Incoherent Babble

I think all these California / Silicon Valley blogs are starting to become detrimental to my mental health. You heard me right… Mark Jen, you’re destroying my sanity! Scoble, you’re ruining my life!

You’re probably wondering what the hell I’m doped up on right about now, right? Well, the answer is: nothing.

OK, so maybe they’re not really ruining my life or single-handedly destroying my sanity, but all these blogs are starting to become a little depressing. As much as I love reading them every day (multiple times a day for the addicts like Scoble), I’m starting to compare these perceived / portrayed wonderful lives against my own, and coming up sorely lacking when I’m done.

It seems like everyone’s making such a difference in the world, changing the software and tech industries for the better, and I’m just plodding along day after day doing nothing of significance in the grand scheme of things.

Reality Check!

• I’ve single-handedly converted an entire company (nearly 100 workstations) from Windows 98 and 98 SE on sub-gigahertz machines to Windows XP Professional on brand new Dell hardware in 18 months while constantly fighting those resisting the change.
• The leverage for converting these workstations came when I single-handedly setup, installed, and implemented a Microsoft Exchange 2000 email server and Windows 2000 Domain Controller with no prior knowledge of the systems or infrastructures invovled.
• I single-handedly converted the entire company from POP3 Eudora email accounts to the new Microsoft Outlook 2000 client running accounts off our new Exchange server.
• I deployed the Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition server and clients company-wide, replacing the Computer Associates eTrust stand-alone client installations previously used.
• I deployed the Microsoft Systems Update Server and configured appropriate Group Policies to deploy client configurations company-wide.
• I facilitated the move from an unrealiabile Wireless ISP to a dedicated T1 line from BellSouth by not only purchasing, but configuring from the ground up a Cisco 2514 router (including hacking up an extra serial cable to create an equivalent of the Cisco RJ-45 -> RS232 console management cable), again without any prior knowledge of the systems or infrastructures involved.
• I totally re-wired our entire building pre-move, and managed the moving and re-installation of all existing servers.
• I was one of the first people to emphasize the importance of quality security and personnel policies in preventing the infection by and spread of malicious software commonly referred to as spyware, as well as the costs to business operations if these threats are not taken seriously.

OK, so maybe I really haven’t made any earth-shattering changes to an entire industry and maybe I haven’t revolutionized much of anything, and just maybe no one will really remember me for anything I’ve done, but I’ve made some major changes in the way our company operates on a daily basis. In my life, I’ve made a difference, and I suppose that’ll have to do.