8:30 AM God, I hate Mondays. I just can't seem to get started this morning. Caffeine is coursing through my veins, there's plenty of work to be done, and I just can't seem to get started. Piffle. I hope this doesn't go on much longer.

Projects for the week include yet more Exchange server testing; that's all gone very well, by the way, it's just very boring. Not really worth writing about, beyond what I've already said. Right now I'm playing with certificate-based authentication and encryption; very useful stuff, that.

Last week I was building cubicles and work areas for our new phone support center, and setting up laptops for some new sales staff. Well, this week, I get to finish all of that, set up all their machines and get them running on the network. I'm looking forward to it, can't you tell?

Well, that's enough rambling for right now. More if I ever get going this morning.

Tuesday

8:00 AM Yes, I know, I never posted another update yesterday. There's a very good reason for that; I never really got going yesterday. I got a lot done - I think - since there are lots of things crossed off on my task list, but I don't really remember much about them. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Anyway, lots of discussion amongst the Gang about redirect scripts and persistent links. I think Dan Seto has an excellent point; it is difficult to bookmark information when the pages are named "current.html." After the week is over, the page gets renamed, and you lose the link. The solution Brian came up with was to create a "current.html" page that redirects to another page, with a 0-second refresh. The benefits of this solution are that you, the reader, sees the same page as you would now; that is, the content doesn't change in any way. Meanwhile, our job gets easier, because all we have to do every Monday morning is change the link in the redirect, and create the new page. (And come up with something to post for Monday, but that's another story entirely... <g> )

The problem is that this solution "breaks" your history. If you select the "back" button on your browser, you hit the redirect, which pushes you back onto the current Daynotes page, rather than taking you back to the page you linked in from. The exception, which I discovered this morning, is Internet Explorer 5; when presented with a 0-time redirect, it removes that bage from the history list, so for you IE5 users, the experience would be seamless. Which doesn't help those Netscape, IE4.01, or Opera users, of course, so it can't be counted as a true solution.

So what's your preference? Is it better to simply have a current.html that changes every week, or is it better to break the history list on 50% of our readers?

---

On another topic, I'm currently experimenting with ImageCast IC3 again. I used the software - two versions back - and I really liked the functionality. I'm curious to see how well it works now; I'll give a report on it tomorrow. Later.

Wednesday

9:00 AM What is going on in Seattle? Every major news organization is playing up the "riots" like it's the return of the Kent State Massacre, with all the major news organizations reporting wanton violence and destruction in the downtown area. On the other hand, smaller news accounts - local stations, comments on Slashdot, things like that - are reporting peaceful protests with a few violent incidents created by small groups who weren't even part of the protests. My in-laws, who live and work in Seattle, say they saw little sign of any violence; mostly just a few broken windows, and a few scattered incidents. But CNN was reporting massive riots "shutting down the Downtown area" and apparently equating the protestors' statements about Civil Disobedience to be a sign that more violence was expected today.

The news coverage I saw, from NBC, CNN, and in several newspapers, showed police in riot gear arresting protestors. An interesting thing, though - I saw more shots of, say, 5 police officers taking down one protestor than I did of "riots." Buried in the other shots was a short video of riot police lunging at what appeared to be an innocent bystander with a bicycle.

So, which is it? Riots, or peaceful protests? I caught five minutes of interview with the mayor of Seattle; he seemed to be saying that there was little violence, and the protestors had been not only peaceful and organized, but had contacted the city months in advance to coordinate things. In fact, he seemed to side with the protestors more than anything else. Who's telling the truth?

Thursday

8:30 AM Somebody asked me yesterday why I wasn't using a redirect like "everyone else." Piffle! I am a LEADER, not a FOLLOWER. How dare they suggest that I copy the others on such a matter!

Besides, I haven't gotten around to it. <g>

Of course, I was also asked if it was possible to turn a sysadmin back into a human. But that's another story.

I've been playing with Image Cast IC3 for the past couple of days, and I have to say I'm impressed. I liked the program last April, when I used it at my old job, but it's even better now. Smoother, faster, and more powerful. If you administer a large number of machines, you don't know how badly you need this program. Get it now. They have a nice 10-user, 30-day trial version that should be more than enough to get you hooked. If it doesn't, there's something seriously wrong with you, and you should avoid contact with society.

Of course, if you need it, you're a sysadmin, and should avoid contact with society anyway.

The other program I've been playing with is Visio 2000. Most NT admins out there probably already know and love Visio; well, Visio 2000 is an incredible upgrade. One day of use and we're planning on using this program to not only map out our network, but record our inventory of hardware in the properties of the objects on the map, and then export them to a database. All of which is built in to the program. Very nice.

Enough disjointed rambling for one morning. Time ot make life miserable for some of my users. <g> It's not my job, but it's definitely one of the perks.

Friday Saturday
Sunday