I have a new appreciation for the flexibility of a streaming video course plus my iPad plus online textbook access.
Last night, I hurt my back. Sitting upright, unless it is at a very specific angle, hurts. Lying on my back, however, is just fine. So I am lying on the couch with a hotpack under me, using my iPad to access my study material. Sweet.
As the one or two regular readers of this blog would know, about six months ago I moved into a new role. Instead of being a 3rd-level-tech-cum-team-leader-cum-project-manager-cum-network-admin-cum-you-name-it-I'm-it, I'm now a server engineer. This is good for me in lots of ways, but my favourite thing about it is that I get to focus on just one thing instead of having to spread myself across so many disciplines.
It also means I'm getting exposed to a lot of technologies my fomer role didn't expose me to. Rightly or wrongly, my workplace's IT infrastructure is largely outsourced, so I've never had the exposure to directly administering some of the fun parts of our infrastructure – eg Exchange, VMware, to a lesser extent, SQL. That I'm getting exposed to it now is a good thing. That I need to know it all now is not quite so good. Of particular "joy" is the fact that I've had to take over a departed team mate's SQL responsibilities. I've always had a bit of a hate-hate relationship with SQL. I know just enough to get by, and possibly just enough to be dangerous. But since nobody else wants it, and I'm "new" to the new IT organisation, I've been lumped with it. So I am now something of a reluctant DBA.
I spent the first six months in this job hating/resenting having to deal with SQL on a daily basis. Largely, I regard SQL as something that must be defeated. They say it is best to truly know one's enemy. So last week, I decided I had to do something about it. I've decided I'm going to learn SQL.
Since BlueScope's training budget is zero, I knew I'd have to pony up the $$$ myself. Classroom training for SQL is around the $5K mark, and I just don't have that sort of money to spend. I started looking at online/CBT training. Two companies stood out: CBT Nuggets and TrainSignal.
TrainSignal's demo system lets you view a presentation. In this case, it was an 18 minute segment on SQL. It was well-presented and I found myself wanting to buy the course. Around $600USD. I noted they also have a MCITP:EA course, listed at $1000 or thereabouts. So that's $1600 for Windows plus SQL. Seems like a lot of dough. The good news is that you can download the content to view it offline, which made it very appealing.
CBT Nuggets' demo, quite simply, sucks. You get a TWO MINUTE taster of a presentation. Hardly enough to get an idea of how good the product is. Interestingly, however, they have a 24 hour subscription for $24. And it gives you access to their whole library. So I figured, what the hell, I've got a few spare bucks in my PayPal account, why not? It was well worth it. I got to see not only their SQL 2008 training, but their Windows, VMware, Exchange etc etc. The thing about CBT Nuggets is that their content is not available for offline viewing. It's a streaming model. If you buy a course (eg SQL), you get access to it for four months. Four months just isn't enough for me. I'm not that motivated, and with a product I'm new to, I need to go over the material many times. I had a look at their other courses. Their MCITP:EA course is $1500. The Exchange course is $600. That's a lot of money. And I know that the next twelve months will see me covering all sorts of topics, not just Windows or just SQL or whatever. I saw then that they have a 12 month subscription for $2000. It lets you access their entire library for 12 months.
Both providers offer access to Transcender exams, and pricewise, they're about the same (except for CBT's MCITP:EA course which is inexplicably $600 more than TS). Offline access was really important to me, but so was having access to an entire library of training material. As interested as I was in the TS products, their sales people just didn't impress me. They weren't interested in modifying their packages or offering discounts unless I spent over $1300. Even then, that would only get me a couple courses.
In the end, I decided a wide library was better than offline access. I pulled out my credit card and signed up for the CBT Nuggets 12 month subscription. I'm very glad I did. I've gone through 3 SQL presentations now and have learned heaps. It's already helped me answer some pressing work questions.
Emboldened by my experience with CBT, I started looking at Safari Books Online. They also have a subscription model – one with limits (cheaper) and one that's unlimited access to their library for 12 months. They're running a deal at the moment, where you can get the 12 month unlimited access deal for $399 USD. I went for it. Again, I'm glad I did. They have an iPad app that lets me read their books on my iPad. You can't read them offline using the iPad (or maybe you can, I haven't looked hard enough), but the point is you can read it on the go. Eg if you're a commuter stuck on a train or bus or have time to kill or whatever.
So for $2400, I have 12 months access to a large CBT library and a huge textbook library. That's half the cost of a single face-to-face training course! My credit card is hurting, but I'm feeling much more positive about SQL and also about my ability to improve my skills at work. I'd better get stuck back into study now. I don't want to waste these subscriptions!
Welcome to Max's Guide to Cycling For N00bs, part 1. Everything you're about to read is purely my opinion. There might be some factual stuff thrown in there as well. See if you can tell what's fact and what's not 
To cycle, the minimalist needs only three things:
Everything else is an added bonus. People who say cycling is an expensive sport are obviously not minimalists. "But Max", I hear you say, "although a minimalist only needs those things, surely there's stuff I, a non-minimalist, should have?" I'm glad you asked. Non-minimalists should consider the following additions to their cycling paraphernalia:
I can hear howls of protest already. All this gear sounds expensive, doesn't it? Well.. some of it is. But the good news is that it's not absolutely necessary. You don't have to buy it all at once (if at all), and not having it won't prevent you from riding. But having some (or all) of this stuff will greatly enhance your riding pleasure.
Stay tuned for future instalments of MGTCFN, in which I expand on all of these points individually.
I went for a walk today, in an effort to get a bit of fitness back and to change things a little bit. I took my Garmin 800 with me and recorded it with the GPS function. Sadly, the GPS got lost at one point and has recorded me going to places I know for fact I didn't. Anyway, I walked 5.14Km @ 6.9Kph, which I think is reasonable for a first effort. My average HR was much lower than when I'm on the bike, sitting at 127BPM (usually around the 155 mark on the bike). I walked up Church Rd, which I later learned has a 13 (or was it 15) percent grade. I certainly wouldn't want to ride my bike up it!
I would like to express my extreme displeasure at sites that use illegible Captcha pictures as a means of self-defence, followed by a "prove you're human" question, then use an IP address blocking service to double-check you're not a spammer, and then finally declare that you are one, and deny you access.
I'm talking about you, FreeNAS forums.
Oh, and while I'm whinging about FreeNAS. Guess which free NAS device's web interface does not play well with Internet Explorer? You guessed it, FreeNAS. It needs Firefox to work properly. Now, I know that the open source community is absolutely full of open source zealots and people who by their nature hate Microsoft and all its products. But, really. Face facts: IE is the default browser with a Windows OS. Most every machine on this planet runs Windows. Accept reality. Fix your fucked GUI.
Oh! One more whinge! Why did the FreeNAS AD integration break in the first place? Because, having asked an ambiguous question about hostnames, FreeNAS then creates a computer account in AD using that hostname. FreeNAS doesn't give a single fuck if that computer account already exists. It just overwrites it. One little fucking LDAP query could've prevented that DC destruction.
I'm off work today, sick. Many thanks to the knob at the desk across the hallway from me who came to work sick and spent the whole day yesterday coughing and sneezing into the communal air. Did I say thank you? Actually, no, I meant FUCK YOU. You turd.
Since I am at home, and have time to myself, I thought I'd do a bit of experimentation with Veeam, a backup product for virtualised environments. Of course, this meant resurrecting my VMware study lab, which I am ashamed to say, has sat idle for the last.. ohhh… at least six months. Give or take another six months. In the process of setting up Veeam, I figured I'd try to reproduce the VM environment at work. This involves configuring a NAS device and using it as a backup target. Hmm. i have a VM called "FreeNAS". Funnily enough, it runs FreeNAS. A NAS. That's free. I set about configuring Active Directory integration on the device and it was playing silly-buggers, so I figure OK, what the hell.. I'll just create a new one. I downloaded the latest version of FreeNAS, quickly configured it and configured the AD integration. Or so I thought. It refused to work, giving me a vague "service couldn't start" message. Super-helpful. So I googled, and discovered this cautionary tale, which in turn pointed to this cautionary tale.
You can guess what happened to my domain controller VM, right? Shame on the FreeNAS GUI designers who didn't think that "hostname" could be interpreted to mean "hostname of the DC" instead of "hostname of the freenas box". So, with my AD hosed, and not enough care factor to try to fix it, I'm recreating my AD environment too. Bugger.
WordPress and Akismet are doing a marvellous job of blocking spam on my new blog. There's one spam in the spam folder from someone calling themselves "Zackary Felcher".
Yes, you read that right. FELCHER. Look it up. 😆
MaxBabe gave me a Razer Mamba for my birthday this year. It is a lovely gaming mouse. It is about a million times better than my old mouse, a Razer Copperhead. But what I really like about it is that although it is a wireless mouse, it can be used in corded mode. This means that if I run out of battery mid-game, it's not a problem! I just unplug the USB cable from the wireless receiver and plug it straight into the mouse. YES!
Oh, and I did I mention she also got me a wonderful gaming mouse pad?
She's a good woman. 😀
Oooohhhh! Very exciting!
I've just installed CKEditor. Hopefully it's better than the default WP offering!
