Weblog
12/21/01 05:56 PM: Lincoln Labs
First week of working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory is over. I don’t feel that I have really made the best impressions so far because I am a bit overwhelmed with everything. The place is huge and I have been introduced to so many people and can only remember a fraction of them. I have been working with two other co-op students as they have been basically showing me the ropes so to speak. I guess at this point I am somewhat insecure that I will fuck something up but have yet to do anything serious. I hope that now that I have a desk and computer things will begin to smooth out and I can get into the process better.
Basically my primary task is to upgrade people from Windows 95 to Windows 2000. First we have to go to their computer and get a screenshot of the desktop, screenshot of the printers configuration, the network paths for the printers, their IP address, screenshot of add/remove programs dialogs, list of what is in their startup menu, their login name, and any files that they need. It is difficult getting the files they need because they could possibly be spread across the computer on several different drives. The good users all save their stuff to their private network directory on the the P: drive and that is the best setup because it is backed up. Not to mention that it makes my job 100 times easier. Some people have Palm pilots and that is added trouble and I don’t even really know how to configure those for them yet.
I also have to answer the phone: “NETCOM1, This is Dave” or something like that. There seems to be some things (like that) that don’t seem to be formalized as everyone does it differently. I suppose that is okay. I just want to be doing it the right way, and without knowing what that is, it is troubling.
I have to carry a pager so that I can be reached. I am told that it is not used that frequently and only if you are out on “calls” for a long time and might be needed.
Well, there’s more to tell but perhaps another time. I want to go watch some TV.
