PC ProSchools – TechTalk

There is a dream that most youngsters have.  It is a dream that many adults have as well.  A dream that continues to fuel the imagination of the masses has made its way into reality for a select few individuals but still eludes most.  The dream is simple: A Personal Flight Vehicle; a device capable of transporting a single individual through the air at a wide range of speeds and divesting him or her safely at the intended destination with none of the aggravation that comes with mundane 4 wheel standard transportation.  (a silly dream, but a dream nonetheless)

With very little exception this quest to find just such a device has been a complete and utter failure.  I remember as a child promises that someday I too could use the same jet-pack that Lee Majors or James Bond used.  Promises of technology just a few years out that would allow the dream to materialize always seem to fade away.  The dream continues though.  NASA is working on a project that may finally make dreams come true.  The Puffin is a single-person Vertical Take-Off electric powered airplane.  Look out everyone, I am going to get one as soon as they are available to the public.  Sadly the article in the link does not say when that will be.

Another dream? Another promise? The quest for the Grail (personal flight) seems to be just that.  But just like any good Knight on a Quest I will continue dreaming that someday the quest will end and my dream will become reality.  I just hope I can afford the thing when it does hit the dealership showroom…

Please make sure to read this whole blog as whether this refers to you or not, as this is something you should help ease your mind now or later when you need this most. Remember that this is a roller coaster ride with your emotions going through the program. Some experience bigger highs and lows than others may, but this is one thing to not let those lows especially be lower than what it could be. I can’t speak for you, but for myself I can be my worst critic.

I am one of the instructors in the Brookfield campus. As I continue to meet new students and see others finish their classes here at PC ProSchools, what I see most often are students that doubt their abilities or knowledge of what they have learned. I cannot emphasize enough to students is that they are doing way better than what they believe or give themselves credit for.

You do not know where you should be sitting with your knowledge especially like your instructor will know where you should be. So please do not compare yourself to how you think others in your class are doing. Please by all means, do not keep telling yourself you are not getting this when you really don’t know that you are. You will amaze yourself one day in the future if you haven’t already with your ability to remember something you didn’t think you remembered. Now if you do nothing like watch the videos and read the material, then you are correct in saying “I am just not getting this.” If you are doing what is being asked of you and what the instructional staff has made every effort to do to make your educational efforts a success to be an easier path for you, than you are getting on the right path to building good understandings. Remember the greater picture of success isn’t just getting through the program, it is also being able to fit right in to everyday activities of administering and troubleshooting technology no matter what capacity you’re in whether it is help desk or systems administration.

The thing is, in your perception, you may be viewing the trees in front of you as the entire forest which may never end, when you really do not know where the end of the forest is. Us instructors know exactly where that is and you are most of the time closer than you may think. So when an instructor feels you are getting it, and they feel you are being too tough on yourself, please by all means remove this possible distraction from your mind as it can affect your studies and can be a major roadblock to your overall success. I want to see everyone succeed, and want to let you know that you really don’t know how you should be comparing yourself to where you should be.

One last thing I want to say is, in labs, please focus on your own progress and not, and I repeat to not focus on your neighbors. I always go about my studies as I want to do this for myself, not to be first in completion or to say to myself “John Doe is way up there? Wow I am not getting this”.

So hopefully this can be helpful advice from my experiences with students’ critical of themselves, when they have no real way to compare where they really should be in their knowledge to date in studies.

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I decided I needed a new computer, actually I wanted to play around with Windows 7. I checked out upgrading my old computer; there were some old applications that would not be supported and although it met minimum requirements, I really needed more RAM and a speedier processor.  So it being the weekend after Thanksgiving I started browsing to find out what specials I could get on Cyber Monday, and found that there were still specials running from Black Friday.

I started by finding a motherboard CPU combo then adding RAM, hard drives, power supply, and video card.  Then making adjustments to meet my budget; of course when I switched out the MB, the type of Ram changed and the power requirements changed.  I didn’t need a case, as I had an computer that I had built for me when XP first came out that I was going to strip. It just sort of trickled down, finally I found the right combination to meet my needs.  So I placed my order and waited for the parts to arrive.

The parts were delivered to work about a week later and I couldn’t wait to get home and start putting it together.  But first there was that old computer that still needed to be cleaned up.  I removed all the cards, drives, MB and power supply and then took a look at the case.  It was a full tower in that beige color that used to be popular and had some nasty scraps in it.  I decided my new computer just couldn’t look like that, so out to the garage and I either took off or masked off all the beige plastic pieces and then painted all the metal with Rustoleum Hammered paint in a blue color.

Now that the case was looking good I started putting all the pieces together.

Empty case and 650W power supply

Motherboard and 3.2GHz CPU installed

Dual 640Gb SATA drives, floppy, 8Gb RAM, video card, fans, and cabling.  You can see the alligator clip for my ground strap in the lower left corner

Completed computer

Now one thing I forgot to order was a new CD burner, so I went shopping on my way to work and picked up a CD/DVD with LightScribe. Now after getting everything put together, the big moment.  I put my finger on the power button, looked away, crossed the fingers of my other hand and pressed the button.  No problems, it powered right up.  I inserted my copy of Windows 7 64 bit, rebooted, and started the installation.  Now, figuring this would take a while, I went to the other room for about 10 minutes.  When I came back I saw the install was waiting for a response from me.  I thought to myself, it was a good thing I came back or it would take all day to get the install done.  I set the time zone and entered my username, and it started back up.  I looked away to pick something up and when I turned back it was sitting at the logon screen.  I have never seen an OS  install that fast, needless to say I was pretty happy.

I have been working with it for a little while now, and I haven’t had any issues.  I downloaded Windows Virtual Machine for Windows 7, along with XP mode (which is a separate download.) Virtual Machine will now recognize your USB ports, which is great for me as Windows 7 doesn’t work with my digital camera, but XP will.  The only other thing I added since is a front panel that has USB, Firewire, and audio ports.

The experience was totally enjoyable other than the bit of trepidation when hitting the power button the first time.  Now I have started to take an old rack server case and put some other old parts into it, to see if I can get it up and running.  I’m on hold till I can find a power supply for that one.  If it works out I may write about it too.