Too Long

Yes, it HAS been too long since I last posted on this blog. It's been close to 6 weeks, maybe longer.

The posts have been missing, because my head has been elsewhere. On August 1st, I again took the RedHat Certified Engineers exam. This is one of the few remaining IT related exams that actually has any value on the market. RedHat is a Linux distribution that has corporate support and offers technical support for contract purchasers. Their exam is an all day long affair, requiring the examinee to troubleshoot and repair an intentionally broken Linux server. In the afternoon, the examinee is required to install, setup and configure a linux system and supporting services as well as establish security. This being a practical exam, RedHat is not concerned with what steps you take to accomplish the assigned tasks, so long as the services are working as necessary.

Once all was done, I passed the exam and earned the certification.

Now, here is the most interesting part. Since I added the exam to resume on Monster.com, I have received more hits than ever before.

Lately, I have been studying the SCSA (Solaris Certified Systems Administrator) exam. My current employer will soon be offering the Solaris 10 operating system from Sun on our servers.

So, in a nutshell, work is ... well, work. It's paying the bills. The certifications are helping, and I'm expecting a raise, soon. However, I do not expect my mid-year review to go as well as previously. I've been a bit of a pain in the back-end to my boss. He has a clue of some of the personal things going on and cuts me a little slack.

I'm still looking for a place to set up a forge. I may have found a place to rent, but they are wanting more than I can afford, unless they fix up the 2nd story to be an apartment. An older two story auto service station. Just large enough to be an apartment. Down stairs are three auto stalls. The building shaped as an 'L' has one stall on the short side, and two on the long side, with an office between. The entrance to the upstairs is through the office space. At $650.00 a month, plus bills for the space, I'm very interested. I would be willing to pay 900.00 a month for the space if the upstairs were made into living quarters.

Maybe I should speak with them about doing the conversion for them.

P.Blacksmith