after and a stabbing was not on the days to do list.