Journal Entries
My Day At Work...
Posted Dec 23, 2004
So, today is the first day I've been to work at the college all by myself. All ready for a relatively un-eventful day...hell was *I* wrong!!!
Came in this morning and got jumped on 3 times before I even made it through the front door. "Computers aren't working", "System is down", "Computers won't log on", etc. then twice more on my way up to the office, dumped my stuff, verified that indeed - logging on was not possible then went up to the server room.
Walked in, and …
…silence…
The only sound to be heard was that of a single UPS screaming away in the corner…
No server lights,
No lights on the switches
No lights on the UPS units (apart from the one that was screaming)
No fans
No nothing…
It was like the bunker in Jurassic Park. All I had was the strip lights on the ceiling. Nothing computerised was on, nor would turn on, and I was the only one in…
So, keeping entirely calm and composed, I thought...
HOLY S**T! F**K! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO? WHERE'S THE FUSE BOX? PHONE ESTATES! ESTATES AREN'T IN! S**T! WHAT DO I DO? HOW DO I DO IT? S**T F**K B******S! A**ES!
Anyways - after I started breathing again - I phoned my manager, who has been on leave since Tuesday, and would no doubt be enjoying a lie in (and it turned out that he was!) He was surprisingly understanding about it all (he's a really top bloke). He managed to direct me to the mains trip switches, which I then switched back on, and then everything came back to life -like in Jurassic Park when Dr. Sattler pumps the big grey handle 3 times then hits the big red button…
…or rather - everything apart from the vital stuff…
So after the UPSs had had chance to charge up a bit, the domain controllers etc. came back on, and then I had to log everything back on, and fill in the unplanned shutdown reports that Windows Server 2003 require - and eventually managed to reboot everything again, in the correct order this time, log it all back on, and the college now is back working again!!! (or rather 95% of it)
Manager phoned and asked for a progress report, and seemed pleasantly surprised. Anything still off will be fixed when we all get back on the 4th Jan.
It was a lot of panicking, educated guess-work, and rebooting, but in the end, I managed to get the college back up and working for the admin/finance staff who were still in.
Well chuffed. 
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Latest reply: Dec 23, 2004
Promotion for Xmas...
Posted Dec 20, 2004
Well...Had the last meeting of the year withn the Star Trek group, and got promoted...to Ensign (Senior Grade) from Ensign (Junior Grade).
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Latest reply: Dec 20, 2004
I'm a Bridge Officer...
Posted Nov 29, 2004
I officially have BO!!!
BO - being a reference to the Bridge Officer's examination, which I passed with 87% The pass mark is only 75%, but it takes a month to take the exam because it's pages and pages long!
It's an exam written by the Captain of my Star Trek group - to qualify people to take command of the ship and away teams. I've only been in the group for 18 months, and I'm only 19 - so I'm pretty chuffed.
Took my first away-team on Saturday as a result. Great fun - it went pretty well. Had to write a report on it afterwards - it's currently up to 2 pages!
Let's just hope that the Captain also thought it went well...
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Latest reply: Nov 29, 2004
LAN Party..
Posted Nov 29, 2004
I've been invited to a LAN party by some of the guys at work. 
Most cool!!! 
Very excited about this.
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Latest reply: Nov 29, 2004
London Film and ComiCon...
Posted Nov 8, 2004
Went up to London Film and ComiCon with the Star Trek group I'm with...the U.S.S. Pharaoh...
I met Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) yesterday - and he's a brilliant bloke. Lots of fun. Got signed photo and pic taken with him, and we even got a group shot 
Hoping to meet Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) next May (IIRC) and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in February.
Oh yeah...oh yeah... :D
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Latest reply: Nov 8, 2004
Lifson Kofie
Researcher U176378
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