Spreading
the Geek Gospel Greetings, salutations, and well met, friends of IAIA. It is my distinct pleasure to be writing you from the heart of San Pedro Columbia. After a nearly interminable wait - six months! - Rachel and I arrived on September 14th, and finally got to work. To be fair, it doesn't really feel quite right to call what I do here work. Don't get me wrong, I've been putting in some serious hours and trying to lift the 10-ton bale of straw off Connie's back, but it's hard to think of your job as a job when you get to walk home on a road lined with seven different varieties of palm. Not to mention the guava… Oh the sweet, sweet guava. Oh, and did I mention that my last job was doing graphic design and marketing work for an investment banking firm in Columbus, Ohio? Well, I guess my last, last job was slinging movies on the day shift at North Campus Video, but I mean the last job that my parents would call a job. Regardless, I was once in the employ of bankers. And I'm not talking about any Jimmy Stewart-channelin', loveable, huggable, everyman bankers, either. So after any particularly long day in the lab, fixing what needs fixing and fiddling with what needs fiddling, it never ceases to hit me just how lucky I am. Nor, for that matter, how much Connie has accomplished in such a short span of time. Nevertheless, I am, shall we say, a bit of a geek. A dweeb, if you will. And that means there's always tweaking to be done in the lab. Since our arrival, I've been setting up a Windows-based server, or centralized machine, which will allow us to have an unlimited number of computers share files, browse the Internet, or compete in a no-holds-barred typing challenge. (Our previous limit was 10 computers.) In addition, I've set up Active Directory user accounts for all the lab's users. This not only allows them to have their files saved in a protected, secure environment (i.e., safe from the random lunchtime clicking assaults by the schoolkids,) but also makes it much easier for the lab's managers to track usage. That means better accounting, better bookkeeping, and less policy infringements (read: nekkid lady pictures). One other big advantage of our new setup is some key techie shortcuts I'm implementing. Namely, I'm setting up a remote installation program on the server which should allow us to get wrecked machines back up and running in a fraction of the time it took in the past. That is, of course, assuming that our network cards all keep running. Keep yer fingers crossed and knock on some wood, darn it. The new changes are not only cutting down servicing time, but are a little more user-friendly for the villagers who are on track to take over the lab full-time. I'm training the managers and several other tech-savvy villagers how to troubleshoot and resolve server-side networking problems, how to avoid the pitfalls of malware, and how to repair the inevitable hardware failures that are bound to crop up in a public lab. At first I was unsure of the full sustainable nature of the lab, mainly due to the advanced networking tasks performed by the server, but my qualms were recently laid to rest. One evening, as Connie, Jerry, Rachel and I were celebrating…well, I can't remember exactly what we were celebrating, but it involved a few ice cold beers. Anyway, our Peace Corps volunteer arrived to tell me that the office computer at the lab wasn't able to access the Internet, and that Vanessa, one of the managers, required my aid. I trekked up to the lab, a little rosy-cheeked, and prepared to investigate. By the time I had arrived, however, the computer was already in working condition. Two days prior, I had briefly explained to Ale - the lab's other manager - how the new server would be assigning IP addresses to the computers so they could communicate with the Net. When the computer couldn't reach the Net that night, Ale stepped forward (she happened to be in the lab chatting) and ran an IP diagnostic with text-based commands. Yes, it's as complicated as it sounds. When she noticed that the computer had an IP address not within our reserved scope, she ran a few commands and fixed the issue. Voila. Children rejoiced, choirs sang from on high, and I felt resoundingly secure in our work in Columbia. It was a rare moment of absolute confidence that would have sent Cassandra herself running through fields of daisies, arms akimbo, prophesying only good tidings. I hope that
you too can now rest easy, and know that you have been instrumental in
bringing about that rarest specimen of developmental work - the sustainable
project.
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