Sleep Dep Zombie

So now I’m back home for the weekend. It’s really good to be in KC; I miss this place and the people I still know here a lot. The reason for this trip is a bit unusual though. It is my 20 year high school reunion.

Honestly, I have weird, mixed feelings about the reunion itself. For the most part, I have neither seen nor spoken to nearly all of the people that will be there in something close to 20 years. There are a couple of exceptions and several of them have added me on facebook, but I have no recent connections to them.  Mostly, I like to think this is because I moved away from KC. However, I know I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people.

I didn’t have the dysfunctional high school experience that most people I currently know seem to have had. It wasn’t all super-happy-fun-times, but it wasn’t that bad either.  I spent  my high school years active and involved. I was in choir, theatre, student council, debate, mock legislature and UN, and even played sports a bit. Along with all of that I managed to skate, game, and party occasionally. I really was involved in so much that I knew pretty much everyone.

Despite this, I was in no way one of the cool kids. I was really quite certain that I was miserable about half of the time.
The thing is, I was part of a community; one I left a long time ago. Now I have an opportunity to see what happened to those people. I’m curious to find out what paths others took. I just couldn’t pass that up.

I also see this as an opportunity to reflect on what I have (and haven’t) done these last 20 years. I’m certain that my path has been far from optimal; at least it has been interesting.

So that’s why I’m at my reunion. Maybe I’ll get a chance to catch up with friends from days gone by. Maybe the whole thing will be a bust. Who knows? Either way I see the event as being a good thing by itself.

I’m having a great time going back to school. No, it is not a full-time party or anything like that. Rather, I’m learning new stuff and confirming that a knew quite a bit already. It is a nice sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Although, keeping up with my studies while working and having some kind of life is an interesting balance of priorities.

So far my experiences with WGU have been very positive. I feel like I have made a good decision with where I’m going to school. I have to admit, I was kind or worried about how going someplace that was so non-traditional would work out. Those fears seem completely unfounded now.

The orientation class was a great introduction to all of the resources available. There is a huge collection of online libraries and training sources that I have access to. One day I might even use all of them. It is reassuring to know they are there and how to get to them.

Having a mentor from the school checking in to make sure things are going well, offering tips and guidance, and being available to answer questions has been very helpful. I’ve already talked with Ian, my mentor, more than all the advisors in my previous 4 years at university.

Studying has been nice. I read on the bus every day anyway. I read at lunch most days. I read a lot. Now I’m just reviewing my textbook for whatever I’m working on at the moment. Also, I bought a really nice lawn chair. I drag it out to the park and kick back and read. I see it as a fine way to spend a summer day.

The testing process is pretty slick. Being able to take a test at home rather than going into a testing center or a classroom somewhere is nice. How does that work? you ask. Couldn’t you just cheat? Nope. They have contracted with a service that monitors you while you are taking the test. Shortly after starting a webcam with a mic showed up in the mail. Now, when I need to take a test I do it through special software that takes over my computer screen and provides someone out on the tubes somewhere access to the camera to watch me take my test (I do feel kind of bad for those people).

Now you might wonder, can you get around this system? Maybe, but not likely. I’m pretty technically savvy and might be able to pull something off if I cared to try. However, I’d only get one chance and the risk to reward ratio doesn’t work out well in my favor. I’m not in school to game the system; I’m trying to learn. There is really no point in testing it.

Well that turned out to be more time on the Kryterion set-up than I’d planned but I think it is pretty cool. The worst thing about the whole process is that I needed to clean off my desk to get ready to take my first test.

Oh right, I passed my first test with no problems. Six credits down because law and ethics are subjects I have a decent background in already. I probably could have passed the test the first day but I wanted to do some of the readings to feel more comfortable with the subject. It isn’t as though I knew everything being taught. I knew just enough I probably could have passed with a score that I wouldn’t have been entirely happy with. I see no point in avoiding learning new things when presented with an opportunity.

Not all of the courses have a test; a fair number of the courses require a written project. Conveniently, I like to write and do quite a bit of it. Writing for work has really changed my perspective on this sort of assignment. Compared to the term papers from my first university experience they really seem to be about the same scale, maybe a bit larger. It is just that seems really short to me now. Seven page double-spaced paper just isn’t as intimidating as it might have once been. The degree does end with one major project and I’m sure that will be challenging, but I know I can get it done.

Well that’s all for now.

Yes, that’s right I’m going back to school.

When I left the University of Kansas many years ago I always thought that I’d go back to school at some point. At the time I was kind of an indifferent student; I excelled at things that I liked and did a minimal amount of work on courses that didn’t interest me. I switched schools and majors several times. Frankly, I had no idea what I wanted to do. A situation that I suspect is not entirely uncommon. At the time the decision to leave was agonizing for me because there were parts of it I really liked and parts that seemed pointless.

I was just making it up as I went along and really had no plan. I was reasonably convinced that with any of the degrees I’d worked on I’d make a fine janitor or waiter. I was equally convinced that I didn’t need a degree to prove anything considering my career prospects. With that certainty and a strong desire to stop spending money I didn’t have in the first place I left university to go out into the world and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I suspect there were other forces at play at the time but that is a subject for another post.

As left, I made a commitment to myself that I would continue learning throughout my life, regardless of what happened with my formal education. Also, I wanted to go back to school and finish up some sort of degree, once I figured out what I wanted to do. I never thought it would take this long.

I must admit I’ve never had much belief that a diploma or certificate actually denoted much outside of some specialized fields. I have known idiots that looked great on paper and geniuses that didn’t. Unfortunately, society in general doesn’t seem to subscribe to this same point of view. HR people and pointy-haired bosses seem to like degrees because they denote that a person has a predictable baseline of knowledge about something (even if they don’t really). Don’t get me wrong there are some professions that really need degrees; I want to know that my doctor has an excellent education. On the other hand, the list of jobs that require a degree simply to make an HR person’s life easier is pretty ridiculous.

I’ve looked at going back to school off and on over the years. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the correct combination of time, money, and a stable living arrangement to make it happen.

Now I’m in my late 30′s and I’m going back to school. It seems kind of crazy to me. I’m not quitting my job or anything like that. I’ll be working full time and taking classes online. I hope that I can make it all work out; it is going to be an interesting experience. The program I am in enrolled in is non-traditional since it is entirely online and based around demonstrating knowledge rather spending a lot of time in a classroom. I expect this will work out well for me as I am studying for a degree in the field I already work in.

So what exactly am I taking?

I’ve enrolled in the Business – IT Management program at Western Governors University. Currently, I’m working as a documentation project manager and a change manager with some technical duties thrown in to keep everything interesting. I see myself staying in this field for a long time still so I’ve decided it is time to formalize what I know and fill in some of the gaps left from my self-directed training.

The way this program seems structured I expect do do a lot of reading and a fair bit or writing. I think I’ll do fine.

This probably isn’t the degree I would have pursued if I were independently wealthy or taking classes for fun. Although, it is a degree that interests me. Certainly, this is not anything I ever thought about when I was at university the first go around (not that there were IT Management degrees back then). The lack of whimsy involved in this course does make me a bit sad. However, it is imminently practical.

I now have a plan and an opportunity to make it happen. I’m excited to get started and I really hope it goes well.

I’ll be sure to update with my experiences.

Just after getting started on this I end up taking a break.  Certainly not in the plan, but that’s the way things go sometimes. Best intentions and all that… Life got very busy for a bit. To be honest it still kinda crazy. However, I have a some spare time and want to get a quick update about what’s been going on in the last couple months.

Work:  Well I’m not going to bore anyone (including myself) with the gory details of being a zombie in the evil empire. Suffice it to say that this is where the bulk of my time has been dedicated of late.  It is an exciting world of documentation emergencies and long discussions about the phrasing of procedures. I sometimes doubt that anyone actually reads these documents after they get approved. Adding to the thrill factor is he exciting world of group policy management.  OK, I’ll grant that making changes that impact thousands of machines all around the world is kind of cool. Unfortunately, it does not generally make for interesting reading. Maybe I’ll put up some group policy info in separate posts somewhere along the lines. Occasionally, I do some strange things and I’ll be one of the early people doing anything with Win7 policy. There might be something there.

Deva: We threw our Afterparty event.  It went well, although we didn’t get the attendance we were hoping to get. For a first attempt at something other than a convention party, I think it was a success.  For one night, we took over Sodopop, south of downtown in Seattle, and threw a party.  Rolling into the location in the afternoon, setting up decorations and everything else, and then tearing them all down right after the event made for a busy day. I don’t think I’ve done anything like that since college when I was involved in a traveling theatre performance. The theme was post-apocalyptic so there were a lot of neat costumes and decoration. I used the theme as an excuse to go to the surplus store and add to my goggle collection. Of course, in all the excitement I forgot to take  pictures of anything.

Birthday:  The day after Afterparty was my birthday. I’m not really one to make a big production out of them, but this year’s was pretty good.  It started off with dim sum with friends. Later there were cupcakes and beer. Afterward, it was off to a park to hang out and be social. Yep, not bad at all.

Raiding: The guild I’m in, Machiavellis Cat, is working through Ulduar. There are a lot of neat fights there and it is good to see the new content.  Everyone was pretty burnt out on Naxx, I think. I’m really glad that the Cats decided to take time before starting to raid after Wrath hit. It would have been tragic to have been done with the Naxx content 2 months earlier. Sadly, wrk has been interfering with raiding significantly of late. At least I’m still having fun with the new instance when I do get to raid.

Moving: This last one has been taking up a lot of my time, energy, and focus of late. For a very long time I’ve wanted to get a place of my own.  I’ve been living in rentals since I moved out here years ago. Honestly, I’d never intended to stay out here in the Seattle area long term. I’d always kind of planned on moving back to the Midwest where all my family is or at least to somewhere that has more sunlight than the rainy Pacific Northwest. With that kind of attitude buying something always seemed crazy. For now, any notion of getting out of the PNW is on hold. I’m in the process of buying a condo.  We’ll be moving to Shoreline, WA just north of Seattle. This will get us much closer to people (sure there are people on the Eastside, I just don’t socialize with any of them).  The commute will be longer and my days will likely start earlier. At least to start, I’ll be driving to work when Mari needs to go in to work. This will keep Mari employed, it will let me get home at a reasonable time in the evening, and I’ll miss a lot of traffic. Mostly that is a winning plan. The thing is, I am not a morning person. Not at all.

I’ll probably make a longer post at some point about the whole condo buying experience. It has been interesting and things seem to be going well. I have been putting occasional updates about where it is at on Twitter. However, I don’t think I’ll have a lot of perspective for anything longer until I see how it all turns out.

Assuming that everything works out and I get the place there will be moving and doing some repair work around the condo.  I’m actually looking forward to doing the work around the new place. I’ve wanted to live somewhere I could make changes for a long time. On the other hand, I’ve never liked moving. At this point, I’m committed to rent my apartment through the end of July so hopefully the condo will close quickly and I can just take my time with the moving process.

This past weekend I went to Norwescon. It was a really busy and enjoyable weekend.

We stayed off-site across the street from them main hotel again this year.  On the upside the La Quinta is cheaper than even the con rate for the Doubletree. The downside is of course walking outside in the rain to get back to the hotel room.

Thursday night, I saw the video presentation put on by Star Trek: Phoenix, a new indy Star Trek web series being produced in the Seattle area. To be honest, I went in curious but kind of skeptical.  They had a documentary about the making of the project instead of the actual premiere as it is running behind schedule. This show included several clips in various states of completion. Yes, it is a fan production and is being done with a minimal budget. Despite that it looks like it has potential. It is way better than any fan production I’ve ever seen for anything.  I have to admit, I’m looking forward to checking out the show when it is done.

Friday, we wandered around con and generally slacked off most of the day. I picked up Declare by Tim Powers in the dealers room. One of the book sellers had a nice 1st ed hardcover and I’d never gotten around to picking this one up. Later, we dropped in for the Steampunk fashion show  It was neat to see all the costumes. It made me regret not dressing up a bit though. After the MoD people started arriving we headed out to the party wing and started setting up for the party.

Friday night was dedicated to fairly epic amounts of drinking at the party. It was great just relaxing and talking with people. It wasn’t the like the crazy, giant parties of Deva history. The party was a lot of fun though. I really meant to go check out the other parties. That didn’t happen. I was just enjoying myself at our party and lost track of time. Oh well.

Saturday, I woke up really early. 9 AM was significantly earlier than I’d intended on being awake. We hit the art show and a couple of the Steampunk panels, costuming and prop making. I have to admit there wasn’t a lot of the programming that I really wanted to see this year. There were a few things that looked interesting that I didn’t make it to but generally I was kind of indifferent to most of the panels.

Saturday night was more Deva party. When I got back from dinner (and stopping in to look at the Gnome party over at the LQ) I was asked if I would be interested in working the bar for part of the evening. I was kind of surprised by this since it sounded like it was all covered earlier in the evening.  I’ve never worked the bar at a Deva party. It was quite a bit more fun than I had expected. Maybe the thought was if I was going to be so involved in the group I should know how to run the bar. Whatever the reason, I had a great time. I got to see everyone who came by the party at least briefly, I met some people I never would have spoken with otherwise and poured a lot of punch for them all.

Part of the crowd that came by for the Saturday night party was the from the Star Trek: Phoenix production. As it turns out they are all pretty nice people. A lot of them it seems had never been to a con before. I’m glad I could be a part of them having a good first con experience.

Speaking of first con experiences, Jessica and Adrian came down from the great white north, or rather Vancouver, to visit and party with us.  I know they didn’t get the full con experience but it seemed like they had a good time. It’s always great to see them when they come to town.

I ran into several people I haven’t seen in a while. Jeffery was running Reg again this year. I also bumped into, Callie who is getting out and being social again. Tom was running a booth in the dealers room making chainmail. I saw a bunch of people form Red Square and just long time con people. That is one of the best parts of con, running into folks that you hardly ever get to see.

The only real regret I have for the weekend was that I never managed to catch up with Jessie and Kerry. I don’t get to see them nearly as often as I would like. Apparently Saturday night they were all dressed up in their Venture Bros. costumes. I would have liked to see that.

Overall the weekend was a success. The parties went well despite a small bit of predictable hassle from the hotel. We managed to get some promotion for the Afterparty event. I even had a chance to catch up with people and  see some of the con itself. One weekend is never long enough to do everything I want to do at a con. All the same, I packed about as much into this weekend as I could. Win!

For the most part I don’t plan to put much political stuff on this site. I might occasionally. Probably nothing very serious though.

Why avoid politics? Well… the truth is that off and on I have kept a place for political rantings, er rather a political blog. It has been tragically neglected of late. With my recent drive to get my sites going and actively updated it is getting attention again.

Unfortunatley, it has been moved a few times and I have managed to lose most of the posts I ever made on there. It is almost like starting over, again. One day I may figure out how to recover the old posts but I have my doubts.

I’m still working on restoring links, site formatting and what not (it isn’t really done here either) but the interested can find my political thoughts over at American Theocracy.

This week a major figure in internet history, Ted Stevens of Alaska, was saved from jail time because the prosecution screwed up so badly as to be potentially guilty of misconduct themselves.

Dismayed Lawyers Lay Out Reasons for Collapse of the Stevens Conviction – NYTimes.com

What did Ted Stevens ever do for the internet? It isn’t like he invented it or anything. True, however while heading the Senate committee responsible for regulating it he provided us with the image of the internet as a “series of tubes“  as part of demonstrating his grasp of the intarwebnets.

Was he guilty? Who knows, I wouldn’t be surprised. Either way it looks like there was more than enough questionable stuff done by the prosecution to ever be sure. It would have been a real shame to let a lot of legal issues overshadow his true internet fame. All the same, I’m glad he’s not still in the Senate trying to regulate the internet.

As poorly as it was presented, the  Tubes isn’t a horrifyingly bad concept by itself. It really is all about the presentation.  I have to admit back in my days of IT support I occasionally described my job as that of a digital plumber. The difference was, having done both networking and plumbing, that I understood what I was talking about for the most part and was using it to be humourous.

I’ve been on the same contract for quite a long time. It has been just over 3 years which is kind of weird in itself considering when I started it was supposed to be for 90 days.  It isn’t like I’ve been doing the same thing for the last 3 years. That would have been deadly boring! In that time what I’ve been responsible for has changed multiple times. By this point the work I do has very little in common with the rest of the people on my team or what I was originally hired to do.

Not surprisingly, this is happening again (sort of). Always in the past it has come with a directive of go manage this migration, handle this new stuff we are supporting, or go clean up this mess. However, this time it’s a bit different. I report to a different manager and have been given plenty of rope.

One of my initial projects is to define what my new role does.  This position doesn’t exist. I am making it up as I go along.  There will be some input from my managers, but at the end of the day it will be whatever I manage to create for myself.

One would not be unreasonable in wondering, “That sounds like a great deal. You get to just define your job and do whatever you want, within reason. What’s the matter with that?”

It’s not really a bad thing. The trick is I’m not totally getting rid of all my previous responsibilities. Some of them are getting rolled up into this new gig, and I am getting an opportunity to hand off some of the old work as part of this process. Unfortunately, if I keep too much or define my new responsibilities too broadly I run the risk of drowning. If I hand off too much or define everything too narrowly I run the risk creating something that is irrelevant. No one wants to be irrelevant. It is hard to judge where to draw these lines because no one is doing most of this new work right now.

Today, as I make up my new job description, I think I’m erring on the side of taking on too much. It will probably be easier to hand off extra work if it becomes necessary than to scramble to find something to prove what I’m doing is worthwhile. I fear that a fair bit of political capital has been used in getting this spot created and I don’t expect to have a second chance to do it right if I’m wildly off the mark.

Hopefully, I’ll manage to get it right.