Day 2 on the new job. So far so very good. Just completed the contract with my first client, the Office of Graduate Studies. I'll be working for them 10 hours per week for the next year, starting Monday. Tomorrow morning we meet with the guy from the dental school and potentially complete that contract too, at which point I'll be fully booked.

I had a brief moment of glory during today's meeting in Graduate Studies. The guy listed some things he already knew he could use help with, beginning with the usual Windows stuff. Then he mentioned he had a Unix box doing something or other. My manager, John, smiled and said “Sure, Amitai can help you there too.” Then the guy mentioned he had reams of data that were being processed manually and could be at least partly automated. John said “Amitai has a strong programming background, so he can help you with that as well.” Then the guy asked about web development. John said “Yup, he's good at that too.” The glory came a moment later, when John explained that “A good system administrator has to be an expert at everything, and that's why it took us so long to find the right person.” While I already know what I know and what I don't, it's hard not to be flattered by a comment like that.

Thinking about it now, of all the computing skills I'll need for this client, Windows is what I'm worst at!

This morning, I requested my laptop and PDA:

  • Dell Latitude X200
    • Ultra Low Voltage Mobile Intel Pentium III Processor-M 933MHz
    • 640MB SDRAM
    • Logitech USB 2-Button Optical Mouse
    • MediaBase with Floppy Drive and 8-24-10-24X SWDVD/CDRW Combo
    • Harman Kardon HK-206 Speakers
    • 8-Cell Lithium Ion Secondary Battery
    • Internal TrueMobile 1150 Mini-PCI Wireless Card
    • Tripp-Lite Ultra Mini USB Hub
    • Pacific Design Backpack
  • Dell UltraSharp 1900FP Flat-Panel LCD Display
  • Palm Tungsten T

I attempted to request a PowerBook with Virtual PC, but it seems that the fact that my job title is “Windows Sysadmin” requires that my laptop be from a vendor other than Apple. I guess I can understand that. I'm not complaining at all about these toys!

Something really neat happened yesterday at 5:10 PM: nobody was in the office. This happens every day. I get to have a life!