Smoky day

Today was interesting in as much as the contrasting backgrounds of fire, smoke and darkness that surrounded us in Gippsland. Of particular concern, was the wind gusts that whipped through regions where bushfires were active. We have been preparing for this today though, but I don’t think that people were expecting the additional problem of fires in the Latrobe Valley area. The DSE and CFA have their work well and truly cut out for them and we are all counting on their expertise to save lives and property.

I caught the early signs of fire in the pine plantation in the Strezlecki hills just off the Strezlecki Highway about 15km N of Mirboo North. At the moment as I am writing, strong winds are fanning the blaze. There are 20 fire trucks there at this moment . I hope that the firemen are well equipped and luck is on their side, because this fire is huge. Very scary. In fact, I ended up so close to it, that I was confronted by Police and CFA firemen who advised me of an alternate route home. It was too smoky and hazardous to travel so close to the fire.

In other adventures today, I fitted out another rack with a spunky new switch and some network cabling, all ready for population by the rather sad looking HP computers (pictured below) for a certain Government agency (I can’t tell you who it is… If I did, I would have to kill you all - due to the top secret nature of this assignment). For now, lets just call them ”Control” as in “Get Smart.” Fortunately, I possess a license to root (or is that to route)… Like James Bond, you know, but in a networking kinda way. So anyway, all that I need for these sad looking computers to renew their former, glorious governmental state of confidential being, is furniture, like desks to put them on for instance.

Picture this… An undisclosed number of governmental workers (of undisclosed gender and ethnicity) sitting cross legged on the carpet with their keyboards in their laps and RSA encrypted keys dangling from their necks as they answer confidential and of course, classified questions from non-specific human resources (people). Gotta love the governmental jargon…

So would agree that this picture will never actually eventuate? Well, until tomorrow when somebody builds the desks and gives the special agent dudes somewhere to sit, this might be a sticking point for our talented secret service personnel. It may adversely influence group cohesion; inherently affecting overall stability and productivity within the core structure of the institution. (shit will hit the fan in a big way).

You see interpreting corporate jargon can be challenging, but as my good friend Gayle pointed out recently, bullshit is what drives the corporate world, so for this we should be grateful… I guess, especially if we’re the ones providing the links to the ‘Information Super Highway.’ Just as there is dirt on our streets, the internet is full of its own crap too. Don’t we all know it? I was horrified today to find my seven year old repeatedly attempting (unknowingly) to download a virus from a web page that I didn’t even know existed. Thank god for antivirus software. And although I agree that we sometimes need contingency plans to save us from our own stupidity, we also need them to save our children too. Not from stupidity but rather, from their own innocence and naivety… So out came the old content filter.

Anyway, enough rambling for today, see you on the next episode.