the bits

So then… Cupertino was much fun, as usual. Learned a good deal and felt like I contributed good stuff.

Last night was my buddy Don’s birthday, and blackmagic did host a very enjoyable gathering. I saw some folks I haven’t seen in a good while, had a great time, and also enjoyed a night of efficient and effectual consumption, with narry an unfortunate side effect.

In other news, my transition at work from Sales to training / curriculum dev is nearly complete. I spent most of this week in Redmond delivering apple’s quicktime streaming server course, and did a full-day final cut pro class on friday. There are a few more (not so minor) details to sort out with this new function of mine, but all in all it’s going well :) Since the store is currently being remodeled, I have no desk and no machine… I’ve been just using my laptop for stuff, which will probably continue for another couple weeks until the remodel is done, at which point I will have a desk + system.

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on… same ol, more or less. Not feeling incredibly inspired, musically or otherwise, which is unfortunate… it comes and goes, I guess.

I got sick last thursday in CA… peaked on Saturday, and now I’m just riding out the tail end. Exciting :)

Definitely enjoying this new schedule, though… having weekends off rocks. I’m hoping the remianing Saturday training classes I teach won’t get too annoying, cutting into my off-days and all that. It’s temporary, though, so that’s coo…

that is all :)

Day 1 of the Mac OS X Server Admin and Integration was pretty stacked. As far as difficulty, this is probably at the top of the heap for apple’s (non-dev) courses; but then again it is targeted at experienced system admins.

Each of us has a g4 tower running os x server and an ibook running client. All of the exercises are being done assuming there is no physical access to the server (well, the install cd has to be in the drive, and it does have to be powered on…). We started from scratch… booting the server from the cd, partitioning the drive, installing the OS, then using the cli tools networksetup and systemsetup to get ’em up and running – all done remotely (except for physically powering on the server). This is possible because sshd is on the server install CD (root pass = 1st 8 chars of serialnumber or 12345678 if it’s an older machine, ip is self-assigned, and can be discovered by querying a multicast responder which displays the IP along with the MAC addy).

We went on to do basic SNMP config, configuring a second NIC, configuring two different DNS servers (one for the external interface that responds only to queries for zones for which it is authoritative and has recursion disabled, one internal that responds only to local clients, and which allows recursion), and also got VPN / pptp up and running.

Considering the course is still in alpha, it’s pretty damn nice. There are some holes and placeholders, but what is there is fairly solid. In any event, it’s right up my alley, and I’m totally enjoying working through it, helping to get the minor kinks out, and providing occasional suggestions for improvement.

Didn’t get much sleep last night, so I definitely will tonight :)

Heading back down to cupertino next week for another training session… last time it was the alpha of the Mac OS X Administration and Integration course, this time it’s the alpha for the Mac OS X Server Admin and Integration (no page for it yet), both of which are part of the Apple Certified Systems Administrator certification track. Should be similiar to last time… basically an early test run of the courseware by its developers to a live class, for the purpose of working the kinks out and getting suggestions for improvement, etc. If it’s anything like last time, there will be very few non-apple employees present, which uh… rocks, if I do say so myself ;) I’m pretty stoked to have been invited back by apple for a second alpha, and I feel like I’m building some good relationships with folks down there.

Week after that, I’m *finally* teaching another QuickTime Streaming Server class. Only done one of those so far… unfortunately, the demand has been rather weak… you may recall that I was in the first round of QTSS certified trainers (in the world, heh… there were dudes there from china and austrailia ;) – since then I think there may have been one more round of certified trainers… but even apple has trouble filling those. At one point I was scheduled to teach three QTSS courses for apple; only ended up teaching one in NYC, the other two were cancelled. The one I’m doing soon isn’t for Apple, it’s for my company… we’ve tried to offer it I think 4 or 5 times, cancelled each time due to lack of enrollment… well we finally got enough people to run it, so we shall :)

Saturday should be my last day on the sales floor! After that it’ll be full-time training + curriculum dev + whatever else I have time to do.

oh yeah, get this. NORMAL SCHEDULE!!!!! I will work monday through friday for the first time in my entire life. I will have weekends off, with perhaps the occasional Saturday class, until we get them moved into weekdays (which is fine since saturday classes generally start in the p.m.).

first, however, some time off! this is my last official weekday weekend. I get the feeling that I should try to do things that can only be done in business hours, but I can’t think of anything :)

So, it took a little longer than I had anticipated, but still within the window I had originally specified (I think)… Starting next week, I’ll be officially off the sales floor. A job description is being created for me as I write this, and I’ll most likely end up as a salaried employee (maybe, not sure if I wanna do that or stay hourly… ).

This has been in the works for a while… I initially pitched this idea in December sometime… My manager was sold pretty instantly, and said she’d work to make it happen. Turns out this will affect the entire company, not just the seattle store… that is, I’ll be working on things that can benefit all of our stores.

Just recently, I got my first recent taste of full-time development when I spent 5 days at home writing curriculum for some classes we will be offering. I finished a pretty darn good iMovie 3 course, (and yeah, you may be thinking ‘there’s people out there that need to be taught how to use something as simple as iMovie? yes. yes. definitely, yes) … apparently the higher-ups like it, cause the first conversation I had with my manager after delivering the finished product last week was “we can have you on sallary by next week” :)

SO, this should be my last week hoofin’ it with the llamas (on the bus go BLEET BLEET BLEET…). It’ll be nice to get a chance to actually focus on things. Though I do quite well in the erratic, attention sucking, information disposing environs of the sales floor, I was not designed as a scatterbrained human, and eventually it just starts to bug the hell out of me. Consequently, I think this will be a very good change. Also, I’m looking forward to getting some serious points on the ol’ resume… I plan to work smart with very tangible results, which will hopefully translate into ‘mad props’ down the line. We shall see. Another part of me is excited just cause it’s something different… it’s almost like a new job, and I thrive on change… so, good deal all around :)

We’ve finally started the remodeling process at the store. There will be several much needed changes, include an improved (and larger) training room with actual windows to the outside world! Hopefully it’ll also score me some decent desk space.

In other news, everything else is great. I got a new intellimouse cause my old one became increasingly more erratic over the period of about 2 months… ah, now I can play q3 again without momentary bouts of virtual no-look-no-shoot-only-strafe-itis (a rare condition generally only found in fps gamers with broken mice ;).

Also, been tweaking out my server a bit lately. Got apple’s mail server set up with secure smtp action (as tested by https://www.abuse.net/relay.html). Added another IP so I can do quicktime streaming over port 80 (obviously that would conflict with apache on the same IP), which means I can stream to firewalled and non-firewalled clients alike. I’m toying with the idea of some kind of constant radio stream… music, q3 playing, music making, tv shows… whatever happens to be coming out of my mixer :)

I know I’ve been lax on the updates lately… primarily, that’s because not a lot is changing. Traditionally, that’s a bad thing for me… but considering that the actual situation is good, it’s not a bad thing at all… still cruisin’ right along, enjoying things as I go. Toying with the idea of becoming more social, as I have toyed with it (and summarily dismissed it) in the past so many times… or maybe at the very least, getting out to see more shows. Hmm.

That is all :)

So, just a few random threads:

– I’m working from home on some training curriculum for my company. All the iLife apps, plus .mac, iCal, and iSync. wee :)

– Finally found a nice open source IRC stats package. It’s called pisg, and it’s pretty damn sweet. Witness the #macosx stats.

– Misc. geeky tidbit for OS X users that use Terminal.app a lot (or for anybody else interested in reading about a flaw in Terminal’s applescript dictionary)

lunch time :)

So, I *finally* bought Reason. Whew :) Seriously, it’s truly incredible for the price. For those unaware, it’s a decently complete software music studio containing samplers, synths, sequencers, and other software replicas of audio hardware (mixers, effects devices, etc). I’ve been messing with this app on and off since it came out in like 1998 or so; it was the first ‘major’ audio app to work in Mac OS X (works perfectly in 10.1 and 10.2… which is amazing if you know much about Mac OS X’s audio stuff at the system level. Audio stuff changed a great deal with 10.2 – from what I can infer, propellerheads (the developers) didn’t make much use of apple’s audio frameworks, and instead just did the whole thing themselves… crazy :)

Anyway, now that I’m a proud owner (and now that I’m starting to get good at using it), I think it’s time to start putting some of my stuff ‘out there’. propellerheads has their own community forums where you can upload your songs and associate with other users, but it’s only accessible to registered owners of their products. For the sake of providing access to others, I set up a Reason page which contains links to my tracks, and will be updated regularly. I’ll probably be making references to that page here from time to time when I come up with stuff I think is worthy of mention :)

In any case, I’m pretty lame about actually naming tracks, so instead they just have dates – this is handy because it’s possible to hear the general changes and improvements made over time (even though these tracks span several styles). Feel free to give a listen, but certainly don’t feel obligated – I realize that I am but a budding musician :)

9:20 a.m., on the bus…

Normally I’d be sleeping right about now… but I made up some good ground yesterday, so I suppose it’s good to be getting a fresh start today…. that, and also I have to be in west seattle @ 10 :) Thanks to metro’s excellent trip planner, the logistics are made simple. So, on the bus I ride… another nice thing about riding is that it opens up extra computer time where I can’t be distracted by network based things… well I guess that’s not entirely true either… (see screenshot). Anyway, two transfers and a bit over an hour to get there.

time passes

7:ish, on the bus…

Well that was easy and fun, both for him and for me. I really like doing the one-on-one training thing with intelligent people who are ready and willing to learn. This particular guy does pretty well as a producer / director (initially theater, now film), and bought himself a complete rig… top of the line powerbook, 17″ apple LCD, printers, software, 20 gig ipod… the works. When I arrived, it was all still in boxes (except for the powerbook..) My task was clear :)

We did all the normal “first time mac user” things, including getting all of his word docs moved over from his wintel laptop (he already had them backed up to a firewire drive). He was amazed at how easy it all was. He was especially psyched about the iTunes / iPod stuff, which really is quite cool. I could see the wheels turning in his head :)

In any case, an enjoyable way to spend a day off and make some money while I’m at it. I don’t think I’d want to do this weekly (just cause I value down time too much), but in this particular case, it was definitely worth it, seeing as how it’s xmass and I’m low on fundage. This guy does want me back again, however… probably at least one more visit. He’s gonna get into final cut pro, also, so it’s quite likely that he’ll employ me to help him learn that. We hit it off pretty well… he was even talking about me getting involved with some other projects… we’ll see how that works out :)

(here’s the full list of wlans, for those interested)

fin.

Here I am in Portland, Oregon. Oregon seems a bit odd to me, actually…. no offense to anybody who lives here (let’s see, verso is the only one I can think of). The Oregonians seem to have a lot of state pride, which I find a bit strange… the same way I find rabid fans of a specific sports team strange. For instance, there’s a store in the Lloyd Center mall that’s called “Just For Oregon” or “Made In Oregon” or some such…. also, I had some fruit punch the other night called Portland Punch that is obviously made in Portland and absolutely *not* exported. I mean, it was decent and all, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s something to be proud of. Also there’s that whole thing from several years ago regarding the overwhelmingly large percentage of Oregonians who didn’t think homosexuals deserved equal rights. I told myself I’d never come here just based solely on that (not that I’m homosexual (insert Seinfeld footnote here)), but since I’m here on somebody else’s dime – in fact, getting paid decently – I guess it’s okay.

Portland itself seems like a decent enough city, anyway. It looks cool at night because there’s a good number of buildings with wacky lighting. It does make me appreciate the greater geographical diversity to be found in Seattle, however.

Met up with verso on monday evening, and that was good fun :) Having known her for several years thanks to IRC, it was pretty much as I expected – that is, a pleasant evening of conversation and a spot of the obligatory geekiness thrown in for good measure :)

Of the troupe of IRC folk with which I’ve associated over these last ~4 years or so, I’ve met a good deal of them in person:

there’s blackmagic, of course… saitan and sewshi and vira from fairfax, VA; lenox in ft lauderdale, FL; n3ph in the british virgin islands (though he lives in Boulder); kyozz and datafirm in seattle; pahn, `rico and billabong from NYC, that dude in Sarasota, FL whose nick I forget that gren and I met at the ‘roo; isteph, also in florida, but now in NY (although I’m not entirley sure if we met first in person or over IRC); murr in Cupertino, most recently verso in Portland, and probably a couple others I’m forgetting. And that’s just the IRC people :) There’s a whole bunch more left, though…

Oh, and we’re halfway though this week’s class. Spent the first two days on Mac OS X, and Wed – Friday is Server, which is a bit more interesting, since each student has two machines – one client and one server – and they get to practice client-server stuff in a controlled environment. Yesterday after the troubleshooting chapter we did the customary break-fix exercise, where the students leave the room and I go around and hose up their machines, then they come back and try to accomplish a set of tasks that will force them to troubleshoot the problems. I did basic things like changing their passwords and messing with tcp/ip settings, to more slightly underhanded things like partially unplugging ethernet cables and messing with the boot-args with /usr/sbin/nvram, to downright nasty things like installing realistic looking startup items that do things like shut the machine down or throw it into an infinite loop, or unplugging the ethernet from the server they had to access; all this stuff is fixable based on the stuff they get taught, though :)

Guess that’s about all for now… will possibly hook up with Verso again tomorrow evening… then friday we finish up and head back up to Sea town. I rode down with a co-worker who is attending the class, which is nice since it lets me avoid the damn airports for once.

latez :)

Let’s see…. since last post:

– had an awesome time down at Apple for the ACSA session. The courseware will be done around January 20th, at which time we’ll start delivering it. Since I was at that session, I’m able to deliver the class without having to go through the extra 5 day training deal… which means we will be one of the very first places to deliver this class… which will be great if there’s actually significant demand for it. There should be… I mean, it’s good courseware. My company will be running adds on a few mac sites, so keep your eyes peeled ;)

– took the new ACTC test on Monday (and defeated it handily), so that I can be a certified ACTC and also so that I can deliver the 5 day ACTC Essentials course.

– GOT A NEW MAC!

His name is pimp, and here are the vitals:
+800 MHz g4 7450 processors
+1024 MB RAM
+GeForce 2MX TwinView (since replaced with a GeForce 4MX 460 – whirred blackmagic ;-)
+80 GB ATA drive
+ Adaptec 2930uc SCSI card
+ Zip drive

As you may have guessed, I’m generally elated. This is my first fast mac, and it also allows me to indefinitely repurpose core (my older g4) as a server.

Sunday I leave for Portland, where I’ll be until Friday delivering the ACTC class at our Portland store.

Today was pretty basic, despite the holiday status… like most any other day off, I reckon, except for the big pumpkin pie at the end :)

So, here I am in the middle of a two week hiatus from the sales floor :) Last week I was getting my ACTC certification updated for the 10.2 (jaguar) version…

… and this week I’m down in Cupertino, CA for another training session… this one is the Mac OS X Administration and Integration component of the ACSA. It’s a sort of pre-release session; Apple expects to be offering it to the public in january. For now, this alpha (and an upcoming beta) session represents the latter part of the development of the curriculum. I’m not sure exactly what my role here is, but I expect it’ll be to help fine tune the course and provide suggestions, etc.

The flight was non-eventful. Before long I won’t even be mentioning the air travel aspect, since it’s becoming rather ordinary ;)

Currently I’m on the back porch of this second floor, Apple provided apartment (furnished, dishes, washer / dryer, cable tv, the works…), siting in a dining room chair that is perched atop a ~ 2ft coffee table. I needed the extra height to maintain the wireless signal. Thanks to 00:40:05:b8:5b:23 for the route, whoever you are ;)

More later :)

and some dumbass spider just tried to make my laptop the foundation of his latest creation… but that’s not happening….