Admin from hell - old style

Having been told by Prince Kaspian that my return in triumph was not safe and that we had to conduct a meeting with the Oracle in Delphi regarding my plans and travel. T'is not easy for a knight in shiny armour to make his way around this planet without the many enemies to notice.

However an imperial stallion was prepared for me and I set my faith to the sword and went of to Gunga City. Many happy faces greeted me as i arrived and it was truely a treat to find myself in the good company of other good knights - may they wear the colours of the lost kingdom however they are still brave warriors and for that one must pay respect.

After the first day of haggle and babble we decided to go for a pint at the local pub - or at least that is what I thought, being near the core of the empire and all. Nope sir indeed, off we went and ended up in a fish restaurant where they served the most delicious crab I have tasted in years!!  Manna from heaven !

What about the Rouge Raving Rascallion then? Well, not much to say, he is still rouge, still raving and all boys knows that he is a Rascallion to be careful of but good at heart and loads of fun however not the kind of knight I would like to have in battle.

All tthe best for now

//AFH

The Lord Marshall's high quarter was that of lean, sleek, efficient splendor and even though I was kept waiting for more than half an hour the palms of my hands remained strangely dry and warm although the rumors were many and the window was open in the small room where I was told to await his Lordship. His assistant was that of friendliness and efficiency combined. It was not the feeling of excitement nor fear that had grabbed my heart, no - it was the feeling of the fearless. In this very small "la chambre secret" I was not yet aware that Captain Flash-Heart had made contact and once again offered his services. This time he had been rejected on the grounds that "we can not afford him in these times of cut-backs". So little did I know that I, his Padwan Learner, was going to be accepted on the very same grounds. Had I known that Captain Flash-Heart had the aspirations for the same position I would naturally have backed down - but know this, I did not.

The Petty Governor of Minor Matters had conveniently "dissappeared" and made himself in disposable during the great gathering of all knights of the round table. He had suffered a major blow to his already bruised ego in the new rank order of the troops but with his latest temper tantrum there was more to be lost than just face. He had, in fact, lost almost 80% of his troops to other officers and was now left with only the Bloated Beggar from Roads Ends and Sir Point (of No Return). The Bloated Beggar had followed the Petty Governor from early days and was loyal beyond compassion however Sir Point was new in the ranks but would always stand his ground firm, something that annoyed the Petty Governor immensly.

In all this loss of troops and face the Petty Governor was, surprisingly enough, endorsing me to the Lord Marshall - if this was because he knew that I would utterly fail or if he actually believed that I would do good is something I will probably never know, nor do I intend to find out.

As I was sitting in the small room with glass walls facing an open area where officials would hurry past and giving me a quick but inquisitive glance, I felt like a strange object in a "Cabinet de curiosités" but was at the same time quite comfortable with that. An old Admin from Hell is not that easily intimidated especially when he has been summoned for deeds well done to face the Lord Marshall.

Earlier that day I had been called to the den of the Viceroy and received the most precious instructions regarding what the Lord Marshall likes and dislikes. I was handed vital information for my survival and success but the bottom line was that I should remain true to myself - needless to say, I will.

I was interrupted in my thoughts by the Lord Marshall entering the room with long strides and a firm handshake to seat himself with back to the inquisitive knights, me on his right and the outside in front of him. This was a good position that gave me chance for bonding and trust which I took. The conversation was between gentlemen and knights and will not be recited here or anywhere else but the outcome was good and after an hour I was back outside the building with carrying both trust and challenge in my mind.

This was a good beginning
Yours
A.F.H.

All the knights gathered around the table and stories were told of bravery and woe. Bonds were strengthened, lies were demolished, rumors were enhanced and bellies were fed, all to the music from the ND8 upgrade band. It was truly good to be amongst so many friends and the thought of not having to brave the beast alone was very comforting.

The elaborate moment of truth comes when you have to stand in front of your colleagues and in a loud clear voice say "it was my fault". Naturally not something most of us look forward to do but once you've done it and all those uncomfortable questions have been answered, it's like sailing in to the clear crisp water of a lagoon. Man, what a rush !  The situation was made even more interesting when a close manager changed his mind and explained that he never had put any pressure on me to complete the task. Thank you... another dark moment to forget.

We are no longer working in projects, no sir! Now it's all about "proper projects" and "initiatives".  The kind of projects I do where we recently re-used an older server and boosted it with hard-drives, included it in the backup routines and launched it as an archive server bringing almost one terrabyte of data off the main servers are no longer good. This should now be turned in to "proper projects" and following meticulous models and elaborate orgcharts where business benefit will be derived and... *sigh*.   Over confident and under estimate - over confident in the models of project management and under estimate the power of common sense and once again so much will be lost just because of imperial vanity.  This is where we are now, and we are moving in to the age of "theoretical reality" - where in theory it should work but in reality it does not.  There is a server farm that will hit maximum capacity in 6 month but instead of allowing me to solve the problem now this will be placed in the hands of a "proper project". In the end I will probably have to resolve the situation anyway.

There is news in the air. Some of you may remember that the former Evil Lord Marshal arranged a tournament to compare 50% of Lotus Notes with 100% of MS Exchange. The outcome was a crushing defeat for the Evil Empire, not only from a technical point of view but also from a financial aspect. If a complete comparison had been made one can only dream of how that would have echoed in the hall of fame. Never the less the Evil Empire still lives on in financial splendor and the loss of one small kingdom like ours was apparently no skin of their rosy nose!

As you all know there is a new Lord Marshal and we, his brave knights, all await his first command. So far there has been a few general statements from his headquarter about the kingdom as such, the brave knights and how we should prepare ourselves for "things to come" but the big "ordres de bataille" are still to come. They are expected soon and we all listen for the thunder of hooves as the messengers ride out from his castle in Middle Earth.

Then when leaving the conference we all got stuck in an elevator -yes, really! A few people were left outside and one of them were the very same "close manager". As soon as he knew that we had called for assistance he was off like a dart, apparently he had some private things that urgently needed his attention... could it be the laundry or was it some knitting that had to be done before nightfall or perhaps was the kettle was boiling... I could only guess, but obviously it was much more important than rescuing the core team of his brave knights caught in the dragons cage hanging suspended in rickety old ropes just waiting to plunge in to the fiery Mines of Moria. So much for that "close manager"...

Yours
//J