A Quick Update for My Blog...

Boy, it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote a post for my blog.

I've been rather busy with work and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Hiking Updates

Back on Saturday, November 5, 2022, I went on an impromptu hike along the Waterfront Promenade at the Inner Harbor here in Baltimore, MD. As a result of that hike, there is a small list of items that I need to accomplish:

• I NEED to upload the photos from hikes from my cell phone onto my computer.
• I NEED to write a trail review over at the Alltrails.com website for the recent hikes I went on at Leakin Park-Gywnns Falls and the second hike I undertook at the Waterfront Promenade.
• I NEED to either re-write and/or expand my trail reviews for the recent hikes at Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls and at the Waterfront Promenade hikes to my blog here at Blogger.
• I NEED to add some additional photos from all of my completed hikes to my blog.
• Another idea that occurred to me was to look for a way display all of my photos either on my blog here at Blogger or use a website such as Flickr.
• I just accomplished making screenshots of the trail routes for my second and third hikes at Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls as well as my second hike at the Waterfront Promenade, so I need to add those to their respective pages.

Other Posts for My Blog

I also need to get cracking on all of the additonal subjects that I would like to publish to my blog.

• For example, I need to work on my post about the movies that I saw at the Cine Core Theater in Seoul, South Korea.
• That post will require A LOT more planning and work to get the post just how I want it.
• Rewrite the post using the mind map that I created as a guide.
• Get any additional photos for the movies that I saw at the Cine Core Movie Theater.
• Get the URLs from You Tube for the videos that I want to include in the post, such trailers and music videos.
• Another topic for my blog will be about Wendell Odom's series of blogposts about career planning for CCNA.
• I have watched several other South Korean movies since returning to watching them after an absence of several years. I've seen some really good South Korean films as well as a couple of duds. I have quite a few ideas on how to approach the subject of movie reviews. Simply, I want to write more than just movie reviews.
• I'm still playing Go. Using a 13x13 grid board and a two stone handicap, I managed to get as high as a 21kyu rank on The Many Faces of Go computer game on my computer.

I have high expectations for my blog. Given my knowledge about HTML, my expectations for my blog might be too high.

However, I am going to keep trying.

Eventually, I will get my blog to where I want it to be.

Neglecting My Blog...

It's been a while since my last update here on my blog.

Probably too long.

Lately, I have been extremely with my job at the IT Tier 1 help desk at the Social Security Administration here in the Greater Baltimore area. My job takes up A LOT of my time. Even though I work the 12:30 PM to 9:00 PM shift, occasionally I will get a phone call at 8:45 PM from a user that wants to know why they cannot log into Outlook or why they cannot connect to VPN, for example. Over the past few months, I have been getting really bad tension headaches during work. The location of my headaches never changes. It's always in the same place. Sometimes taking aspirin will neutralize the headache; sometimes it doesn't. As a result, I have to decompress for at least one hour or so.

Anyway, there are all kinds of posts that I would like to post on to my blog.

1. Photos from Oktoberfest.
2. Photos from my recent hikes here in Baltimore.
3. A final version about movies that I saw at the Cine Core movie theater in Seoul, South Korea using the mind map that I created.
4. My adventures in studying for CCNA.
5. My adventures in looking for my next IT job.
6. Why I am behind on my reading.
7. A few posts about the music that I am listening to.
8. Posts about trying to use mind maps in my daily life.
9. Posts about me trying to learn the Law of Attraction.
10. Posts about my computer beating me up in Go.

I am sure that I can come up with even more additional topics that I would like to add to my blog. For now, that is enough.

I want my blog to be something more than yet another blog on the internet that no one reads.

The only way to achieve the goals I have for this blog is to, er, do more blogging.

The look of my blog will get better as I get more confident with using HTML. I have an idea for creating a table on my blog, so one may show up on my blog in the near future. We'll see.

Since there are other things that I need to do, that's probably all that I will write for today.

Windows 10: Still So Much to Learn...

Yesterday, during work, I had to sit through the mandatory one hour training class that is given every three or four months to employees that work at the Tier 1 help desk at the Social Security Administration.

One of the topics covered in the training class featured an extended discussion about how to rebuild a user's profile. When I heard that topic mentioned, I suddenly came back to life and eagerly started to take notes in my notebook.

Learning how to rebuild a user's profile in Windows 10 may sound mundane to some people in IT. However, to me, rebuilding a user's profile is something that I never learned enough to be confident in doing myself for an irate caller who wants to know why he or she cannot get back to work. Besides, in my five years working at the Tier 1 help desk, I have probably had less than a dozen phone calls where I had to rebuild a user's profile.

The instructions that were available for agents on how to rebuild a caller's Windows profile were poorly put together and difficult to follow. Looking at the document, I had the feeling that the instructions were primarily for, say, Windows Vista and/or Windows 7. In fact, when I started at SSA, most of the computers in SSA's inventory were still using Windows 7. For the present day, I would say 99.9% of the phone calls that I get are for Windows 10 issues.

After the training class was long over and it was time for me to go to lunch, I started up my LG tablet and opened my Amazon Kindle app. When I buy books to read, I usually use Google Books. However, I do own several books that require me to use the Kindle app. Why that is, I do not know. One of the books I purchased for the Kindle app was Ed Bott and Craig Stinson's massive tome Windows 10 Inside Out (4th Edition). I bought the book because I wanted to learn more about how to utilize Windows 10. When I was studying for both parts of CompTIA's exams for their A+ certification, it became apparent to me that I needed know more about the nuts and bolts about Windows 10. Like many computer users, I would use Windows to write a copy of my resume, save photographs from my camera, or to watch DVDs, for example, but that was about it.

In other words, when it came to Windows, I was still swimming in the shallow end of the pool.

The Windows 10 Inside Out book has rekindled (pun intended) my interest in learning more about Windows 10.

• I have never used Disk Manager to make multiple partitions on a new hard drive. I have a brand new 5TB hard drive that I bought from Amazon several weeks ago. I should connect it to my Dell laptop, open Disk Manager, and practice making some partitions.
• I have never set up a home network using Windows. Now, I should go to Chapter 13 Windows Networking and go through the steps of setting up a network on my laptop. If only to familiarize myself on how you would do such a thing.
• Now, I never used the Event Viewer until I tried to use it for work. I really should learn more about using the various troubleshooting tools available for Windows 10 in addition to using Task Manager.
• I should learn more about using Microsoft Edge than just how to type in URLs. There's so much more that Edge can do. That said, I still use Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome.
• I should learn more about changing personal settings in Windows 10.
• Heck, I never used the Command Prompt to do, well, anything. That has all changed. Now, I am willing to try to use the Command Prompt as much as I can, especially for work. [Yes, I know that I probably should really learn how to use PowerShell.]

I could add more topics to the list, but I think you get my point.

Instead of banging my head against a brick wall over and over and over with CompTIA's awful Network+ certification, I should have taken the time to learn more about Windows.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that I should have taken the time to learn more about Windows prior to studying for A+.

Job Titles and the A+ Certification...

For the past five years, I have been working as a contractor at the Tier 1 help desk for the Social Security Administration here in Baltimore, Maryland.

As a result, I am starting to look for a new job.

Between phone calls on this past Thursday, October 13, 2022, I found myself over at the CompTIA website, looking for inspiration.

Suddenly, I rediscovered the list all of the various job positions held by people who have earned the A+ certification.

The list contains 16 different job titles.

Here is the list:

• IT Support Specialist
• Help Desk Technician
• Field Technician
• Tier 1 Support Specialist
• Desktop Support Specialist
• Associate Network Engineer
• Systems Support Technician
• Junior Systems Administrator
• Service Desk Analyst
• Technical Support Specialist
• Field Service Technician
• Data Support Technician
• Desktop Support Administrator
• End-user Computing Technician
• Help Desk Technician
• System Support Specialist

Looking over the list of job titles, I can see that my current job can be classified as an IT Support Specialist, Help Desk Technician, Tier 1 Support Specialist, Help Desk Technician, or Help Desk Technician.

In other words, there are varied roles that someone with the A+ certification could fill.

In addition, there are all of the various other requirements that may be unique to each job role, such as specialized experience and other certifications.

My next step is to take this list of job titles and start performing key word searches for each job title in LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and the rest.

I also need to update my resume. My job HAS NOT significantly changed in all of my five years, so that should be easy to do.

Lastly, after listing all of the various jobs that require the A+ certification, CompTIA then provided a short list of companies that hire people with the A+ certification.

Here is the list:

• Best Buy/Geek Squad
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Verizon
• Canon
• Dell
• General Dynamics
• HP
• Intel
• Nissan
• Ricoh
• Sharp
• Department of Defense
• Wells Fargo

I would say that the list is probably too general.

However, I am sure that the idea is that there are various companies and organizations that have hired personnel with the A+ certification.

An interesting exercise would be to go each of the companies listed and see what IT-related job openings that are available at each organization.

Another thing that I have been meaning to do for some time is to have my own business cards made. You never know just who you might meet.

Hiking Updates...

Since I have other things to do, I will try to keep this post short. Really short.

Yeah, right.

Over the past several years, I have developed mild to moderate osteoarthritis in both knees. It's really horrible.

I still remember the day that I damaged the cartilege in both of my knees. During the summer of 2010, I decided to go jogging after work. It was a typical sunny day in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The temperature was in the upper 80s/lower 90s with zero humidity. The monochromatic blue sky did not have any clouds. After doing some leg stretches, I left my apartment and started to run. I was feeling really good, so I decided to pick up the pace. About halfway through my pre-planned route, I suddenly started to run slower and slower until I could no longer run. It took me over an hour to walk back to my apartment. Once I got back, I put ice packs on both of my knees. That was pretty painful. However, I thought that everything would be OK in the morning. Boy, was I wrong. In the morning, I could barely get out of bed. For whatever reason, I went to work instead of seeing my doctor. I could just barely walk from my car in the parking lot to the entrance of the building. At the time, I worked as an instructor for the United States Army at Fort Huachuca. Typically, most of my day was spent on my feet. That day, I could barely stand for any length of time. Eventually, I couldn't take the pain anymore, so I called my doctor, who gave me an inflammatory medication. Shortly thereafter, I went in for x-rays, thinking that I had a meniscus tear, runner's knee, or a torn ACL in both knees. Instead, I found out that I had torn the cartlidge in both of my knees. My doctor also said that the tear in each knee would just get worse and worse as time went on.

When I moved to Reston, VA, I could run decently as long as I didn't step on a crack in the jogging path. However, I just couldn't run as fast as I used to.

Eventually, I bought a Trek hybrid bicycle from the bike shop at Reston Town Center, which was a lot easier than running. However, I quickly discovered that if I pushed down hard on the bike pedals to go up hill, for example, both knees would start to hurt.

Since I can no longer run anymore and that my bicycle is at my mother's house, I have rediscovered my love of hiking.

A good reason for my rediscovery of hiking was that, back in February of this year, I went to the VA Hospital in downtown Baltimore and made an appointment for both of my knees. I just couldn't take it anymore. Predictably, the steroid shots that I received for both knees wore off after a couple of weeks. More importantly, I received a pair of really nice Breg knee braces from the VA Prosthetics Lab. I was miserable the first day that I wore those knee braces. I was in a lot of pain. Over time, it got easier for me to wear both knee braces for an extended period of time.

When the summer arrived, I started to walk around the parking lot of a nearby elementary school for 45 minutes non-stop. After doing that a few times, I started walking around my city block. While wearing both knee braces, I could make three circuits around my city block in about 75 minutes. Of course, I would be hot and sweaty.

Now that that's out of the way...

Over the past few weeks, I have made some additional visits over to Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls.

I didn't take as many photos as I did like the first time I went hiking at Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls.

Anyhow, I'm planning on making some more posts about hiking in the Baltimore area.

I have also visited the AllTrails website several times, looking for new places to go hiking.

However, with the change in seasons, I will have to start getting up earlier on a Saturday, so I have a good amount of time to hike. Unfortunately, my Breg knee braces have to be worn right on the skin. These particular knee braces weren't designed to be worn over clothing.

On my most recent hike, I was starting to have the impression that I should consider buying a new pair of hiking boots. The Salomon hiking boots that I bought on sale at the REI in Fairfax, VA when I returned back from Afghanistan in 2011 might need to be replaced. As good as the Salomon hiking boots are, I still miss my pair of Lowa Renegade GTX hiking boots that I wore in Afghanistan. In fact, here is the exact pair of Lowa hiking boots that I wore in Afghanistan. Those were really good hiking boots. Way better than any of the Merrell hiking boots I used to wear prior to going to Afghanistan. Coincidentally, I also bought that pair of Lowa hiking boots from the same REI store in Fairfax, VA.

In addition to updating my blog here on Blogger, I need to write a new review at AllTrails about my recent visits to Leakin Park-Gwynns Falls.

Another thing that I need to do is to learn all of the features for taking photos on my LG Stylo 6 cell phone. There are things that using the camera on my cell phone can do really good, such as portability. I also like the panoramatic feature. I recently discovered that I can open or close the camera's aperture among other features that I did't know about. For now, the photos are good enough for my purposes. Another thing I would like to do is learn how to use Gimp, so I can adjust the contrast or brightness of a photo. I downloaded Gimp onto my computer a couple of years ago, but I have yet to really play around with it.

Mind Map About the Cine Core Movie Theater...

Over the past couple of months, I have been planning in my mind a rather long post about the Cine Core Movie Theater in Seoul (서울), South Korea.

While I was in the Army, I lived and worked in Seoul for the better part of 4 and a half years. Before I left Fort Hood in Texas, I heard all of the horror stories ob being stationed at Camp Casey in Tongducheon, not too far from the DMZ. I hit the jack pot. Instead of being assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and being stationed at either Camp Casey or Camp Red Cloud, I was assigned to the 8th MP Brigade at Yongsan Garrison in the center of Seoul. 8th MP Brigade then sent me down to HHD 94th MP Battalion. In other words, I was assigned to the MP battalion stationed at Yongsan Garrison.

After staying on post for a couple of weeks, I started to leave post on the weekends and start exploring Seoul. Without any help, I figured out how to get on the subway and pretty much go whereever I wanted to go. One of the places that I found in my adventures around Seoul was the Cine Core Movie Theater located near the Jongno-3(sam)-Ga subway station. I remember seeing at least three movies at the Cine Core Movie Theater.

To cut a long story short, I am putting in A LOT of effort into making a really good post for my blog here at Blogger. A big part of my interest in returning to blogging is that I got really tired writing REALLY LONG posts on my Facebook News Feed that very few people read. With my blog, I can write as much as I want and then post a link on my Facebook News Feed.

For my post about the Cine Core Movie Theater, I used Google Maps for creating a map over lay. I used Google Slides to create a Power Point slide about the location of Cine Core Movie Theater. I even found movie posters on the internet for the movies I saw. I also used Google Docs to write my post.

Recently, I wrote a rough draft of my post on Google Docs, but I wasn't very happy with the result. At some point in the very near future, I will re-write my post. Before I will rewrite my post, I created a mind map of what I wanted to write. Since one of my personal goals is to use mindmapping more often, I created an initial mind map using a blank piece of paper and a pen. I then used a program called Wondershare MindMaster to actually create the mind map. Surprisingly, I'm actually rather pleased with my mind map. Here are the results.

Here is the top half of my mind map.

Here is the bottom half of my mind map.

My next step now is to rewrite the actual post itself. I have so much on my plate right now, but I hope to have my post about the Cine Core Movie Theater completed by the end of the week.

Career Planning and CCNA...

As I have mentioned in other posts, I am studying for the Cisco CCNA certification.

After getting nowhere studying for CompTIA's Network+ exam, I gave that up and switched over to studying for Cisco CCNA instead.

Right now, I just completed reading Chapter 5: Analyzing Ethernet LAN Switching in Volume 1 of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book.

The author of the book is Wendell Odom.

Wendell Odom has a website that can be used in conjunction with both volumes of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book. The website, Wendell Odom's CCNA Skills Blog, has a lot of really good information about studying for CCNA and networking. I should geat around to reading the supplemental material on his website for each chapter of the book.

Now that I am at Chapter 5, I will DEFINITELY take a look at what he refers to as Config Labs, which are meant to be short exercises about using the command line interface for Cisco networking equipment.

Speaking of the command line interface for Cisco networking equipment, I really should try using the exercises on Pearson Vue's network simulation tool that came with both volumes of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book.

The Pearson Vue network simulation tool that is included with the CCNA 200-301 textbooks is meant to be an abridged version. If you want all of the exercises, you have to buy the complete version of the network simulation tool from Pearson Vue. That said, Cisco has a rather interesting program called Packet Tracer. Packet Tracer is Cisco's version of a network simulation tool. Unlike Pearson Vue's product, Packet Tracer is free from Cisco. A couple of years ago, you could freely download Packet Tracer from Cisco's website. Now, you have to create an account with Cisco IOT download Packet Tracer. Can you study for CCNA using Packet Tracer? It certainly looks like you could. I have a former co-worker at SSA's Tier 1 IT help desk who told me that he only used Packet Tracer when he studied for CCNA. Over on Amazon, I did find a book that contains 101 labs for Packet Tracer for those studying for CCNA. However, the authors assume that you already know how to use Packet Tracer.

Another interesting feature on Wendell Odom's blog is the section about career planning for networking. Thus far, I have completed the first step of six in constructing my own career plan. Like many people, I just assumed that earning the A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications was the way to go. Since I ran into a roadblock with Network+, I have had to make some adjustments. I can see earning the CCNA certification. I can also see earning Cisco's CyberOps Associate, which is Cisco's version of CompTIA's Security+ certification. Speaking of Security+, I see that ISC2 now offers their own cyber security foundations certification, which looks pretty interesting. Speaking of ISC2, the CISSP certification is rather interesting. A few years back, I had a roommate that was trying to study for the CISSP. He didn't get very far as he gave me his copy of ISC2's CISSP Study Guide. A couple of years ago at my company's Christmas party, I met a GS-12 who works in SSA's Security Operations Center. He told me that the only IT certification that he has is the CISSP. All he did, he said, was to study, study, and study for the CISSP until he could pass the exam. However, from what I can tell, the CISSP certification is meant to be an advanced level IT certification for an individual that has been working in IT for several years. Lastly, I can also see earning the certification for Microsoft's Azure, Google's Google Cloud, or Amazon's Amazon Web Services.

Career planning is a sensitive subject for me. When I graduated from New Mexico State University back in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, I didn't know what I wanted to do. No one asked. I found myself in Liberal Arts Purgatory. I was one of those people that graduated from college with no idea on what I wanted to do. If I could go back and redo college, I should have been a computer science major. When I was in the Army, I had ZERO career planning. Someone should have councelled me about giving up the dream of attending Officer Candidate School and give serious thought about what I needed to do about becoming a Warrant Officer instead. Now that I am working in Information Technology, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated with all of the various things that one can do with the various certifications that are out there. Plus, there are those IT certifications that have a high demand (CCNA, Azure, AWS, CISSP, Security+) and those that do not (A+, Server+).

For now, my main focus is to earn the CCNA certification.

My other goal is to get a new IT job. Given all of the competition here in Maryland for IT jobs, I might have to go back to Arizona and look for a new IT job out there. There are all kinds of IT jobs both in Phoenix and in the Maricopa County area. Many of those jobs do not require a security clearance. For someone that no longer has a Top Secret clearance, that is definitely music to my ears.