DygiScape

Tucson, AZ (December 21, 2005) - Cox Communications Arizona has announced that it has increased the speed of its most popular High Speed Internet service package. Today Cox increased the downstream speeds for Cox customers with “Preferred” service from up to 4 Mbps to up to 6 Mbps. This 50% increase in speed comes at no additional charge, making the Preferred service the fastest residential Internet service available in Arizona under $40.

I just got notified this in my inbox. Thank you Cox.

The offical press release is here

Personal, Tech News

I was talking with Kyle, a previous room-mate who admittedly has had some alcohol and drug issues. He sucessfully completed his rehab and I commend him for doing that as I understand it is very difficult. I sincerely wish him the best of luck as he handles his business with that. However we did have a good discussion; which is what I’m gonna share my two cents on.

Its interesting how people act, in the sense of how they more so react to a catalyst. Lets take for example a person named, Chris. Chris has consumed a drug which would render him impaired for a few hours and doesn’t want to go home [like pulling teeth to find out why] because his parents will observe his impairment and as expected, corrective action would be issued. I’d like to break it down a bit more; so Chris seems to be angry as his parents because they hound him to do tasks around the house. Chris lacks punctuality in doing them since its not given a high priority to do so. Then, his parents would yell, and then communication breakdown occurs. I feel the reason for yelling is because they feel Chris is not listening due to his inablity to meet their expectation of [task being completed by X:XX]. Then this makes it appear that his parents yell at him all the time due to the follow-up negative interaction. The parents at that point have the observation of being insubordinate. Much like magnetic poles, two of the same repel, and that is what we call communication breakdown.

If people just take a step back to make it clear of the expectation and consequences; there will be no surprises resulting in a yelling match. In that example, there was a few behaviors that tookplace resulting in communication breakdown: minimal listening, minimal executing, and minimal clarity in the instructions (expectations). So if people just focus on basic primitive behaviors when talking with parents or whomever; it helps them properly handle most situations in a calm, healthy, and rational manner.

Another example, is myself when I often observe exploits for mischevious deeds in any environment right away and question the opportunity whether or not to do it. Now, I cant tell myself “dont do that”… “dont push the button”, etc… since that triggers the behavior. I deep down somewhere have the will to do what is against the norm to have a mix between curiosity and attention. The initial need is curiosity at first; then changes to mischief when I have understanding of whatever it is, and wish to employ control. Then from control what am I seeking; am I seeking to regain something I lost? Not sure; but depends on the circumstance. So if I look at what void am I filling by doing a certain task, I can see what behaviors I can stop; and therefore not do them. For reference; I never executed any michevious act from my own curiosity.

Finally, I take away from this thought is that I may want to take psychology classes just to help me conceptualize all human psychology. Its always an interesting topic to read about, talk about, and even ponder when there is no distractions. Having a full understanding of the human psyche; better prepares onself for communicating to others more effectively by understanding different personalities.

Personal

Warning: This is a personal rant, and if you like to hear another person whine in their blog; then continue; otherwise please read my other posts.

Its been a while since I shared my thoughts personally in here; so here goes. There is nothing more irritating than when friends (note: I use that term loosely, pardon me) betray your trust by being defiant when you developed an equal bond in terms of knowing where the other stands on issues. I previously ranted on my other blog mainly as a true “friends” journal on LJ. Anyhow, its very tough to break of friendships because people are set in their immature ways and won’t develop themselves and I am in the odd position of ‘what do I do?’ in my personal dialogue with myself. I dont see how it must be binary in my decision; but sometimes in situations there is no grey area that can be excused for. (referencing Work) I feel like I am a coach/supervisor of a consultant who has potential of reaching a goal; just chooses not to, and its painful to call them out on it. Not only that, the Victim/Ownership complex comes into play and they dont accept feedback, and then you are then viewed as an enemy; then they spew reasoning for their fallacy and my attempt to intervene becomes an unresolved matter; and now negative feelings are made and to not give into their pushback, must be consistent; yet listen and acknowledge their views. It gets very complex especially when trying to mediate with (for example a room-mate) or friend; when you dont want to risk friendship in the process.

So deviating from this; I essentially put my foot down and am standing up for my personal beliefs; and if they dont like it Adapt-Or-Leave and never talk to me again. The essence of friendship is trust, but when trust collapses my advice is meaningless. I know probably most of you wonder what I am putting my foot down on, its drug use. I am not the most educated one, however I know some aspects to drugs and there is a difference between non-habitual, recreational use and a mental addiction; where you are controlled/victimized by the substance in question and lie to friends and others to hide it. Not to sound transparent; but there is also legal ramifications backing up what I say and especially with the lease ending soon I’m preparing for my next step in life, the next rung in the ladder.

I am not a coach for friends; despite one citing I am one. I dont possess the attribute of patience. I don’t sit idly as others are learning life’s lessons on my back, and wallet. I am willing to share skills and advice, but I will NOT attempt to mend willingness issues. Rachel has both of these abilities; and obviously knows the specifics of what I am talking about. She shares advice and has effectively shared with me the Victim-Owner process so I can look at a situation and observe it objectively and react in a rational manner. I know without thinking things through I would have Domestic Assault (A.R.S. §13-1203) on my record, and that’s Noooo good.

So, in summation, I have some pretty lame friends, and well I got burned. I learned a few lessons, is don’t risk friendship over money, meaning, dont get in that situation in the first place. Also, dont accept roommates who never lived on their own for a bit, so they get a taste of the real world (handling financial responsiblity).

Personal Rants

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc. and America Online Inc. Tuesday expanded their search and advertising alliance to include video and instant messaging, shutting out Microsoft Corp., which had fought hard for a deal with Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit.

Finally. I’m glad AOL chose google to partner with. Not only does Google make good solid web products and searching… they have respect on the internet. Now, with AOL as dynamic as they are, will adapt to the expectation of users of Google products, and have their own niche to target with Google clients. Google stated that their Google Talk product will integrate with the AIM network.

Woo Hoo!

Tech News

Google is now opening the gates to other developers to make widgets for user’s customized Google homepage. Google is rapidly becoming a large portal; that is making the ideal customized homepage for users.

In other news…
Microsoft, Google still vying for AOL

Tech News

I completly agree with all ten truths… especially #1.

#1 – Users Lie

Oh yes, they do. Don’t think you’re immune either. Have you ever been on a tech support call, convinced that you know the problem and the guy on the phone says something like “Would you put in the recovery CD, restart, and scan your memory?” “Oh, I’ve tried that,” you say with eyes rolling. Believe it or not, sometimes we crazy admin peeps suggest these fixes because they work. When a user is protesting my assessment, the best is to politely insist them to do what was asked until the doing is done.

#2 – Email is the Lifeblood of Non-Techies

I love my non-techie bretheren—I mean, how else would I know what happened on the OC and Gilmore Girls?—but at the end of the day, email is #1 in their book. Now a lot of it is business related, and certainly that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but most likely they were waiting on a warm, fuzzy message from their daughter or sister and really needed their email back up ASAP (“I’m waiting on a proposal!” they screech — see #1)

#3 – Printers Suck

Ever had to clean a laser or, God forbid, an inkjet printer? It’s like stabbing yourself in the eye. It’s not just the grime either—it’s the fallacy that a little chunk of ink could make the machine just stop working. 90% of the time (or better), this isn’t the case (instead, check the fuser/print heads). In terms of network troubles, HPs Jetdirect cards have a pretty solid reputation of failing every few years, so expect to shell out $200+ for those on a semi-regular basis, depending on what kind of printers you run in your office. For those with network cards integrated into the printer mainboard—what were you thinking?

#4 – Cleanliness is Godliness

Ever open up a PC and see the Ghost Of Dust Bunny’s Past in there? It’s scary stuff, I tell you. I’ve seen some PCs begin to lock up “for absolutely no reason” while the innards tell you different. Sure Peggy in Accounting wasn’t stuffing her machine full of cloth, but that blanket she keeps at her feet will slowly shed and the PC fans suck that stuff right up. When you’re completely stumped, make sure there isn’t something inside gunking up the works.

#5 – Backups are Crucial

This needs to be said. I’ve been caught with my pants down on this one a few times myself. Backup, Backup, Backup! Nothing (and I mean nothing) will bite you in the ass like a piss-poor backup schema. If your server dies right now as you read this post, what are you going to do about it? Do you know where the install discs are, do you have a configuration backup, do you know who to contact regarding tech support on that box? If not, you need to get your act together before you have a disaster and a lot of excuses and apologies following it. I use Retrospect at my job and consider it better than Backup Exec. It has amazing Macintosh support and is cheaper too.

#6 – Switches and Hubs (Usually) Die One Port At A Time

You can spend hours tracking down a bad network card or cable just to figure out that a port in a switch has died. You’re pinging and pinging and looking, the lights are on but there’s nobody home. The trick here is to know that a single port doesn’t spell the end of the hardware, quite the contrary. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If a port does go out, that hub or switch may work for years without another outage, but do be sure to stuff an RJ45 connector in that bad port so you don’t forget (and chase down phantom problems) in the future.

#7 – No One Ever Got Fired For Buying Microsoft

So sad but so true. This old saying used to reference IBM, but oh how times have changed. Linux may be powerful, but the command prompt and configuration files and filesystem obscurity will just as soon get you a pink slip if something goes wrong and no one knows how to fix it but yourself. Even so, with as much stupid crap as we admins have to put up with on a daily basis, configuring some of the ‘high end’ Microsoft software is enough to drive you insane. Ever tried installing Exchange Server or, worse, installing Exchange Server and migrating a 5.5 install to Exchange 2000? I feel your pain, oh how I feel your pain.

#8 – Politeness > Brevity

You can come up with all sorts of analogies for this one. You’ll get more bees with honey, a spoonful of sugar, etc. But generally, you probably have very little day-to-day contact with end users. This means that when you do finally get to speak to one of those souls fortunate enough to login to your domain (both figuratively and literally), you should be sure to be as polite as possible about it. Even if the network is down. Even if the server is having weird, irrational problems. Use please, thank you, I’m sorry, and don’t be too proud to apologize or ‘make nice’ with those who may ultimately influence your career path down the line. The peon you insult today with a “I sent an email about this, do you not check your own email?” could very well climb the corporate ladder and let your rude ass go in a few years. Mind your manners, peeps.

# 9 – Know Your Needs

This one could also be called “Learn Linux.” Many admins get wooed into the idea that “managed solutions” are always the correct ones. A web interface on a switch is cute, but rarely useful. A huge Cisco router may not always be necessary, sometimes a ‘lo-fi’ approach is best. When you want a spam solution, before looking at $5,000 servers and huge licensing fees for Windows Server software take a look at one of those old ‘junk’ PCs you have in the closet, download your favorite distro of Linux, and install procmail and spamassassin. You (and your budget) will thank me later.

#10 – The Holy Grail of Tech Support

…is the reboot. Rebooting can cure ailments of all sorts, can stop network troubles, crashing computers, find missing documents, and rescue cats in trees. System admins all over the world have, by and large, trained their users to reboot before even calling support. I mean, when’s the last time you didn’t reboot to see if it cured a problem? If you’re not, then you’re either stubborn or you’re an admin who knows better. Rebooting doesn’t cure all ailments, but it cures so many of them it’s hard to not throw out a “Can you reboot for me?” to the end user when they call with some off-the-wall issue. Use and abuse as necessary.

(Source: Slashdot)

Funny

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something I think most web users need to understand, before they type their searches into Google. It will help them be able to decipher some results, and understand how search engines operate, therefore; users can type a more accute search. SEO has some good intentions too; aside from bumping ‘casino‘ and ‘xxx’ sites to the top- it helps properly organize the web.

The original article [msnbc.com]

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