Home of The Monkey Guild » Random Stuff http://monkeyguild.org Monkeytastic Meanderings Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:14:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 That was AWESOME! http://monkeyguild.org/random/that-was-awesome/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/that-was-awesome/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:56:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/that-was-awesome/ So we had the work mentor program today. By the way, thanks to [personal profile] infinitehotel, [personal profile] oceanic, [personal profile] inahandbasket, [profile] faux_eonix, [personal profile] muffyjo, [profile] pasquillacious, and [profile] hermitgeecko for the varied advice (and apologies for not responding to each of you individually on said advice). I actually pulled together something of a melange of ideas from each of you and went into it with the possibility that they might not know squat about IT. It turns out they were all super interested in IT and I got them even further amped up about it.

I did a brief talk just to go over what I do in a day. Then I showed them a bit of Perl and how it’s useful in day to day work. I had one of them build a CentOS install from scratch and set the root password. I then gave them that system, told them we lost the root password, then showed them how to fix it by booting into single user mode. Then finally I had one of them prop data to an FTP site while I showed the others how to kick off backup jobs.

After it was all said and done they loved it (or at least said they did). At least to my face they said that this was the best mentor visit they ever had. They wanted my contact info so they could get in touch and ask questions, which I gladly gave them. All in all I had a really great time and would definitely do it again.

I’m posting on Dreamwidth a fair amount these days since LJ access can be spotty due to the DDoS attacks. You’re welcome to comment here or over there.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/that-was-awesome/feed/ 2 New Member of the Family http://monkeyguild.org/random/new-member-of-the-family/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/new-member-of-the-family/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:55:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/new-member-of-the-family/ Over the weekend Nora and I paid a visit to the Salem Animal Shelter. We came away with an adorable new member of our family:

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This is the first time I’ve ever been to a shelter to adopt an animal, and the first time I’ve ever been involved in raising a puppy. So far it’s a sizable mix of awesome and daunting. I really have absolutely no idea what the hell I’m doing…but we;re doing it. I was even able to calm the cat and dog down all Aragorn-style. It seems like at least for now the dog is acceptant of the cat being in a dominant position in the house which I imagine is going to be safer for all involved (as the dog will invariably get bigger while the kitten shall stay the same size). There’s been a fair amount of hissing and raised hackles so far but they’re in the same room right now and the cat is eating, which seems like a good sign to me.

Any advice from those of you who have raised puppies before?

I’m posting on Dreamwidth a fair amount these days since LJ access can be spotty due to the DDoS attacks. You’re welcome to comment here or over there.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/new-member-of-the-family/feed/ 7 Well that was unexpected… http://monkeyguild.org/random/well-that-was-unexpected/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/well-that-was-unexpected/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 15:05:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/well-that-was-unexpected/ We’re having a job shadow day here in the office on the 8th and they asked for volunteers from the groups if they had the time (high school kids follow you around to see what you do). I thought it might be fun so I told them I’d do it, since IT tends to not have much representation in such things. The other teams have at most 3 kids shadowing them for the day (most only have 1 or 2) – i just got my list and I have 11. I had no idea that IT was going to be that popular. This is going to be interesting…

So I have these kids for the entire morning in which I provide an introduction to IT. I’m then supposed to give them something fun to do. What activities in IT would you have high school juniors and seniors do if you were trying to interest them in IT? I’m still coming up with ideas but would love to hear what you guys have.

I’m posting on Dreamwidth a fair amount these days since LJ access can be spotty due to the DDoS attacks. You’re welcome to comment here or over there.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/well-that-was-unexpected/feed/ 8 State of the Monkey http://monkeyguild.org/random/state-of-the-monkey/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/state-of-the-monkey/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:06:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/state-of-the-monkey/ It’s been ages since I posted anything substantive here. For the most part I don’t really make use of LJ anymore, other than occasional technical rambles and random assorted bitching. Still when a huge life-changing event occurs I like to talk about it a bit. For those of you just catching up, Nora and I are now officially married (w00t!!!!) as of 9 April 2011. My praxis after such huge events is to dissect it so I can fully understand each individual component, but I find myself unwilling to do so here. The day is hazy and wonderful and I would fight to have it stay that way in my memory. I’m normally bothered by trivialities…plagued in fact many times, but the small things that were off during the day hardly even register. I’m just overjoyed to be married to Nora and that’s enough.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/state-of-the-monkey/feed/ 2 [locals] Signal Boost – Roommates in the Camberville Area http://monkeyguild.org/random/locals-signal-boost-roommates-in-the-camberville-area/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/locals-signal-boost-roommates-in-the-camberville-area/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:40:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/locals-signal-boost-roommates-in-the-camberville-area/ I have a friend from VA moving up here in the fall to attend Lesley University for her Master’s degree. She’s a 30-something friend, stable, reliable, laid back. She’s looking for a place to live in the Cambridge neck of the woods. Are any of you guys seeking roommates or know someone who is? She’ll have a car so if you’re a little outside Cambridge I imagine that would be OK too. Respond here or drop me an email and I’ll make with the introductions. Thanks much :)

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/locals-signal-boost-roommates-in-the-camberville-area/feed/ 4 Of Mice and Men http://monkeyguild.org/random/of-mice-and-men/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/of-mice-and-men/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:17:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/of-mice-and-men/ It turns out if you come out of a parking garage carrying a mouse in a have-a-heart trap, people look at you funny. If you set the mouse down, explain to it that it will be fine and instruct it where the locations of the best restaurants are in the Kendall Square area, people *really* look at you funny. When the mouse sits there staring up at you and patiently listens to everything you have to say and doesn’t run off until you say “See, I told you that you’d be fine…now go make some new friends” people just want nothing to do with you. Clearly Doctor Dolittle had a rough time of things.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/of-mice-and-men/feed/ 10 Cis http://monkeyguild.org/random/cis/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/cis/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:14:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/cis/ I keep seeing the term “cisgender” popping up all over the place and am completely baffled by the definitions I’ve found. Wikipedia for instance states that cisgender is “an adjective used in the context of gender issues and counselling to refer to a class of gender identities formed by a match between an individual’s gender identity and the behavior or role considered appropriate for one’s sex.” So to put it into context then (I think), it at least sounds like someone who both identifies as a guy and seeks out the gender-specific norms of a guy qualifies as cisgendered? For lack of a better label, isn’t that just “normal?” Since I identify as a guy and generally want a male gender role, doesn’t that make me cisgendered by that definition?

I feel like I’m missing something in this definition because I’m seeing it used in reference to people who identify as a gender different than what they were born into, which I always thought was referred to as transgender. Those of you in the know, can you clarify these things for me?

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/cis/feed/ 15 An Actual Update http://monkeyguild.org/random/an-actual-update/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/an-actual-update/#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:24:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/an-actual-update/ I haven’t updated this with actual content in ages. Life has been crazy busy and stressful but all in an awesome way. We’re coming down to the last few things that need doing for the wedding and then after that we just do the deed in April. Nora and I have been living together for years now, but the concept of being someone’s husband is just so large (lacking a better descriptor for it). I suspect when it comes down to it very little in our day to day will change, and yet everything will be different. I’m excited and nervous – I’m looking forward to it more than any other event I’ve ever anticipated before.

I’ve been at the new job for a month now and it’s really fantastic. I have an enormous amount to learn which is a great feeling. My boss is very relaxed and chill, which is such a 180 from where I spent the last three years that I find myself reeling from the shock of it all. The work is enjoyable and I actually look forward to getting to work so I can get cracking on things. The people I work with are all extremely welcoming and friendly, which has made this transition pretty easy. I’m even on a first name basis with the folks at the coffee shop downstairs – one of them is putting a copy of Machete on my flash drive right now so I can watch it.

My LJ mood sums it up – I’m content (and happy) for the first time in a really long time.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/an-actual-update/feed/ 9 On Child Black Belts http://monkeyguild.org/random/on-child-black-belts/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/on-child-black-belts/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:27:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/on-child-black-belts/ One of my cousins has her kids enrolled in what appears to be a pee-wee karate class. In one of the photos it shows a kid proudly displaying his black belt. The kid looks to be no more than five or six years old. When I was broadening my martial horizons, I cross-trained in a fair number of styles. The one thing that always held true across all of them was that a black belt (or its equivalent) is representative of some mastery of that system; it means you can lead and teach a class yourself. There was a Shotokan school in Charlottesville that had a really excellent method for handling teaching kids. For 7 year old kids and younger, the kids got a colored belt with a long white stripe down the center. The kids moved up in ranks right up until they hit brown belt with a white stripe. Once they were older than 7, if they had progressed to brown/white belt than they moved directly to an orange belt (the progression in Shotokan is white, orange, green, purple, brown, black). If they came in older than 7 than they started at white belt and progressed as normal. If this were a game you would call that a very balanced leveling system. I liked it because it gave the kids a feeling of accomplishment without providing false expectations about their skills.

]]> http://monkeyguild.org/random/on-child-black-belts/feed/ 0 Spell Check http://monkeyguild.org/random/spell-check/ http://monkeyguild.org/random/spell-check/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:48:00 +0000 Noah http://monkeyguild.org/random/spell-check/ There’s a reason God invented the spell-checker. For instance when someone sends a message out to the entire company stating that “Whoever has been felching milk from the main kitchen needs to stop doing so,” this kind of thing can be avoided if spell check is run.

Admittedly the visuals have made me want to give up dairy for awhile…or avoid entering the main kitchen for that matter, so I guess it wasn’t a total loss.

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