your first and last pics... they are using re-bar... the second and third pics, are the thin ( 4 inches thick, or is supporting a lot of weight, or in the case of the first pic, providing support over a pipe or other such that you want to be protected, you'll use re-bar. thickness dependent on the use case. all other cases for sidewalks, (and even most concrete driveways in the U.S.) is to just use the mesh.
-- ex-laborer who did a lot of commercial concrete work while going through college.
seriously. It is hard to find an IT based company run like this. I would definitely be willing to work in a place like this. It comes down to taking pride in yourself and the work you do; being able to say you are proud of the work you do with and for the company you work for without getting a big head doing so. I felt that when i worked construction, but since graduating from college and going full time IT (sysadmin, network admin, apps admin, and now full time developer) i have rarely seen or felt the same.
The place i am now has a little bit of this feeling but not quite complete. The pay isn't so hot, but knowing that everyone here is here for the long haul and is trying to produce a quality product for the customer almost makes up for that.
i agree with this, and i've only been on both sides of the fence for about 2 years now. I've mostly done network/system admin for the last 5 years with some scripting/programming. The company i'm working for now almost seems to have it right; hire the programmers right out of college and try to teach them the correct way to work together as a team to produce quality code (it...mostly... works) vs fighting older-ish (mid 30s) programmers who think they know it all. Personally, i prefer the old timers (40's and older) because they know a LOT and most don't have chips on their shoulder because they have been around and seen the ups and downs of this buisiness.
That being said, i prefer network/system admin to programming, mostly due to being an "okay" programmer (otherwise known as "brute force"). I can get the job done, it will work, and hopefully work well, but it won't be pretty. where-as i feel (yea, my 2c) that i excel at network/system admin (more sys than network) as i can picture all the parts coming together into a whole in my mind even at the begining. and hopefully in a clean, efficient, (hopefully cheapish) setup.
wow...must be nice to live where you do...
here the average is 256k because there are still a LOT of users using dial-up... (Alaska)
i know this from having worked for two of the three big ISPs up here...
the most used speeds on dsl/cable are the lowest out there because they don't cost extra beyond the cost of the tv/phone (128k speeds)...we have one company that has just recently got speeds above 1Mb and that is the cable company.
well...technically, one of the phone companies has 8/16Mb service, but that is only if you are using their digital tv service as well which eats up most of that bandwidth (aprox 3Mb per set top box, with an 8Mb connection getting 2 set top boxes)
the prices on this...well, to give you an example, my 1Mb service with one phone company was $90 per month. with the company with the dtv (assuming i got the tv as well...) $50. my 3Mb cable modem, $70. guess which one i'm going with...
> And from experience, I know that you can't trust a seven year old to even care about what time they should return to meet you. The part of the brain necessary for that kind of judgement usually isn't connected at that age.
i'm not even sure that is quite right...cause i was fine at that age...but i know i wouldn't trust my son to be somewhere at a specific time at that age (he is 8 currently). But then, he gets distracted easily, and if something does catch his attention, it has his WHOLE attention until something comes along to distract him. So if he did find something in a shop, he would lose track of time and not show up...
i've learned, i can let him go in a shop, so long as he tells me where he is going (so i can find him when it is time to go), but i can't let him go in a mall.
as for giving him a cell phone...aside from the possible side effects (which still aren't proven yet, though i will admit to getting headaches after long cell phone use), i wouldn't do it. as far as i'm concerned; as his parent, I should know where he is at all times, i shouldn't need to give him a cell phone to be able to find that out. the only reason i could see giving him a cell phone (one of the pre-programmed types) would be as an ICE (In Case of Emergency) set of contacts for when he is away (camps, school, etc, albiet, places like that should allready have that information anyways), but this way, it will almost always be with him (like a medic alert bracelet).
Wow I'm amazed that that phrase hasn't come back to haunt you.
well, i've said things in a similiar vein...only it was more like...
go ahead and do whatever you want...you can't break it beyond a point at which i can't fix it...
even if it means doing a wipe and re-install...
another than that works well (at least for me...cause some of the games my kid likes i'd rather have nothing to do with... like pokemon...bleh) is talk to other parents who think similiarly to myself in terms of what games their kids are or are not allowed to play. see what games their kids are being allowed to play, and maybe take a look at the game from the kids perspective (actively playing it) and from the parents perspective (what they are seeing from the child as they are playing it...and after they are done with it)
i do like your idea of playing some of the games WITH the kids...both me and my son are avid gamers (me mostly computer, him mostly console, and gba) but we have some games that i've bought just so that we can play together. that is part of OUR time...away from mom, and other things going on in the world...
he just has to have all his homework and chores done first is all...
though the playing a little through a game isn't a bad idea...i've seen a few games where initially i'd say no problem to allowing my son to play (btw, since i forgot that eariler...he is 8), but towards the end of the game there are interactions with the characters in the game i'd rather he not see/do. though as he is coming to some of those situations if i or his mom hadn't caught them first...he does come to us with questions...some real good questions...
*laugh* you've got nothing on us up here...(ALASKA)
at best, it takes 3-4 days for the turnaround on a movie with netflix.
1.5-2 down, and 1.5-2 back up...
i agree...
i work for a small isp in alaska (about 20k users), and there are two of us that maintaining the servers for the network. mind you, for all that we don't have very many users, we have a large area (think about size of the state of delaware, only bigger).
we are salaried, and carry a pager. we are paid $100 a week to carry the pager, and that covers our cost if it goes off to fix things (no overtime). mind you, our salaries ain't that great either...i'm paid $48k a year (i'm the bottom of the totem pole) (plus basic bennies like medical/dental and a matching 401k) and i think with bennies i'm hitting in the low 50's...(i haven't calculated).
sometimes we have to learn things on our own, sometimes we can get training...(albiet, about once a year)...so i/we have to figure out what we are going to need to know for the year, and then go to training for that (or close to it) any other training has to be done on personal time...
this is for those of us in the trenches...for the managers, sometimes they are in training every couple months for new technologies...(not managerial type stuff fortunetly, it is normally information on stuff we are looking to implement in the future), but they get the training, and we get to try to impement it...(is that normal?)
your second best way doesn't work well either. i work for a small ISP and when i take a vacation (whether for 3 days or a week) something will break...(my boss likes to "play" with things until they break). Unfortunetly, no one listens to me about why i spend more time fixing problems then dealing with new projects. (leastwise...no one with any power)
sometimes...updating the resume and taking a walk IS your only choice...
if people aren't willing to listen, or open their eyes to what is right in front of their face, no amount of talking, presentations, whatever is going to change their mind.
I totally agree here. As another sysadmin for a small isp, we would do the same thing. It is all in protecting your userbase even if you trust the individual who is quitting. It comes down to due diligence (sp??). The CIO acted correctly as far as i can see by shutting you down, and compensating you for the time. It doesn't get much more professional than that.
And it's in a remote area basically so I approve anyways;)
this ain't remote...its practically my back yard... (i'm from anchorage alaska.)
though that being said...
i'm for letting him do it...just to see if he can build a decent one...
Not only is it a bit faster than say 9 or 8, but is uses fewer resources (cpu and memory) than 9 or 8. For an example, i have a pair of mail servers, one running 9, one running 10, both created realatively equal (core) and running same versions and configs of mail. the 10 box runs with 10% more free cpu and memory on a regular basis then the 9 box. with same loads.
I work for one of the smaller telco's up here (but with the largest rural area) and we are putting this out to market all ready. The quality so far (within about 1 mile of a HUT) is equal to digital cable. From what i've heard, they (the mother company) put about a year of testing into the lines and equipment to see if this was feasable and if we could support that kind of bandwidth. So far so good. I've been tempted to move (they don't have service in town, only in the rural areas) so i can get in on this service.
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the ( 4 was supposed to be 1 / 8 inches thick... urgh...
your first and last pics... they are using re-bar... the second and third pics, are the thin ( 4 inches thick, or is supporting a lot of weight, or in the case of the first pic, providing support over a pipe or other such that you want to be protected, you'll use re-bar. thickness dependent on the use case. all other cases for sidewalks, (and even most concrete driveways in the U.S.) is to just use the mesh. -- ex-laborer who did a lot of commercial concrete work while going through college.
seriously. It is hard to find an IT based company run like this. I would definitely be willing to work in a place like this. It comes down to taking pride in yourself and the work you do; being able to say you are proud of the work you do with and for the company you work for without getting a big head doing so. I felt that when i worked construction, but since graduating from college and going full time IT (sysadmin, network admin, apps admin, and now full time developer) i have rarely seen or felt the same. The place i am now has a little bit of this feeling but not quite complete. The pay isn't so hot, but knowing that everyone here is here for the long haul and is trying to produce a quality product for the customer almost makes up for that.
i agree with this, and i've only been on both sides of the fence for about 2 years now. I've mostly done network/system admin for the last 5 years with some scripting/programming. The company i'm working for now almost seems to have it right; hire the programmers right out of college and try to teach them the correct way to work together as a team to produce quality code (it ...mostly... works) vs fighting older-ish (mid 30s) programmers who think they know it all.
Personally, i prefer the old timers (40's and older) because they know a LOT and most don't have chips on their shoulder because they have been around and seen the ups and downs of this buisiness.
That being said, i prefer network/system admin to programming, mostly due to being an "okay" programmer (otherwise known as "brute force"). I can get the job done, it will work, and hopefully work well, but it won't be pretty. where-as i feel (yea, my 2c) that i excel at network/system admin (more sys than network) as i can picture all the parts coming together into a whole in my mind even at the begining. and hopefully in a clean, efficient, (hopefully cheapish) setup.
wow...must be nice to live where you do...
here the average is 256k because there are still a LOT of users using dial-up... (Alaska)
i know this from having worked for two of the three big ISPs up here...
the most used speeds on dsl/cable are the lowest out there because they don't cost extra beyond the cost of the tv/phone (128k speeds)...we have one company that has just recently got speeds above 1Mb and that is the cable company.
well...technically, one of the phone companies has 8/16Mb service, but that is only if you are using their digital tv service as well which eats up most of that bandwidth (aprox 3Mb per set top box, with an 8Mb connection getting 2 set top boxes)
the prices on this...well, to give you an example, my 1Mb service with one phone company was $90 per month. with the company with the dtv (assuming i got the tv as well...) $50. my 3Mb cable modem, $70. guess which one i'm going with...
> And from experience, I know that you can't trust a seven year old to even care about what time they should return to meet you. The part of the brain necessary for that kind of judgement usually isn't connected at that age.
i'm not even sure that is quite right...cause i was fine at that age...but i know i wouldn't trust my son to be somewhere at a specific time at that age (he is 8 currently). But then, he gets distracted easily, and if something does catch his attention, it has his WHOLE attention until something comes along to distract him. So if he did find something in a shop, he would lose track of time and not show up...
i've learned, i can let him go in a shop, so long as he tells me where he is going (so i can find him when it is time to go), but i can't let him go in a mall. as for giving him a cell phone...aside from the possible side effects (which still aren't proven yet, though i will admit to getting headaches after long cell phone use), i wouldn't do it. as far as i'm concerned; as his parent, I should know where he is at all times, i shouldn't need to give him a cell phone to be able to find that out. the only reason i could see giving him a cell phone (one of the pre-programmed types) would be as an ICE (In Case of Emergency) set of contacts for when he is away (camps, school, etc, albiet, places like that should allready have that information anyways), but this way, it will almost always be with him (like a medic alert bracelet).
start messing around. You won't break anything.
Wow I'm amazed that that phrase hasn't come back to haunt you.
well, i've said things in a similiar vein...only it was more like...
go ahead and do whatever you want...you can't break it beyond a point at which i can't fix it...
even if it means doing a wipe and re-install...
another than that works well (at least for me...cause some of the games my kid likes i'd rather have nothing to do with ... like pokemon...bleh) is talk to other parents who think similiarly to myself in terms of what games their kids are or are not allowed to play. see what games their kids are being allowed to play, and maybe take a look at the game from the kids perspective (actively playing it) and from the parents perspective (what they are seeing from the child as they are playing it...and after they are done with it)
i do like your idea of playing some of the games WITH the kids...both me and my son are avid gamers (me mostly computer, him mostly console, and gba) but we have some games that i've bought just so that we can play together. that is part of OUR time...away from mom, and other things going on in the world...
he just has to have all his homework and chores done first is all...
though the playing a little through a game isn't a bad idea...i've seen a few games where initially i'd say no problem to allowing my son to play (btw, since i forgot that eariler...he is 8), but towards the end of the game there are interactions with the characters in the game i'd rather he not see/do. though as he is coming to some of those situations if i or his mom hadn't caught them first...he does come to us with questions...some real good questions...
*laugh* you've got nothing on us up here...(ALASKA)
at best, it takes 3-4 days for the turnaround on a movie with netflix.
1.5-2 down, and 1.5-2 back up...
i agree...
i work for a small isp in alaska (about 20k users), and there are two of us that maintaining the servers for the network. mind you, for all that we don't have very many users, we have a large area (think about size of the state of delaware, only bigger).
we are salaried, and carry a pager. we are paid $100 a week to carry the pager, and that covers our cost if it goes off to fix things (no overtime). mind you, our salaries ain't that great either...i'm paid $48k a year (i'm the bottom of the totem pole) (plus basic bennies like medical/dental and a matching 401k) and i think with bennies i'm hitting in the low 50's...(i haven't calculated). sometimes we have to learn things on our own, sometimes we can get training...(albiet, about once a year)...so i/we have to figure out what we are going to need to know for the year, and then go to training for that (or close to it) any other training has to be done on personal time... this is for those of us in the trenches...for the managers, sometimes they are in training every couple months for new technologies...(not managerial type stuff fortunetly, it is normally information on stuff we are looking to implement in the future), but they get the training, and we get to try to impement it...(is that normal?)
your second best way doesn't work well either. i work for a small ISP and when i take a vacation (whether for 3 days or a week) something will break...(my boss likes to "play" with things until they break). Unfortunetly, no one listens to me about why i spend more time fixing problems then dealing with new projects. (leastwise...no one with any power) sometimes...updating the resume and taking a walk IS your only choice... if people aren't willing to listen, or open their eyes to what is right in front of their face, no amount of talking, presentations, whatever is going to change their mind.
I totally agree here. As another sysadmin for a small isp, we would do the same thing. It is all in protecting your userbase even if you trust the individual who is quitting. It comes down to due diligence (sp??). The CIO acted correctly as far as i can see by shutting you down, and compensating you for the time. It doesn't get much more professional than that.
And it's in a remote area basically so I approve anyways ;)
this ain't remote...its practically my back yard... (i'm from anchorage alaska.)
though that being said...
i'm for letting him do it...just to see if he can build a decent one...
Not only is it a bit faster than say 9 or 8, but is uses fewer resources (cpu and memory) than 9 or 8. For an example, i have a pair of mail servers, one running 9, one running 10, both created realatively equal (core) and running same versions and configs of mail. the 10 box runs with 10% more free cpu and memory on a regular basis then the 9 box. with same loads.
I work for one of the smaller telco's up here (but with the largest rural area) and we are putting this out to market all ready. The quality so far (within about 1 mile of a HUT) is equal to digital cable. From what i've heard, they (the mother company) put about a year of testing into the lines and equipment to see if this was feasable and if we could support that kind of bandwidth. So far so good. I've been tempted to move (they don't have service in town, only in the rural areas) so i can get in on this service.