What to write though? Sadly those posts that had been semi-formed in my mind have long since departed and thinking about it now I can’t recall their contents at all. Ho hum!

Perhaps a good way to ‘restart’ this blog then is trying to explain why the barren spell occurred and, perhaps more importantly, why it has come to an end. It’s really quite simple.

My last post coincided with the start of my final academic year and in that first week I started to loathe IT. Looking back it wasn’t IT I was disenchanted with but Uni. Truth is I’ve had to be dragged kicking and screaming through the last 6 months by some very good friends. Why though? Why should the last 6 months have felt so much harder?

The workload certainly increased but that wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was motivation. Whilst my time at HP wasn’t the greatest the months between my placement ending and my wedding were. I’d found myself in a job that was both challenging and rewarding. Perhaps most importantly I felt like I was  meant to be there and the work I was doing had value to it. And that was the problem with my Uni work; it was a means to an end.

Sure it has value; it gets me a degree but for me work needs to be more. It has to effect others, hopefully in a positive way, that I can thrive on. Uni work doesn’t have this element. It feels cold with little purpose, other than to get a degree! Which, as a type this, is of course all it is!

I am  a firm believer in the mantra that ‘no one cares about IT because it works’ or however it goes. That’s what I strive for in my career. My reward is the satisfaction of knowing that everyone else has the tools at their disposal to complete their job to the best of their ability and that my job doesn’t get in their way. Uni work never satisfied this, how could it?

How could a piece of coursework on ‘Investigating the use of Pan, Tilt and Zoom Remote IP CCTV Cameras over WAN connections’ or some Java programming ever satisfy? But then why should this stop my blogging? Simply because it felt like every time I sat down at a keyboard the work I was producing was pointless and that in turn led to me trying to minimize the time I spent bashing keys.

Now though, as I sit here bashing keys with a pint of Tangle Foot, my outlook on IT feels a lot rosier. My work has purpose and I no longer feel frustration when things aren’t going well (IT wise). No, these frustrations are now challenges and overcoming challenges is rewarding.

The work? My final year project.

Admittedly its for the same company that I worked for between HP and my wedding; Chris Lewis Fire & Security. However, I don’t think it’s the company that’s important, it’s the work.

I’ll try and keep this blog up to date again, I certainly feel motivated to. Apologies if it becomes quite final year project orientated and sorry again for the lean 6 months.

Dan

A couple of weekends ago me, the best man and my two ushers went out to choose the suits for the men of the wedding. Surprisingly it went very well, we all agreed on a suit after only the second (possibly third I cant remember) shop, definitely my kind of shopping! I wont post a photo as I’m sure nobody wants the surprise to be spoiled! Job one for this evening, go back and pay for them with a very nice discount

Work has been very busy as we’ve had to recruit a new intern after the first chose to drop us in it a bit and go work some place else. In a way it was quite good for me, the weeks flew by and I got given even more responsibility than the first time around. Also I’ve been involved in a lot more techy work rather than producing excel reports, result! At the moment I’m researching using NFS and Kerberos authentication in the lab which from the sounds of a current third year could be very useful for next year at uni.

Also from the same third year student I’ve got a copy of the coursework I’ll likely face in 6/7 months time. A brief look at it and I have to say I’m a little disappointed, it looks to be more programming than anything else. I’d rather hoped we’d get to do more of the network design out of the Computer Network Design and Management course that I’m on. I’m going to look at it in more depth soon and hopefully start investigating it a bit more whilst still at HP.

Other updates, the wedding planning is moving along very well now as Kita reported and it’s really a case of paying for a lot of it now!

Dan

What will it be like with a wife?

What will I do for a final year project?

Looks like there’s a lot of programming in the final year, best do some this year so it’s not entirely rusty and forgotten when I get back.

I keep having these thoughts running through my head that I know if I just get them out, committed to blog or paper that I’ll be able to doze off a lot quicker. I’m actually quite tempted to take a notebook (paper version, for the moment) to bed and have it there just to get thoughts out.

Kind of like people who have a pad and pen ready for dreams I guess.

Dan

• Professional Practice & Career Management (10 Credits) – 80%
• Computing 3 (10 Credits) – 71%
• Software Systems 1 (10 Credits) – 67%
• System Configuration and Administration (20 Credits) – 70%
• Data Communication and Networks 1 (10 Credits) – 69%

Semester 2

• Group Project (10 Credits) – 59% —
• Computing 4 (10 Credits) – 76%
• Software Systems 2 (10 Credits) – 64%
• Network Configuration and Administration (20 Credits) – 60%
• Data Communication and Networks 2 (10 Credits) – 64%

Average mark for the year: 67.5%

Overall I’m fairly happy with the marks especially Software Systems 2 and Data Communication and Networks 2 as there is no way I thought I was going to get over 60% for those.

There is one big disappointment though, Group Project. Without a doubt the unit I put the most effort into, on a weekly basis at least 3 hours and now it feels a bit all for nothing. Apparently the teams I felt we were comparable to got similarly poor results by comparison and at least we’re all in the same boat. Wha’s really annoying is not having a break down on the marking for this unit to see where marks were lost.

So 67.5% for the year, a strong 2:1 knocking on the door of a 1st. Apparently the majority of students who do a year in industry come back and achieve a grade higher. I’m assuming this is mainly down to working at least 9 ’til 5 in a uni week day rather than being lazy. I’m also hopeful that being married when I get back means I’ll have a wife who’ll kick me out of bed and really keep me on track for study.

All being well now, I’ll spend 13 months at HP, work hard, learn lots then come back really highly motivated and finish studying with a 1st.

Dan

–edit–

Seems the lecturer mucked up the Group Project marks a bit which Ben worked out! In fact we got 68% which means my average is 69% for the year

Ultimately it means I’ve self taught myself the unit in the last few days and actually, slightly bizarrely I think I’ve actually learnt it. I reckon I could give a fairly decent explanation of how TCP works segment by segment! Crikey, I’ve learnt something! What is really strange though is that this half of the unit is the one for which teaching (lectures) finished months ago. I guess it’s really a case of how good the handouts and the lecture slides are as to how accessible and successful revision will be. The other half of the unit was a mish mash of various networking things, poorly taught in my opinion with no handouts and not great slides. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve done quite as well on this bit of the exam!

Anyways, as I said I’m taking these exams more seriously then any I can remember. I passed up the opportunity of a BBQ last night to revise and revise hard, man made notes and all! I think there’s a good reason as well, partially my job at HP is dependant on me completing the 2nd year but it’s more than that. I think what it is, is that now there is someone else dependant on me doing well at Uni, making sure I get the job to save for a wedding etc

It’s strange but it’s definitely a carrot and not a stick to get through these exams.

Dan

I wan’t to get this work out of the way, I should be able to. It’s not particularly hard but it just takes a little concentration and it would seem that at the moment I can’t. It’s so unbelievably frustrating, I’ve got the time to really get a good load of the report out of the way but all I seem to be able to do is search Google for memories.

I wish I had a better coping mechanism than the web. I guess it’s by no means the worse but it feels inadequate. I don’t know, I guess there is no coping method really but you just learn to live with it. In some way it becomes part of the every day, seeing an ambulance earlier didn’t exactly help, it didn’t trigger anything as such, just, I don’t know memories.

Sorry to waffle, I just need to type, something that I care about, perhaps clear my chest a little. Hopefully it’ll help get back to work, hopefully.

Dan

This time of year just feels so busy; exams, coursework, moving, jobs. Seemingly everything for the last few years is in transition at this time of year. Give it a few years though and I guess things will be different, very different. I think I’m looking forward to that in a sense as I’ll be able to reflect and take a few days out. So far I don’t think I’ve been able to do that for the last few years and perhaps I need it, if anything I feel it’s right that I do reflect simply out of respect.

Wish I could concentrate on coursework and preparing for exams. I should be able to, I’m enjoying my course and the work to produce is fairly interesting for the most part but all I feel like procrastinating; reading, playing games and the Snooker World Championship’s a good eye catcher at the moment as well.

I really should be excited by things at the moment and I am but for some strange reason the pile of paper is only rearranged rather than shrunk. I’m thinking along the lines of tasks and trying my best to produce a list and just get things ticked off. Thing is, right now I’m more likely to spend time on making the list.

Prayer for motivation would be good, only 5 weeks left, 5 weeks to work my socks off and get all the marks I can.

Dan

So I found this one  for a fiver! Couldn’t believe it, I started bidding a few days ago and fully expected it to get to at least £30 but nope, it stayed to £5

So now Ben and I are far to excited about getting the house wired and having our own little switched networks

Dan

P.S. To add to the geekiness a technician from Uni is loaning me a HP-UX based workstation so I can learn it a little before starting at HP in the summer. HP-UX is Unix derived and so hopefully shouldn’t be too hard to learn as I know Linux fairly well.

The assessment day really showed me that, that is where I wanted to be. It was a lot like the first time I came on a University of Portsmouth open day, the first time I walked around Anglesea, I just knew that is where I wanted to be and with that same feeling in Bracknell on Friday I took the job the moment I was offered it.

So thankfully that is all sorted, short of sorting out a house/flat/other building the next academic year is looking good, planned even. Should be pretty awesome really and I’m really looking forward to it.

With my mind now settled, knowing that next year is no longer in the air, I can really, properly concentrate on Semester 2. Although thinking about it the last semester wasn’t so bad and I finally got my final mark a couple of days ago. I averaged 71.6%, a first

So, there we go, a successful week, bring on Semester 2!

Thank you for all your prayers over the last few weeks,

God bless,

Dan

Of course there are pro’s and con’s to both places and I’ll have to think them all through very, very carefully. No doubt some of those thoughts will spill onto here.

Now I’m just a little worried that while I have options in my grasp that they’ll slip through my fingers. If HP say they’ll let me know in a week what do I do for instance?

Alas, it seems this busy, important week is going to boil down to Friday and if I’m honest that’s fine. I’ll make a decision Friday that will set me up for the year out and I’ll have the next few months to concentrate, really concentrate on Uni.

I could really do with input, please, just advice really. What would you do?

Thanks for your prayers guidance and input would now be appreciated.

God bless,

Dan