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.

IMO & The Cleaning Lady - (Korea) Day 135

A picture I took on one of our hikes up to Seoul Tower...sometimes you see some
strange store names when walking around town - I'm afraid to "meet meat"

Work call this morning was at 0800 for my IMO class. Today we went over a number of things including CAC card problems and solutions. IA (Information Assurance) this is basically a reminder of what the users should be doing to keep the system secure. We also went over legal issues, our instructor had a lot of legal background and gave us a number of examples of things that have happened in the past in regards to breaking the law on government systems. Pretty much a normal day in class.

What isn't normal is the cleaning lady in this building. There is an old lady who doesn't care what is going on in the men's bathroom when it's time for her to clean it. There can be dudes going pee at the urinals and she'll walk right in and start mopping the floor around them. I've kind of figured out her routine, so I just skip going to the bathroom during our first break.

Not a whole lot different than yesterday, I went and worked out after class. I was expecting to use a treadmill, but they were all full, so I rode a bicycle once again. I guess around 1630 is a pretty busy time in the gym, I don't care for it too much…but I need to get in as good of shape as possible before my PT test. After the gym I went to the food court once again to download some entertainment. Seems funny that even though I have internet in my room, I still go to the food court for internet. Since I have a monthly limit on my room internet, I don't want to go over it. I also have found that at times the food court can be even faster. I got a lot of stuff downloaded this evening!

IMO & Paperwork - (Korea) Day 134

The building where I'm taking the IMO class. The 1st Signal Brigade emblem
shown there is the patch I thought I was going to be wearing when I
first found out I was heading to Korea...little did I know.

Work call this morning was at 0800 once again because of my IMO class. The first half of the day for class we went over the procurement and disposal process for IT equipment. OMG I can't believe how much paperwork is involved when you want to make any purchases. What a pain in the ass! Then if you want to get rid of something, there is a whole mess of paperwork that has to be done as well. It's no wonder there is a bunch of old IT crap all over the place in our supply room and even in the control room in our conference room. Nobody wants to or may even know how to do all the paperwork to get rid of it, so it just accumulates. They showed us a great idea of how we can check out a website to see what unused equipment is out there. If we want some for our office we can request it, but we have to submit…guess what…..more paperwork. I'm starting to think that the job of an IMO is just filling out paperwork all the time. I imagine it will be a bit easier once I actually do it a few times, but I'm guessing in my limited alternate IMO position I'll have during my stay in Korea that I will not be doing much paperwork.

For lunch I went back to my room and had a PB&J sandwich and video chatted with my wife. Lunch time is perfect for video chatting because of the time difference, I normally do not get the chance to do so when I'm at my normal job…so this is a nice treat.

When I got back to class we had a new instructor. She happened to be Korean and I could hardly understand anything she said. Her accent was pretty bad. I don't think anyone was really paying attention. I looked around and saw people surfing the web or checking email. She basically showed us a way to enter our IT assets in a web based database. The idea sounds good, but in practice it's cumbersome to input and then viewing the data is limited. I think it would be easier just to use a spreadsheet, which is going to be my project when I get back to the office. Our master sergeant in admin just emailed me an old one and asked me to update it. Who knows how old it is, so I may be updating everything on it.

After class I swung by the office to pick up a package that arrived for me. Always love it when that happens. It was filled with all kinds of goodies from my wife and her parents. I then headed to my room and changed to go work out at the gym. After a good workout I showered and changed, then headed to the food court to download some more entertainment. I decided to take Tuesdays off from school, so I'm not doing it every single night. Tuesdays are the start of the school week and I just need a night off to take it easy and relax my brain. After spending a couple hours there I went back to my room and watched a TV show on my laptop. Now I'll be turning in.

IMO Class - (Korea) Day 133

Work call this morning was at 0800. I have my IMO (Information Management Officer) class this week. I will actually be learning something about being a 25B instead of serving coffee. I woke up early so I could video chat with my wife, then headed off to class. The class started our a little chaotic. The classroom can hold 20 people and there were some there on standby hoping to get a seat. The instructor told them that the class was indeed full and there would be no room for them. There was one person that the instructor was forced to put on the list, but since he was the last one on the list, he had to go as well. He was pissed off. He stormed out of the room, then shortly after the instructor got a call and we could hear him explaining that there was just no room. The guy should have signed up earlier instead of trying to power his way in. Needless to say, he didn't get let back in and we finally started class. Our instructor gave us a short introduction of who he is and then had everyone around the room introduce themselves. There is a wide variety of skill levels in the room from absolutely no experience to 20 years experience in IT.

Shortly after class started my phone started vibrating non stop. SPC Roy and SPC Kim kept calling and calling. The guy next to me even looked at my pocket a few times wondering why it was vibrating so much. Finally at our first break I called them and asked what was up. They forgot I had class and thought I was oversleeping. They even went to my room and started banging on the door and window…LOL. They remembered where I was shortly before I called.

The class was pretty interesting. It was just some basics the first day. We learned some contact numbers to call and how the army images machines. This information will come in handy because I've been asked multiple times and I had no clue. We went over the different networks here in Korea and some procedures that are done here. We also went over the destruction of old hard drives. Let me tell you that when they get through with them, no information will be able to get recovered. At my old job we would run a big magnet over the drives before we threw them away. The army doesn't play around. We were shown the big machine they put them in, basically a huge magnet that will erase all the data. Then just to make sure it's un-salvageable they put it in another machine which actually destroys the hard drive platters!

We were let out around 1530 and I headed to my room and changed for the gym. I was going to do a two mile run on the treadmill, but they were all full. I ended up riding a bicycle for a half hour, needed to get my cardio in. I then went back to my room and ate dinner and did some schoolwork.

I called SPC Roy to see why he was still at SCJS. He was supposed to move to another office today, but they had him stay another week to help train our new guy SPC Mick. SPC Roy then proceeded to tell me that his aunt who has been in a coma for three weeks is going to be taken off life support. I spoke with him a while. He's going to head down tonight with the rest of his family to say goodbye. I let him know that I've seen a lot of bad things happen and you never know when life is going to throw you some major curve balls. I've personally had some major events that have changed the way I look at life. The first was my little brother dying at a very young age. The second was my divorce. There have been others sure, but these two significantly changed me. I try to live life to it's fullest and not take anything for granted…ever. After talking to him I started worrying about my family and hoping nothing bad happens while I'm stuck over here in Korea so far away from everyone. I hate to even think about things like that, but sometimes you just can't help it.

To get my mind off that I decided to watch a movie. I saw one on my computer called "The Island". That sounds nice I thought, I wouldn't mind watching a movie on an island and seeing some nice scenery. LOL. The movie turned out to be nothing what I expected. It is about a place that basically clones humans and grows them for harvesting body parts. A curious clone ends up finding the truth and is hunted down. It's actually a pretty good movie with a lot of action, just not what I was expecting.

Drink It Out - (Korea) Day 114

On the roof cleaning our battle rattle with our sergeant's secret
recipe of warm water, dish soap, and scrub brushes.

Work call this morning was at 0830…our normal time. I love it when this happens :). I was able to get quite a bit of sleep last night. I woke up still pretty sick, but I felt different…I feel like I'm finally turning the corner. The cough still hurts pretty bad though. When I feel it coming on I dread the moment that I have to actually cough because I know the pain is coming along with it.

When I got to work I found that the Exchange server was back up, so I could now use my email. It's kind of strange being on the other side of the equation. For so long I've been the guy who gets called when the server goes down and when it's one that is as important as the mail server…there is a lot of stress involved. I know there were guys somewhere freaking out trying to get it back up and running all the while with generals calling every 5 minutes wondering why it's not up yet. That is a stress I haven't missed.

I was able to get all signed up for my IMO class now that I had all my emailed documents available to me. I was also able to get my "God Card" working. The "God Card" allows me admin access to all the computers when I use it to log in. This way I can actually fix some problems! Not sure exactly what I'm allowed to do yet with my new powers, that is what the IMO class will be for…that and I'm sure other procedural type things. We'll see.

As I was at the computer working I hear my sergeant call me over. I log off and head over to see my co-workers in full battle rattle. He tells me to hurry up and get mine on too. I grab all my gear and get it on, then we all walk outside. There is an exercise going on by the honor guard. They all have on full battle rattle and have various checkpoints setup around our parking lot along with Humvees, barricades, and constantine wire (kind of like barbed wire's nasty mean older step brother). I then find out the SPC Roy sped through a checkpoint this morning and also said something to one of the guards. Well that is just great, now we all get to do "corrective training" because of SPC Roy. We had to stand and listen to the honor guard tell us all about the importance of army checkpoints detail by detail. We then helped them clean up the area and put all their checkpoint gear away since the exercise was over. I'm glad this "corrective training" didn't include push-ups or any other physical exercise…with my sickness I would have been hating life.

After all the nice training I went into our conference control room and watched some NBA. After a while our sergeant came up and told us we had some more planned training to do. This training showed us his special technique in cleaning our battle rattle. His technique…using warm water, dish soap, and a scrub brush. So we all sat out on the roof and cleaned our battle rattle.

After we finished it was time to get back to my seat in the control room and watch some college basketball. I sat back and relaxed until it was time to clean up the office and leave for the day. I'm so glad we have a slow week this week…I guess it's the perfect week to be sick. I was then told that I needed to go with my sergeant and SPC Roy to the Navy Club for a couple of drinks. "The hard liquor will help me get better…it will kill all the germs". LOL I wasn't going to over do it, so I just had two drinks and then headed back to my room. I laid down for an hour, but then had to get up and do some school work. I really wish I had this class off, it's hard to do anything because I've been so sick. I really can't wait to feel better…I hate being sick.

My roommate is now starting to get sick as well. I was wondering if he was going to be able to avoid it. Our room isn't that big and there's not much I can do except cover my cough and wash my hands. I took his medicine once again. This time I had to ask him what exactly I was taking and he said they were mainly vitamins and some will also help reduce fever. That's good…I started to freak out a little today hoping I didn't accidentally take some sort of drug that I shouldn't have. I'm going to sleep early once again…I can't wait until the weekend. I think I may stay in my room quite a bit and just relax!