Monday - Office
Tuesday - Office
Wednesday - Saturday - TIE Conference - Technology professional development
Monday's notes:
Monday, Monday, Monday...
Man, the advantage to focusing most of my attention on one project is that I got a bunch of it knocked out. Still a long way to go and a short time to do it (oh, I know what you THOUGHT I was gonna say). Converting revamped technology training modules into our new Moodle format. Whew!
Looks like overtime will be calling my name tomorrow evening! At least I should be able to finish things up from the house.
Why "most of my attention?" Spent the day swapping emails and phone calls with Sharon and Cari on various tech issues. CRAZY DAY! Despite it all, I am very glad to be employed! Oh yeah, and Verizon's area-wide blackout didn't help. Haha!
I helped Sharon at Blevins with various Tech Plan questions, E-Rate questions, and a few other technical issues.
I helped Cari with Exchange issues - her server ran out of drive space, so we freed up space and remounted the Exchange Store. We also worked thorough some Active Directory problems as well. We also covered E-Rate bids, RFP's, and other technical issues.
Verizon had a major network issue with their wireless network in our area this morning, so I spent some time on the phone with their support folks.
I am working on the Co-op's Tech Plan and the State Tech Coordinator Grant Proposal as well.
So, what'd YOU do today?!
Showing posts with label erate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label erate. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
Week of 11-28-2011
Monday - In the office. I answered voice mail and email from the previous week. I ran out to the Hope early childhood program to troubleshoot a computer problem. Turned out the maintenance folks had cleaned over the holiday break and knocked the power cord loose on a video distribution box. I employed the help of the DL Coordinator and we updated printer drivers in the APSCN mini lab. I worked with our bookkeeper to locate various items requested on the auditor inventory pull (three servers, an Opscan scanner, a projector, and a partridge in a pear tree.... Sorry, couldn't resist the holiday spirit there! I have talked with no fewer than three vendors and I shared the USAC E-Rate Window announcement via Twitter and FaceBook. I helped a staff member point her home page to the company's new website address. As this post was created at 10:30am on Monday, there is still a full day of tech ahead. This post may or may not be updated to reflect everything done today (hopefully, I will!!).
A few of our DTU-16D's have been acting a bit weird - namely, when an internal extension pages directly to certain phones, a loud buzzing sound could be heard in the background. After swapping units, I narrowed the issue down to the base/handset itself. Luckily, I have a couple left from the old building and took care of the main users with the issue. I have a repair/exchange in place for the two phones, so that should be fixed when I get back into the office next week.
Tuesday - OUT
Wednesday-Friday - I will be at the AESA National Conference in Colorado. I will be co-presenting with Harry Dickens in one session and helping to man the technology for Phoebe in another session. I will also be attending various breakout sessions, including the 2011 Digital Jam hosted by Kevin Honeycutt. I will be posting updates to twitter (@davidinark), FaceBook, and at least one of my personal blogs (http://www.poppedinmyhead.com).
A few of our DTU-16D's have been acting a bit weird - namely, when an internal extension pages directly to certain phones, a loud buzzing sound could be heard in the background. After swapping units, I narrowed the issue down to the base/handset itself. Luckily, I have a couple left from the old building and took care of the main users with the issue. I have a repair/exchange in place for the two phones, so that should be fixed when I get back into the office next week.
Tuesday - OUT
Wednesday-Friday - I will be at the AESA National Conference in Colorado. I will be co-presenting with Harry Dickens in one session and helping to man the technology for Phoebe in another session. I will also be attending various breakout sessions, including the 2011 Digital Jam hosted by Kevin Honeycutt. I will be posting updates to twitter (@davidinark), FaceBook, and at least one of my personal blogs (http://www.poppedinmyhead.com).
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday
Had the November area tech meeting. We covered IDEAS, MyEvent updates, new wireless in Co-op main building, iPads and bulk purchasing apps, had a vendor discussion/presentation regarding maintenance and E-Rate. This was done over CIV with a direct connection to the vendor's system.
After the meeting, several techs stayed to work on disaster recovery and/or tech plans.
I adjusted the time and timer settings for our parking lot lights. i also installed a new access point in the "attic"
Friday's plan: upgrade the active directory on my 2003 servers in order to prepare for the move to the new 2008 server. Once that is done, I plan to fire up the new server and start moving data to the new box.
After the meeting, several techs stayed to work on disaster recovery and/or tech plans.
I adjusted the time and timer settings for our parking lot lights. i also installed a new access point in the "attic"
Friday's plan: upgrade the active directory on my 2003 servers in order to prepare for the move to the new 2008 server. Once that is done, I plan to fire up the new server and start moving data to the new box.
Friday, October 28, 2011
10/28/2011
I am home sick today, but because Verizon and Alltel merged, there is a problem with our ERate invoicing. Because of THAT, we cannot yet get our reimbursements from Verizon. It was an issue that I thought had been resolved. I was wrong. So, while sick, I am now working with USAC, Verizon and whomever else to get this resolved. I had to file an extension, which will hopefully be approved by USAC until this gets figured out.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
10/27/2011
I will catch up with missed days in another post.
Today, I took a laptop and wireless printer to one of our early childhood programs, installed them. I also created a user account on one of the ech computers in that same facility.
After that, I went to Fouke Schools. We worked on users, groups, shared folders, permissions, a little bit of group policy. I also helped them with questions regarding subnets and expansion of their commodity internet.
Following that, we worked on permissions issues on the mac server. Turned out to be a problem between the user and their home folder. When deleting a user on a mac server, be sure to also delete/rename that user's home folder before attempting to create another user account with the same name.
Talked on phone with Bradley regarding ERate.
Once back at the office, I worked on E-Rate (BEAR forms etc) until end of day.
Today, I took a laptop and wireless printer to one of our early childhood programs, installed them. I also created a user account on one of the ech computers in that same facility.
After that, I went to Fouke Schools. We worked on users, groups, shared folders, permissions, a little bit of group policy. I also helped them with questions regarding subnets and expansion of their commodity internet.
Following that, we worked on permissions issues on the mac server. Turned out to be a problem between the user and their home folder. When deleting a user on a mac server, be sure to also delete/rename that user's home folder before attempting to create another user account with the same name.
Talked on phone with Bradley regarding ERate.
Once back at the office, I worked on E-Rate (BEAR forms etc) until end of day.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
What's going on: Monday and Tuesday Edition
Trying to document everything I do really is a challenge. I have got to get better at this.
Monday:
Got the agreements/contracts for AT&T faxed for E-rate yesterday.
Took several calls from schools, but cannot remember specifically what the content invloved.
Sent emails to area schools regarding several matters: Letters of Impact/Support for the co-op Technology Coordinator position, 2011 Technology Needs/Use survey for professional development, general technical assistance.
Talked with Max Kolstad who is back with ADE! Scheduled a CIV for March regarding the TAC/HAC program.
Sent requests to vendors for quotes on a couple desktop computers for our early childhood program.
Worked on E-rate numbers - child counts, etc, gearing up for 471 submittal.
Worked on the HIPPY computer that had become infected with spyware/adware
Helped several co-workers with iPad questions, cell phone questions, etc.
Researched several topics (Parental Involvement, School Board training) on the ArkansasIDEAS portal in order to help folks find the staff development resources they needed.
========
Tuesday
More work on E-rate information.
Helped multiple school techs (in my area and outside my area) through the statewide system administrators listserv throughout the day.
Worked on the firewall to add/modify blocked sites
Performed a few administrative functions on the co-op's Sharepoint server.
Other regular duties as well, among things that have slipped my mind.
=====
These lists are in no way near anything remotely close to "complete." Instead, these are the things I can specifically pull out of my memory from the non-stop "blowin' and goin'" I do every day.
Wednesday and Thursday, the state techs are in Moodle training.
Monday:
Got the agreements/contracts for AT&T faxed for E-rate yesterday.
Took several calls from schools, but cannot remember specifically what the content invloved.
Sent emails to area schools regarding several matters: Letters of Impact/Support for the co-op Technology Coordinator position, 2011 Technology Needs/Use survey for professional development, general technical assistance.
Talked with Max Kolstad who is back with ADE! Scheduled a CIV for March regarding the TAC/HAC program.
Sent requests to vendors for quotes on a couple desktop computers for our early childhood program.
Worked on E-rate numbers - child counts, etc, gearing up for 471 submittal.
Worked on the HIPPY computer that had become infected with spyware/adware
Helped several co-workers with iPad questions, cell phone questions, etc.
Researched several topics (Parental Involvement, School Board training) on the ArkansasIDEAS portal in order to help folks find the staff development resources they needed.
========
Tuesday
More work on E-rate information.
Helped multiple school techs (in my area and outside my area) through the statewide system administrators listserv throughout the day.
Worked on the firewall to add/modify blocked sites
Performed a few administrative functions on the co-op's Sharepoint server.
Other regular duties as well, among things that have slipped my mind.
=====
These lists are in no way near anything remotely close to "complete." Instead, these are the things I can specifically pull out of my memory from the non-stop "blowin' and goin'" I do every day.
Wednesday and Thursday, the state techs are in Moodle training.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday
NOTE: This was actually created on Tuesday, January 4, 2011. I don't know why it never posted. Gotta love technology...
Wow, you would think by now that I'd have some cool, creative naming scheme for my daily entries. No such luck, my friends!
Tuesday started off with setting up the CIV room for a small conference between our co-op and a handful of others. That was followed by a weird phone situation in which I had managed to connect the wrong extension for one of our offices. That was readily fixed, though. I love our new phone system layout: go into the tech closet, move a jumper from one extension to another and voila!
We've got a big Common Core preso here on Friday, so I set up with triple-wide room so that the computer image would be displayed on three projectors at the same time. The units we have feature a "piggy back" option and I think it may be time to look into making that a permanent feature. As it is right now, I come out of the presenter's station into a 4-way splitter. The signal is then split between the three rooms by cables running across the floor. It looks ugly. I am generally more of a "function over form" kinda guy, but this setup is starting to make me cringe a little. I'm adding the changeover to my 'to-do' list!
The Director asked me to help with some half-fold note cards, so she and I worked together to get the right feel and fit. That was pretty easy to do in Publisher. I'm not a pro at Publisher by any means, but simple things are fun to generate when the program makes it easy to handle.
Evidently, there are going to be after-work aerobics classes on the third floor. This means that I needed to install a DVD/VCR attached to the big screen TV we brought from the old building. Easy peasy.
I fielded several 'helpdesk' phone calls from a couple of the area schools. Once of these regarded login issues with the Ideas portal. I offered to call the AETN helpdesk to get the logins fixed, but the administrator said she wanted to see how far she got, but that she would employ my assistance if she hit any snags.
Another phone issue came up regarding several machines showing a BSOD. The only way to power down was to unplug the machine from the wall. After a bit of conversation, we determined that several folks had left their computers on during the two-week holiday and that power surges during that break mostly likely contributed to the BSOD. (A snarky aside: perhaps someone was lighting fireworks too close to the school, thus sending the computers into a tizzy... /re: thousands of birds falling from Arkansas skies/)
I helped that same tech with a wireless issue - namely, we downloaded the Linksys WAP54G setup spftware so that she could find wireless devices on her network and manage those from her office without needing to physically visit each one. It's nice in theory. The problem is that the software doesn't give enough time for the units to respond during the initial launch. The software then only sees a handful of units at a time. It is a bit frustrating.
After the PIA review with USAC for E-rate, I received a letter extending our refund request deadline. I now have to submit a BEAR form in order to get my discounted funding from our phone bills. I've never done BEAR before (we usually just get the discounts and do not fuss with reimbursements), so that is adventure unfolding before me.
Wow, you would think by now that I'd have some cool, creative naming scheme for my daily entries. No such luck, my friends!
Tuesday started off with setting up the CIV room for a small conference between our co-op and a handful of others. That was followed by a weird phone situation in which I had managed to connect the wrong extension for one of our offices. That was readily fixed, though. I love our new phone system layout: go into the tech closet, move a jumper from one extension to another and voila!
We've got a big Common Core preso here on Friday, so I set up with triple-wide room so that the computer image would be displayed on three projectors at the same time. The units we have feature a "piggy back" option and I think it may be time to look into making that a permanent feature. As it is right now, I come out of the presenter's station into a 4-way splitter. The signal is then split between the three rooms by cables running across the floor. It looks ugly. I am generally more of a "function over form" kinda guy, but this setup is starting to make me cringe a little. I'm adding the changeover to my 'to-do' list!
The Director asked me to help with some half-fold note cards, so she and I worked together to get the right feel and fit. That was pretty easy to do in Publisher. I'm not a pro at Publisher by any means, but simple things are fun to generate when the program makes it easy to handle.
Evidently, there are going to be after-work aerobics classes on the third floor. This means that I needed to install a DVD/VCR attached to the big screen TV we brought from the old building. Easy peasy.
I fielded several 'helpdesk' phone calls from a couple of the area schools. Once of these regarded login issues with the Ideas portal. I offered to call the AETN helpdesk to get the logins fixed, but the administrator said she wanted to see how far she got, but that she would employ my assistance if she hit any snags.
Another phone issue came up regarding several machines showing a BSOD. The only way to power down was to unplug the machine from the wall. After a bit of conversation, we determined that several folks had left their computers on during the two-week holiday and that power surges during that break mostly likely contributed to the BSOD. (A snarky aside: perhaps someone was lighting fireworks too close to the school, thus sending the computers into a tizzy... /re: thousands of birds falling from Arkansas skies/)
I helped that same tech with a wireless issue - namely, we downloaded the Linksys WAP54G setup spftware so that she could find wireless devices on her network and manage those from her office without needing to physically visit each one. It's nice in theory. The problem is that the software doesn't give enough time for the units to respond during the initial launch. The software then only sees a handful of units at a time. It is a bit frustrating.
After the PIA review with USAC for E-rate, I received a letter extending our refund request deadline. I now have to submit a BEAR form in order to get my discounted funding from our phone bills. I've never done BEAR before (we usually just get the discounts and do not fuss with reimbursements), so that is adventure unfolding before me.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Catching up on the week
Monday - Frankly, I don't remember. I know I installed a new printer in the Mini Lab and worked on cleaning the tech closet. I talked several times on the phone with Sharon at Blevins.
Tuesday - Helped get a workshop under way, then spent the afternoon in Prescott working on their distance learning equipment. The issue (noise) seemed to be isolated to one of their microphones. Once I unplugged it, things cleared up. Will explained to me that it was most likely a problem with the phantom power that drives that mic (especially since the problem started after a power surge/outage). At least it seems to be working now!
Wednesday - The day started off with a call from a woman whose daughter was having trouble with the ArkansasIDEAS site. After a bit of conversation and troubleshooting, I had told her that I thought the daughter could find the info in her profile, but I could not remember how to get there. I told her to call AETN. I also sent an email to colleagues and they offered up some suggestions. I asked the woman to call me back later in the day, but if she did, I missed the call.
The rest of the morning was spent with the area techs as we participated in a videoconference for E-Rate. There are some welcomed changes to the 470 Form, making it streamlined for entry. There are also changes to the 471 Form. There are other changes as well, all presented in a handout provided during the conference.
The afternoon had us checking out various apps for iPads:
I also shared various topics with the area techs:
Tuesday - Helped get a workshop under way, then spent the afternoon in Prescott working on their distance learning equipment. The issue (noise) seemed to be isolated to one of their microphones. Once I unplugged it, things cleared up. Will explained to me that it was most likely a problem with the phantom power that drives that mic (especially since the problem started after a power surge/outage). At least it seems to be working now!
Wednesday - The day started off with a call from a woman whose daughter was having trouble with the ArkansasIDEAS site. After a bit of conversation and troubleshooting, I had told her that I thought the daughter could find the info in her profile, but I could not remember how to get there. I told her to call AETN. I also sent an email to colleagues and they offered up some suggestions. I asked the woman to call me back later in the day, but if she did, I missed the call.
The rest of the morning was spent with the area techs as we participated in a videoconference for E-Rate. There are some welcomed changes to the 470 Form, making it streamlined for entry. There are also changes to the 471 Form. There are other changes as well, all presented in a handout provided during the conference.
The afternoon had us checking out various apps for iPads:
- DisplayOut app after jailbreaking for display help
- VPN - General, Network, Connection, put in info.
- Jump - Remote desktop $20
- Good Reader - open documents, file manager, Web Downloads, Connect to Servers (DropBox, Google Docs, Box.Net, etc), can turn on wifi and share ipad via web address
- Reeder - feed reader
- iNet - network scanner
- VTrace - visual tracert
- HeyTell - touch-to-talk - wifi or cell
- PhotoWall - collages, upload to FB, etc (print 11x17) text
- Flipboard - look at FB, twitter etc as a magazine
- iFlux - Flux Capicator
- Cydia - Jailbreaker - Wifi Analyzer
- Backgrounder - run in background
- Wi-fi Sync - sync iPad to Mac via wifi
- To jailbreak - 3.2.0 or 3.2.1 - www.jailbreakme.com
- i-prompt - teleprompter -
- Facetime - now out for mac
- phoster - create posters
- app shopper
I also shared various topics with the area techs:
- DIS will launch a new bandwidth aggregation tool to help schools get more bandwidth. It is a combination of hardware devices allowing schools to band their T1s, DSL, Cable, etc into one box to share bandwidth. Cost for schools sits between $4000-$8000.
- DIS will launch a program that allows Co-op techs to view status etc on school routers to help in the troubleshooting process.
- DIS is working on a statewide AD structure (secondary) to allow global addressing, etc
- I asked area techs to help with getting all of our certified teachers registered in the ArkansasIDEAS portal.
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