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Saturday, March 01, 2008

What I like about my Masters program

Now that I am past the half-way point, I look back and have realized what I like about my master’s so far.

It is the feedback.  Something I don’t get elsewhere.  I work hard and long.  I get feedback like this:

Current class:
“Week 1 Feedback: Hi David, You put more than just great effort into your first week of this
power-packed course, and I’m very proud of you for surviving ... many did not
as the class size dwindled.  Keep up the great project management it takes to
navigate your way through these difficult assignments!  Thanks for you
leadership with your classmates! “

Programming:
“You have been and are great resource for this class. I’m very impressed with your precision on most of the topics we have covered so far. “

The other classes have included similar remarks. 

Friday, February 08, 2008

Two masters classes at the same time

I took 2 classes at the same time - CSS561 and CMGT555.  The first was a programming class in C and the second was a change management class. 

It was a huge time commitment taking two at a time, however it did mean that I will get done with my Masters six weeks sooner.

So, how did I do?

CSS561:  98.9%
CMGT555:  99.7%

I think it is funny that I did better in change management than I did in programming.  Of course, part of that is the team dynamics of things and the collaborative nature of the classes.  There is a certain amount of work that you can’t control.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

e-mail from tony fuller

Tony Fuller to dpitts
show details 9:47 AM (2 hours ago)

We are doing fine here.  We know the places that we can go safely and the places we shouldn’t go.  I will be sending out an update soon so you should get that.

Thanks,
Tony

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

System administrator convicted of logic bomb

"Medco sys admin gets 30 months for planting logic bomb” see story at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9056284&intsrc=hm_list

Obviously there are several things going on here…

1) The dude was stupid and not a good programmer
2) While the media called the trick “sophisticated” it obviously wasn’t.
3) Medco doesn’t have a good system to monitor changes to their systems.  If nothing else, it should have caught the cron or at job the sys admin used to schedule the job
4) He got 30 months and then 2 years probation and not allowed to touch a computer while in jail - seems like a small punishment to me.

A related story (http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=cybercrime_and_hacking&articleId=9038218) is about his conviction.  The first story is his sentencing.  He was convicted in September and not sentenced until Jan 8th.  So much for timeliness in the judicial system!

I read this quote and wanted to share

"The Orthodox Church is the light of faith in the Word of God in the darkness of whimsical opinions...”

The phrase “the darkness of whimsical opinions” is a very compelling phrase to me.  FYI, it is from an interview of Met. Herman (http://www.oca.org/News.asp?ID=1415&SID=19) in describing the role of the Orthodox Church in the modern world.

The complete question and answer was “Q. How would you define the role of the Orthodox Church in the modern world?

A. The Orthodox Church is the light of faith in the Word of God in the darkness of whimsical opinions, the pillar of morality amidst the quicksand of relativist societies. Our purpose is to transform the modern world, rather than conform to it, as the Scripture tells us.