While doing some other research today I came across a really nice Introduction to Cron for you UNIX users out there. And this page, which I have found before, on easy ways to do remote file copies via SSH.
I wanted to get up decently early this morning, probably around nine, but when I started to get up Oreo snuggled close and said in his puppy way “don’t get up yet, I want more snuggles” and I just couldn’t resist so I stayed in bed, awake, until almost eleven. Oreo finally, at that point, discovered the sunlight and decided that he would be happy moving out to the living room and laying in a sunspot on the loveseat.
I couldn’t decide what I wanted to work on this morning so I logged into my workstation and got to work on some Brainbench stuff since so much of that is now out of date. Dominica got up shortly after me and decided that she needed to do her homework so it worked out well for both of us. My first project this morning is taking the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 Beta exam from Brainbench. I don’t get any credit for this exam because it is only in beta but because I am a senior admin specifically on RHEL 3, RHEL 4 and RHEL 5 running it both at the office and at home I felt that I really should put in the effort to do the beta because I can provide important feedback to improve these tests for everyone.
The one nice thing about doing the beta exams is that you do get feedback even if it doesn’t officially go on your transcript. You have to take the exam twice so that they get a better idea of how the questions stack up in different configurations. On my first pass through I scored a high masters and ranked in the top percentile of all test takers. The test doesn’t have a means to report any higher than that. So that was encouraging.
One of the best things about doing lots of certifications like the Brainbench is that it really forces you to spend a lot of time researching things that you do not use everyday or possible ever. It basically forces you into a one to two hour crammed study session.
The beta tests took a little over two hours but I feel that it was time well spent. From there I continued on and renewed my Linux (General) certification even though the test is horribly out of date. Even with the test being terribly old and out of date and covering nothing that I do I still pulled off eighth in New Jersey.
I took a bit of a break and hung out with Dominica and Oreo for a little while before going on to the next test. I find that once I get into the testing groove I really like to stick with it. I am the same way about homework, believe it or not.
When we took Oreo outside for his afternoon walk we managed to time our reentry into the building just perfectly to coincide with a fifteen week old Boston Terrier puppy named Barney coming into Eleven80 to visit some people. He was black and white just like our Oreo and so adorable. We took Oreo over to meet him and they were pretty friendly. Oreo is generally good with puppies. He just doesn’t like Bull Terriers that are his size or larger for some reason. Then, while the two Bostons were saying hello, two black and white French Bulldogs came down to the lobby with the exact same markings are the two Bostons. It was like a weird Boston Terrier Convention but with French Bulldogs masquerading as Bostons.
I did a quick image seach on Yahoo! today for: “boston terrier” oreo. And would you believe that our Oreo is not only the first hit but is the only dog who shows up on the first seven plus pages and is almost exclusively the only dog for the first nine pages! Our Oreo is the most famous Boston Terrier named Oreo ever.
I took the Linux (SUSE) exam after that and without even bothering to try, as the test was ridiculously outdated and worthless, I managed to tie for ninth place in the world. What a bad exam. I decided to go on with the Server Administration exam which is a general exam covering the basics of server administration without going into an operating system specific details. I rushed through the test as the day was getting shorter by the minute and Oreo is more and more likely to need lots of attention as the day wears on. But I still ranked fifteenth in the United States and pulled off a Masters so it was fine.
We ordered in dinner from Mi Pequeño Mexico. I did some more reading in my Prototype book. We watched two episodes of The Cosby Show while we ate our dinner. Then Dominica had to go back and work on her homework since she has a paper plus numerous other homework assignments due by midnight tonight.
Later in the evening Dominica sent me down to the Market City Deli to find her some cookies. I went down and ran into Pam on a mission to find a candy bar. She was out during halftime of the American football match that is going on today. When we went back to Eleven80 we ran into Ryan who had been watching the game but was relatively bored as American football is not exactly an exciting sport to watch. So he decided that he would grab some beer or something and stop up to our apartment sometime soon to hang out.
I put in some time looking at rsync and other backup options tonight as I am trying to determine a solid backup strategy for myself. Ryan came up and we talked about backups for a little while (Ryan is a UNIX system administrator.) He likes Bacula and I will be looking into it a bit more thoroughly. I am no backup expert so it is a hard area to make good decisions in for me.
Ryan and I hung out and enjoyed some New Orleans rum and Coke while he regaled us with tales of his week down in Louisiana helping to rebuild the city. He took off home on the early side so that he could get some sleep and get to work tomorrow. I decided to stay up with Dominica to keep her company while she worked on her homework. We should be in bed at approximately midnight.