I'm over halfway through the quarter and ahead of the game!

Can it be that I've finally learned how to manage my time? It means I don't spend much time here. Please don't take it personally because I love all my friends here and if I had my druthers, I wouldn't need to sleep so I could read all your journals.

Next quarter I'm taking one less class. That will help. The Troubleshooting XP with Users has been such a major waste of time - with homework, no less, that I'm not going to take the next level one. It's also being offered on Friday night and you know what? Uh uh. Friday night Eric and I go to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant and get burritos. (first class is waste of time) + (burrito night) = Not gonna take it.

Monday night I walked into my Cisco class and who is sitting at the desk but Jim, the lab instructor from Hell. I knew we were going to go over the case study, but I didn't realize Jim is still grading our labs. Robert, a loud guy with C.P. I know I've mentioned before, also has issues with Jim. He called out, "It's all right. Jim's just here to go over the case study." Thanks Robert. Let's just let Jim know I've been talking about him. :P

In typical Jim fashion, he went over the case study in a sketchy way that really didn't tell us much. He did go into detail showing us how to use an online tool Cisco provides to set up networks and test them. It naturally doesn't work with two of the factors we have to use, but we can at least get most of it set up and tested without taking up lab space. We can troubleshoot the other two factors in the lab with actual routers and switches.

When he was done and leaving he said "Come visit me in the lab," looking at me, "I miss you." OK, the ice is broken. On my final lab last night - the last of the labs for the whole quarter (woot!)- things didn't go as I expected. One of my classmates was just at that lab when I'd given up and was ready to go, so I sat down to see if his worked as expected. Nope. He had all the same results I did. Neither of us could figure out why. If I can't find the answer in the book today, maybe I'll ask Jim.

Another classmate is three labs behind. He'd been griping about how Jim wouldn't answer his questions about the case study. In lab last night, he kept asking Bob, trusted lab lockup student for help. Poor Bob was also constantly assisting another student who doesn't understand due to language difficulties. This is why Bob ends up working past midnight in the lab after everyone leaves so he can get is own labwork done. I went to help my classmate because he was paranoid about reloading the Operating System software on the switch. He was confused by the different file names used in the lab for example reasons. "But mine is different! Why do they put this name here when mine is different?" He also didn't understand what a .tar file is, even though it says right on the lab that "The next step will extract the IOS and html files from the .tar file." I had to point at the words for him to see them and they confused him until I told him a .tar file holds a bunch of different files all compressed for downloading faster. "Oh," he said, "like a zip file." "Yes. Like a zip file." I replied. I gave him a few tips about copying that long long file name from somewhere else instead of typing it and remembering that one character is a lower case 'L' and not a number one. They look the same to me, so I just display the file name and drag my mouse over it to copy it. Can you tell the difference> l 1 ? (the first is a lower case L)

This guy is determined to do the case study on his own. I think he's being foolish.

I'll put Jury duty in another post.

Jury Duty

I had to go in to Jury Duty yesterday morning. Ugh, 9AM is waaay too early for me to be anywhere after being at school untl 10PM. But I got there. I got through the security checkpoint with no problems. They're just a little more relaxed than the airport. I didn't have to remove my shoes. On the way up to the third floor where jurors hang out, several lawyers shared the elevator with several potential jurors. All of them, including the woman, were taller than average. They were all impeccibly groomed and good looking. I thought, "Wow! Just like on TV!"

I was surprised to see they had WiFi in the waiting room. I could have brought my laptop with me to start testing the case study config my lab partner sent me. But then again, this court is attached to the county jail. The "Bad Boys Bail Bonds" people were handing pamphlets to anyone who'd take one. I really didn't want to risk having it snatched by one of the criminal types that hang around there. My life is in that laptop now.

Instead, I got the case study packet out and started making appropriate changes to what I'd figured out and what my lab partner came up with. We'd come up with pretty much the same stuff, his was just in a different order. Man, I was groggy. I wish they'd had coffee for us! I'd just gotten started when the TV over my head came on with a "How to be a good juror" video. Oh goody! I get to see how our justice system works! woo hoo.

I had to figure out his subnetting assignments at one point and that takes some focus. Some young woman sitting right next to me kept going through her friends on her cell phone and starting conversations before she'd get up and leave the room to chat. She'd come back and sit down and hunt for another person to chat with - boop boop boop boop - with every button push. She finally settled down and a clackity clackity clack started up. A guy behind her had gotten his laptop out and was wailing on his keyboard. I gave up. Between the fog in my brain and the constant noise, I couldn't even remember how to figure out the subnets. As soon as I packed all the books away it popped into my head, so I got the books back out and got that finished.

Then the speaker came on overhead telling group 10 to take an early lunch and be back by 1:30. I was in group 9. So were phone girl and laptop guy. I continued working on the case study documentation for a few more minutes when the speaker came on again. "Groups 8 and 9, please listen carefully. Your cases have settled. You are dismissed. You do not have to check in for the rest of the week. Your jury duty is complete. Write your name on the piece of paper you were given with your group number and keep it. It's your proof that you have served and are exempt from service for the next year."

I couldn't supress a whispered, "Yesss!" Which got a few smiles. They were feeling the same way. I looked at the clock. 10:30! I could still get to work on time! YAY! A woman walking out next to me said she was taking the rest of the day off. I told her I get to to to work! and I explained that if I don't work, I don't get paid and with my income, we're just getting by. She asked about my books and I explained I was in school learning a new career. She said she wouldn't go back to school. I told her I had no choice because my career was sent to India.

It still irks me that I pretty much gave up living to spend 9 years in night school while working full time to get a degree in a career that was sent overseas 15 years later. I might have had kids if I'd married younger, but I was too busy trying to get a career going to support myself reasonably well in case I didn't ever meet anyone to marry. Haven't I worked hard enough to earn a more relaxed life at my age?

I think this resentment reared its head up when our President told the people in India that he's glad he sent our tech jobs to them. Certain choice words come to mind but I'll just say "GRRRRRR" to Bush.

I feel like writing him a letter telling him just his gift to India impacted me, personally. Of course, after all the angry emails I've sent him about other issues, he'd probably just say "Good."

No, I need to focus on the positive and get my butt to work. I'm working at NASA! That's a good outcome. Yes, it is!