TMI….

Sometimes there are things you just shouldn’t know…. don’t want to know… wish you didn’t know. Oh well…

We are coming up on the three month anniversary of our hack attack. To date, the FBI has done diddly squat, and now I know more about George than I think I ever want to know. I knew he was a member of the 2600 guild. I knew that he had some pretty good tricks up his sleeve. I know he is the fastest network admin that I have ever seen in my life.

For example, I had him run me to the store because my pickup is acting up again. I get what I need, head back to the car and he is all kinds of antsy. I ask what is wrong and George asks if we are done. I mention that I have one more stop, but it could wait if it was necessary. George nodded and hands me his phone. Kevin had called. Our firewall at work had been breeched. So, we headed back to the office. My computer was shut down already, so I wasn’t worried about that. However, until he dealt with the hacker, I couldn’t get back online. So, I went back to the storage room and cleaned.

I came out because I could hear him talking in a loud voice into his phone. One look at his face, and I went back to my cleaning. About 40 minutes later, he came in and I asked what was wrong. Seems that whoever has been hiring hackers hired one of his fellow 2600 members. Someone he personally knows. Now, the guy didn’t realize who he was being hired to hack. So, that pissed them both off. I think they had some sort of hacker fight, because George was growling and working on his computer. Then I heard him say “Goodbye &())(*_)(^^!!!!” as he hit a series of keys. When I asked him what that was about, he said he had just gotten rid of the hacker. I didn’t get a better explanation, because the phone rang. Apparently, it was the hacker he had just disemboweled.

At that point, I waved goodnight to George and left him to his phone conversation. Pete met me for dinner and while talking about our day, I realized that Pete knows more about George than I do. Geeze!!! Pete really respects George for his ethics. Said that George could have been a lot nastier and has the capabilities to do so. Also that George use to be some sort of bad ass in the military. hmm…… Guess I aught to be good…

Meanwhile, I am bored silly with my latest class. Pete promised me a trip to the mountains if I’m good and manage to pass the class without screaming. I’m working on it.

OH!!!! Mustn’t forget the movie we watched. Demolition Man. Sylvester Stallone, Wesly Snipes… Oh my god it was a riot. Sandra Bullock singing commercial jingles……. LOLOLOLOL!!!!!

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.

Hackers

Work has been interesting. Slow, but that is ok. Probably a good thing all considered. Between me trying to cope with my classes, dates with Pete and everyday stuff, the hackers attacking our network has made things frustrating. Three days ago, George noticed that the network was working harder than it should be. He started investigating it and noticed that we had someone trying to hack our server. He smiled and went to take care of it. He figured that it was gone, as we have hack attackes from time to time. Just the sort of thing that happens because we are an ISP. Idiots think that they are l33t h@ks0rs… and have to prove their testoterone driven systems by attacking other computers. No, I do not understand that aspect of being a geek at all.

Then last night, George’s computer started screaming at the top of it’s little speakers voice. A claxon alarm. Once he got it shut off, all I heard was “Dammit all to fuck” and the sound of the network being torn apart. Good thing I was done with work early and we had just been sitting around talking. When I left, George was knee deep in computer wires. He was ripping things apart because some hacker had gotten all the way into his system. Not sure if he was shredding the network because of safety issues or because it stung his pride. Either way, I was getting out of there.

Came to work this morning to find that my desk had been moved. I have a new monitor to use with my system and the entire office has been redone. It will take me at least a week to figure out where George has relocated everything. I’m not even going to think about the actual system. I really didn’t understand all the ins and outs of the various machines, and George has taken off all the taped names off them for the moment. They had been named after Lord of the Rings characters. Aragorn was the server, my machine was Galadriel, etc. Now I think George said he was using the Kama Sutra or Hindu mythology. All I know is that the big bad server is now called Kali. I’ll have to wait until he gives me all the particulars and passwords later. Meanwhile, I don’t even have a printer. If I want to print, I have to drag a cord across the offce.  I’m just wondering what George did to the hacker. He has a bag of tricks, and none of them nice.

I’ve got a date with Pete tonight. I think we are going to the movies. Night at the Museum II is playing. What I want to see is the other Iron Man movie. At least while we are at the movies, Pete won’t ask me how class is going. I’m doing alright, but I am not sure I am ready for Accounting II. Yuck. I have psch I and Business ethics coming up. Wheee…. I get to learn how to ethically play with your mind.

Back to school

Good thing I like him… Pete and George were talking and the two of them ganged up on me… About college. Granted, Pete has an unfair advantage. He is a college professor. Don’t know how I missed that at first. I guess I just figured he was a high school teacher when he said he taught. Never asked where… But George did! (sigh….) Pete picked me up at work one afternoon and George started talking to him while I got ready. George found out more in 15 minutes than I had in five dates! Pete teaches political history, and governmental studies at the college. Which is why I didn’t run into him when I was taking my accounting class.

This of course lead to a conversation as to why I hadn’t gotten my degree… Now they are trying to talk me into getting a Bachelors in Business management. I’m still trying to resist.

I also learned a lot about George listening to the two of them talking. George did stuff in the military, which I suspected he was in, but never had any conformation. He and Pete were talking about the job George had last month. The one where the government was milking techs for information and not paying them. It was this whole scheme where they’d call you up, and give you a few trial jobs as part of the interview process… You’d fix the tech issues and then have an interview. Next thing you knew, after maybe 20 hours of work, you’d be waiting to get a phone call saying you had a job…. Instead, you got a call saying “no thanks!”.  George billed them for 50 hours with most of the the work done on this virus, Ghost.rat. They did the whole “yeah, get the contract signed and paide at the end of the month…” I don’t think he even got home before they called him and said “thanks, but no thanks!” Oh he was furious. Once again, there was military crap that he couldn’t talk about and that kind of thing, but oh… He was so angry. The only good part of the whole deal is that he made a patch for the virus, but didn’t give them all of the documentation. This way, they can’t do anything but let his repair work. No source code to play with or anything else. So, if Ghost.rat  eats them for lunch, they are just screwed.

The other thing going on around here is an effort by George and Kevin to revamp the business. Repairs are going down the tubes. People rather just throw things away than fix them. Expecially if the fix is going to cost almost as much as a new computer. The guys are trying to figure out how to make the business work without the repairs section bringing in as much revenue.

argh……

rePete or is that Repeat?

I haven’t posted much, because I feel like I have nothing new to say. Gads, that sounds lame, but it is true.

Viruses… I am still doing all the low level tech work because George is gone so much of the time lately. He’s up working with this company that has a defense service contract about 100 miles from us. George actually got ahead of the big boys on this monster and now he is being tapped to help kill it. Makes me really wonder what George did before he ended up here. Oh well, I’ll never know. Not unless I get George really drunk… (ha! like that will ever happen)

Frustrating part is that George can’t talk about a lot of what he is doing because it is “classified” stuff. sigh… No juicy stories… pout. I’m not sure what is irritating him more. The work, the stupidity of the people he’s working with, the hush hush games or the virus. Either way, he is antsy as all hell when he goes up and must call me 8-10 times a day while he’s gone. Mostly to let off steam. Last week he called and asked me if I had those laptop parts yet. I said “Huh?” because I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then he said, “You know, the one for the Yarr’s computer.”  The Yarr’s have a desktop pc older than dirt, which is when I figured that he wanted to come home. I replied that I had it and he had better get back quick, because they wanted it yesterday! George then said he’d be back in 2 hours. Found out later that he’d had enough bullshit, and needed a way out. Whee!!!

George left this morning in the snow, and I’m sure I’ll hear from him once or twice before the day is over. This is one job I just wish was over and the invoices paid. Over 75 hours logged and not a dime yet, because it is a sub-contract. grrrr.

Our other two techs, Dan and Kevin have only been working part time. Not enough work. The only reason that I still work full time is because George is out of the office so much that someone has to answer the phones. Hughes, our competition we love to hate has closed his shop. Still working from home, but no more storefront. They had a picture of the guy in the newspaper rewiring a phone system. Oh my! What a mess… George figures it will be about a month before they call us in to repair his “repair”.

Then there is Pete. sigh…… Ah, the way to a g33kgURL’s heart. He likes that I’m computer savvy. That I have a brain and I’m not afraid to use it. We went to the local bookstore’s chess night last week. He played. I watched. It has been way too long since I played chess. I could have sat down and played with the beginners, but it was nice to just watch. Afterwards, we went out for chinese.

Mr. Clark likes Pete too. I guess that is a bonus as my sister and brother suspect him of some dire deed. Can’t figure that one out, but neither one really likes him. Oh well. They aren’t dating him.  Maybe it was the fact that the other day I missed a family dinner because Pete and I were too busy smooching on the couch!   Oh well. Don’t care. And for the record, this blog is staying G rated. I so am not publishing my love life online.