hurry up and wait

For the past week (Aug. 21 - Aug 30) I've been working with our new IT professional on fixing our church/school network and Windows SBS 2003 Premium Edition.

It's about equal time researching and working as it is waiting for a download patch or waiting for a service pack to install or uninstall or uninstall and then install again or waiting for the server to reboot.

It's very fusterating, especially when it consumes so much time.
Time waiting. Time not being able to do my normal work.
Time not being home. Time not sleeping.

Long story short: our server was plagued with slowness, conflicts and problems.
We partnered with striketeamtech.com
Our tech, Pat, has been a tremendous blessing.
He knows Windows and he's fast.
Unfortunately, windows plays the waiting game, as mentioned above.

Pat and I were working on fixing the server and network.
We fixed the DNS, original installation configuration problems, NIC, a failed backup tape drive (still under warrantee), DHCP and finally MS SBS 2003 SP1. It seemed just as we fixed each one of these issues something else would go wrong. Finally we had GPO problems and then the GPO editor crashed and DHCP and DNS didn't work.

If you're thinking, "What did he just say?" you're not alone.
I'm not sure myself but I do know that all those things need to be working to have a healthy server.

The only thing left was to wipe the hard drive and start over.
So that's where we are tonight.

The server is running much faster and things are cleaner.
Overall, it really pays to pay a person who knows what they're doing.

I've learned that there are a lot of tech people and business out there.
Some are just guys who know enough to be dangerous.
Some are certified MS engineers.
Some are smart enough to be MS certified but aren't.
Some think they know enough to be a tech but souldn't be.

For those of us who are outside looking in, it's hard to determine which of the above mentioned group a particular tech belongs in. But you can see it in their work.

Unfortunately for me, I experienced guys who know a little and where dangerous and now, with Pat, I'm experiencing a guy who is great, knows computers/networks and is a certified MS engineer.