Wizzard Stuff

Almost done!

2007-03-30T00:53:46+02:00

We've had a busy couple of days and despite a couple of minor hitches, all the schools are done

On Wednesday, we finished off at Dominica Grammar school with Ady completing the cabling (along with his assistants). I installed the server and demonstrated joining computers to the domain amongst other things.

Once we had done at DGS, we went on to St. Marys Academy which is also in Roseau. We had help once again from students of Dominica State College and they assisted us greatly with both the cabling and PC installations. Another big thanks goes out to all who lent a hand.

Today, we went up past Portsmouth to a little place called Paix Bouche (pronounced pay-boosh) and installed a small peer-to-peer network in the primary school there. It was a cracking day and the kids were having a sports day. Here's a photo of us all once we had finished. The lady in the middle is from the school and as you can see, we were rather warm.

Left to right are Tim from the Ministry of Education, a guy who represents Tina Alexander (one of the organisers of the project and our host for the week), Lugi, my sweaty self, the lady from the school, and last but not least Ady Gould - cabling genius.

We then jumped back in the bus and paid a quick visit to Portsmouth Secondary to tidy up a few loose ends before heading back to Roseau in Ogis' high speed bus (I would swear he had the back end out on a few corners!). We managed to take in a bit of the scenery on the way back -

Beautiful, isn't it?

Tomorrow, we are having a press conference at Dominica Grammar School and we will be joined by our Managing Director, Gavin Rose as well as all the other organisers of the project. After this, we will be heading up to 3 Rivers for an end-of-project party which will include music from a local band.

I'll try and post again before we head for home on Saturday.

See you soon

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Yarr! Me Hearties!

2007-03-28T02:41:49+02:00

Went to Portsmouth today but not the one I'm used to.

We had a nice drive up the west coast of the island to Portsmouth which I believe is the second largest town on the island.

It being another warm day, we perspired once again as we fitted 30 network points into a room along with a wireless bridge for another part of the network. Thankfully, we had assistance once again from some students. In case you hadn't noticed, here's what we do to them -

We had another mad afternoon and got all the cabling plus some other stuff completed. I must say, this school has one of the best views of them all -

Back to Dominica Grammar School tomorrow for further antics with computer networks. Jem will be joining us tomorrow so I'll be handing over camera duties and you may get a shot of my ugly mug

Take it easy.

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The Big One

2007-03-27T00:24:07+02:00

Well, we hit the biggest installation today at Dominica Grammar school.

We had a few problems with logistics but were able to complete the main cabling job in the big room. Our media converters were accidentally sent to the wrong place so we're going to have to go to a different job tomorrow while the stuff is collected and we can finish DGS on Wednesday.

We were joined by some students from Dominica State College today and their enthusiasm was fantastic. Once again, a big thanks goes out to everyone who helped us out.

No time for pictures today sadly as it was 'all hands to the pumps'. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some tomorrow when we travel up to Portsmouth for their installation.

Going for an early night as tomorrow will be another hard, long day.

Cheers

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Thar' she blows!

2007-03-25T00:10:35+01:00

Well, it was a he actually.

Ady and I went whale watching as planned and were dropped off at Anchorage this afternoon. We left on a little boat driven by a guy called Philbert (could be Filbert but the spelling looks bad), he was assisted by Francis in looking for whales. We cruised around with the occasional stop to use the hydrophone to listen for any whale song. We heard one singing regularly but couldn't catch a sight of it on the surface.

After 3 hours, we got a good signal on the hydrophone and waited with the engine off. One of the guys on the 'Flydeck' (I think), shouted "6 o'clock" and the other guy slammed the boat into full speed and spun us around. We then saw the glorious sight of a young male sperm whale spouting before he flipped his tail in the air and went under.

The guys on the boat were fantastic and managed to track him before he surfaced again. We got another couple of sights of him before he went into a deep dive. Sadly, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to catch him.

We decided to head back and on the way we saw a group of bottle-nose dolphins speeding north. Another wonderful sight.

I managed to get a few pictures on the way back, it was a gloriously sunny afternoon so we are both a little red now.

Here's a couple of views of Dominica from the boat -

And here's the view back west as we headed for Anchorage.

Tomorrow, we aren't sure what we are doing but we may go to Soufriere and see the sights there.

Take it easy

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More networks installed

2007-03-24T16:12:06+01:00

Well, we've had a hard couple of days (hence the lack of updates) and I'm having trouble with my camera so no pictures at the moment. I've borrowed a camera from Jem so I should have more for you later.

Thursday was the installation at North East Comprehensive near Marigot. We had a little difficulty with it as when we arrived, the power was off therefore we couldn't use our drills to put up the trunking for the cabling. We got power in the afternoon and the 6 of us cracked on hard. Ady and I were joined by Tim and Lugi from the Ministry, also Kemon and Andrew from 3 Rivers.

A few hours later, we had a new room with 32 network points, 30 new computers and a new server all ready to go. This was a mighty effort from all the guys and our thanks go to them for chipping in with every task.

Yesterday (Friday), we had 20 computers to install at Good Will Secondary in Roseau. These were to replace existing Windows 95 (yes, that's a 12 year old OS) machines which were installed in a 40 foot container. Thankfully, it is air-conditioned and the four of us got the machines up and running with internet access and a network printer fairly easily. Then we popped into town for a couple of drinks with Tim, Lugi and Ogis (hope I've spelled their names correctly). Ogis is the aforementioned driver who seems to be influenced by a certain German ex-Ferrari steersman .

We have the weekend to ourselves now and we may go Whale watching this afternoon.

More updates next week.

Cheers

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School Number Two

2007-03-21T21:59:57+01:00

Just a little school today.

We went up into Carib Territory to Atkinson and fitted a few machines into their lovely little primary school.

Here's a couple of shots of us during the day -

So we had an early finish today but we need it as we will be having a long day tomorrow at North East Comprehensive.

Hopefully Ady won't snore too loudly tonight and I can get some sleep

Take it easy.

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School Time

2007-03-21T14:08:35+01:00

Yesterday we had an installation to perform at a school in Castle Bruce on the East side of the island. We had a few exceedingly willing assistants including staff from the Ministry of Education, staff and students from the school itself and 2 members of staff from 3 Rivers. A big thanks goes out to these guys as we couldn't have done it without them (well, not in one day at least).

Here's some Caribbean style cabling going on -

The cabling and computer installation continued next to each other with everyone doing a little bit of everything. Here's a shot of the room a little bit later on -

Once we were all done, testing was performed to ensure the connections were good and we had access to the router (and therefore the internet) for the machines in the new IT Suite.

Then, it was a short ride back in the bus (driven by Dominica's answer to Michael Schumacher) to 3 Rivers for some more Kubuli (local beer).

Finally, time for a big sleep ready for the next day's efforts -

Got to go now, time for another installation.

TTFN

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Well, here we are.

2007-03-20T02:54:12+01:00

We had a bit of a marathon journey to get here but it was worth it in the end.

Spent yesterday having a good look around and went for a little trek to some nearby waterfalls. You can see Ady in the next picture -

Dominica is a fantastic place to stay and 3 Rivers, well, I've run out of words to describe it. Absolutely awseome kind of gets somewhere near though. Look at the sight we get when we wake up -

We do get the odd peculiar visitor now and again. This little guy met us on our first morning -

We unloaded the container today and it was rather warm down on the docks. A good productive day though and now all the computers and equipment are at the schools ready for us to go and do the installation. We're looking forward to a good week over here and perhaps a good weekend too ;-)

Take it easy.

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Hmm, nearly time for the off

2007-03-13T20:55:52+01:00

Well, it's Tuesday evening and we're flying on Saturday morning. Still got a few things to get ready and a few things to try and remember (did we send any patch leads?)

Anyhow, best do a test to see if you can see my piccies before I start snapping away. Here's one of Milly and Deano loading up the van with stuff ready to go across the big pond.

And a quick one of a full van which seems to have attracted a couple of interlopers

I'll try and post as often as possible while we're over there so you can keep up with what we're doing.

TTFN

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