Monday 7/06 from 8-3pm

Wow I am finally at the end! Today is the last day and boy was it a tough one. All physical labor and man am I glad it's over! We had to pack 3 large computer labs into two small rooms. I can see now the breadth of duties of a school technician. There are times when they are called on to do almost custodial duties, such as moving scores of heavy tables and desks. It is hard to imagine that anyone really "likes" this part of the job, but it is just that--part of the job.

I am pleased to have had such a good intern experience. The people here are wonderful to work with and a wealth of knowledge as well. While I am glad to to done, I will miss this place. =)

Wednesday 7/01 from 9-3pm

Today was great. I got to get my hands dirty!! First I had to move around some PC's from building to building. I spent the rest of the day tearing down labs for moving in a few weeks.

It may not seem like it, but I enjoy days like today where I get to get my hands on the equipment. There isn't much more to tell....but I sure got a lot of machines unplugged and ready to go. =)

Until tomorrow... ~=)

Tuesday 6/30 from 9-3pm

Today is the last day for most of the schools office staff. Central Office and the staff at the tech school will be here all summer. In making my rounds to the schools there were some last minute crisis that had to be addressed. One principal was very worried and frustrated because she couldn't find her network drives. She said she had logged in normally but I'm not sure that was the case. When I had her restart the log-in screen went automatically to "workstation only". This led me to believe maybe she logged in that way by mistake. Regardless, the restart brought back all her network drives and that day was saved. Now, if I could have only helped her by knowing what drive her curriculum information was on...

As every other day so far I had more OptiPlex 620's to boot up. It was super hot today so everything I did all day seemed to be in slow motion.

Until tomorrow... ~=)

Monday 6/29 from 9-3pm

Today was another slow day. Nick and Richard just returned from their week away last week. They have a lot of catching up to do but most of it is stuff they had to do. I did get a few assignments to keep me busy though. All were Optiplex 620 issues though. Yuck! I see how schools learn what to buy, and what not to, with this situation. It is a common flaw among all these models. Unfortunately, it didn't become apparent until the machines aged a bit. By that time they were out of warranty. In tight budget times you can't just get new PC's though. So....

It took almost 2 hours collectively to get one up and running. I worked on 3 more at the same school also. I left notes to log off rather than shut down for the teachers. I know that if it were me that would be hard. I am very energy conscience and always shut-down. Here I guess having them work is better than saving that little bit of energy. =/

Until tomorrow... ~=)

Thursday 6/18 from 10-3pm

Today was a good day for hands-on experience! First I was called on to fix a printer at the Middle School. They had just taken out a larger printer to which the PC was configured. It was as simple as going in and resetting the default printer to the smaller one beside the machine. YEA! When I restarted the machine however, there was an error message regarding memory. Nick asked me to swap the RAM sticks to see if it helped the issue. While I had been inside a machine before, this was a first for me. Patient Nick talked me through it via speakerphone and was great. The worst part was the dust. MAN do these machines house a lot of dust bunnies! I reassembled the machine, powered up, and all seemed to be well. Off I go....

Next was another Optiplex 620 issue. The same issue as before. This one took a couple of tries but booted successfully. Next I am off to install a scanner!

The scanner was easy to hook up but the chore was the drivers. Luckily Nick was at the tech house and found the drivers and loaded them to a network drive for me to install. There were some issues with speed so Nick remoted in, killed some processes, and sped things up considerably. In the end, the scanner worked and I was done for the day. I really enjoyed all the hands-on work today.

Untill next time.... ~=)

Wednesday 6/17 from 10-3pm

Today was a light day. I made rounds to the schools to see if anyone needed help. There was a few minor questions dealing with browser issues and Word help. I also presented my Wireless Networking lesson to Nick. Although he already knew the content, he seemed to stay attentive. It was strange presenting to an audience of one, but he was the only one available. It was worth it though for the experience alone.

Until tomorrow... ~=)

Tuesday 6/16 from 10-3pm

Today was a light day as far as emergency helps or fixes. I spent the majority of the day re-imaging the community ed room. I followed the same process as I described yesterday. I also spent a little time with a teacher starting up he Optiplex GX620. Just like all the others I have had to work with they have a problem starting up. Basically you have to let it attempt to boot for 5-10 minutes. Then you hold in the power button until it shuts off and IMMEDIATELY press again to start. It usually boots this way but it may take 3-10 tries to get it to do so. =(

Until tomorrow... ~=)