So it’s finally sinking in that I’m out of college and I’m a working slave now. I enjoy work so much more than going to school. Maybe it’s the whole being productive thing. Actually working on real-life projects instead of listening to some egomaniac. I will definitely be getting some certifications and training, but that can hardly be considered school. I think once I frame my diploma it will cement the thought in my head that I am actually done with my Computer Science degree.

R.I.P Lectures

Here is a mass email sent out by Joe Newton, Director of Information Technology, today. (Note the highlighted part)

VSU has suffered three Internet connection outages during the month of January 2008. I received a phone call from the Director of PeachNet Network Services this morning when service was again restored to inform me that all three outages had, astoundingly, been caused by squirrels chewing the insulation and fiber optic cable in a single segment between Adel and Valdosta. This morning, Georgia Public Web (GPW) moved our service to an alternate path that spans around this particular segment in order to prevent recurrence of this problem. Georgia Public Web provides network connectivity for much of PeachNet, the statewide communications network supporting all University System of Georgia campuses, including Valdosta State University.

VSU has suffered outages three times during the month of January 2008 so

far:

Sunday 1/13/08 5:30pm – 11:59pm

Saturday 1/26/08 5:15pm – 10:00pm

Monday 1/28/08 7:15am – 11:00am

VSU is working with GPW and PeachNet to identify availability of alternate routes to provide diverse fiber path so that VSU’s connectivity will be redundant and reliable in order to withstand such service outages without losing all access to and from the Internet.

I am hopeful that appropriate measures have now been taken to reduce the likelihood of another service outage for the same reasons. We will continue to press for a diverse, redundant link to allow the campus to sustain a service outage on any one segment without the loss of access and disruption to productivity that a complete outage causes.

Joe Newton

Director of Information Technology

Information Technology Division

Valdosta State University

Valdosta, GA USA 31698-0195

jnewton@valdosta.edu

dept 229-333-5974

fax 229-245-4349

Unfortunately, alternate routes are not readily available to the South, West, or East of us and we are currently dependant on a single path to the North connecting us to Tifton. Viewing of the Fiber Map located at the PeachNet web site listed below shows that VSU is not alone among institutions who are connected only as spurs and not to the “ring-around-Georgia” that provides high-speed and redundant access to the statewide network. The long range plan is to identify additional, diverse routes and to redundantly connect all campuses into the “ring around Georgia.”

GPW Official Website

http://www.townware.com/site/

PeachNet

http://www.usg.edu/peachnet/

VSU Division of Information Technology

http://www.valdosta.edu/it/

I’ve know about Hayden Barnes’ expulsion from the beginning, but yesterday it made Slashdot! Also I noticed in the Valdosta Daily Times and WALB that Hayden filed a federal lawsuit. This case put Valdosta State University on FIRE’s (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) Red Alert list. I learned today, as a senior, that VSU has a “Free Expression Area” where Freedom of Speech is allowed (from 12PM to 1PM and 5PM to 6PM).

People kept telling me that the photo collage posted on FaceBook had a picture President Zaccari getting bulldozed. For the first time today I saw the collage of pictures with my own eyes (shown below). I do not see any pictures that would prompt for the expulsion of a student. However, I think the poor choice of words of a title “Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage” is what struck a nerve with the President.