Tweet
Sorry for the rant, but this is making me crazy! Here is the background:
I work at a tiny little marine institute. Despite the fact that I am a biologist and a girl (inside joke), I've somehow become responsible for our labs computers, network and all internet access.
When we made the switch from modem dial-in access (shudder) to broadband, our director (who we refer to as "RainMan" because of his OCD micromanaging) at the time INSISTED on a wireless network. No hardwiring. His reasoning despite ALL my objections? "All the University campuses have it, and theirs works. So it can't be that difficult. And besides, I don't want all those ugly wires showing"
So right, with a budget of like $400 I built a wireless network that was as secure and stable as I could make it. Big surprise, it was not as reliable as the campuses $100K setups with their team of IT specialists
/end background
Fast forward to now. RainMan has "retired". I put that in quotes because while he has, in fact, retired officially - and we have a new awesome director - he is STILL in the lab full-time!! Just hanging around, unpaid and regretting his retirement. Full-time! In fact, he spends more time here NOW than when he was the director!
New Awesome Director's first order of business was to tell me to "get rid of this wireless bull$hit and hard wire the network!" Woot woot! Our way cool Fiscal dude scrounged me a couple of spools of Cat-5E cable and I learn to make Ethernet ends with "borrowed" equipment from my contracts. We begin to hardwire computers, and there is much rejoicing.
The powers that be let RainMan keep his office and do "in-kind" work. So he went out and bought a Vista machine with wireless (the whole office is on WinXP pro, and will not update until the next MS OS has been out of Beta for a year if I have anything to say about it). Oh, and he still has his old Pentium IV machine.
So guess who RainMan wants to hard wire him to the internet now? I've run a cable and hub to his office, and made all the ends (6 ends) and something isn't working. I either need to rebuild the Ethernet ends &/or the Ethernet card died on his Pentium.
Honestly? I have other things to do - like my JOB. But his Vista box works fine on the wireless, so I tell him to use that. But <insert whining> his email is set up the way he likes it on the Pentium and he doesn't know how to migrate his 10 years of Netscape email to the Vista box and he doesn't understand the campus instructions to set up Netscape in Vista and he doesn't like working on web mail and waaaaaaaaaaah
So I gave him back his wireless USB antennae for his Pentium box, and have been avoiding his whining about the wireless internet dropping that computer (the Vista box works just fine on wireless). I got a little pissy and pointed out that he HAS a connection. The fact that it is not the connection he wants on the computer he wants is NOT. my. problem.
pant pant
Ok, sorry about the book. If you made it this far, my apologies. I'm proud of getting this network working well with no real budget. But geez, I KNOW that IT people make a lot more than lowly biologists in university world. I'm saving the place TONS of money and I get WHINING. From the idiot who insisted on wireless in the first place. Ugh.
I work at a tiny little marine institute. Despite the fact that I am a biologist and a girl (inside joke), I've somehow become responsible for our labs computers, network and all internet access.
When we made the switch from modem dial-in access (shudder) to broadband, our director (who we refer to as "RainMan" because of his OCD micromanaging) at the time INSISTED on a wireless network. No hardwiring. His reasoning despite ALL my objections? "All the University campuses have it, and theirs works. So it can't be that difficult. And besides, I don't want all those ugly wires showing"
So right, with a budget of like $400 I built a wireless network that was as secure and stable as I could make it. Big surprise, it was not as reliable as the campuses $100K setups with their team of IT specialists
/end background
Fast forward to now. RainMan has "retired". I put that in quotes because while he has, in fact, retired officially - and we have a new awesome director - he is STILL in the lab full-time!! Just hanging around, unpaid and regretting his retirement. Full-time! In fact, he spends more time here NOW than when he was the director!
New Awesome Director's first order of business was to tell me to "get rid of this wireless bull$hit and hard wire the network!" Woot woot! Our way cool Fiscal dude scrounged me a couple of spools of Cat-5E cable and I learn to make Ethernet ends with "borrowed" equipment from my contracts. We begin to hardwire computers, and there is much rejoicing.
The powers that be let RainMan keep his office and do "in-kind" work. So he went out and bought a Vista machine with wireless (the whole office is on WinXP pro, and will not update until the next MS OS has been out of Beta for a year if I have anything to say about it). Oh, and he still has his old Pentium IV machine.
So guess who RainMan wants to hard wire him to the internet now? I've run a cable and hub to his office, and made all the ends (6 ends) and something isn't working. I either need to rebuild the Ethernet ends &/or the Ethernet card died on his Pentium.
Honestly? I have other things to do - like my JOB. But his Vista box works fine on the wireless, so I tell him to use that. But <insert whining> his email is set up the way he likes it on the Pentium and he doesn't know how to migrate his 10 years of Netscape email to the Vista box and he doesn't understand the campus instructions to set up Netscape in Vista and he doesn't like working on web mail and waaaaaaaaaaah
So I gave him back his wireless USB antennae for his Pentium box, and have been avoiding his whining about the wireless internet dropping that computer (the Vista box works just fine on wireless). I got a little pissy and pointed out that he HAS a connection. The fact that it is not the connection he wants on the computer he wants is NOT. my. problem.
pant pant
Ok, sorry about the book. If you made it this far, my apologies. I'm proud of getting this network working well with no real budget. But geez, I KNOW that IT people make a lot more than lowly biologists in university world. I'm saving the place TONS of money and I get WHINING. From the idiot who insisted on wireless in the first place. Ugh.
I AM the evil bastard!
Comment