"You Shall Not Pass"
When I agreed to work for RMGS for a year, I was expecting a relatively easy ride - no such luck! Its not necessarily a bad thing though; after all, I've been presented with a lot of fantastic opportunities this year. Not only to develop my own skills, to to leave my mark at the school, to begin to launch my own software development company, to work with some very expensive and high power equipment, but also begin to experience "the real world".
Despite some initial reservations, all of this has however always been a stepping stone. I've learnt through the year that whilst working in ICT in the education sector is a fun and varied job, its not the career path I want to be following. To progress further I need to get my degree, and then look from there into my options in the Software Development market.
This last few months however, it's almost like I'm not supposed to leave... It's just been one thing after another at work, and I have to say the stress has been getting to me lately. Starting with Sam leaving for a better position, which promoted me to Network Manager, and then having a catalogue of disasters over the summer break; culminating in falcon, our core router, dhcp server, dns server and proxy server breaking beyond all repair; I'm starting to think its some sort of sign.
Yesterday should have been my last day, my contract has theoretically expired, however I'm going to be there for at least the next fortnight. I've had less than a week off (through holiday or absense) in the last year, and I've in fact been in for 5 hours today... On a Saturday! I've become a work-o-holic. I'll be doing another few hours tomorrow from home, fixing moodle - another delayed summer job. I was supposed to be taking a holiday, I just don't have time now. I can't help but wonder how I'm going to cope at University without constantly having lots to do. Frankly, that's what's worrying me most at the moment - not having lots to do, not being under constant stress.
Is that normal?
Ways to Destroy a Laptop #3
Obviously when disposing of old hardware in an environment where staff frequently handle sensitive and confidential information it is critical that proper measures are taken to ensure no data could be recovered from computers, laptops, etc.
This was fun!.
Disposal #3
Date of Disposal: 26/07/2007
Goods Disposed Of: RM Laptop
Method of Disposal: Running it Over!
Tools Used: a Fiat Punto
Wielder of Destruction: Mr Jennings, Mr Burrows and Mr Nicholls all took their turns.
Outcome: The power lights came on, but nothing much actually happened. The screens were shot and the batteries didn't stay in place properly. The best bit, which unfortunately was not captured on film was when we used two laptops as ramps to get up a kerb with. Film also missed Alex nearly crashing my car into a signpost...
Ways to Destroy a Laptop #1
Obviously when disposing of old hardware in an environment where staff frequently handle sensitive and confidential information it is critical that proper measures are taken to ensure no data could be recovered from computers, laptops, etc.
And so it continues, or in fact, this is where it started its just that I only just around around to e-mailing these photos home... Anyway....
Disposal #1
Date of Disposal: 08/07/2007
Goods Disposed Of: RM Laptop
Method of Disposal: Disassembly (as small pieces as we could get it into)
Tools Used: Just a screwdriver!
Wielder of Destruction: Mr Jennings
Outcome: Well, we hooked a few parts back together (whilst it was all in pieces on the desk), we got the fans to start up turned on, that's about it.
Ways to Destroy a Laptop #2
Obviously when disposing of old hardware in an environment where staff frequently handle sensitive and confidential information it is critical that proper measures are taken to ensure no data could be recovered from computers, laptops, etc.
Naturally when it became clear that over the next few months we will need to "Securely Dispose" of a dozen or so old laptops (all already suffering various ailments that essentially render them worthless and barely usable) I decided that the destruction of this hardware needs to be done properly, and clearly documented along the way - a la blog.
We've actually already done #1 too, but the photos are on the other camera - which is at work. Whoops.
Disposal #2
Date of Disposal: 09/07/2007
Goods Disposed Of: RM Laptop
Method of Disposal: Puncture Wounds
Tools Used: Electric Drill, Hole Saw, Soldering Iron
Wielder of Destruction: Mr Nicholls
Outcome: Surprisingly the laptop started to boot despite the holes, no display - and the motherboard beeps in "motherboard error" beep code pattern - but it kinda worked...
Stop! Internet Police
In my time at Rainham Mark as a technician I've had to deal with hundreds of incidents relating to students' use (or misuse) of the Internet. Traditionally as a school we monitor and censor the Internet on-site, this is in accordance with our Acceptable Use Policy and grants us the power to filter their content to remove anything inappropriate for school, online gaming websites and illegal content. However, increasingly, SMT are coming to me with issues that didn't occur "on-site", and are in theory totally out of our jurisdiction.
YouTube is a prime example, its actually banned on-site preventing users from accessing it, but nonetheless I am asked, as part of my job, to scan through YouTube on a regular basis looking for any videos of our students or teachers that are inappropriate or taken on-site. When I find any, I report them back to SMT and let them deal with it. My concern is though; we have absolutely no legal grounds to be policing the Internet like this.
Should we? Its a difficult question. If a student launches an underground newsletter online about the school, saying things the school don't want to be said - the school has no grounds to punish the students involved. But thats not what SMT want to hear. Imagine if they did threaten to expel a student, or even go through with it, the publicity that could be stirred up would certainly taint the school's reputation. Surely students have a right to free speech, just like anyone else? RateMyTeacher is another good example of this, students have the ability to post comments and rate their teachers, there is no slander - just students' honest opinions of people.
On the other hand, sometimes my web-policing is for the students own good, indeed for their own protection. Just last week there was an incident involving a student posting videos of themselves stripping naked at various places around the school. Do we not have a duty to protect this minor? Where is the distinction between using Internet policing justifiably to protect students, and misuse of this power protecting the school's reputation?
Return to Sender
Humorous Medway Council Blunder Of The Week:
Last night there was scheduled to be a short period of downtime on the Medway computer system that would affect our e-mail services and website. This morning we turned up to find our e-mail system wasn't working, and it appeared that it hadn't been since the downtime started. Obviously there must have been some hitch with the maintenance the night before that had left the e-mail system broken.
We rang the support team, and they confirmed there was indeed a problem with the e-mail system and that they were working on it as we spoke. An hour later, it came back online, and as it caught up with itself e-mails sent during the period it was down started to trickle through. Then this one caught my eye...
"There is one outstanding connectivity problem we are aware of with the email
server which requires physical access at a remote site. Engineers will be
attending to this issue as the first call of the morning and we post another
update when this has been resolved."
So, in other words... Medway had decided to e-mail us, to tell us the e-mail system was offline and would be back in the morning... Genius.