Server Down?
It has been quite some time since my last post. I originally planned to write an update mid July, however when I tried to login to my site, I kept getting the timeout error. So I gave up, thinking that the server is experiencing issues again. However, when I returned the next day to try again, I got the same timeout error.
When I tried accessing the web host’s main page, the same timeout error stared back at me. And so, for the past few weeks, I have been trying to access the page. Until today. I went to the web host’s twitter page and noticed that there was no tweet on any downtime. Which means the server is running fine. Scrolling down to other’s tweets, I found some tweets where other users were complaining that there IP was banned by the host. So a thought struck me. What if my IP was similarly banned thus the server would continuously refuse my connection each time I tried to access the site?
Only one way to find out. By changing my IP address. There’s so many options to achieve that, but for the sake of simplicity and speed, I went with a trusted vpn. And for the moment of truth. Upon pressing enter, the ever familiar clockwise spinning circle greeted me and in that moment I knew. I have succeeded. What’s going on is that the server thinks that I am somebody living in the states and that person was not listed in their IP ban list so the connection was established.
And onwards with the solution. Using the same vpn server, I was able to login and raise a ticket requested for support. Within a few minutes, the issue was fixed! I was pleasantly surprised by the efficiency of the support team, given that I am not on a paid account. And so ends today’s story.
Unemployment
Moving back in time, to the first week of July, I find myself on the brink of unemployment. After half a year of working, it was time to take a break before semester starts. My final week of work was a short one. As it was a public holiday on Wednesday, the company graciously offered an early release at 3pm. Which was a good thing, as my colleagues had planned to head out that day. In short, I was treated to afternoon tea, dinner at greendot and bingsu supper. In between, we went for a K session where I blessed everyone with my horrible singing. I sincerely apologize if anyone had nightmares.
Peanut Butter Toast from Toast Box
Greendot, Nex
I spent the next day shopping around for gifts for the colleagues. As a beginner in farewell gifts, I went for the cliche choice – chocolates. Lots of chocolates. But given the abundance of choice (read: dilemma of choice), I had a pretty hard time deciding on what to get. Spent much of my time walking up and down the aisle, conflicted over the selection of milk, almonds and rum. After almost an hour, I finally got my shopping done. On my last day, upon giving out the snacks, it kind of felt weird being santa claus. For one, they were all older than me and I felt like I was an old man giving angbaos to children. Another thing was that everytime felt like deja vu. The immediate response would be thank you and awww you’re leaving?! The entire conversation would wound up being roughly the same, enquiring about my future plans and whether I would be coming back to join the company after my graduation. Tempting really, but right now I would rather keep my options open. This is also one of the moments where I felt the truth of in giving, you receive.
My colleagues ordered pizza for my farewell lunch. 6 pizzas to be exact. Which roughly works out to be 1.1667 pizzas per person. Pure insanity. Even on a good day where I skipped breakfast and had a morning marathon (which is never), I highly doubt I could finish one entire pizza. Eventually the remaining pizza was shared around with the department. I would really hate to have food wasted on my count. Got a complimentary carrot juice afterwards too!
When the clock struck 5pm, I began wrapping up my business. I switched on my courtesy permanently out of office automatic reply email, deleted all my work files from the computer and shut down the HP elitebook for the final time. Truth be told, ever since I joined the company, many have told me my table looks messy. And clean up I did, on my last day. Did the farewell ritual: team photo, handshakes, goodbyes and I was on my way. Six months may seem like a long time, yet strangely looking back now, it does not seem that long after all. I believe my first taste of working life would be valuable in the days to come.
In other news, I finally upgraded to Windows 10. Partially because the deadline for the free upgrade was approaching and also because I really had nothing much to do. The overall user interface on Windows 10 is quite pleasing and I noticed slightly faster shutdown and cold boot times. Ram usage seems to be more controlled as well. It is too soon to say for certain whether Windows 10 will be another Windows 7, but for now, I have no intention of rolling back.
Orientation starts in a few days. On one hand it is good to meet new friends and network, but on the other hand, a part of me just feel like spending the time myself doing whatever I want would be a better way to spend the time. After all, it is in camps where the weird things happen. Without the presence of an adult at the camp, the organizers would be open to all sorts of ideas in the name of fun. The system is supposed to be improved this year after the events that transpired a few years back. Fingers crossed.