C0rk.W0rd

Drexel.Spring.2004

Well, It has been nice milling around the house these past few months with little responsibility save showing up at work the next day, but like many good things, this too must come to an end. After battling with the much abhorred bannerweb system for a few days, Drexel finally saw it fit to add additional sections of some much-needed required classes. Like many things in my life, this schedule is also subject to change at any time, and for any reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, I give you my schedule for the Spring 2004. (Forgive the crude html - I can only work with what bannerweb gives me, though I did add links to the course description pages. Enjoy!)

Click Here For A Link To C0rk's Spring 2004 Schedule @ Drexel University

Some Interesting Picks:

TAX 353 Personal Income Taxes - I could have taken a political science class in this time slot titled Religion & Government In America, which would probably have been very enjoyable for me. However, as is the case with most of my decision-making processes, practicality reigned supreme. Despite my interest in the political science topic, taxes are something I should probably know more about than I do. It might assist my understanding of the tax process currently underway at work, while keeping me out of jail in the future.

WRIT 304 Visions In Writing - I'll probably be finishing up my fine art electives faster than any other student in the history of IST. All IST students are required to not only complete the freshman Humanities Regiment along with certain special topics in COM and PHIL, but also accrue 9 additional credits in a humanities subject of their choosing. I get the impression that I am one of very few IST students who actually enjoys learning and practicing written communication. I'm also a big fan of Dr. Riggs who is teaching this course. I had him for HUM102 and HUM103, and I'm pretty sure that the man knows EVERYTHING, and has a great sense of humor too. Following all of his Monty Python and Firesign Theater references was a definite plus for me.

It's also worth mentioning that I will be at ISSI during most of the workweek not spent in class. Erin and I talked to our boss, Hal, and gave him a rough figure of around 15 hours a week. With my schedule laid out as it is, I will probably be able to squeeze in 16-24 hours in a week, rather than the low estimate. Budgeting time will be key to a successful school/work balance, but because my time at work is flexible and to a certain extent forgiving (since they're only really paying me for when I'm here), I imagine I will be able to manage this fairly well. Welcome to "the life".

** There is a link to this schedule in the left hand toolbar under "links" for future reference **

Track-It! Asset Mgmt

We're in the full swing of Track-It! rollout at ISSI. The client service department and IT services are up and running. The installation required Erin and I to run around the office running installs during the bulk of the day. I had a nice little heart attack when every instance of Track-It! crashed simultaneously, including the install Erin was performing. When things go wrong with Track-It!... it seems to be MY head that everyone goes out hunting. Diagnosis... the assistant IT Manager had been messing around behind the server rack, and had knocked out the Track-It! server's power cable.... OOps. Luckily the damage was minimal.

Today we got the web-based version of Track-It! up and running. I can now log into Track-It! from anywhere once I have authenticated with the ISSI firewall. This is really going to help out our technicians in the field, not to mention people working from home. I'm excited about being able to work with Track-It! & other ISSI Systems from home. There have been so many times I think of something @ home and forget about it by the next workday.

Everybody's Working For The WEEKEND!!!

I'm not certain of the reason, but this week seemed to FLY by. It really shouldn't have considering my excitement over the weekend to come. It's that whole thing where the week moves slowly because you spend 90% of it waiting for the weekend. TGIF... No... Holy fucking shit, it's Friday already?

Anyway, I've been working hard. There was no shortage of work to be had at ISSI. Track-It! is being rolled out to more people every day, and adding functionality throughout is proving challenging. Though I enjoy the challenge a great deal. The pains and rewards of scripting are seemingly equal. I am capable of taking a human life while debugging code that refuses to run; yet I am as happy as a pig in shit when it works. I absolutely LOVE my co-op job this time around. Working for a small company really allows one to observe the fruits of their labor.

Other Work?

Yea, I don't know that you would call it MORE work, but it IS a nice little project on the side. Raja's sister Divya is starting her own clothing line, and has asked me to construct her line's web site. This will finally give me a chance to apply all the web knowledge I aquired at CIGNA. We'll see how it turns out. Of course I will be posting LINKS!

The Working World

Working at ISSI has been great, the people are really nice, and the projects I am working on are interesting. I'm given a decent amount of freedom to work at my own pace, and it feels more like a learning experience than a relentless attempt to 'mind-fuck' me. I was invited to a Halloween party that some of the other staff members are throwing on Saturday, November 1st... I have to find a costume... I'm thinking priest/preacher. Anyway, I've been working with Intuit's Asset Management Software - Track-It!, customizing and documenting for when we roll it out to the entire company. This project is also giving me a chance to learn all the SQL that I didn't learn in Bankowski's ISYS210 class, since the entire backend of Track-It! functions off a SQL DB. It has been an awesome experience so far.

I do travel during the respective early morning and late afternoon rush hours, which at first I found frustrating, but I have come to except. In the morning I just tune into talk radio and mellow out with my Wawa coffee, and in the afternoons I just queue up the iPod to keep me 'rockin' the whole way home. The only thing that pisses me off is the asshole drivers who do crazy shit thinking they are the only people who have to be somewhere.

Co-Op Begins

Today was the 1st day of my Fall/Winter co-op. For those of you that didn't know already, I will be working for Innovative Software Solutions Inc. I'm actually working for their IT services department. The current co-op project is related to the integration of Intuit's Track-IT! asset management system. Rather than bore you with all the details I think I will just leave the details of my job at that, since I've only spent about 8 hours in the office so far, and couldn't really give you a lot of specifics if I wanted to. The environment is very laid back, and my co-workers seem very friendly. Things seem much more promising than CIGNA.

In a random service announcement, I thought I would mention the new Teen Girl Squad Cartoon By Strong Bad.

... Although I am working now, I still intend to maintain some kind of social life. Last year, when I began co-op I isolated myself from the world... and refused to go out or be up beyond 11 o'clock. Though I do not intend for late nights to become habit, I'm not going to be the odd man out ALL the time... just because of work. You're only young once, and I don't want to waste these years, or fall into a depression like I did last fall.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go ahead and end this post here... everyone have a good night... and leave encouraging comments if you feel so inclined.

Friends Depart, Finals Arrive, Work Awaits

Most folks have departed for school by now, and the local school are all back in session as of today. I actually spent 10min this morning IMing back and forth with my 9-year-old cousin. Yep, things are getting pretty dreary around here. I still have a few finals to take later in the week --- Computer Ethics on Thursday, and Computer Science on Friday. After Friday, I'll be all done school for the year, and not a moment too soon.

ISSI, the company I will be co-oping with through March sent me my employment application last week. Work will begin on Monday, September 15th, and I certainly hope I will have a better time than I did at CIGNA. Erin, a friend of mine from Drexel who has been working for ISSI since last September is a little upset that I am going to be moving into her office, which used to be exclusively hers. It wasn't my intention to push her out of her office, but since ISSI doesn't do the whole cubicle thing it seems necessary that we double-up. Because ISSI is a much smaller company with a seemingly laid-back working environment, I'm hopeful that my experience will be different than previous ones. With everyone leaving town, I have been playing with the idea of getting a part-time job. It would mostly serve just to fill in my nights and weekends, not to mention pull down a few more bucks on the side. We'll find out in the next few weeks.

I'm trying to make shorter more frequent updates, because I think they will be more effective in drawing traffic. Plus, I'm sure everyone would rather I get to the point than mix around with extra verbiage... so I think I will cut this entry here... and throw in a little funny picture you can laugh at in your spare time...

This is in no way intended to suggest that I am not in favor of women’s rights... but com'on even feminists should be able to laugh at this... and if they can't then they're taking their cause just a little too seriously... being able to laugh at yourself is as important as breathing you primates