Their Baaaaack!!

Yes, the hackers have returned. Damn! There goes my peace and quiet. Back to making sure that EVERYTHING is triple secure. Sigh…. I really detest having to undo my work station every night. Lock the laptop in the safe, etc. Sigh….

Other than that, we are getting ready for the autumn crunch of computer repairs. Last year we got swamped. It seemed like every idiot with a computer fried it on the same night. There wasn’t even a thunderstorm to blame. Oh well. George had the inventory beefed up with power supplies and network cards. Stocked up on Clorox wipes too. Flu is one thing, but I swear some of these people don’t just eat AT their desks, they eat ON their computers. grrr…… One of them had sesame seeds in the keyboard. Oh… and we won’t even mention the name of the person who’s computer was full of cockroaches!!!! Ewwwww!!!! And to think that was in the office alone for a day….. ewwww!!!!

I’m half way thought my Professional communications class. I don’t understand why I need to take it. I do it every day… Oh well. Guess I have to learn how to be all “touchy feely”, and not offend anyone. I don’t offend anyone now, except for my classmates when they ask for a peer review on their paper! Gods these people can NOT write!

Grrrr……. I think I need Chocolate!

Holy Hoppin’ Horny Toads!!!

Wow! We’ve had a hacker that has been using a virtual machine to try and hack our system. Argh!!!! 52000 attacks in one day. Gads.  I’m just glad that George got a new firewall set up. He’s using Endian. Open source software. It is really working well.

Meanwhile, I’m almost done with class for this section. Wheeee!!!! However, next time, I have to be careful I don’t get Pete as an instructor. Do Not want the stigma of sleeping with the teacher!!!

Our weather is getting colder. Not totally ready for summer to be over. Oh well…..

Another one bites the dust…..

I know it has been forever since I last posted. Let’s see…..

I’ve been on vacation! I took a week off and then half of another one because I got a nasty cold. Pete was very sweet and nurse maided me. :> I learned he could cook!!! He and mom vied for my appetite. She almost won with chicken and dumplings. He did win with chocolate cream pie! sigh……

I got lots of stuff done on my classes right up until I got sick. Good thing too, because I didn’t have to worry about being behind on assignments. Plus, I think Pete put in a good word for me. It helps dating a professor…..

Work….   George called the FBI. Three days later, they sent a couple of suits out to check what was going on.I had to be there because my computer was one of the “hacked” ones. It actually felt good to be able to go in and then leave when I wanted to. Not that I don’t like my job, but I really needed some time away. Back to the FBI…  Since it was business hours, the hackers did not oblige them and show up. However, George had about 300mg of logfiles for them to go through. They were so stereotypical it was funny. Dark suits, dark glasses, etc. I kept expecting to hear the theme music from the Matrix. They took lots of notes and copies of the log files. Then they left.

Of course, the hackers attacked that night. George redirected them and battened down the system. He has this little logo of a Wilson’s cricket bat that he sticks up on the dry erase board every time we giet rid of a hacker. There are now 35 on the wall. Our system has been updated at least once a week. It took me three days to get use to the new passwords. We’ve gotten into a routine too. First thing in the morning, George checks the log files and sees what has gone on in the night before I turn on my computer. Some idiot tried to install  root kit on my laptop. Silly hacker, root kits don’t work as well on Linux!  Then after the all clear, we get to work. At quiting time, George sets a bunch of alarms and then shuts 95% of the systems down. He only leaves up the essentials. That way there is less for the hackers to hit. Best of all, George is finally getting some sleep.

The only other excitement in our lives was an old girlfriend of George’s showing up. She stopped by and we visited for hours. Not that I have any proof, but…. I think George had a “really good time”. He whistled around the office for days after she left. I hope she comes back again soon.

Batter, Batter, Batter, SWING!!!

I was suppose to have this week off. Oh wait… I was suppose to have last week off and got delayed to this week. I am so frustrated by whoever the idiot is who keeps hiring the hackers that I coulds scream.

Kevin is keeping up with the installs. I’m handling the stuff I usually deal with, including Mr. “I forgot how to clear my cookies”. Poor George is up to his eyeballs in hack attacks. They seem to like hitting our network around 10pm, just as George is heading off to bed. So, up he gets when the server screams….(insert auuugha noise here) and off he goes to battle whichever idiot is trying to hack the system. It usually takes him about 6 hours to stop the attacks. Plus, reset the network, servers etc.  So far, we have noticed just a few things….

• All the hackers are West Coasties.
• There are at least 5 so far.
• Only one has gotten past the outermost firewall
• We have no idea of what the hell started all of this.
• George is not a terrorist or whatever else the $$$ is telling the hackers he is.

This whole thing is drivng us nuts. George isn’t getting any sleep. It is making him very crabby. I told him to go take a nap today. He actually did it. The hackers don’t seem to attack during business hours which also makes us think that they are doing it on the side. Why we are being attacked like we had some sort of information is beyond us. We are just tired of it. At this point, George is just about ready to call the local branch of the FBI. He has a bunch of info to give them about the hackers.

Meanwhile, when I’m not dealing with Mission Impossible Central, I have been taking classes. 4.0 grade point average so far! Scary class starts next week. Business Algebra…… Pete and George both say they will help. Now to not melt into a bowl full of jello!!!

Hackers part 2

Ok, the idiot didn’t give up. George got peeved enough at him that he actually called the guy at his desk. Tried to tell the guy that hacking an ISP is against the law. Something to do with the Homeland Security Act…

The guy still didn’t get it. Some idiot walked in with a big check, and told the guy that George was some kind of evil genius terrorist. That hacking him would save the planet, etc….

Oh My Bloody Gods.  pounds head on desk repeatedly

I think it took George an hour to convince the guy that he WASN’T the bad guy. I gave up trying to work and went home at noon, because George was still talking to the idiot. Maybe, just Maybe by next week this will all be done and I can get back to work. Better be soon, because billings need to go out and I still don’t know which one is my accounting server!

I am SO Pissed…

The Financial Aid office is at the top of my hit list this week. I think I have taken them copies of my taxes and other financial documents at least eight times. I faxed the first set and they wouldn’t take it because I didn’t add a cover sheet. So, next time I sent it in with Pete. No, that wasn’t good enough either. I had to sign a copy in front of them. Then, they lost my file. I was so pissed by this point that I think I had steam coming out of my ears.

But…. do you know what the last straw was? Their computer crashed. I’m standing there, watching it happen and know I can fix it. I tell them that I can fix it. Oh no! They have to call a professional. So, I leave.

I get back to the office after lunch and there is a phone message…. Can You Guess Who? Yep! College Admissions Office!

So, I put my nice little office id on my shirt, grabbed one of the clipboards and head out. When I get to the office, the gal looks at me and tells me that she still can’t process my financial aid because her computer is still down. I tell her I know, and that I’m here to fix it. She didn’t believe me. So, I show her the id. She looks at it like I forged it. I got pissed and called George, and let him talk to this idiot. I could tell he was mad, because he sounded so polite while he shouted that “Yes, she IS the TECH!”

I got to work, and discovered that the computer had a virus. The ditzy secretary had been cruising the Internet on her lunch hour. Lots of social sites and she picked up a bug. Such fun. Oh, and she hadn’t updated in about six months. This being a Windows machine meant that it took me nearly three hours to download the updates, reinstall the virus software and then bring the machine back up. I took off all of her twee little task bars and set it back to the college standards. That freed up almost a gig of hard drive space. Stupid People!!!

However, my financial aid paperwork is all done and the company is $350 richer. Ha!

Classes and questions

Okay, I’ve started more classes. Since I’m not doing just a one off adult ed class, I had to do all the financial paperwork like FAFSA. Of course, I had to tease George. Told him I needed to quit work, as I made too much money. Once he got over the ice cream headache, I explained that if I wanted a Pell grant and a free ride, I’d have to make less money. As it is, my cost is about $150 a month. Not bad as I am going for a business degree.

I no sooner got my first class roster than Pete grabbed it, hauled me to an adviser he’s friends with and changed it all. Now it’s a business TECH degree… Can I scream now? Oh, and George took one look at my first class-MS Office Suite… and decided that he could crib from it for his project with Kevin. The business is branching out into training. sigh…

On a sad note, our 9am joke calls will now have to be made from heaven. Our client who called and told us a joke each morning died suddenly.

I also switched my machine to dual boot. Not happy about it, but most of my classes use Windows. grrrrr….. I don’t wannna~~~~~waaaaaaaa!!!!! My computer now runs Windows XP and Ubuntu 9.04. I will get use to it eventually. Answer me this though if you have a clue…. Why does a college that touts just how advanced it is in technology not cater to anything except Windows apps? They won’t even use Firefox! That was a real culture shock. I haven’t used Internet Exploder in 5 years! However, as I told George and Pete, I do wash my hands after I log off Windows….  I thought that they were going to die laughing. Kevin who overheard me sprayed Dr. Pepper all over his lap.

Viruses are us…

Oh. My. God! I am so sick of viruses that I could scream. Here I am supposedly studying for my A+ exams in a month and all I do is load Clamwin and debug machines at the moment. There are a bunch of new viruses out that just hammer machines. Open up back doors and copy keystrokes, take screenshots, turn off your virus and update programs and make a hash out of your system. Ugggghh….. And why am I doing it all? Well……

After the other day when I made an off the cuff comment and came up with a solution, I get to “sharpen” my skills. All I said was that “if you can’t get the desktop to respond, why don’t you shove a live distro disk in and see if that will let you access the data”. Apparently, that was the answer sent from heaven and I didn’t even know it. I’d just been listening to George and Kevin complain about this virus that left your icons up and didn’t let you use your mouse. I thought about the live distro and suggested it. It was an answer to the problem. Wow…..

So, I’m doing all the low level stuff so that they can concentrate on the big and bad stuff. Oh, and redoing yet another Hughes job. The guy is an idiot. However, he is our best asset. He gets us more customers than an ad in the papers.

However, the best thing going on lately and the main reason I haven’t posted as much…. is because I have been dating!!! No fainting! Oh hell, I about passed out. Pete, the guy I did the install for….. the #7 on the cute scale, came in a few days later to say that he was having some issues with Fedora. Learning curve stuff. So, George sent him over to me. I was so embarrassed. Here is this gorgeous guy asking me computer questions. So, I took a deep breath, pretended he was my brother Jim, and started answering questions. It took about an hour. Most of it was file issues and music. Fedora doesn’t do mp3’s, so you have to add stuff via root. It took a little bit, but not too long. I gave him the bill, and as he paid it he said he had one more question. I said, “ok”, and was putting his check in the drawer when he asked if I’d like to go out for lunch.

I’m pretty sure you could hear a pin drop all the way to the corner. I just blinked and then like an idiot, asked him “What?”. Where upon he was nice enough to aske me again. After turning beet red, I said yes. Ten minutes later, we were out the door and off to the Bistro. It’s a new place that serves decent food. I had only been there once as it is clear across town and I usually don’t have time. We ate and then Pete dropped me back at work.

I was ready to hit George and the other techs, because they would not stop asking questions. And, if I ever find out which one of them called my mom,…… Geeze! One Lunch, and they have me married. OOOOOOOOHHHHHhhhh!!!

Three days later, he called and asked me out. Pete had forgotten to get my home number, so he called work. Of course, George answered the phone…. and afterwards I had to deal with him teasing me.

We went to the movies, and saw Taken. Wow! That was a cool movie. Funny part is that I kept thinking that the Liam Neeson character reminded me of George. Odd….. Granted, I don’t know what George did before he came here. Maybe I’ll ask. Back to the date. It ws a nice relaxed date. He didn’t even try to kiss me. However, we chatted a lot about work and families. (single, no former wives lurking in dark corners, 1 dog, fairly new to town, no family locally, works for the city) When I asked him why he decided to ask me out, he said….”you seemed a bright and intellegent woman. someone I could hold a real conversation with who didn’t giggle everytime I said file, byte, gigs or notebook in a conversation.”

Huzzah for being a g33k! I love being appreciated for my brains. Even if they are scrambled by blue screens of virused death!

Certifiably Geekieeeee!!!

We have been working our asses off! Hughes screwed up some major jobs and we have been rewiring things until I’m seeing wiring diagrams in my sleep. Oh, and let’s not forget the phones. They  have been ringing like crazy too. I’d thought with so many out of work, that we’d actually slow down. Nope! Weird!!!

We had to go up to our warehouse supply store that does all the right bits for the right prices. Windtronics. They are always so nice. Bottles of water, good conversation, cookies sometimes and lots of cool stuff to buy. George went in for two phone connectors. (yet another Hughes job) What he found though was this bag he could put all of his tools in for half the weight and price of other bags he’d been looking at.

George wrenched his back a week or so ago trying to lift a toolbag weighing 75 pounds on the run. (stupid man!) So, he has been trying to downsize his stuff ever since. His new Samsung NC10 came in and he has been over the moon with it. But,… back to the bag. It was adjustable, just like a camera bag. Lots of bits to change around and fiddle with. He put it up on the counter and said if he could make things fit, he’d buy it. The counter help at Windtronics just laughed and helped him out. 25 minutes later, everything except the laptop was in the bag! We were paying for the bag and the connectors when the boss came out and gave us each a tool kit with pouch about the size of a small apple and a pocket protector with Windtronics on it. I laughed so hard I could barely breathe!

They said that I was now a certified geek! LOL!!!! I proudly stuck it in my handbag with the ad flap sticking out. The tool kit is pretty cool too. Drivers, hex tools and a mini wrench. Best of all, I don’t have to share!

Back at the keyboard…

At last.

My laptop died. Not just the BSOD, but the No Screen of Death. No backlight. No power etc. Not sure what really happened, but it took forever to fix. sigh…

Work has been slow. Good thing, as I’ve been having to use the training computer at work for my workstation while my laptop was fixed. This thing still has Windows on it. XP, but… only because our A+ training software needs a Windows machine. I felt like I was stepping back in time. After using Ubuntu, it was like driving with your grandma. Slow, plodding and doesn’t always go where you want it to. (sorry Nana!) It made me really appreciate Linux.

Then I got sick. I got the flu. Ugggghhhh….. I hate throwing up. I hate being sick. For the first few days when I wasn’t in the bathroom, I was asleep. I know George called and Mom came by, but what we said??? No clue. I just knew that Gatorade appeared out of nowhere and Mr Clark wasn’t crying to be fed. So, someone had to of been by.

By the time I started feeling better, I realized that it had been eight days (!) since I’d last stepped out the door. Called George and asked him if he really needed me, or could I take a few more days off. I just couldn’t see me coping with work yet. Plus, no voice. A squeak, a rasp, but no voice. George teased me about trying to sound sexy on the phone. If I could have reached through the phone, I’d have thumped him. I settled for telling him to hit himself for me. He laughed.

He also said it was fine, and by the time I got back on Monday, my computer should be working. Huzzah!!!! What they didn’t tell me until I got into work on Monday-Groundhog day!- is that they had switched me over to Fedora 10. It had been so long since I’d been on my laptop, that at first I just thought it was that… But then I noticed some subtle differences. Like when I went to switch to a second screen and the CUBE Flipped!!! It was so cool that I shouted! George and our new tech Dan came in to see what all the noise was about. However, they both had such cheesy grins on their faces that I knew something was up. Apparently, Dan lost a $3.00 bet. He figured it would take half the day for me to notice. George bet 15 minutes. He was closer. 19 minutes.

It is really cool. I like the new features and oh my is it fast. I feel like I’m doing 90 mph on the highway in comparison to the training computer. Oh I am happy. I even forgave them for springing it on me.

Well, I had better get going. Today looks like it will be busy. Our favourite client still calls at 9am to tell us a joke. George’s latest angle is to have one ready for him. Only 25 minutes to find our joke of the day!