How many mechanics......

Here's the latest on the problem below: Nothing. Yeah, that's right, nothing. They don't call; they don't write ......... I guess I was too quick to assume that my one contact from the company might help. Oh well, deep down I sort of knew this would happen. Anyhow, this note will always be here to remind them about their poor customer service. Anyone else reading this won't know who it's about, ........ but they'll know. At least one person at the company saw it. I can't wait until the corporate quality assurance people call and ask about our experience .... :o)

Problem: ..................... does it take to change a light bulb?

We recently took a vacation trip to be with our grandchildren and to get away from the day-to-day stress. Things were going fine for a while, until we ran into one of those situations where you need help; it occasionally happens to all of us. We needed help to complete the trip. When you're far from home sometimes it's hard to know where to turn, so you look for someone you can really trust. That's what we did, and went there.

As it turned out, our problem was not very serious, but the bill for the work was unnecessarily high. The disappointment quickly turned to anger when we tried to dispute the bill and were turned down with no recourse. My wife is faster to react so she began to immediately state her case. I was in a slow burn; I've learned that if I'm too quick to respond in situations like this, I say all the wrong things. Anyhow, as the arguing continued all eyes in the room turned to us, and as the situation further degraded I watched the reactions of other people. Most were quiet but focused on the action. One person behind the counter smirked and shook her head; she seemed almost amused. I got the impression that they knew they had us and just didn't care.
During the exchange we were never offered the option to talk to anyone else about the problem nor were there any apologies. So, we paid the bill and drove away unsatisfied.

Solution: Later I was able to get the attention of one person at the company who seemed to care about this. He was very friendly and apologetic. He was also willing to settle the matter fairly. I guess the solution in this case would have been to find this person sooner, settle things and move on. It's unfortunate that things had to get so nasty before they got any better. At this point recieving a possible rebate for the work is insignificant, (although our friendly contact agreed to this and I trust that he'll follow through). My consolation is that I finally got the attention of one person who would listen. And I think my voice was heard.

At any rate, I can always write this all off to entertainment. Hey, why not? I was on vacation ..... :o)

Not So DynamicHCP

Note to self: Try to be a better person. Don't only blog when you're pissed; people will stop listening to you (Yeah, like they do anyway!). I'll blog whenever I please, thank you.....

Problem: During your career your boss will occasionally give you something to do that you don't understand. Not usually a problem. Good soldiers follow the marching orders, whatever they might be. If she wants this or that done, what the hell, I'll do it. After all, she IS the boss. However, some of these things are very cumbersome, time consuming or border on the rediculous. That's when you begin to question them. The "problem" I'm going to discuss was not initiated by my boss this time; she's a victum of this one, too. It's out of our control. The PROBLEM is that we're stuck doing something that no one can explain! Here it is: We, like everyone else, have a limited number of IP addresses to go around. We still have a lot of static addresses defined and we realize that they are not all in use at the same time. So, the thing to do is start using DHCP so we can make the best use of a scarce resource. Fine. However, our Networking Group, the owners of all our IP addresses, has decided to issue only dedicated addresses through DHCP. That's right, back to static addresses by another name. So much for saving addresses. Then to top it off, we have this really nice process to assign one of these dedicated addresses. Like this: To get a machine on the network, we have to send a note to the Networking Group requesting an IP address to be issued for a specific MAC address, stating the location of the machine and the person responsible for the machine. We get an automated email thanking us for the request. Then we wait. Hours later we get a note back from a real person (I think), containing the address that we can use. Then we hard code the address in the machine long enough to logon to the network and "register" the address for the MAC address we requested. Then we un-code the address and release it. Now we wait again. After a minimum of 10 minutes we start the process of 'IPCONFIG /release', 'IPCONFIG /renew', 'IPCONFIG /release', 'IPCONFIG /renew', 'IPCONFIG /release', 'IPCONFIG /renew', ......... until finally the registration process issues this now-dedicated address back to the machine. Sound like fun?? Remember it's not nice to laugh at someone else's misery. I think I heard that somewhere.

Anyhow, I approached my boss today and said....
Me: "Look, I don't mind doing things that are really stupid as long as someone can give me a very good reason."
Boss: "I know what you mean; it's driving me nuts, too."
Me: "Do we really have to do this?"
Boss: "Yes."
Me: "Is there a reason?"
Boss: "Yes."
Me: "Well ....., what is it?"
Boss: "Well, the reason isn't very clear."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Boss: "Well, no one in Networking can explain it very well, but they say it's very important. And they're the ones who issue the addresses, ......so...."
Me: "Help me out here. This is driving me crazy. I'm ready to shoot myself. Please...."
Boss: "What do you want me to do?"
Me: "Give me something. Lie to me if you have to."
Boss: "Okay. They've found that managing the network this way is a cure for cancer of the spleen."
Me: "......................................................................."
Me: "Well, why didn't they say so?"

Solution: All you have to do is ask the right question, I guess. Seriously, I can't think of any reason for doing this. If anyone knows a better reason than the cancer thing, please let me know and I'll put your solution here. Until then I'll have to stay away from fire arms.

Passwords

Problem: I recently had a running gun battle with one of my colleagues. It was about passwords. This all started when I got a monthly email from a newsletter service (I guess to remind me that I was a member) which showed my password in clear text, yes right in the email!! I immediately canceled the newsletter and asked the service to remove my password from their database. They quickly obliged but wanted to know what was the problem, so one of the technical staff sent me an email about it. He listened to my reason but then quickly brushed it off by implying that newgroup passwords are not serious passwords and that I should never use any password that I really care about for this. He said to re-subscribe and use a "silly" password; after all, it's just for changing the newsletter options. He also said that I should attend some of their meetings and maybe I would know these things. (Seeing red yet? I was).

Well, I didn't resubscribe and don't intend to. In this day and age everybody should take every password seriously. Identity theft has grown to epidemic proprtions. The need to keep passwords secret and unguessable has become absolutely mandatory. If someone offers a service that requires you to supply a password, they have an OBLIGATION to protect that password as if it were their own. No one else can decide which of your passwords are the serious ones and which are the silly ones. THEY'RE ALL SERIOUS, DAMMIT!! I'm not going to bore you with all the reasons for protecting passwords; you've heard them all a million times. I'll just state the few simple rules that I go by......

Solution:

1. Never write a password down.
2. Never tell anyone what it is.
3. Avoid using dictionary words.
4. Use as many special characters as you can remember.
5. Never allow the password to be easily guessable.
6. Last but not least: Cancel any password-controlled subscription which shows that it doesn't take your passwords seriously .... :o)