Archive for May, 2004

"List" Update

I thought it would be good to give an update on my odd post earlier this week.

Turns out that stuff wasn’t such a big deal. One of the mid-level managers at work got into a tiff with my boss. My boss just wanted to know what we’d been up to in case he was asked to justify our existence.

It’s really not a big deal. Mainly my coworker could have communicated better, but since he was asked not to talk to anyone I can understand how attempting to communicate could be a bit hard.

No biggie and I’m sure it’ll all work out. It’s politics, and it’s not the nice kind, but it’s not all that bad. I really think this is an opportunity. Especially since the middle-manager in question just got a serious promotion to Regional Operations Manager (for IT). As such, it’s good to leave him with a pleasant taste in his mouth about our team.

Review: Troy

Well, I pulled up my boots and saw Troy. I’m not allowed to see Mean Girls or Shrek 2, so my choices were limited (mainly by the fact that the closest theatre was only showing Mean Girls, Troy and Van Helsing…).

I really, really didn’t want to see Troy before today. But, something about today really put me in the mood.

I really should preface this by saying that I hated Gladiator. The awful “action cam”, the loser plot and the “look I’m a hero”, “look, I’m beaten up”, “look I’m a hero”, “look I’m beaten up” main character. Really really disliked Gladiator. I totally understand why others liked (and loved) it, and I think it deserved all the acclaim it got, but it just wasn’t for me.

As a result, I really haven’t been looking forward to this “Gladiator killer”.

Again, though, somehow I was in the mood.

I really, really, really enjoyed this movie. The fact that there were 3 intros didn’t thrill me, as I felt the Director was better than having a text, voice and contextual opener… But it was very good.

Brad Pitt’s character was fantastic. The “immortality through actions” theme wasn’t too overplayed. The music was a bit much, but was okay enough that it didn’t overly annoy me (unlike many epics).

There were enough story lines to follow and not get bored or overwhelmed.

The battle scenes were really, really decent. Not LOTR “huge” kind of battles. Not Braveheart-esque either. Somewhere in between. And the fighting style they had for Pitt’s character was fantastic. Fluid, graceful, in control. Beautiful somehow.

I walked out of the movie having really enjoyed it. I’d think if you liked Gladiator you’ll definitely enjoy this movie. A bit too much of it is focussed on what is essentially one battle (they get to Troy within 30 minutes of the movie starting and stay there for 2 more hours). If you didn’t like Gladiator, you might just like this one. There’s enough of a story to sink your teeth into for practically any viewer.

Oh, and the gore is kept to a controllable level. That’s important to me. Besides Kill Bill, I’m not really a gore person.

KiXtart: Upgrading ZENWorks

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any actual code. Most of the coding I’ve been doing this month has been in KiXtart. Most people will undoubtedly have not heard of “KiX” (the short form).

KiX is essentially DOS, on speed, for network admins of Microsoft networks. It has some pretty impressive functions. Normally it’s used as a login-script replacement. Some of what I’ve done has been in that space, other things I’ve done have been remote-execution scripts.

This script is for upgrading from ZENWorks 3.2 client to ZENWorks 4.0. It will also install the client if you don’t have one, and fulfills any pre-requisites that you might be missing.

Here’s the script:

; ZEN upgrade script - April 27, 2004
; Written by Jeremy C. Wright for the Health Sciences Centre

;**************************************************************
;
; EXECUTION CODE
;
;**************************************************************

GOSUB "setVals"
GOSUB "greetUser"

IF checkZenInstall ()=1
	tellUser ("nochange")
	EXIT
ENDIF

IF checkIEInstall ()=0
	GOSUB "doIEInstall"
ELSE
	GOSUB "doZenInstall"
ENDIF

tellUser ("nochange")
EXIT

;**************************************************************
;
; SUBROUTINES
;
;**************************************************************

:setVals
	; set the program and environment variables before initializing
	; BREAK OFF
	SetConsole ("SHOW")
	SetConsole ("MAXIMIZE")
	SetConsole ("FOREGROUND")
	SetConsole ("ALWAYSONTOP")
	CLS
RETURN

:greetUser
	; Initial comments to thank user for being patient
	? "This script will ensure you have ZENWorks properly installed."
	?
	? "Please be patient while this runs."
	?
	?
RETURN

:doIEInstall
	; Perform Installation of IE
	RUN "\\hscxntdb0012\ZenAgent\ie6install.bat"
	tellUser ("doingie")
	EXIT
RETURN

:doZenInstall
	; Perform Installation of ZENWorks
	RUN "\\hscxntdb0012\ZenAgent\zeninstall.bat"
	tellUser ("doingzen")
	EXIT
RETURN

;**************************************************************
;
; FUNCTIONS
;
;**************************************************************

FUNCTION checkZenInstall ()
	; Ensures ZENWorks is properly installed
	IF Exist ("C:\Program Files\Novell\Zenworks\zennw32.dll")
		$checkZenInstall=1
		RETURN
	ELSE
		$checkZenInstall=0
		RETURN
	END IF
	$checkZenInstall=0
ENDIF

ENDFUNCTION

FUNCTION checkIEInstall ()
	; Checks for the location of iexplore.exe on C and D, and checks version info
	IF Exist ("C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe")
		IF GetFileVersion ("C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe") < 6
			$checkIEInstall=0
			RETURN
		ENDIF
	ENDIF

	IF Exist ("D:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe")
		IF GetFileVersion ("D:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe") < 6
			$checkIEInstall=0
			RETURN
		ENDIF
	ENDIF
	$checkIEInstall=1
ENDFUNCTION

FUNCTION tellUser ($msgIn)
	IF $msgIn="nochange"
		?
		?
		? "Your system is up to date, have a nice day."
		?
		?
		RETURN
	ENDIF

	IF $msgIn="doingzen"
		?
		?
		? "We are now installing ZENWorks. Your computer WILL reboot."
		?
		?
		MESSAGEBOX ("Please wait... Your machine WILL reboot.","Installing...",48)
		RETURN
	ENDIF

	IF $msgIn="doingie"
		?
		?
		? "We are now installing Internet Explorer 6. Your computer WILL reboot."
		?
		?
		MESSAGEBOX ("Please wait... Your machine WILL reboot.","Installing...",48)
		RETURN
	ENDIF
ENDFUNCTION

To provide context, it's called in this manner:

IF INGROUP ("DESKTOP")
	IF @INWIN = 1
;		? "Windows NT Version is " + @DOS
	? "Updated Script, shouldn't run on 9x boxes"
		SLEEP 5
		CALL "ZENUPGRADE.KIX"
	ENDIF
ENDIF

The reason for the "INGROUP ("DESKTOP")" is that the "DESKTOP" group is our Global Group which assigns local admin rights. We can temporarily add users to this group, in which case the next time they login it'll run. Then we can remove them at a later date.

So far we've been adding 2-3 letters worth of users per day (about 500 users on average); and then removing 2-3 of the oldest letters.

Over the next week I'll also release scripts to convert clients from one print server to another, and to point clients at a local Software Update Services server.

Have a great weekend!

Harvard Business School To Honor Bush With New Degree

This one had me pausing, then giggling, then spitting water on my monitor. Not a good thing while you’re having a conversation with your boss ;-)

In honor of the “CEO President,” and in recognition of the fine advances he has brought to modern management techniques, the Harvard Business School will offer a new degree, called the “M.B.A.”: Master Of Bush Administration.

Professor Stephen Hambone, Ph.D.Th. (Doctor of Thinkology); explained, “President Bush has taken delegation to an entirely new level. We used to teach that you should delegate to the most competent and intelligent individuals in your organization. But President Bush has taught us that you can delegate to anyone, as long as you don’t read their reports.”

Professor Hambone also lauded the President for cutting down on executive reading: “You don’t have to read critical documents anymore — or any documents, really — and in fact, it’s preferable. Cuts down on the likelihood of shareholder litigation or impeachment.”

Professor Hambone was effusive in his praise of Bush’s “no-minute management style,” and related other Bush lessons: “Always call the work of top supervisors ‘superb,’ even when they’ve endangered a core mission. When you say your supervisors look good, you look good. And blameless.”

The school will be taking applications only from those nominally serving in the National Guard, starting this July.

[ from Opinions you should have via Fouro ]

"Give Me A List"

… It’s never a good thing when your boss says “I need a list of everything you’ve done since you got here, and I need it right away”.

I spoke with my coworker and apparently I’m not allowed to know what’s going on. Thankfully, apparently it’s “mostly” not about me but about my team.

Yay.

Thankfully I’ve got more than enough work to do and more than enough to take my mind off of it. Let the politics start.