IMO & Epic WTF - (Korea) Day 136

A photo in the bathroom at the building where my IMO class was at...
I don't even want to guess what kind of 'hazardous waste' they store under the sink

Work call this morning was at 0800 for the last day of IMO class. I've grown to like this schedule, it's the same every day and I get a nice long lunch break…I usually get off early too! We discussed a lot of what to do and what not to do in class today. We heard a number of stories of what people have done to get into trouble here in Korea. Most of it involved people hooking up their personal laptops to the government network…a big no no. They get caught and their laptops get confiscated. Others have viewed websites they shouldn't such as porn or even child porn. Are you kidding me? On a government computer that you know is being monitored, how can people be so stupid? The final thing is that people have been caught installing software that shouldn't be on the computer. These people have the local admin password and perform the install. The computers get scanned and the software gets uninstalled. Our instructor said a person got in trouble for installing iTunes on their computer. They ended up installing it 3 different times because the system would uninstall it when it was scanned. You think he would have gotten the hint.

At lunch I came to my room and video chatted with my wife, mom and extended family for about an hour which was nice. I usually don't get time in my room at lunch, so this has been a nice treat all week. When I got back we talked about the upcoming release of Windows 7. The army has been testing it for a while and it is said to be coming out soon for us. We will be able to roll out images and there will be a number of improvements. We'll see, it seems with any Windows upgrade there may be improvements…but they come with a price…usually by breaking other things. I also found out they even make an image for Macs. They are working on a Snow Leopard image to come out with their Windows 7 image.

We then had to watch a couple of very boring videos. It all dealt with stuff that we as IMOs will never see, such as how to deploy Windows 7 from the server and such. The videos were so boring that I don't think anyone in class was paying any attention. The 1st Lieutenant in front of me was surfing Epic WTFs the entire time, in fact he was surfing that website the entire week. I had some good laughs just looking at his screen from behind. I ended up checking out one of the sister sites called Wrong # Texts which was cracking me up (on the inside of course). It is a bunch of screen shots of people that get strange messages that were sent to the wrong number…some pretty funny stuff.

When the videos were over we filled out a customer survey for the class and then received our certificates. I am now certified! I thought the class was pretty good. I got a better understanding of how everything works here in Korea and I also now know who to contact. So I'll feel a little more comfortable when I go back to the office, I was afraid to do anything because I wasn't sure what I was even allowed to do.

After class I went to the gym and worked out (chest and abs). The place was somewhat busy (as usual), but what really pisses me off are people that go to a machine and stick their towel on it (to claim it I guess). They then sit on the machine and take their sweet time doing their sets. In between sets they just kind of hang out and relax, all the while nobody else can use it. It took me twice as long to get my workout because there were multiple people doing this.

When I got back to my room SPC Roy called and said he had a huge favor to ask. I guess his family has rice fields down south and he needs to go down to help them plant or something. He said he rented a car and wants me to go with him to keep him company for the trip. In return he'll buy my food and make sure I have a place to sleep…LOL I'm glad about that last one. I told him sure, I didn't have anything planned this weekend anyway. I just have to make sure I have time to do my schoolwork since I have quite a bit to do before Tuesday. He said this wouldn't be a problem…there would be plenty of time. So it looks like I'll be going on a road trip…Korean style.

Speaking of schoolwork, I sat down and worked on that for a while, then watched a TV show to wind down for the night. Tomorrow is Friday and my only day that I'll be going to the office this week.