IT people versus managers

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced his altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 45 degrees north latitude and between 9 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be in Information Technology,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am!” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well”, said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are, owing to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my fault.”

Source: Ray Ballisti – For fun and humor.

Project cold warm syllabels

I’ve been bored, but I’ve been doing some thinking. I want to write a software. I want to write a German-English <==> English-German dictionary and I also want to combine it with a unit converter, as well as time zone converter.

I’ve lived in five different time zones and by now I should get used to the difference, but sometimes I don’t remember anything. I could surf the net and find the local time at a certain area, but it’s too much of a hassle. I’ve also lived in the US and in Europe and I’m often forced to count the unit difference manually. Again, it’s too much of a hassle. So, creating such a software will be fun.

There has been a lot of free conversion softwares actually but I want to learn to write it and let me learn. I want to do it on my own, because, that way, I know the progress that I make.

But yes, I want to write it in Java. That’s the language that I know so far. I will learn C or C++ soon and I know it might be better to write a software in either C or C++, but I don’t have time now. Besides, I want to be Java developer. I figured I’d get a good job with it. Would I? Man, it’s all about the money (That’s just a side thought).

Hopefully, it’ll be ready soon, but I hate debugging although I enjoy it. Does anyone else speak Java?

Unlinuxing [my]self

I haven’t been using my openSuSE lately. I feel sad, because I don’t feel special anymore. Well, the main reason is that I am not able to compile some Java files.

My Java reading is getting tougher. I need to import some files, such as .util, .swing, .awt and so on. For some reason, it doesn’t work well on openSuSE. The file doesn’t execute and I’m sure there’s something wrong with the JRE. I could uninstall Java, but if I reinstall it, will it really solve the problem?

I’m running out of time now, and I need to study my Java extensively for the exam. I still don’t know when the exam is and I’m planning to go to class on Wednesday. Maybe I could have a little conversation with the prof and ask him a few questions regarding the test.

Anyway, the (Java) files execute well on my Xp and for that reason, I have been using my Xp. I don’t want it, but there is no choice. As soon as the semester is over, I’m going to try tweaking the Java on my Linux and hopefully it works.

I have jGrasp on both Xp and openSuSE. Unfortunately, the software works differently on both. I need to do a lot to my Linux, especially for compiling Java.

I actually can live without Xp, but the problem with my Java has made me think that I can’t live without it. Well, if I just surf the net, use OpenOffice applications, use Amarok to listen to music and upload songs to my iPod, I can live without Xp. Unfortunately, life is not that simple.

By the way, beginning Thursday, January 17, the dorm, where I currently live, will change its ISP. It won’t be connected to the campus anymore. I heard that there will be more open ports and it’ll use DHCP connection instead of static IP address. We will still run behind proxy, which, I think, will control the use of bandwidth of every user. We will have to agree that we won’t use any P2P softwares. Well, I don’t need those. I just want the open ports, because I cannot update anything here. My Linux installation is messed up and I cannot update Xp regularly.

That’s all for now.

There’s still a problem

Sometime ago, I wrote a note about the computer problem at the language lab at the university where I’m studying. Apparently, although we’ve had two weeks of break, the problem is still there. I mean to say that I thought the problems were taken care of during the break, but they weren’t.

Yesterday, when I was in the middle of my work at the lab, the computer next to me had a BSOD without even being touched. I logged in, because, as is instructed by the teacher, that the one next to us should also be on although no one is using it. That way, we know if there is something wrong with the system or not. Well, there is.

Then, another computer, which was being used by a student, also had a BSOD. It really made me think. What is the problem actually? I’ve always thought that it’s a software problem, like missing DLLs or messed up registry files or something. Yesterday, I did a little research on atapi.sys. I happened to notice that there was a problem with accessing atapi.sys when the computer went BSOD. I googled “BSOD atapi.sys.”

There’s one forum, I forgot the name, and there’s an intriguing, at least to me, solution. Some guy also had the same problem and he posted the log files and everything else in details. Apparently, it’s hardware problem, and I quote, “A driver gets updated, which changes the underlying assembly code to a different set of instructions. Those instructions when run in the new sequence are what expose the errata/bus noise/cache fetch failure,” JoeHobart. That sounds to make sense.

Wait! My brain just gave me a call. Yes, I know it all along that it could also be hardware problem, but for some reason, it didn’t come to my mind when I encountered it, but what is the real problem here? A BSOD is usually caused by missing DLLs, registry issues, driver problems and also faulty memory.

Well, if it’s really registry issues or missing DLLs, fixing the MBR (Master Boot Record), editing the registry and replacing the DLLs will be a solution, but I think that they have made some changes in the registry. My other suggestion is try reformatting one of the computers that usually fails. If it solves the problem, then reformatting the rest of the computers will probably solve the whole problem, but if not, then it is hardware.

More about the forum that I found on Google. Later on, JoeHobart explains that BIOS update will give a significant result to the problem and reinstalling (Reformatting) won’t. Point taken! But unfortunately, while the BSOD happened, I didn’t remember much of what is going on. I only remembered about atapi.sys of not being able to be accessed, but I’d definitely recommend the University to update the BIOS to all computers. Maybe it is the solution.

Geek jokes

Note: “I” here doesn’t mean “me.” It’s some guys who posted their true experience on the web.

Joke 1

One of our customers, a major non-US defense contractor, complained that their code ran too slowly. It was a comedy of errors.

Act I

Contractor: “Can you make our code run faster?”
Tech Support: “Yes, but we have to take a look at it.”
Contractor: “We can’t, the code is classified.”
Tech Support: “Can you explain to me what your code is doing?”
Contractor: “No, that’s classified.”
Tech Support: “Can you tell us what functions you use?”
Contractor: “No that’s classified.”

Act II

So, on a hunch, we sent them the latest version of our software for Windows NT.

Contractor: “Why is this running faster on our 800MHz Pentium than on our VAX?”
Tech Support: “When did you buy that VAX?”
Contractor: “Some time in the late 1980s.”

Act III

Finally, some of their code was declassified. We looked at it, and one piece of it contained a routine for reading one million or so integers from a file. Rather than opening the file once and reading them all in, there was a loop: it would open the file, read the first integer, and close it; then open it again, read the second integer, and close it; etc.

Joke 2

I ran across this gem while debugging someone else’s old code once:

if (value == 0)
return value;
else
return 0;

Joke 3

One time I had to walk a Windows 95 user through a particular procedure.

Me: “First you need to open DOS-prompt. I’ll guide you–”
Customer: “MY COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE DOS! YOU THINK I RUN THAT ANCIENT SOFTWARE?” (click)

Joke 4

A customer called in with modem problems.

Tech Support: “Ok, we’re going to check your modem settings. First thing we need to do is make sure all programs are closed.”
Customer: “How do I know if everything is closed?”
Me: “Make sure all windows are closed.”
Customer: “But…I’m in the basement. I don’t have any windows here.”

Lucky me, I made it to the the mute button in time!

Joke 5

Tech Support: “How can I help you?”
Customer: “Well, everything is working fine, but there is one program that is not.”
Tech Support: “What program is it?”
Customer: “It’s called ‘MSDOS Prompt’.”
Tech Support: “What’s wrong with it?”
Customer: “Well, I click on it, a black screen shows up with NOTHING but a sign that reads: ‘C:\WINDOWS>’, and it just sits there and doesn’t do anything. I have to turn off the system to go back to Windows.”