Congratulations to Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan, two Iowa State students who became the first same-sex couple to get married in Iowa, during a narrow window today in which the Defense of Marriage Act was declared unconstitutional, but before a judge could issue a stay. Let's hope that many more couples are able to get married in the future.
Here's something I didn't know, apparently many Koreans (including doctors!) believe that if you sleep with an electric fan in your room at night, and the door is closed, you may die. Perhaps my wife is trying to kill me when she closes the door to lock our cat out at night.
I've tested this myth extensively, and I've found no evidence that I've died.
I had a headhunter call me today, trying to recruit for an IT position in Waterloo. I'm extremely direct when I get these calls, because most of the time, they're not willing to pay anything close to what I'm making now, or their benefits are laughable in comparison to the University's. They generally find me via a Google search of my resume because I match a number of their keywords. I've found that simply laying out what I make now (our salaries are open, as state employees) and saying that they'll need to beat that will get rid of most "recruiters" in short order, and today proved to be no exception. The job market for IT people in Iowa is tightening quite a bit, but there really are very few firms that are large enough (and pay well enough) to need someone with my skills, and most of the ones that do have stacks of people lining up to get in the doors, they don't need to have recruiters cold-calling people they find on Google.
My new mantra is that the only people who complain about Microsoft software are people who haven't had to deal with Oracle software. I've spent the last couple days attempting to install version 10g of their Calendar software, as we're currently running an ancient version. It takes real talent to screw up software this much. In version 5.4, you double click an .exe file and 2 minutes later you have a working server. Version 10 requires you to put the software on the web, as they've removed the handy GUI administration app, and replace it with...well... I'll let you know if I ever get to see it, but it's supposed to be a web administration app. I should have brought a book with me to work, to read in between updates from "Bob", the Oracle Support guy in India who's helping me.
My supervisor is moving away, so we're hiring his replacement. If you'd like to boss me around, and you meet these requirements, apply!
NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree plus at least five years of experience in network design and/or administration of large, complex switched wired/wireless network environment including VLANs required. Associate’s degree plus at least nine years of experience may be substituted. Working knowledge of Ethernet, TCP/IP, SNMP, 802.11a/b/g, and RADIUS also required. Experience with packet analysis, Windows 2003 System Administration, and policy development preferred.
