so maybe its just the heat (100s today), but this quarter has seemed really mellow. not a lot of running around, imaging machines, fixing printers, discovering something totally doesn't work, etc.
maybe it's because im used to the job now. i've got it figured out. there used to be all these things going through my head while trying to get something simple done ("what's that IP address?" "which professor needed the hub? and where is his office?" "which building is #21?"), but now that all of those things have become second nature, i can concentrate more on the actual jobs at hand.
i also think that since arriving here, i've made the place a bit more organized. not to toot my own horn (too much), but i've introduced some quite helpful tools that really cut down the time needed to do mundane tasks, and even eliminated some.
for example, before when a machine was hosed, someone would go to that machine and run the re-image script. you had to connect to the server, download the script (actually, most people would use an old, possibly out-of-date script that was on the machine), run the imager, wait 20 minutes, reconfigure the machine, make sure all the permissions were right, etc.
now, since i've made a few changes, one can stay at their desk, fire off a script that will tell an arbitrary list of machines (from a single one, to a whole lab, to the entire college) to fetch the current script from the server (ensuring we always use the latest-greatest script), run it and reboot, retaining all preferences (network settings, printers, etc). and you don't even need to type in a password for each machine thanks to our buddy ssh. gotta love it.
so, for now, i put out minor fires, answer questions, refill the toner on the printer, and basically do my own thing. its nice because its so mellow, but i feel like im being lazy. like i should be breaking stuff just so i can go fix it. or something.