"Fear of Change: How Technology Rewires Our Minds Without Us Knowing" (by Paul W. Smith)

 

I was born and raised in Southern California and by the time my wife and I had settled our young family in Santa Barbara (aka Paradise), I swore we would never leave. Nine years later we moved to Niwot, Colorado (aka God’s Country). The scripted answer to “Why?” centered on a job offer that was too good to pass up, but there was also an element of adventure to a fresh start in another state. We certainly felt some trepidation over such a major change, but I still point to the decision as proof that I am not a Tropophobe.

"Network Cleanup Tips: How to Remove Old Cabling and Legacy Equipment"

I tend to get a lot of 'Network Cleanup' projects. I think it goes back to the satisfaction I get when things are all neat and tidy - thanks mom. Tim O'Neill even referred to me as the 'Network Janitor' in some of his articles.

Oddly enough, I enjoy figuring out what customers have, how to make it work better, what to replace, what to rip out and delivering the final product; a clean, well documented network. Then again, how many people can identify a Memotec x.25 Pad, 3174 IBM Controller or an IBM 8228 MAU?  Yes, I still run into that stuff. Then there's the whole CSI-type angle where you need to figure out how things ended up in the current state. If I'm lucky I can help consolidate some equipment, or eliminate excessive equipment or cabling. I can't tell you how many times I am referred to as the 'site specialist' with only 2 or 3 weeks at a customer site.

"How to Find a Device's IP Address Using Nmap and a Port Number"

 I’m sure you’ve been there before. You connect a network tool to your network, it gets assigned an IP address via DHCP and now you need to connect to it.