Wow it’s been a long time since I have posted.  Been keeping busy at school and work.

So, being a CIS student while working outside of the computer industry, I came across something that I will take to hart later in my programing life: Programmers, learn the industry you are developing for!  I currently work as a Site Manager for a security company for a client that is in the shipping industry.  My site is a test site for this client for a security round system that my be rolled out to many of their sites nation wide.

Some back ground:  Most security officers have to make rounds or tours during their shift.  There have been many systems over the years to record this process to verify that the officer was where he said he was.  The system we are using is using new technology to bring this process into the 21st century.

The system we are testing uses RFID technology to record where the officer is, then transmits this data via cell phone network to the companies server, where it is then able to be viewed real time on the web by myself or my client.  With this system, you can use other RFID tags for different incidents that may happen while you are working (medical emergency, suspicious person, etc.).  This information can then be emailed by the host companies server to any number of recipients I choose.  This is where the problem comes in and the programmers didn’t know the security industry well.

1) The email is not sent out until the officer completes his round

2) If the officer isn’t currently on a round (sitting at a desk), these incidents are not recorded.

Now, the reason these are problems are that many of the incidents should be forwarded by email ASAP.  My client and myself both carry Blackberry’s and will receive the email within a minute, but because the system holds it until the officer completes the round, it could take a long time for the email to be sent.  If the officer takes 30 minutes to handle the email, and then 5 minuets to complete his round, the email won’t be sent out for 35 minutes.  If the situation is a true emergency, my officer could call me, then I could call every one that needs to know, like what happens now, but the technology is supposed to make my life easier.  Second, my officers spend 3/4 of their time at a desk, not on a round.  If they are not assigned to a round on this system, they can’t input incidents.  Because of this, I know have to program in a “dummy” round, so they can log into the dummy round, log the incident, and the log off the dummy round.  This is two extra steps that should not have to happen.  If the programmers who developed this system would have done some research on the security industry, they would have seen these needs ahead of time.  Now, I could only guess at how they have codded this program, but I think both solutions could have been avoided with less then 100 lines of code.  100 lines of code for two added features that MANY of your customers would use makes a lot of sense.  On the up side, I spoke to one of the VP’s of the company, and both features are being added to their feature want list for the next update.

The moral of the story, if you are working with another industry, do some research on the other industry so you can help them before they ask you to.

So, using StumbleUpon, I came across this site which does a great job in explaining all of the Homeland Security warning pictures. My favorite, “If your intended destination is suddenly vaporized, consider pulling over and watching the cool light show.”

Well, between school, work, family and church, I have been way too busy to even think about logging on to do an update lately.  I have just my final left in my C++ Object Oriented class which has been pulling a lot of my time.  Next week I will be starting Computer Architecture and Operating Systems which sounds right up my ally.  I am putting together a proposal for work which is new to me.  My client is looking at two different security software packages and I will be the test site.  After reviewing what features both products had, I am pushing for the more expensive one, which will be hard to validate, but I’m trying.  If we like the system after my test period, it will be rolled out across the country, so I’ve got a big responsibility in front of me.  The weather here has also finally changed.  The Chicago area set a record for the most days between 70 degree days at 170 something (can’t find the article I read that in now).  Hopefully my time will start to clear up a little so I have some more time to sit and write, but it doesn’t look that way right now.

OK, to anyone that says a windows install is easier than a Linux install, explain to me why I need a second computer to go download drivers, then .Net framework so I can get the NIC to work on the computer. Still don’t have it…

UPDATE:  OK, NIC drivers and most of the other missing drivers are installed, but I still can’t find the PCI driver, which is preventing me from installing the Sound Card drivers, which I have, but refuse to load.  The only problem I had with a simmialr model Dell when I loaded Linux was no driver for the installed NIC, so I just went out and bought one for $12.

Note to self, if asked by anyone in my family or group of friends to help with a computer problem, it will only happen if I can install whatever operating system I find fit…

This week is Sever Weather Preparedness Week in Illinois and Indiana. I know many Ham radio operators use this week to get their radios working for when the first storm hits. Many weather spotters get out to training classes (mine is actually in two weeks). I hope that most families will do something, even if it’s going out a buying a NOAA Weather Radio or buying some extra batteries and flash lights for when the power gets knocked out. You never know when the weather might effect you. Last year, in my county, we got hit by both a micro burst and a tornado. Many of them effected some of the same people, as they hit only a few towns away from each other. Near my work (the next county over) another micro burst hit during yet another storm. That one knocked down power lines for nearly an mile and a half down a major road. The worst part is, I’m hearing from many weather experts that this year has the potential to be even worse than last. The norther Illinois/souther Wisconsin area has already seen their first sever weather of the year (early January). Emergencies always remind my of my Boy Scout days, “Always be prepared.”

I’m a little late in getting this out, but I want to give props to Nine Inch Nails and headman Trent Reznor on releasing their new CD, Ghosts I, under the Creative Commons - Non-Commercial licensing. This lets anyone copy, alter, and distribute their work as long as it’s not for commercial gain. Reznor himself uploaded the CD to the popular bit-torrent site Pirate Bay. I hope more artists realize that their music will reach more people if they share it under a CC license. NIN is still selling their album on CD and on BluRay disk for the collection of new work (Ghosts I-IV). This is a big step in the music industry and the opposite of what Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, is trying to do with the music industry.

I will be downloading from The Pirate Bay tonight. Can’t wait.

Free our music!!

A little history to my problem.  I just updated my phone plan to Sprint/Nextel’s Simply every thing plan that literally gives me unlimited everything on my phone for $5 more a month than what I’m paying now.  I did this yesterday and was told everything should be up and running by 6pm local time.  Well, 6 came and went and I still didn’t have data service.  I contacted Customer Service today and spent over an hour and 45 minutes on the phone with them.  They were great and wanted to get to the bottom of the problem.  We tried re-setting the radio, re-booting the phone, re-setting the phone, and re-configuring the ip settings.  Nothing worked.  They said everything looked set up correctly on their side as well.  Finaly an answer.  Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind Black Berry, had a nation wide server outage.  It was masked behind everything else.  The only funny thing is that NO ONE has reported this any where on the internet.  I hear about outages all the time, and none of them ever seem to affect me, but I have heard nothing about this one.  Oh well, I’ll probably end up spending more time on the phone with Sprint on Monday.

Check out this from the National Weather Service.

Statewide Tornado Drills Tuesday March 4 and Wednesday March 6

Tuesday March 4 at 1000 AM CST a test tornado warning will be issued for all Illinois counties. Wednesday March 7 at 937 AM CST (1037 AM EST) a test tornado warning will be issued for all Indiana Counties. A second Indiana test will occur at 607 PM CST (707 PM EST). Many location in Illinois will also test sirens on Tuesday morning.

Notice in the heading, it’s “Tuesday March 4 and Wednesday March 6,” skipping the 5th are we? Then in the text, Wednesday becomes the 7th, so now we are skipping two days?? I guess we are making up for Leap year this year.

I only have a few shows that I get to watch when they actually air. For that reason, I have found many other places to watch (check out LifeHacker for a great list). One way that I keep up with my shows is with Fox On Demand online. The quality of the content is excellent. There are adds within the programs, but I know Fox needs to make money on their shows. There are a few things that could be much better. For example, all of the commercials within a show are the same. I have no problem with embedded commercials, but don’t make me watch the same one 5 times in 45 minutes. Also, let me fill my whole screen with your show. If YouTube can do it, why can’t Fox. Finaly, why do I have to wait 8 days for the show to come up online? If I am a regular watcher of a show and miss one episode, it would be nice to be able to get caught up durring the week, so the next time the show is on, I can watch it on TV like normal. Is it really too much to ask for??

Over the last four months or so, I have become addicted to an online game called Tribal Wars. It is very basic in it’s game play. You start off with a village and you try to build it up. But as you build, other players around you are also getting bigger. Once you village gets to a decent size, that’s when the fun starts. As yo are building the buildings in your village, you are also (or should be) building your army. You can then use your army to plunder other villages and take their resources. As your village and army grow, you will eventually get a nobleman. Your noblemen are important, as they are the key to taking control of other villages. So, the basic play out of the game is to build an army and attack other players to take their villages away.

“But it’s called tribal wars, not village wars!” Yes, I know, I haven’t got there yet.

Once your village starts to grow to decent size, someone will eventually ask you to join a tribe, or maybe you feel ambitious and what to create your own tribe. Your tribe will end up becoming your good friends with in the game. You will share resources with them, help defend villages, and avenge there attackers, and they will do the same for you. Tribes will ally, others will become enemies, and a select few may become so close an ally that your tribe merges with theirs or your tribes decide to “Family.”

Although the game sounds a little slow, it becomes addicting because it continues to play out, even when you are not actively on and playing. I know there are other games out there that are similar, and I was wondering if anyone plays them. I am currently the Head Diplomat for my tribe, and enjoy it. If you are interested in playing with me, I’m on world 9 and in RFF. When you are asked where you would like to start, click on the north west and if you end up close enough to my tribe, I may be able to get you an invite.

http://www.tribalwars.net/1174593.html