Have to mention this, as i have been watching a lot of my favourite songs on YouTube, live versions always seem interesting to me whether i was in the audience to see them live or not.

Check out these gems:

Radiohead – Like Spinning Plates

Radiohead – True Love Waits

David Gilmour – Dark Globe

David Gilmour – Red Sky at Night

David Gilmour – Where we start

Hope you enjoy them.

So to other things, i have been meaning to pop on here to update a few things, interesting support incidents or just trivial details of my day to day life, but i just haven’t got around to it.

One thing i keep coming across is a mis-configuration, or lack of configuration of Exchange 2003, specifically to do with supporting mobile devices. iPhones are of course ever popular and gaining momentum on the famous blackberry, but do you really want to configure a pop3/smtp account on a device that is capable of so much more?

Please remember to install Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2, which opens the door to a whole new world for your mobile users.

Now my mind has emptied completely about what i was hoping to write about. Great.

Ahh yes, Rogue Anti Virus programs, a real pain in the ass. Found a good tool called rkill.exe on bleeping computer.com which will halt all malware running on your system, allowing you to download and install the anti malware of your choice, quite keen on Malware Bytes and Avira at the moment, both seem to do a sterling job of cleaning up the mess. Of course users will be completely unaware as to how such programs could have arrived on there pc in the first place… and we of course will just accept that.

Getting into Terminal Services at the moment, something i have so far not used in my professional capacity, and as luck would have it we have inherited one that is on a very very poor network indeed. So lots of scope to look good and improve things. More on this as i learn it..

HP Servers run much better with the Proliant Support Pack installed, just a general tip, but again one that seems to have escaped some admins out there… When will they learn eh?

Moving away from things IT related for a second, really enjoyed UP and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs recently, really good films, UP was just fantastic, hilarious and sad. I think Jonathan Ross summed it up nicely – I spent the first ten minutes sobbing uncontrollably, and the next hour and half laughing my head off. Meatballs was not as funny, but still a good enjoyable family film, with a great performance from Mr T. Sucka.

Had a little flutter on the football over the weekend, 21-1 on Wigan to win, and 6-1 on UTD to win the premier league. Only lost a fiver, but made it a little more interesting for me watching Wigan destroyed 8-0 by Chelski.

Esme is finally over her ‘reflux’ problem , which translated into laymen’s terms, means projectile vomiting anything she ate. So now we have a nice stained carpet.. but thankfully she is much better. I cant believe she is now 7 weeks old, and she really is the spitting image of her sister. She is just starting to smile and it is great to see her and Stella interacting, which so far consists of Stella shaking her hand and saying how do you do?

I will make an effort to update regularly so i don’t have to write these mammoth posts. Heard that before.. right.

And the conservatives said they would scrap the National Insurance tax… some things were just meant to be.

There is definitely something about Sundays, i just don’t seem to have got the hang of them.

I don’t know if it is because we are back to work tomorrow (obviously not tomorrow tomorrow as it is Easter Monday) , because the weekend is over, because it is the longest time before the weekend starts again, or if it is because i am feeling pretty exhausted at the moment… Sundays always seem to irritate.

I am just getting back into online life after a couple of weeks away, and to be fair, a few months of less than usual activity, whilst my wife has been pregnant i have been spending less time than usual studying or generally surfing about.

My wife is currently watching lost by the way, and it makes absolutely no sense to me at all, i am curious as to how it will all work out in the end though…

I am back to work this Tuesday after a two week period of paternity leave, and with it, looking to force myself back into study mode. I have a huge list of ‘wants’ that i hope to get through this year, not least of which is my CCNA, which, having finished the course about a year ago, i should just knuckle down and do the exam(s) i say (s) because i may go the route of ICND1 & 2 rather than the combined exam.

Once that is out of the way, or perhaps before, i shall go for the 70-680 Win 7 Client exam, having passed the beta exams for 685 & 686 i will get two new certifications from Microsoft, which always looks good on the CV, and from there will look to update my MCSE and MCSA to 2008 level, and then move on to Exchange.

I have always wanted to do an exchange exam, and got very close to doing one for 2003, but work took over, life took over and i just never got round to it.

I feel like i have rested on my laurels a bit at the moment, which is fatal in this industry and especially for someone like me whose only real skill lies within the Microsoft sphere, i really need to push myself to gain some other vendor certs, i have CompTIA Sec+ and Net+ but to be honest i have little or no respect for an exam on 100 questions that you can complete within 10 minutes. (I think i actually did it in 7)

I am also making an effort to eat healthier and just try and live better, so much so we have blocked the pizza hut and dominos website from our home.. my big goal this month is to get through to May without ordering a take away!

Treated myself last week to some pre-owned Xbox360 games, I got GTA IV, Gears of War and Quantum Of Solace, for less than £30.

I have to say i am very much enjoying the new Bond series, i was sceptical at first but i was so impressed with Casino Royale and QoS, that i cannot wait for the next, and hope they can persuade Daniel Craig to stay on. I also have the same feelings about the new Batman films, Batman Begins was brilliant, i remember watching it for the first time (on DVD) thinking to myself, i am really enjoying this film,  When was the last time you felt like that watching a film?

Well yet another 6 months has passed, nearly 7 since my last blog entry and yet again a huge amount of things in my life have changed, and yet again a concerted effort to keep my blog up to date has failed.

But no more, Inspired by an online acquaintance, friend, peer, better… Whose own blog is a shining example to the rest of us, i will endeavour to update this blog at least once a week, if not more regularly not only with my own slightly amusing observations but also with any useful (or generally not) bits of information i am picking up in my day to day life as an IT Engineer/ Dad / Husband. See i left husband till last.

Another blog introduction over lets dive into the juicy stuff.

My last entry in September, was a pretty low point for me, professionally and perhaps personally as well. I struggle to recall my feelings and views at particular points in time, so it is useful to be able to go back and read what i was feeling back then, because now we are 6 months down the line i can see those events through different eyes, and possibly draw different conclusions about that period of time.

I would look back and say it has been a very interesting and rewarding 6 months.

Ill try and keeps thing chronological for now, so lets start off with October…

With redundancy looming i set about applying for any job vacancy i could find, even for jobs well below the level i usually work at, and got pretty much zero responses, i had rewritten my personal website as a sort of online CV, which of course got zero hits and things were pretty bleak on the whole job front. I think i had had one interview at this point, which i didn’t even get a rejection for… just nothing.

I was given the opportunity to take part in the Windows 7 Beta exam process, for exams 685 and 686, which i studied for using the online MS learning area, which is great, full of useful material be it videos blog posts, or articles. Best of all it is free! I did also buy a copy of the Win 7 pocket admin guide, which i always do with new OS’s or products i intend to learn and got some useful info out of these.

I took the first exam on Friday the 9th, and the second on Friday the 16th, being beta exams i didn’t find out the result immediately, but i had a good feeling about the Desktop Support exam, but no so good a feeling about the enterprise support exam.

I got married!

Yes on the 13th of October me and my wife were married in Gretna Green, that’s in Scotland. A very small ceremony consisting of myself, my wife our daughter Stella and two witnesses which were provided by the venue. We chose to elope in this manner as we could never afford to pay for a big family wedding, and to be honest i am really not the type of person who would enjoy hosting one.

It, for me, was perfect. No fuss, and cheap. LOL.

Our wedding lunch was served at Costa Coffee, a lovely Panini and latte. Wedding meal served in the hotel dining room. Drove home the next day.

Stella turned one! Who knew just how fast they grow up, i really cant believe she is one, let alone now 17 months she is possibly the most well behaved 17 month year old anyone could wish for and we are all to thank my wife for her parenting skills i think.

I don’t think anything else particularly eventful happened, we had a party for Stella which went very well, we had something like 100 balloons in our living room which is about 12 x 10 feet, so it was swamped, but the children who attended loved it.

Moving into November i was made redundant, a strange time indeed, trying to navigate the minefield and utter disorganisation that is the job centre, and the wider benefits system, it just seems to be so difficult that you could probably start a business to advise people on how to either fill out forms, or what forms they need to fill out.. and make a tidy profit.

I was contacted in my first week of redundancy about a job opportunity, all seemed to go well and i even got a second interview. However a few days later i found out i had not been successful, i was to say the least a little shocked, i feel i had all the relevant skills and personality to do the job, but they obviously felt otherwise.. still i never burn my bridges (or i don’t try to) and also thought a little thought to myself that they were probably making a mistake, and may even want me after all in a week or so.

A similar situation a few weeks later, different company but same old story.

It was good to be at home throughout November, but the stress of being unemployed and with little or no help offered by our landlord, it wasn’t as happy a time as i could have wished for – perhaps rightly so.

Thoughts of starting my own consultancy crossed my mind, but i just don’t think i am quite ready for that, and to be honest i don’t think i could do it. My attitude toward customers leaves a little to be desired i think, and if i was running a business i don’t know how that would play. Perhaps i could attract the right kind of clientele? who knows.

In early December i found a job. Working for a small firm up in London, just by Kings Cross. The work here was a mixture of SBS and Enterprise level stuff, and i was tasked with looking after the biggest network i have ever worked on. I really enjoyed it. 8 Servers, 3 Main sites across the UK, Multiple DC’s, Exchange Server mixed environment, DFS, routing, it had everything. Really, very cool stuff. The people i worked with were also great, it was brilliant to be working with a team of techies rather than just on my own, and not just that but techies who were on a par with me (cue my head to enlarge) it was very rewarding, and i think i learned a lot from my time there, both personally and technically.

Alas, it wasn’t to last. I hated the commute up to London every day and to be honest the money wasn’t the best, also a lot of pressure to concentrate on paid work rather than other things that i personally deemed essential, but as i said, i learned a lot and you cant argue with the way they do business, it’s just i wasn’t 100% on board with it. Anyway, a great bunch of guys and i would love to work there again, if only it was a bit closer to home.

I left that company in February, and moved to my current position. Remember that company i thought would realise they wanted me after all ;)  Primarily focussed on SBS again i am working with, again, a good bunch of people and have even managed to bring on board a few new clients.

Bringing us more or less up to date….. Oh wait one more thing I am on paternity leave at the moment because……… YES! we have had our second daughter. Born last Monday, the 22nd weighing 9lbs 2oz.

More on that to follow over the next few entries, more also on the network maintenance i am doing at the moment. Removing Kaspersky and installing Trend Worry Free 6 SP2 – discovering well over 160 viruses on one machine alone.

All this and more in the next exciting instalment…

It occurred to me the other day i do not blog very often. In fact its been well over a month since my last.

I then got to think about these people, who update their blog every day, twitter on endlessly all day and generally make a cyber nuisance of themselves updating us all with every single going on in their life. I wonder why it is then, because personally i don’t think i am incredibly busy, i could easily update my blog every evening if i wanted to, i just don’t have anything to say on a day to day basis, or if i do, i don’t suppose it is of much interest if i had cheesecake, or pecan pie?

Having said that i am indeed registered on twitter. And face book.

I’m listening to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in my car at the moment, not whilst typing i hasten to add, no, i am in my office whilst typing, the car safely parked on the driveway. I say safely parked, some of you may remember my boss reversing into my car whilst otherwise safely parked, but that’s another story.

I have been once again sampling MSN Messengers games this week, quite good fun if your bored in the office and no one can see what your doing. Of course in my office i couldn’t care less if anyone can see what i am doing, but your own employers and co workers may not have this attitude. Why not challenge them to a game of fishticuffs, great fun if you can catch a decent size fish… try it and find out what I’m going on about.

My girlfriend is currently taking part in an online study of young parents and their use of technology, and how this may have changed since becoming a parent. Co sponsored by Microsoft, she has been provided with a webcam and a new HP laptop, which she is delighted with as the old one had seen better days. I found one going on eBay for £50 so i will put it on there soon. As part of the study she is encouraged to use as much of the Windows Live suite as possible, and i am helping out where i can. I recommended Live Mail, but she has Outlook 2007 installed so doesn’t need it. But one product i am very impressed with is SkyDrive. A fantastic product indeed, 25gb of free online storage. This is not the key for me, the key is the way you can share your files and folders, using permissions based on Windows Live ID’s i am currently uploading all my photos and sharing select ones to family and friends. It’s great to have it all online as well, which means it is being backed up – how many of us actually back up our photos? Put them on SkyDrive… NOW! And of course being online, accessible anywhere, means i can upload photos from anywhere as well. Good Job. Cue endless comments about other free non Microsoft offerings, NOT INTERESTED :-p Just like I’m not interested in Firefox or opera or chrome or freebrowse (which i just invented) Yes, i invite you to flame me for my non interest in browser wars and the endless comments i read on the BBC site recently spring to mind here ‘anyone who knows anything about IT hasn’t used IE for years’  well sir, i like to think i know a thing or two about IT and i have used IE for a long time. I have tried Firefox, and so has my girlfriend, she begged me to remove it after a day. Anyway i digress….

A death in the family. Yes a sad day for us all, my Xbox finally succumbed to the dreaded RROD. Outraged i was, sitting there a few weeks ago now, i scored a magnificent goal on fifa, and it froze. My first concern was i would forfeit the game, however that soon turned to desperation as the Xbox failed to respond, and continually froze at start-up. After leaving it completely powered down for 24 hours i managed to get into fifa again, however it froze shortly after. This time a restart prompted me with probably the worst thing any Xbox owner can see on a game night…. Three blinking red lights.

I hadn’t paid too much attention to the RROD issue because i thought my Xbox 360 Elite to be immune, I’m not sure where i got this idea, but i held onto it for the 18 months i have had my Xbox…

A quick search on Google presents literally millions of pages regarding fixes and horror stories. I was starting to get seriously worried. Half inclined to try and fix it myself following a very comprehensive method i found, i plumbed after all to send it back to Microsoft – in Frankfurt. Why it needs to travel half way across Europe i don’t know, and i expect to receive a refurbished Xbox in return such is standard practice i have read. Why anyone would want a refurbished one i don’t know, i cant see why Microsoft would expect their customers to be happy with a refurbed unit, apart from the obvious speed of turn around.

It then dawned on me that i have a friend who has an Elite, who never uses it. I asked if i could borrow it, after laughing for a long period and trying to refer me to gamers anonymous he agreed and i was back online Friday evening. A week after first going off. I scheduled my UPS collection yesterday morning, and they arrived within 4 hours to collect it and it has now begun its journey.. i wonder who will end up with it!

As it turned out it was a good thing, as i desperately needed to cram for a Cisco Module exam, STP ad VTP make sense if you know what they do!

Anyway that is the end of my ramblings, i have 17 computers to setup for Friday morning, and they wont do themselves unless i set the server up first ;-)