h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've got to admit it to someone, so here is as good a place as any: I did the stupidest thing - Last Friday I opened a link in an e-mail at work and set a virus loose. This created havoc (and probably upset the IT department's weekend.) I feel so silly - I've been using computers since most of the IT department were in nappies, and nothing like this has ever happened to me. Problem was, the e-mail was made to look as if it came from Norway, and I have lots of customers in Norway, and assumed it was one of them.

I shall now probably have to bake copious cakes to pacify the IT department and have promised to go in sack and ashes for the rest of Lent. My weekend was bad enough, I hardly slept or ate for worrying about what I'd done.

The up side is that today my middle son had his final teaching exam and passed with top marks. I've always known he had it in him, but somehow he always managed to get on the wrong side of examiners and never scored very high. The German school marking system goes from 1 for the best result to 6 for a fail. He got a 1, and was still stunned when I spoke to him on the phone late this evening. Even at school, he always averaged around 3 or 4.

The lesson he was examined in was about Schubert's Erlkönig, but I kept forgetting to ask which grade he was taking it with.

So now he has to apply for proper teaching posts. Teachers are desperately needed, but the States* aren't taking them on for financial reasons, but with his subjects of Music and English, both of which are obligatory for all pupils at least at the lower levels, and with his great result, he is quite positive about it.

*Education is run at State level in Germany.

Don't feel too bad about clicking the dodgy link. Some of them are very sophisticated, and you'd be surprised at the seniority of some of the folks who get caught out where I work.

We get tested by the IT department sending out dummy phishing e-mails from time to time to trap us. I recently got caught out twice by the same e-mail I think it was such a stupidly improbable one I clicked the link to find out what would happen

We have to do mandatory online training every time we get caught out.

Wunderbar about your son!

Yes - I was wondering if they will be calling me in for a "safety course" in computer use, like for driving offences. And thank you for your reassurance. I am hoping that by the time I get to work this morning, the backup will have been completed and the files I ruined will be re-instated. Some matters are getting rather urgent.

I've remembered another "up" from yesterday. While my husband was out at his Monday keep fit class, I managed to prepare four dishes for this week, some in such large quantities that they can be frozen and will do for a couple more nights later in the month. A casserole, a quiche, a potato gratin and a vegetable soup. I pride myself that I got them all in the oven at the same time, using up all the space in there and saving on electricity.

don't beat yourself up about the virus - it happens a lot where I work too.

Congrats to your son, that's great news. I'm thinking about retraining to become a teacher, English probably, after I become unemployed next year.

Erlkönig sounds like sixth grade. Give my sympathy to your son, he will forever be surrounded by teenage grumpiness, first adventures in perfume and hormones going wrong. In other words: congratulations!

Don't get upset about the virus; IT guys depend on such things to make a living. Plus being able to roll their eyes at you will make'em feel good...

Erlkonig? The Elf King?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS91p-vmSf0

Thanks for your reassurances, Sho, Yelbakk and Icy. I still think the IT dept would like some cake, though.

I think it may well have been 6th grade; he said they couldn't take a very nuanced look at it. Either way, the kids were great.

Bravo bravissimo!

What's the German word for Boogey Man?

Is that someone who plays the boogie?

Apparently, it's schwarzer Mann

After my little mishap with IT, I could still access h2g2 from work. Only Pliny, though (). And now they've blocked it completely. I can still get into various other non-work-related sites, just not this one.

There's still the old mobile phone, though, or I'll just have to limit it to the evenings, like now. So little happens on h2g2 these days, that I can read it all whilst having a cuppa when I get in from work.

So: question: if they're going to block it, why not straight away? And what criteria are they using for the sites that are blocked? Hell, I can even log on to my e-mail provider, which was blocked for years in the past.