shorehost

Hi there fellow posters and possibly Surpass staff! I've been a customer now for a few years I think, wow. Anyway, I thought it was time to say hi and post something to the introduce yourself section. So here goes...

I'm a 27yo Systems Admin who lives in Tampa, FL. I work for a global company based in New York, but I work out of the Tampa office. I am kind of a Jack of all trades in the IT world anyway, as I am certified in and experienced with many different types of systems and various technologies. I have about 10 professional certifications including MCSE in both 2000 and 2003. I am an AD and Exchange guru and am a master level expert in Exchange at www.experts-exchange.com but I'm not on there that much, so I'll have to wait a while to be classified as a guru or wizard. I am MCPJoe on the EE website.

I worked for state and local governments in my home state for over 4 years before coming to Tampa. Before that I worked in various professions before I felt my "IT Calling" in 1998. I worked for a frozen vegitable plant for 1 day; worked for a fast food restaurantl drove a forklift and worked for a warehouse place for about 2 years; then wen't on to work in their programming department which was kinda part of IT. Once I got into government, starting out at the state level, I soon hated being the only guy supporting 8 offices and hundreds of users. Always so much to be done and only one me. I left after just over 2 years and worked for a nearby county government for over 2 years. I got to do a lot of cool stuff in those 4 years. From going to the state offices in the big city for official formal meetings, to geting to work with all kinds of technologies and get exposure to all sorts of nifty IT systems. I started out as a Novell guy and also tinkered with Linux a bit. After going to the county, I went to a straight Microsoft type of environment with no room for linux :-( I got to be a part of an NT4 to 2003 server with AD and Exchange 2003 system which was a lot of fun and I got to play a big role in getting that migration finished. I also had a great time working with other county departments, some great memories there with units such as the sheriff's office, jail, and others.

Some of my best memories of county government include:

1. Getting chased around the jail by the warden with the riot shield (built in stun gun)
2. Using police radios on our own dedicated channel and getting to screw around with the dispatchers who monitored our channel
3. Working with some intelligent and humorous interns
4. Being around some goofy sheriff's office deputies, these guys were a hoot and so much fun to be around and listen to their stories.
5. Getting a free mug shot photo with the new booking system I setup for the Sheriff, that was fun! I don't share that photo!
6. Being threatened to be thrown into a jail cell (with Tyrone) by the warden if an IT issue wasn't resolved to his liking. We always took care of him :-)
7. Spending time at my bosses house (IT director) helping or watching him work on an addition to his house on the county's time. What a slacker!
8. Going to a local council womans home to fix her personal family tree software (what can I say, we did support for everyone's home PCs too).
9. Getting a free PR ride in the medivac helicopter by a cool pilot and getting a group picture.
10. Hearing stories of an affair our EX IT director had with one of the female employees, events which took place on MY desk by the way, I couldn't have used enough bleach and clearners!
11. Dealing with cranky (how can I say, redneck employees). Pride and tempers, whew!
12. Brainless bosses. Lets just toss money out the window, maybe we should plant some in the ground. I know, lets put the server room in the condemned wing of the court house!
13. Driving around with a wireless laptop "testing" signal strenght for hours. (we had our own proprietory wireless county-wide).
14. Offended me at the time, but funny now, being called the "Frat Boys" (my IT director was around my age). Kinda funny now.
15. Hosting sites for everyone! Thats right, I always open my big mouth that I had a reseller account and could host websites for people. I hosted sites for state and local government, friends, friends of friends and airports, what a mess. I should just shut up!

I moved here to Tampa in March of 05' and have been loving. We had some rought parts the first year and something months, but are really enjoying life here in Tampa. I have a beautiful wife and three amazing kids. I really try to work to live and not live to work. Its hard for me to spend so much time working and so little time with my family :-(

I am kind of a geek, but not nearly as hard core as some of the people even on this forum. I think I take a balanced approach to geekdom, especially since I live in a single income (mine) and don't have a lot of spare cash to spend on the latest and greatest gadgets and other geek like devices and toys. I drive a Mazda Miata that I love (zoom zoom) and its my 15th or higher car I've had in the lat 10 years. I do have a 57" HDTV and download all my TV Shows and am not sucked into the cable companies or satallite TV companies. I give them NONE of my money! Although I do pay Road Runner for my internet access! I have a separate computer to play back all my shows and video, even DVDs. I do some vidoe editing, web design and all kinds of tinkering with tons of software, and various systems. I think the list would be too large to list here in its entirety.

Ok, I am sure most of you reading this are getting pretty bored by now, so I'll stop here. Now that you know me personally (or maybe feel that way) :-)

One last plug for Surpass:
I've been with Surpass for a while now and really think they offer a great service at affordable rates.

shorehost

Oh, I forgot to mention, since I'm a sysadmin, I have 3 servers and 2 PCs at home, two servers are AD controllers and one is an Exchange server. I run all my personal e-mail through exchange and utilize DNSExit.com for DNS and the following services for mail redirection and backup services: www.rollernet.us and www.no-ip.com and both work great, but rollernet is free! I run system monitoring software from Adventnet called OPManager and I run a blog which you can find at www.churchgang.us/joe/blog/wp

deastwood

hello and wow that was long!

shorehost

Yeah sorry, when I start writing, I get a little carried away.

Kayla

WOW, still reading!

Sorry about your desk! AAH!

MarkRH

After reading all that, I feel like a lazy bum er something LOL.. ack.. almost 10:30.. off to McDonald's fer breakfast!

Edwin

I dont, but that is just because 1) I couldn't afford it, and 2) I've got so much space on my present package, that I don't need extra space (for the moment, but of course, if someone is going to offer an upgrade )