IT Insights Blog — certification

For those among who us regularly attend professional or collegiate sporting events, the world was jolted earlier today by a tiny reduction of its bluster and braggadocio. Studio musician and songwriter Gary DeCarlo departed this mortal coil at the age of 75, taking with him a small pinch of the infectious glee that accompanies the casual and typically unrepentant public revivals of his most famous creative work.

It's a great feeling to take a certification exam, get a passing score, and receive your official documentation, whether paper-and-ink (as has been the tradition for decades) or digital (as is fast becoming the new norm). Getting a certification is no small accomplishment, and anyone who completes the long process should feel justifiably proud of their efforts.

Several years ago, unbeknownst to me, I downloaded a rootkit to my home computer. It was a nasty little bugger and I soon ended up unable to access my files. Not being a techie, I hauled my desktop to the local store where I had purchased it. This particular establishment had given me a guarantee that they would fix, free of charge, any computer they sold.

The NBA draft will be taking place on Thursday and, as you may have noticed from past installments of the IT Insights blog, there are a lot of NBA fans around the office. Many of us will be watching or listening with interest, hoping to see (or hear) our favorite team draft a coveted college basketball star, or swing a big draft night deal, or grab some prospects for the local NBA G League team, or at least find a EuroLeague guy with an unpronounceable name who will maybe be ready to come over in a couple of seasons from now.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were expected to chitchat with another person but you didn't know what to say? Of course you have! We all have. As you probably already know, one safe and rather universal topic for such situations is the weather. No matter where you are, there is always weather happening there, and people are usually aware of its effects. There are even online tutorials to help you learn to converse about the weather.