I decided to take a few pictures at work today to help some of you see what I'm getting paid for around here. I didn't take a picture of the main lab area because there were dividers on one end and on the other end students were working diligently. Here's a few highlights of other parts of the school instead.
Here are Bob and Sonya, working so hard that I don't think they even know I took the picture. Between them is "my" wall, where my certifications are displayed.
Here's a close-up of my wall. There's only three certificates here so far - Microsoft Certified Professional, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and IC3. My A+ PC Technician should be someone in the mail on its way to Halifax, where it will then be put back in the mail to come here. In the next while, I expect to earn my Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (one more exam) and my Microsoft Office User Specialist (Master level), which is 5 exams. As I go through the in-house course material developed by the Academy of Learning, I will also earn a facilitator's plaque in Technical courses (shouldn't take too long, I have a number of the courses already) and another one in Business courses (this will take longer). The good news is that I won't be bored and this is all free. I'll have so many certifications by the time I'm done that I'll need a two-sided business card. :-) Anyway, I may outgrow this wall, but not for a while yet.
The next picture shows "my" part of the school. I'm awfully territorial, aren't I? Actually, this is a part of the school that is still in development because it will be used for courses that are currently offered, but rarely if ever sold. We're starting to push these courses more now that I will be available to support them. They include programs like the PC Support Technician program (basically the A+ track) and various networking courses including MCSA and maybe MCSE down the road. This area didn't exist when I started and it's still in development, as you can see by the undressed computer on the table. We've got some people from the NT Department of Education coming tomorrow, so I did some more work on it this afternoon and it's looking more presentable. I'm hoping to get two more monitors in the morning, at which point I should have 6+ working machines here. This will be enough to get us started; I may have to expand it later, but that will be a good thing.
Speaking of interesting things, I was told today by the school's owner (David) to look Tuktoyuktut up on the map because I'll probably be going there for two weeks in the foreseeable future. I already knew pretty much where it was from when my cousin (once removed) Elvie Smith went there in his travels a while ago. When I asked when I might be going, I was told "before the ice comes." I don't know if that means in Yellowknife or in Tuktoyuktut, which is quite a bit farther north. I'm assuming both, so September is the most likely month. What a great adventure!
I still have to do some other research about Tuktoyuktut. I was told by someone at a party last Saturday that some of the smaller hamlets don't always have good quality drinking water and readily available food for visitors. I think Tuk is big enough that it should be okay, but if not, I'll have to take supplies with me.
This is great. I feel like I'm living in a book or a movie!
Okay, back to my work pictures... here's one of the first things I saw when I started work: the wiring closet. As a fresh grad with little practical experience, this was very scary on my first day. Now it hardly bothers me at all, except for the fact that a) it's not properly mapped anywhere and b) not everything is working and I still don't know all the parts that aren't. It's on my to-do list (along with a ton of other things). It's actually changed a big since I arrived because I had to do some re-wiring to isolate one part of the school from the rest. I did it, no problem, nothing crashed or died... yippee!
Okay, here's the good part... step back a bit from the same view, and you get to see our whole "wiring closet."
The sink is a great touch, isn't it? The good news is that the sink is not used. The stool *is* used - by me. I need it to get a good look at the top stuff. Oh well, being small is advantageous when it lets me get into wee spaces for my work, so I don't mind the occasional stool.
Okay, time for me to go eat and do other things. I got some prints and slides back today, so I may scan some prints over the weekend (between volunteering at the folk festival and work etc) and I will probably have a few prints made from slides and scan them as well - eventually. I have some great slides of Jasmine!
More later,
Jan