my news

Sitting here bored to death at the moment. I'’m supposed to be at the Sittingbourne depot to connect some switches to the network (solely to support the new print servers) and fiddle with Kprint; but after phoning ahead it turns out that they haven'’t been delivered yet. Thankfully Launa offered to phone me the moment they arrive.
I had hoped to go to work on the motorbike today, but it turned out that the battery was dead (again)!!!! So I guess its lucky that the delivery is delayed as at least I can charge the mofo up again.
Bob has indicated that he wants me up in HQ for Monday lunch time. We are to head over to Garrett Green, then pick up the Citroen Berlingo (oh joy!!). He also mentioned that they would be flying me over to Glasgow :S OoOOoO, get a company phone as well!

Today I had to pop over to the Fraikin branch at Sittingbourne to modify a few services and install 2 new print servers (and get them to be compatible through the company’s Open VPN and Private VPN so that they can be used when it comes to the switch over to the AS400 platform (used by the Lex side of the company).
Met a few people, mainly 2 very pleasant call centre operatives (Angela and Launda [who used to go to Highstead in the same year as myself]).
I thought it would take 15 mins to install both the print servers (in a perfect environment), but I ended up having a chat with Angela and Launda for about 30 mins to learn a bit about the company. It took another 30 mins to find all the necessary network points and power points and another 30 to work out how they were all routed / interlinked. It then took another 30 mins to talk to the helpdesk to get the latest p/w (as I had not be advised on what any admin p/w’s were nor what ip addys I needed to use [although I’m competent enough with networks to be able to sort out the tcp/ip side, so that was fine]).
After a little faffing I had one of the print servers running ‘locally’, but after another call to helpdesk it turned out that they weren’t ready at their side to do any print testing (because they hadn’t actually been told to!!). So I ended up waiting around 40 mins for someone at HQ to just do a couple of simple ping tests, only to find out I’d accidentally inputted the subnet as 255.255.0.0 rather than the typical 255.255.255.0. Quick phone call from Bob and that was all sorted out and running (only took 10 mins).
I popped home for lunch and because the 2nd print server was playing up (i.e. the Netgear software wouldn’t detect the bastard) I decided to attach it all up at home and set it up with the required settings. Got back to the depot within 20 mins and had the print server running successfully within 30 mins (25 of which were spent trying to find a bloody access point [and resorting to re-routing a VoiP telepone to the actual data part of the network]).
Jobs a goodun, so went down the pub in the evening!

Spoke to Adam tonight, he can'’t believe I have a job But he seemed to have heard of Fraikin before, so its all good. He’’s teaching 9 classes a week now and seems to be finding it ok. There is a (shell?) electric power competition going on between schools. There will be a regional kart competition up at the Detling show ground on Sunday, so I think I'’ll go n join him!

Wh00p, finally got a job (13/06/2006)… Most won'’t believe that though!!!
I'’ll be working with the IT department at Fraikin doing random odd jobs at various depots and helping with the platform migration up at HQ in the Midlands.
Met up with the IT Manager ‘’Bob Foot'’ who is pretty direct but seems like a pretty decent chap. Had lunch with Iain as well, who is awesome.
Met up with 2 of the helpdesk guys; Steve (who is pretty damned tall) and Darren who both seemed like good lads.

One Word Review:- LEGEND!!!!
Rating:- 10/10
Comments:- Unrivaled both on and off the track. His sheer ability, persona, race tactics and control are simply extraordinary.

What an EXCELLENT race. That is certainly in my top 10 of all time best MotoGP races ever.
Rossi and Capriossi fought sooOOOOoOOOo hard infront of their home crowd. But they fought cleanly, no barging here!
Schumacher was at the course to watch the race (he reportedly drove to the circuit on his motorbike, respect)! He even had a quick go on track as a pillion on the back of a ducati 2 seater. The on-track action was simply superb. Rossi, Capriossi and Hayden were all soooOooO close at the end. There was a 5 man battle for 7th as well, stunning stuff!

My only regret is that I didn'’t make it over to Italy for the race

Links here:
http://www.crash.net/news_view~t~Rossi-shows-Schumacher-why-~cid~6~id~131540.htm
and
http://www.crash.net/news_view~t~Capirossi–I-don-t-mind-losing-a-great-race-~cid~6~id~131543.htm

One word review:- Predictable
Rating:- 6.5/10
Comments:- Pretty decent, although the last 40 mins of the plot was exceedingly predictable. On the whole it was a good performance but just lacked anything to make you sit up and say ‘’wow, that was awesome!!!'’.

One word review:- Changeable
Rating:- 7/10
Comments:- Reasonably nippy with the V6 motor chucking out around 135bhp. Not exactly fuel efficient (it’’s certainly not frugal when it comes to petrol consumption, but thats not why you buy this kind of car), expendables are expensive due to the uniqueness of the parts for this car. However, it is a joy to drive. It sounds awesome as standard, its handling characteristics (suspension, steering geometry, engine responsiveness, predictability) make it a sheer joy to drive.
The boot is massive, but a little impractical (as are the rear seats, however these are easily removed). The switchgear is a tad off (you can tell its an early 90′’s Jap car). The front 1/2 bucket seats are roomy + quite comfortable though. The gear ratio’’s are a tad annoying (first is quite tall, but perfectly matched to the motor, 2nd is EXCESSIVELY tall, however 3rd, 4th and 5th are all comparitively short; so ideal for track racing where you rarely go below 50mph).
Its reasonably pretty, reliable (on the whole), has an excellent (v. smooth) engine + gearbox + clutch (soOOoO much feel) + handling / road holding / cornering + brakes and more fun than the opposition (although the MR2 has more of an ‘’image'’ for sure).

Clear Instructions on How To Do (just about) Everything

eHow

Guide to slipstream SP2 onto a CD using the SP2 network install and the WinXP SP1 install:-
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2004/09/08/installing_windowsxp_and/