Curse you bitrot!

I learned a new word today while watching "Call for Help". Bitrot. Intriguing word, and I pondered its meaning. So I did what every self-respecting computer geek does, and I checked wikipedia. The results were as follows:

"computing term used to facetiously describe the spontaneous degradation of a software program over time. The term implies that software can literally wear out or rust like a physical tool. Bit rot is also used to describe the discredited idea that a computer's memory may occasionally be altered by cosmic rays. More commonly, bit rot refers to the decay of physical storage mediums."

How cool is that. I mean not the Bit rot itself, but the definition.

Anyways, found some cool sites the last couple days while surfing around. The coolest one is of course my own slowly growing site....well it will be . Moving on!

Have you ever wanted to be in a fairy tale, with that talking mirror and all? Well now you can, for the low price of your first born child! The guy who designed the T-rex in Jurassic Park has designed a talking mirror. You heard me. It looks just like a normal mirror but it is actually an advanced security/information device. For example, when someone enters your driveway, a head appears in the mirror and an 'English butler-like' voice informs you that someone is in the driveway. Not only that but you can actually see the driveway in the mirror from cameras mounted outside. The mirror has tons of pre-programmed phrases, ranging from "Someone has opened the gate" to "The Jacuzzi has reached the preferred temperature." And no, I'm not kidding about that last one. Holy Hell, I want one. Here's a link to the site with more information: Electronic House

Another really cool link is to a site I saw on Call for Help. It's a website called Fresh Devices and it offers some really neat freeware programs. There is one called Fresh Diagnose , which allows you to see immensely detailed information about your computer, hundreds of pages and it is organized in a very eye-pleasing manner. There are a couple other programs as well, including a Multimedia one along with a Download manager, and they are all free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail and they will e-mail you a link that activates the keys on the software so you can download them.

I have been trying to work a bit on my site (IgirlsT) everyday, and it is coming together pretty nicely, so feel free to check it out and send me your comments.

Until next time...Vote for me!

The Not-so-young and the murderous

One thing I hate about coming into work in the morning is the false cheeriness of everyone around me. You walk in and it's "Hey Sweetie, Good morning" "Good morning Dear" and then if you talk to the same person later, bam, they are grumpy. Or! You hear people greeting each other then turning around and talking about them as soon as that person is gone.

Office politics can be a scary thing.

I try to keep myself out of that sort of stuff as much as possible, but it's hard sometimes, because they trick you into gossiping. Sneaky women.

And as I type this I can hear the other women complaining about getting some spam, and it makes me giggle. One guy at the office keeps emailing me everytime he gets spam, because he says different people are sending him spam. Imagine that. This guy can format a computer and everything else, yet he cannot grasp the concept of spam, no matter how many times I discuss it with him.

My website IgirlsT is coming along well, I've been working on a page of the site every couple days, trying to put information on it. I am still waiting for my logo, and once that is done I will add some products to my cafepress store.

I finally watched FF7: Advent Children on the weekend, and I am in awe at the quality of the animation, everything was so...pretty. Especially the characters, and the action sequences were amazing.

The Young and the Wireless

I have been playing the first Kingdom Hearts on and off the last couple weeks, and it's just as addictive as the 2nd game, even with the lack of improvements present in the 2nd game. However I got a little bored of it today and decided to channel surf, finally stopping on techtv. I watched it for about 20 minutes before I realized I was watching "Call for Help", a show where people call in with usually basic computer problems. I felt a little ashamed and turned off the TV. Eventhough I am sure I could use some of those tips,it felt like I was admitting my inferiority regarding technology by watching that TV show. I guess it's hard for humans to realize that the knowledge they possess, no matter how vast, is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I told myself I would stop putting money on my credit card so I could pay it off before school starts again, and then I made an order on Thinkgeek. Well that lasted long. I am also trying to save for an anime con in August, I swear having a credit card is a curse most of the time. Especially with the ease of online ordering. I guess I am more like my mother then I thought.

On another note, I think I am turning bitter. Let me elaborate on this. I have been in the 'boyfriend' mode since around last September. Before then I hadn't done much dating, just high school stuff, nothing serious. I had my first real relationship and when it ended I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I haven't exactly had good luck with guys, I've had 3 that have hurt me pretty deeply. However I am sure it's nothing compared to the experiences of other people. It didn't help that a guy I work with tried to get me to his place after talking to me for 10 minutes. His ego was bruised when I said no, but we had a date set later in the week and let's just say he decided me declining his initial invitation was unacceptable. All in all, not terribly bad experiences, But it seems to have been enough to get me out of the boyfriend mode. Well not entirely, I am still romanticising about seeing someone and getting that moment of 'love at first sight' but who doesn't dream of that. It hasn't helped that my boss keeps telling me I need a boyfriend, because for whatever reason, he can't accept that I am a homebody and am quite happy on my own.

Something I always wonder is if guys are intimidated by me. I don't want to sound all egotistical or feminist-ish, but it has crossed my mind. First of all, I am in a male-dominated field, Secondly, I am very independent, to a fault sometimes I am sure, and Lastly,I have huge dreams and I know exactly what I want in life. At school, the guys seem to think that because I am a girl in comp sci and because I am actually good-looking (how I hate saying that), that I must want them to approach me. I marked assignments for a first year class last year and I also handed them back, and I found myself being yakked to like crazy by some of these guys. They were nice and all, but I got sick of them approaching me with that comp sci 'OMG boobies!' look on their faces. I mean come on, no offense to any of the guys, but I didn't go into comp sci to look for a boyfriend/husband. I know some other girls out there can sympathize with me here.Also, if the guys aren't ogling me, then they think I have no clue. I don't know which bothers me more. I hate that attitude that some of the guys have, they don't mind staring at my chest or butt, but be damned if they think I have any intelligence, compared to them anyway. It may sound like a pity party, but girls go through a lot of crap being a male-dominated major, even field. I remember my first networking class in highschool,I was the only girl and it scared the heck out of me. I would come home and cry because I thought there was no way for me to know what the other guys knew. But after a while I got used to it, and now it's not even an issue. I realize that there are only 4 other girls in my year, and since most of my friends are guys anyway, it doesn't matter.

On another other note, I am working on a website for women in IT right now. It's just going to be an information site about what computer science is, breaking the stereotypes, etc. There is not much information on it yet, but it's looking pretty good so far. Here it is : IgirlsT

Speaking of breaking stereotypes, how's a calendar full of scantily clad women in IT for promoting women in computers. I think it's a bit backwards myself, because obviously the women aren't going to buy the calendar. However the money from the calendars is put to a scholarship fund to women in computing, so it is for a good cause, just seems like an odd way to go about it. Anyway, the website is Geek Gorgeous if you are curious.

Another long entry, at the start of another long week.

The new meaning of Technical 'Expertise'

I've heard of resume inflation but interview inflation is a new one for me.

Let me start at the beginning, my job is to not only be the admin at the town hall but I also am computer support for the town library. It's been that way since last year. The library hired a new person to take care of the regular duties of a librarian as well as be the primary contact for computer support. When I heard this I was ecstatic, no more rushing over to solve the mysteries of restarting monitors, stupid questions, etc.

However when I heard the details of who they hired, I became a little disheartened. From here on I may sound stereotypical and I apologize in advance. The woman they hired was a 50-some year old librarian from another library (go figure), and she also can do html. The fact that they sounded so impressed with her knowledge of html made me giggle a bit I must admit. Html is possibly the easiest web programming language to learn. Also, the website for the library doesn't even use html, it is all drag and drop. Also I figured that since she was older, maybe her expertise wasn't so good, which is ridiculous to think anyway. But I figured I was being stupid, possibly even jealous so I decided to reserve my opinion until I met her in person.

Well, said woman started this Monday at the library and first thing that morning I got a call from them, the mouse and keyboard were not working on a computer. I thought to myself that the new girl probably didn't come in until later so that must be why they called me. I get to the library to find, to my dismay, that the new girl was there, and she was stumped. But still I thought maybe the problem was actually more serious then I thought. I went through the normal procedures of cable checking, unplug/replug, restart and...everything was working fine again. Slightly miffed, I headed back to the town hall, only to receive another phone call from the library. This time, the new girl's mouse wasn't working, so instead of running back over I suggested unplugging it, etc, but she said she did that. Fine then, 'replace the mouse' I say, and the phone call is over. Not even 30 minutes later I get another call from, you guessed it, the library. This time the barcode scanner on her computer isn't working. She makes a comment that 'you are really earning your money today' and I hold in the comment of 'well at least someone is , because you certainly are not'. This is the level of her 'expertise', she is describing the problem like this 'well I plugged the purple thing into the gray thing and then the other gray thing into another gray thing but now the other gray thing doesn't fit where the purple thing was' '........' At this point I have a severe headache. The girl continues , saying I should stop in, I say no because I am on my lunch, and she comments maybe she should just fiddle with it. I agree, thinking, Good idea, then maybe you can develop some troubleshooting skills. I know it was the girls first day, but I expected a bit more from someone hired to teach computer classes and do technical support.

That is another thing it itself, this woman will be teaching basic computer classes, as in 'this is a power button, etc'. I am concerned because I used to teach those classes, but I think an advanced knowledge is needed even to teach the most basic course. I think this goes for teaching any subject as well. How can you pass on knowledge to others when you don't have an in depth understanding of it yourself. I even learned some new things when I taught the classes, some tricks that I missed out on because like many others my age, I taught myself when it came to computers. To think...this was only on her first day, did I mention I took quite a few aspirin that day?

Now moving to her second day. I had to go find a username/password for our cataloguing program, which I didn't support so I had no idea what they would be. A couple phone calls later and we had the username and password. Not a big deal, I can see why they would want my help with that. The new girl was over my shoulder the whole time and then before I left she commented that the internet was out, and she didn't do a damn thing to figure out why. A quick inspection revealed that the modem somehow got unplugged. The modem is plugged into a power bar under the new one's desk, way at the back. She unplugged it with her feet apparently and yet again expected me to fix it. I was there anyway so it was okay, but I don't like that she doesn't even attempt to do any troubleshooting. There are more things she has done , well hasn't done, but I think this post is way too long as it is.

Wonder who this girl knows at the library, because something is very off.

And the women at the library wondered why I wanted to have some technical questions to ask the people they interviewed.

CSI: IT ; The Pebkac diaries

Sometimes I am amazed when someone with no technical knowledge suggests a brilliant solution to a problem I have been slaving over. Other times..well..I realize if it wasn't for the people that come up with the dumb solutions, I wouldn't have a job. The other day a computer froze at my workplace, and the woman who noticed it called me and was stumped by this. She told me she restarted the computer and for some reason when it came back on it was the same frozen screen, everytime, she even unplugged the computer and alas, when she plugged it back in, it was frozen still. Now this woman likes to think she knows a lot about computers and frequently questions my solutions. So I thought to myself, what a predicament! I must go at once! I arrived at the scene of the crime to discover a frozen computer, just like she described. To humor myself, I tried restarting it and, shock and amazement, it fixed the problem. However I discovered one piece of evidence that made me realize why her restarting did not fix the problem. When I arrived, the monitor cable was unplugged, helping me to reach my conclusion that she 'restarted' the monitor. But then again, this woman knows everything, so I suspect some foul play, maybe she's trying to trick me into thinking she's 'uneducated' so she can hack into the system when I let my guard down. This situation also made me want to buy some sort of insulting t-shirt off of thinkgeek...and maybe a tin foil hat.

Of cables and anime conventions...

I just realized I only have a couple of weeks before GCAF in St.catharines and my costume is nowhere near ready, funny how time sneaks up on you like that. The costume isn't that complicated thank goodness, so it should be ready. I'm debating re-doing my Naruto cosplay from last year but I haven't been into Naruto for a while now so I may work on my Ururu costume, get the wig for it and such.

Speaking of anime, I haven't watched any since I have been out of school, I have been playing video games and reading instead. I've been trying to play DDR more frequently so I can stand a chance in the DDR tournament at the conventions this summer, but I don't think I can get any better, as in, I've reached my peak, which isn't that good :P.

As for my job, my boss is gone on vacation for 2 weeks, leaving me to man the IT department (just me) and all the tasks associated with it. So far its been okay but I just know I'm going to be running around like mad next week.

had a huge fight well..another huge fight with a good friends of mine, and it has pretty much ended our friendship, which may not be a bad thing. Also another one of my friends is moving to the US for a job, so my group of friends has shrunk, something I am not pleased about. I don't have a hard time making friends but I only have a few really close ones, and now even fewer.

All in all I am glad it is a friday :)

About me...

I suppose an introduction is in order, considering I skipped doing one in my first post ;). I am going into my 4th year of Computer Science at Brock University with a Business minor. I love anything japanese, my room is full of japanese stuff, sushi sets, kimonos, you name it. I love anime, DDR, J-pop, hip-hop, pop, and all that good stuff . I'm also a packrat, an immense one and sometimes I can be a bit of a slob, my room is always a disaster, there's clothes, books, tools scattered everywhere. However I am extremely organized at work, my office is very clean and my desk is spotless. I am a computer geek, not a major one, I couldn't possibly tell you the best graphics card out right now but I do Sys admin stuff at work and I can build a computer, to me that makes me a geek, even if just a little bit :).

I don't go out much, I'm a home body, I only have a few close friends and no boyfriend. I am searching for a guy but at the same time I enjoy being single. I am trying to lose weight right now, eventhough I am told I look fine, but I just want to tone up a little, nothing wrong with that ;)

As for the title of my blog, I think it's pretty self-explanatory . I am especially proud of my witty little address "the wiring closet", comes from my Cisco class in highschool, we had a glass enclosed wiring closet and it was so nice to stand in with all the pretty lights and blasts of hot air from the switches :).

That's enough for now I suppose, there probably won't be another entry for a week or so, I am picking up Kingdom Hearts tomorrow, I beat the second game first, so now I figure I should beat the first game..second, I wonder how my mind works sometimes ^_^