Monday, November 28, 2011

Roller Coaster

Some people enjoy riding a roller coaster for the fun of it.  I have never been on a roller coaster, and sometimes I don't think I need to ride one because my life seems to be a roller coaster.

A roller coaster varies in speed and goes up and down, just like life does so often.  The roller coaster that I am currently on is trying to do too many things are once and not being able to control them like I feel I should.  Yes, I know that in a lot of cases, I am my own worse enemy because instead of trying to focus on one thing and get it off my to-do list, I am trying to figure out a bunch of them at once.

It is interesting to think about my life as a roller coaster because sometimes I think life goes off the track, but in most cases it's just my thinking that goes off.  Knowing what I can and cannot handle or control is something that is difficult for me to see sometimes.  In a lot of cases, I am worrying about things that I cannot control instead of focusing on the things that I can control and manage.  Being able to sit back and think things through is something that I don't always do as well as I would like, but I am getting better at it.

A roller coaster is supposed to be fun, so I guess life should be fun as well, instead of something that I am always worrying about.  Knowing that I can accept things as they are is important, and enjoying the little pleasures in life along the way are what I need to focus on. 

Now off to enjoy the ride.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Getting things back in focus

Things sometimes get out of control, and it takes some time and effort to get things back to the way that makes you happy.  This is a challenge for a lot of people, and that is taking the time to get things back to where they should be.  I have encountered just this challenge in the last couple of weeks, and now I am taking the time to sit and think. 


It is sometimes the hardest thing to do, just sit and think because like a lot of people there are always too many other things that need to be done.  Having a chance to refocus and understand what has happened and why helps make the future a little easier.  The challenge I was facing was dealing with an online course that was not well-designed or executed.  My choice was to continue with the online course and suffer through it, or to walk away and know that I did what was right for me.  The decision came this week when after a couple of major frustrations with the course, I decided that I couldn’t continue with it and needed to walk away.  I contacted the university that was offering the course and explained my feelings to them. I also had to write an e-mail explaining everything, and then I was refunded my course fee and am no longer taking the course.  I have taken other online courses through colleges and never felt this way about the course, instructors, or material before, so this was extremely hard for me to deal with.  

The course was something that I really wanted to take, but understood that if I wasn’t learning anything and just getting frustrated, it wasn’t a course worth taking.  Maybe part of it was feeling that the instructors didn’t understand the material, or maybe they weren’t comfortable with online training.  I know that I was really frustrated with the length of time the assignment took to be marked and even how long it took to get answers to e-mails.  The length was a lot longer than I ever dealt with during any of the other courses I took.  This is the first course that I have tried to take through a university, and it sure wasn’t the experience I wanted.  

I know that having a Certificate for Instructing Adults makes it a little different for me taking courses know because I understand what is expected from instructors.  I have taken courses and seminars where the instructor has been great, and somewhere the instructor wasn’t the best, but normally I learned something anyway.  This online course was proving to be a course where I wasn’t going to learn, so I am happy I decided to walk away.

I have taken some time, figured things out and understand why I was unhappy the last couple of weeks.  Now, maybe I can focus on the things that make me happy, and I realize that taking the time to sit and just think was the best thing I could have done today.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Back-up of computer files

The purpose of backing up a computer system is to ensure you have the most complete, consistence and accurate copy of files as possible as a set.

Backing up a computer system should be done at a time of day that results in the fewest files and users being impacted.  Most small/medium companies back up their files late at night to ensure the highest accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data sets.

 Backing up systems during the day or just after the normal end of a business day can result in some files not getting backed-up for days if they are files that are updated continuously during the day.  Open file agents are still not 100%.   It is important to remember that the purpose of a backup is to have an accurate copy of files in case a restore of a file or an entire system is required.

 A backup schedule late at night means the fewest users and files impacted.  It is important to remember that a backup done during a business day impacts users by slowing down response time and files, and results in an incomplete backup.  Some data sets are spread among multiple files, if they are not backed up with the same consistency state, then they are as good as corrupted, a typical example are databases.

The scheduling of a backup isn’t when it’s convenient for the system administrator, but when it’s best for the specific business.  I have heard of system administrators setting their backup schedule so that they can see it start (tail wagging the dog).