in retrospect…

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-982305.html from News.com

Now this I find funny. Apparently, when the MS SQL worm hit the streets on January 25, one of the hardest hits was no other than the Microsoft network itself (please see related story at http://news.com.com/2100-1001-982135.html also at News.com). The Microsoft network was “struggling with a massive infection by the SQL Slammer worm, which inundated many corporate networks Saturday with steady streams of data that downed Internet connections and clogged bandwidth”, said CNETs News.com. Now, this is a classic case of the management who created the technology, apparently does not rely on this same technology.

See, what happened was this: MS SQL had a known bug since six months ago and patches were deployed as soon as the bug was found out. After this, one would’ve thought that all servers running MS SQL will have already patched their servers, and a tragedy of this magnitude would not have happened. But inside Microsoft itself, where the techonolgy was created and patched, and supposedly, the same technology is being used, they did not follow their own advices to system administrators.

“At approximately, 10:00 p.m. (PST, Friday), traffic on the corporate network jumped dramatically, eventually bringing all services to a crawl, ” stated Mike Carlson’s, director of data center operations for Microsoft’s Information Technology Group, memo. “The root cause appears at this time to be a virus attacking SQL.”

“We are not sure how the virus got into our network,” he said.

nnyehehehe…

Who’s at fault? Definitely not technology. They have since created a patch for a known bug six months ago, right? The problem is Microsoft itself failed to put to good use their own technology. It is the management’s fault this time…

nuff said!

Ciao, baby…

Last Friday, the 17th of January, I bought, in the name of APC of course, a Nokia 30 GSM Connectivity Terminal for Php17,000. In short, I bought a GSM modem. The problem is that it does not come with applications, meaning, the modem cannot be used out of the box. Not an install-and-use thing, buset!

It does come with a CD-ROM, but all that was inside were PDFs of the technical details about it, what it does, how it does it, the usual crap. So, I was resigned in finding (or creating) my own apps so that I can use it. So, like all other developers before me, I fired up my favorite browser (Opera 6), and searched my favorite search engine (Google.com) for the terms ’sms send store modem.’ And voila!, I came upon gsmlib. This is the package to use if you want to read and send SMS through the modem. The only problem is, the package does not come with enough information and examples to make my work easier.

So now, I have to work long and hard (hey! I was here last Sunday, you know!!!) just to make this thing work. But who?s complaining? I am not!

You see, this is the kind of work that makes my blood boil with desire. The need for discovery of new things (maybe not for others but to me, it is) is what spells my life. I always crave for challenges, which I will sooner or later overcome with diligent study and work.

But enough about that. I definitely love this new toy of mine. For now, I have to spend my time studying how it works, what makes it work, and the correct apps to use. Soon, we (with Mr Joegene Quesada and Mr Glen Tan) will integrate the graphical interface the two of them are presently creating using PHP/MySQL that will allow us to define keywords and actions for incoming SMS messages. Yes!!! This will be fun!!!

Ciao, baby…

I am really getting tired of all these teaching I do. Imagine, I have three classes every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and once every Tuesdays and Thursdays, for a total of 12 units every week!!! And on top of that, I have my administrative job at the ITRG!!! namputsa talaga, o…

But, I am not one to say no for a chance to teach students, especially those I know who are willing to learn. And this term, I believe I already have converts to my way of studying, and I have another chance at converting another class!

With my MWF classes, they already know (with the exception of some new students, but they are learning fast) how I teach, and what I want them to achieve at the end of the term. I have students like Angelo Cruz, who goes out of his way, just to finish projects I assign him out of class hours. Then, there?s Belen Cuyugan-Busby who makes my teaching life a lot clearer by always asking questions about how I teach, not what I teach. There are Acebuque, Vasquez, Mendoza who always try my patience by not studying well, but I still love them for it. There are the girls in my classes Nikki, Nerves, Gelai, Calai, Beth, Jacq, Princess, April and Aprille, Tin2, Lally, and Karen, who always provide that perspective that not all my students can be bulied around. And finally the men (you know who you are) who joke around with me when it comes to women. Ahhh, to be young again… and I live it through them…

But, tired or not, I don’t think I will want to change anything in my life right now. I will still want to teach this people, and I’d do it over and over again.

Ciao, baby…

…my teaching style.

I know, I know! Some of you have been telling me this since forever, and I wasn?t listening. But, the thing is, those who were telling me were either 2nd year or 3rd year students. So I figured, you are already mature enough, and know enough computers to understand what I am saying.

But today, I had a rude wake-up call, a heads-up, an awakening, that not all students are the same.

I have this INPROLA (Introduction to Programming Languages) class where I teach 1st year students the world of C programming. So I was teaching away, blocks, includes, ints, vars, when there’s this trio of students who, although they were listening, does not really seem to understand me, while the rest of the class seemed to be pacing well along.

And right then and there, I realized that these were 1st year students, probably without computer backgrounds at all (maybe to some degree), and will not ever understand my lessons if I treat them other than as students, 1st year students to be specific.

So what is a person to do?

Time spent teaching is time well spent…

Ciao, baby…

Yesterday, Mr Joe Gene and I went to the Advanced Science and Technology Institute under the Department of Science and Technology (ASTI-DOST) for its 16th year celebration of ASTIDays. Specifically, we attended One Embedded Morning, a tech talk sponsored by the Embedded Systems Group of ASTI which aims to create awareness among the country?s skilled software and hardware developers, the Academe and the Industry. Yes, we did learn many things. But I will be talking about that in a separate space.

Later on after the tech talk, I went around the exhibits and had a talk with Beth Macapil, the Team Leader of the Project Management Group of the Philippine Research, Education, and Government Information Network (PREGINET), and I found out from her that we can have a partnership between APC and PREGINET and we will have complete access to all their researches!!! And from there, we can create our own that will, in turn, suit the needs of the industry. I am pushing for this. For one, our learning experience will not be limited to APC alone. To be able to maximize the partnership, we can have a link directly with the PREGINET network, which also creates a link to all the portals of learning around the world. In short, we have a free Internet connection between academic institutions and R&D departments all over the world without the hassle of going through commercial Internet sites!!! No porn! No MP3s! (Is that good? I?d have to rethink that one!)

For other on-going projects, I also had a talk with one of the tech talk speakers, Mr Felipe Santiago, president of Trident Electronics Corporation. In his talk, he mentioned that he is one of the only few distributors of fingerprint readers here in the Philippines. This can be a big boon to students working on the NBI Fingerprinting Project. And so on, and so on, and so on…

Anyway, yesterday was very fruitful in terms of networking with other people we can either partner with, or link up with, so that our students can get the most out of them. Ahhhh, life! Parang buhay!!! KUNG HEI FAT CHOY, everyone!!!

Ciao, baby…