Geeking Out and I Hate Married Undercover Eps
I believe I have found the feeling of knowing what you're good at in life and following it. Weird feeling it is, almost something you want to fight against, and yet it's about as natural as breathing.
So, if you'll excuse me, I seriously need to geek-out here for a minute.
Class was this past Saturday and many things happened this class. Not only had I barely studied since I knew class was canceled for the previous week, but I felt like I knew the material like the front of my watch, probably because I actually spent my time studying the way I normally do: by just reading and absorbing, no note-taking like last time. Hence I spent the last few hours of my Friday night watching episodes of Lost Girl on my mother's glorious 57" TV set before making my way home and crashing. I went to class with a full mug of Earl Grey and found, to my surprise, that not only were there four fewer guys in the class but the man I've now dubbed "English guy" was exceedingly polite. We worked on the labs mostly together in the computer lab and we worked rather well together. For a person who has admitted to "politely" trolling those online, he's a decent chap to work with. And he's genuinely interested in learning, discussing, and, shockingly, listening to others and the instructor. Many of the guys in the class act like they're undiagnosed ADHD candidates and blurt out whatever sort of words they can think of at the moment. English guy and I just like to listen, although he talks more than I do.
Anyway, after the disaster that was the class before this, with my 80% score on my exam about the OSI model, I was revved up for this exam. Both English guy and I were on the same page with our brains hurting by the end of class, which was rushed due to the instructor having no time management skills and the power point presentation on the readings half-done by the end of class and the beginning of the exam, but I was still optimistic.
Second to last person to finish the exam and, well, 95% binary score and a 97% weighted score. Basically, I got one question wrong! I ROCK the application layer (or Layer 7)!
I was on an emotional high after that. I got screwed over by the interworkings of peer-to-peer (P2P) networking, the one I did the least amount of studying on, yet everything else.... I was smiling so hard for about an hour after that. I can't remember a time I've ever felt that good about en exam, an event, a measly twenty-minutes of my life before and, like an addict, I want to work hard to get that sort of feeling again. This class, held at my local community college with an instructor that has a hard time figuring out the Eagle Server setup, is creating a motivation, a drive, inside of me that makes me want to do this, all of it. In three years I want to be learning security, to learn how to combat attacks on networks, to work for a place that I can bury myself in my job and love it because, apparently, I love networking.
I've know, for a while now, that I love computers. The thing that always doubted me was that I never "worked" on computers, I played with them. I liked to tinker, to build, to watch the threads in Process Explorer run and partition my hard drive to work with Slackware (Linux). It, in all honesty and with every bit of humility I can conjure up, came naturally. I joke that I intimidate computers but the way my brain works, in black-and-white terms (I prefer to say logically), I understand computers in a different way than other people do. I never thought of it as something I could use, could work with, could put to use and use it as a point where I can be proud of my life. It's rather amazing.
Oh, and I do love this stuff. So, let me geek here.
Ahem. So, from what I learned two weeks ago, the Application Layer, or Layer 7 as it is properly called, is the top layer of the OSI model as well as the top layer for the TCP/IP model. It's basic purpose is to allow the end user (you), to interact with the network via an UI (user interface). It works with the layers below it, it transforms the data you send over a network to be usable by the network, ie bits, and allows the server and/or client on the other side to understand what you are doing.
There were other layers discussed, like Layers 6 and 5, Presentation and Session layers respectively of the OSI model, that encode the data the direct it to the lower layers for further transmission. All three of these layers, which are basically protocols, or rules, that allow us to understand what is going on under the hood in terms we can conceptualize, work together and form the Application layer of the TCP/IP model. In fact, I found that although each layer has its own specific sets of protocols to follow, they all meshed together well. Then again, they have to if you want to interact with a network, which includes the Internet.
I learned about HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, DNS, DHCP, POP, SSH, Telnet, MTA, MUA, MDA, P2P, FTP, and a few others I'm forgetting. Port numbers for a few were also memorized (how one computer tells a server or client to use the information, ie with an application or service), like HTTP is port 80, FTP are ports 21 and 20, and SMTP is 25. I also know what all those acronyms stand for like DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and SMTP is...ok, yeah.
Still, I'm learning how the Internet and servers work! Seriously, that's cool! For a couple days I really want to geek out to someone and let this all out although, sadly, there is no one to geek out to other than, well, the Internet and you fine folks (I'll be using a POST command sent to the server to, well, post this post. Doubt it would be a PUT command...using port 80 of course because this site, surprising, is not secured with HTTPS). It's all rather exciting.
If only I could figure out how Wireshark works so I could monitor my networking traffic better and capture those pesky packets (pieces of information sent over the network).
.... :D
TL;DR I love networking. Really, really, really love it. It gives me a damn decent high.
I've also marathoned my way through Season 1 of Lost Girl recently, while keeping up with Season 3 and, um, spoilers?
Season 1 was, after much due deliberation, like watching my sister's love life.
I kid you not, my sister is the bisexual (succubus) lost one and I'm the (actual) sister always having her back. Every time I talk with my sister it's about a new guy, or how the old guy was too clingy/not ready enough, or how she slept with this girl who also has my name (my sister has a nick-name for that girl now, thankfully). Even yesterday it was some new guy...sigh, anyway, TV and real life too close for comfort.
Putting that strangeness aside, I loved Season 1. The cast is awesome, the demon-of-the-week is good, but the characters I love, which always makes a show for me. Even Dyson I felt bad for by the beginning of Season 2, which is saying something as I'm not a huge fan of him. The only problem I had was the one overly-cliched episode where my sister stand-in Bo and Dyson go undercover as a married couple. I hated that type of episode cliche even when my first OTP, Mulder and Scully, did it on the X-Files and I hated it this time. It's a bad, bad episode type and just...ugh. No, just no.
The other problem was some continuity issues with Bo and Dyson. Honestly, the back-and-worth between them got really messed up in the later episodes. The episode they go undercover she was all over him when the episode before I could have sworn she was still pissed at the world/mad at him/not going steady. It was jarring the way it changed and, couple with the episode type, I felt like switching it off completely. Thank the Gods for Kenzi in that one. Really. (And cue sister...right...now.)
It's no surprise that I immediately loved Lauren. Geeks think alike. *shrug* It annoyed me that I had to watch for the actor's name after the opening credits each episode, seeing as she's recurring in Season 1, and each time I had about 15 minutes of staring at her, but Season 2 looks better in that respect. As for her finally hooking up with Bo, I can understand her motives for betraying Bo in "Vexed," the episode only being marred by the fact that it squicked me out so hard when a garbage disposal system met a hand (UGH!), and still I understand Bo's hurt. What I don't understand is how Bo can be so quick to forgive Dyson of his brooding and betrayal of her (ie withholding information she's been searching for over the entirety of Season 1) and yet holds a grudge against Lauren. Then the continuity between the end of Season 1 and Season 2 with Lauren and Bo...ok, going from needing a talk to making those soft, bedroom eyes at each other again? Yeah, ok, what happened those three weeks Dyson freaked out after losing his "passion" for Bo?
Oh, and that last bit also brings questions with it. Why does he need to act like she is a poison he can't swallow when only his "passion" was taken, not his friendship care, and how come Bo didn't read his freaking aura of sex? She could have figured this out a while ago. *double sigh*
I know the majority of what happens in Season 2 but it doesn't take away the experience of it all. Plus, more Lauren, which makes me happy. As for Season 3 and what's been airing on SyFy (or Showcase now that I understand it airs a day earlier and I can download on Sunday nights), I only have to say that, with Bo, she is quick to judge others when she gets hurt and yet they are so willing to forgive her trespasses when she hurts them. I wish I could yell at Bo and say, "they're trying to HELP you! Yes, sometimes they get it wrong but open your eyes and stop with all the judginess!" except that would do no good except elevate my blood pressure and endanger my monitor.
Oh well. Canadian produced shows have not let me down this year, unlike practically all American shows, so I'm hopeful that whatever they have in store for the rest of Season 3 will actually make sense and not fuck over the fans. I have my theories, like Bo and Lauren being either the "endgame" or the lasting canon relationship and Dyson getting something with Tamsin, but I don't know. Some part of me thinks Lauren may just die this Season, or in future seasons if they get them, but I think that's the bitter taste of Joss Whedon still left after watching Season 6 of Buffy. Grr, argh.
Either way, Canada, with all your amazing shows this year, you are giving me enough character feels in-between my networking feels. Enough for a while. Ugh, feels.
Oh, and when the hell did fandom up and move to Tumblr and Twitter? I don't understand either and none of them make sense for fandom. I'm trying but I'm a tad lost in this world. Better learn it fast.
Well, tomorrow's Tuesday, I had a great three-day weekend, and the studying starts back up again in earnest. I might be working on the Presentation Layer, Layer 6, this week. That encodes the data...I think. Gods, I love this stuff and having an actual direction for my life is as refreshing as a first kiss or walking outside in 0 degree F weather and watching the snow wall heavily on a deserted street. Amazing.
As an aside, I'm totally avoiding some major issues in my life but taking some others on directly, like taking vitamins for my annoying PMS/PMDD and trying to eat healthier. Although all bets are off for the weekends as I down my Mountain Dew and have ice cream for lunch. And desert before bed. :)
P.S. - So, is something happening for Doctor Who regarding the Anniversary? I'm not very up-to-date with it at the moment.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth here: http://redknightalex.dreamwidth.org/387175.html, mainly due to flist migration and site changes to LiveJournal. Comment wherever you feel most comfortable.
So, if you'll excuse me, I seriously need to geek-out here for a minute.
Class was this past Saturday and many things happened this class. Not only had I barely studied since I knew class was canceled for the previous week, but I felt like I knew the material like the front of my watch, probably because I actually spent my time studying the way I normally do: by just reading and absorbing, no note-taking like last time. Hence I spent the last few hours of my Friday night watching episodes of Lost Girl on my mother's glorious 57" TV set before making my way home and crashing. I went to class with a full mug of Earl Grey and found, to my surprise, that not only were there four fewer guys in the class but the man I've now dubbed "English guy" was exceedingly polite. We worked on the labs mostly together in the computer lab and we worked rather well together. For a person who has admitted to "politely" trolling those online, he's a decent chap to work with. And he's genuinely interested in learning, discussing, and, shockingly, listening to others and the instructor. Many of the guys in the class act like they're undiagnosed ADHD candidates and blurt out whatever sort of words they can think of at the moment. English guy and I just like to listen, although he talks more than I do.
Anyway, after the disaster that was the class before this, with my 80% score on my exam about the OSI model, I was revved up for this exam. Both English guy and I were on the same page with our brains hurting by the end of class, which was rushed due to the instructor having no time management skills and the power point presentation on the readings half-done by the end of class and the beginning of the exam, but I was still optimistic.
Second to last person to finish the exam and, well, 95% binary score and a 97% weighted score. Basically, I got one question wrong! I ROCK the application layer (or Layer 7)!
I was on an emotional high after that. I got screwed over by the interworkings of peer-to-peer (P2P) networking, the one I did the least amount of studying on, yet everything else.... I was smiling so hard for about an hour after that. I can't remember a time I've ever felt that good about en exam, an event, a measly twenty-minutes of my life before and, like an addict, I want to work hard to get that sort of feeling again. This class, held at my local community college with an instructor that has a hard time figuring out the Eagle Server setup, is creating a motivation, a drive, inside of me that makes me want to do this, all of it. In three years I want to be learning security, to learn how to combat attacks on networks, to work for a place that I can bury myself in my job and love it because, apparently, I love networking.
I've know, for a while now, that I love computers. The thing that always doubted me was that I never "worked" on computers, I played with them. I liked to tinker, to build, to watch the threads in Process Explorer run and partition my hard drive to work with Slackware (Linux). It, in all honesty and with every bit of humility I can conjure up, came naturally. I joke that I intimidate computers but the way my brain works, in black-and-white terms (I prefer to say logically), I understand computers in a different way than other people do. I never thought of it as something I could use, could work with, could put to use and use it as a point where I can be proud of my life. It's rather amazing.
Oh, and I do love this stuff. So, let me geek here.
Ahem. So, from what I learned two weeks ago, the Application Layer, or Layer 7 as it is properly called, is the top layer of the OSI model as well as the top layer for the TCP/IP model. It's basic purpose is to allow the end user (you), to interact with the network via an UI (user interface). It works with the layers below it, it transforms the data you send over a network to be usable by the network, ie bits, and allows the server and/or client on the other side to understand what you are doing.
There were other layers discussed, like Layers 6 and 5, Presentation and Session layers respectively of the OSI model, that encode the data the direct it to the lower layers for further transmission. All three of these layers, which are basically protocols, or rules, that allow us to understand what is going on under the hood in terms we can conceptualize, work together and form the Application layer of the TCP/IP model. In fact, I found that although each layer has its own specific sets of protocols to follow, they all meshed together well. Then again, they have to if you want to interact with a network, which includes the Internet.
I learned about HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, DNS, DHCP, POP, SSH, Telnet, MTA, MUA, MDA, P2P, FTP, and a few others I'm forgetting. Port numbers for a few were also memorized (how one computer tells a server or client to use the information, ie with an application or service), like HTTP is port 80, FTP are ports 21 and 20, and SMTP is 25. I also know what all those acronyms stand for like DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and SMTP is...ok, yeah.
Still, I'm learning how the Internet and servers work! Seriously, that's cool! For a couple days I really want to geek out to someone and let this all out although, sadly, there is no one to geek out to other than, well, the Internet and you fine folks (I'll be using a POST command sent to the server to, well, post this post. Doubt it would be a PUT command...using port 80 of course because this site, surprising, is not secured with HTTPS). It's all rather exciting.
If only I could figure out how Wireshark works so I could monitor my networking traffic better and capture those pesky packets (pieces of information sent over the network).
.... :D
TL;DR I love networking. Really, really, really love it. It gives me a damn decent high.
I've also marathoned my way through Season 1 of Lost Girl recently, while keeping up with Season 3 and, um, spoilers?
Season 1 was, after much due deliberation, like watching my sister's love life.
I kid you not, my sister is the bisexual (succubus) lost one and I'm the (actual) sister always having her back. Every time I talk with my sister it's about a new guy, or how the old guy was too clingy/not ready enough, or how she slept with this girl who also has my name (my sister has a nick-name for that girl now, thankfully). Even yesterday it was some new guy...sigh, anyway, TV and real life too close for comfort.
Putting that strangeness aside, I loved Season 1. The cast is awesome, the demon-of-the-week is good, but the characters I love, which always makes a show for me. Even Dyson I felt bad for by the beginning of Season 2, which is saying something as I'm not a huge fan of him. The only problem I had was the one overly-cliched episode where my sister stand-in Bo and Dyson go undercover as a married couple. I hated that type of episode cliche even when my first OTP, Mulder and Scully, did it on the X-Files and I hated it this time. It's a bad, bad episode type and just...ugh. No, just no.
The other problem was some continuity issues with Bo and Dyson. Honestly, the back-and-worth between them got really messed up in the later episodes. The episode they go undercover she was all over him when the episode before I could have sworn she was still pissed at the world/mad at him/not going steady. It was jarring the way it changed and, couple with the episode type, I felt like switching it off completely. Thank the Gods for Kenzi in that one. Really. (And cue sister...right...now.)
It's no surprise that I immediately loved Lauren. Geeks think alike. *shrug* It annoyed me that I had to watch for the actor's name after the opening credits each episode, seeing as she's recurring in Season 1, and each time I had about 15 minutes of staring at her, but Season 2 looks better in that respect. As for her finally hooking up with Bo, I can understand her motives for betraying Bo in "Vexed," the episode only being marred by the fact that it squicked me out so hard when a garbage disposal system met a hand (UGH!), and still I understand Bo's hurt. What I don't understand is how Bo can be so quick to forgive Dyson of his brooding and betrayal of her (ie withholding information she's been searching for over the entirety of Season 1) and yet holds a grudge against Lauren. Then the continuity between the end of Season 1 and Season 2 with Lauren and Bo...ok, going from needing a talk to making those soft, bedroom eyes at each other again? Yeah, ok, what happened those three weeks Dyson freaked out after losing his "passion" for Bo?
Oh, and that last bit also brings questions with it. Why does he need to act like she is a poison he can't swallow when only his "passion" was taken, not his friendship care, and how come Bo didn't read his freaking aura of sex? She could have figured this out a while ago. *double sigh*
I know the majority of what happens in Season 2 but it doesn't take away the experience of it all. Plus, more Lauren, which makes me happy. As for Season 3 and what's been airing on SyFy (or Showcase now that I understand it airs a day earlier and I can download on Sunday nights), I only have to say that, with Bo, she is quick to judge others when she gets hurt and yet they are so willing to forgive her trespasses when she hurts them. I wish I could yell at Bo and say, "they're trying to HELP you! Yes, sometimes they get it wrong but open your eyes and stop with all the judginess!" except that would do no good except elevate my blood pressure and endanger my monitor.
Oh well. Canadian produced shows have not let me down this year, unlike practically all American shows, so I'm hopeful that whatever they have in store for the rest of Season 3 will actually make sense and not fuck over the fans. I have my theories, like Bo and Lauren being either the "endgame" or the lasting canon relationship and Dyson getting something with Tamsin, but I don't know. Some part of me thinks Lauren may just die this Season, or in future seasons if they get them, but I think that's the bitter taste of Joss Whedon still left after watching Season 6 of Buffy. Grr, argh.
Either way, Canada, with all your amazing shows this year, you are giving me enough character feels in-between my networking feels. Enough for a while. Ugh, feels.
Oh, and when the hell did fandom up and move to Tumblr and Twitter? I don't understand either and none of them make sense for fandom. I'm trying but I'm a tad lost in this world. Better learn it fast.
Well, tomorrow's Tuesday, I had a great three-day weekend, and the studying starts back up again in earnest. I might be working on the Presentation Layer, Layer 6, this week. That encodes the data...I think. Gods, I love this stuff and having an actual direction for my life is as refreshing as a first kiss or walking outside in 0 degree F weather and watching the snow wall heavily on a deserted street. Amazing.
As an aside, I'm totally avoiding some major issues in my life but taking some others on directly, like taking vitamins for my annoying PMS/PMDD and trying to eat healthier. Although all bets are off for the weekends as I down my Mountain Dew and have ice cream for lunch. And desert before bed. :)
P.S. - So, is something happening for Doctor Who regarding the Anniversary? I'm not very up-to-date with it at the moment.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth here: http://redknightalex.dreamwidth.org/387175.html, mainly due to flist migration and site changes to LiveJournal. Comment wherever you feel most comfortable.