This week I achieved MCSE and wrote 2 exams in 14 days to do so. Exam 70-294 and 70-298. I am going to try and do one a month for the next 3 months to use up the last of my exam vouchers from school. Then one every other month to do the upgrades I want, and then we will look at what to study after that. It feels great to have completed MCSE is is a milestone.I have made a small chart of some of the numbers of MCP's By The Numbers, that I got from Microsoft's site, the blue are one's I have and the black are one's I plan on achieving.
So here are my current designations: CompTIA IT PRO, A+ ITT, A+ DT, A+ RST, Network+ Microsoft MCSE, MCSA, MCP, MCTS Business Desktop Deployment, MCTS Vista Configuration, MCITP Enterprise Support, MCITP Consumer Support, MOS
This is a worthy Cause to Consider: We are proud to announce the first annual "Ride for Rob"
A simple morning ride on October 5, 2008 would change Rob’s life forever. An over the bars incident that shouldn’t have been anything more than a laugh - broke his spine at vertebrae T11, leaving him without feeling from the top of his abdominals down. It's amazing how quickly a spinal cord injury can happen to anyone.
Rob and Sabrina
One positive outcome has been the rallying of family and friends. A few things quickly became apparent as the weeks passed. First, that Rob would be facing an expensive challenge: financially, emotionally and physically. Second, that however horrible it may be, he was actually one of the lucky ones. He still has the use of his upper body and he doesn’t have to retrain for a new job. The “Ride for Rob” intends to do two things this year.
1.Raise money for the Canadian Paraplegic Association 2.Provide a facility for those close to Rob to help him financially.
THE RIDE: The Ride for Rob is an event within an event. Riders will race the Chico Racing 24 Hour Summer Solstice, or the Squamish Test of Metal. Please take a moment to view our list of riders and sponsor your rider(s) of choice. All riders have committed to complete a gruelling mountain bike endurance race that will certainly test each and every rider. The riders are making a big commitment and we hope you will too. Please donate generously.
DONORS: At the time of pledging you will have an option to give your entire donation to the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA) or to split your donation 50/50 between the CPA and Rob. Please be aware that you will only receive a charitable tax receipt for the funds received by CPA.
RIDERS: If you’d like to join us, feel free to register using the link above. Note that it is your responsibility to register yourself and your team with Chico Racing. You can do so online at http://www.chicoracing.com/. Unfortunately the Test of Metal is sold out, so participation will be limited to those already registered.
FAST FACT: There are 350 - 400 new spinal cord injuries every year in Ontario (approx. one per day). Rodney Buike is a Microsoft Professional I have encountered on a few occasions at different events. Please consider supporting him as he Riders for Rob!
MCSE Guide to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, Enhanced Exam #70-294 Michael Aubert Thomson ISBN 9780619217556
This was the second book I used to prepare for this exam. I left my school program early to take a good job, and this is one of the courses I have done completely through self-study. This book was a great resource. It had a lot of exercises and practice material at the end of each section. Depending on your comfort level and experience, you can either rip through a chapter then skim the questions at the end, or as was the case with some sections for me, it was all new and I took my time and worked through every exercise.
Michael Aubert's writing style and the design of this training manual was extremely easy to use, and to read. The review questions, case studies and activities help to solidify new concepts in a real and concrete way. This book is an excellent certification manual. The other book I used for this course was the MOAC by Wendy Corbin.
Exam 70-294 Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure Wendy Corbin Microsoft Press ISBN 9780735620285
Again I used two different books to prepare for this certification exam. This one is the series my school used and issued, and I also used the Enhanced MCSE book from Thomson. Wendy Corbin's book was clear, concise and what you would expect from a MOAC textbook from Microsoft Press. This book is best for a classroom setting or someone who works with it daily and wants to learn the Microsoft way of dealing with the material.
Corbin writes in an easy to follow manner, the book is well laid out and designed, and the supplemental resources on the CD are a great asset.
But there is a new option RAnn at This and That and the Other Thing is looking at keeping it going in a different format. She states: "I'm writing to you because you've participated in the now-defunct Catholic Carnival. I'd be interested in continuing it, but as a meme, not a carnival. Rather than submitting a post to a carnival host, who would compile them and publish them, I propose to publish weekly, on my blog, a post titled St. Blog's Sunday Snippets highlighting any posts I would have submitted to the Catholic Carnival and inviting others to create similar posts on thier blogs, link to my post and leave a comment on my post giving a link to your post. If it isn't clear what I mean, check out my blog and look for the Mailbox Monday posts. My post is on my blog, and you'll see a link to the host blog. On the host blog, you'll see the master post, and all the links folks have left in the comments.
This is a lot less work than a carnival and would allow you to use your Sunday Snippets post to highlight and link to one or more of your posts and to any great links you have found that week.
This book meme has shown up a lot lately, the first three I read were Catholic Fire,Anchoress and Happy Catholic. A fun book meme, include up to 3 answers each if you like. We won’t tell.
1. Most treasured childhood book(s)? I really did not read as a child, I could not because of my dyslexia. The earliest I remember reading and enjoying are: A Separate Peace - John Knowles, Cue for Treason - Geoffrey Trease, Piers Anthony - Bio Of A Space Tyrant, Steven Brust Jhereg. But once I got to university and took a children's lit I now read a few children's and teen books a year. Current favorite children's books: Narnia - C.S. Lewis, anything by Madelein L'Engle, Patrick Carman, Kenneth Oppel and Arthur Slade .
2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read? Don't know.
3. Classics you read, but hated?
4. Favorite genre(s)? A read pretty much everything.
7. Last book(s) you finished? Exam 70-294 Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure - Wendy Corbin. 100 Cupboards - N.D. Wilson The Sword Thief - 39 Clues Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
8. Last book(s) you bailed on? I don't remember.
9. Three (only three!) books on your nightstand? The Princess Plot - Kirsten Boie 70-298 Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network - Tony Northrup Terra Nullis - Sven Lindqvist
13. Book(s) some would be surprised to know you’ve read? Marquis de Sade
14. Book(s) You Mean to Read this Year? I have 3 shelfs of review copy books to work through.
15. Desert Island Book? Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien Watership Down - Richard Adams The Reckoning - James Bryon Huggins Jhereg - Steven Brust The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho The Final Planet - Andrew M. Geeley God Game - Andrew M. Greeley The Singer Trilogy - Calvin Miller An Alien at Saint Wilfrids - Adrian Plass Chronicles of a Curate - Fred Secombe Falling Sideway - Tom Holt
This is a wonderful little book! It is the story of a little bear who is lost in the woods. He decides to make a snow bear to comfort him until his mother can find him. Soon all kinds of different animals are coming out of the woods and foliage to help little bear. It is a great story with absolutely wonderful illustrations. It is a pleasure to read and look at.
I read the first six books in this series back in 2004 and was completely blown away by them. Having a dual form of dyslexia, reading these books was like a flashback to childhood and my own early school struggles. Henry Winkler in an interview talks about his own struggles with dyslexia. The books tout Hank as the world's best underachiever. These books capture the essence of struggling with a learning disability. Almost all my report cards up to high school say "does not live up to potential" or "marks do not reflect ability". It was always hard, being considered dumb, or having to leave class for special education. That is what happens in this book.
Last year I wrote a series of posts on my favorite desktop backgrounds. I wanted to update it. I have been using a variety over the last year. In this post and the next few I will be sharing the backgrounds I have used over the last year. This first grouping is from the IT Crowd, I have these as backgrounds on my Laptop, it's two external monitors, my tablet, my desktop and it's two monitors and even made smaller versions for my blackberry. Enjoy.