IT Insights Blog — TestOut Continuing Education

Here in the United States there's about to be a presidential election. No, really, it's true. Those of us who live here can't stop hearing about it, sometimes even when all we want to do is peruse someone's ruminations about this or that facet of IT certification. One of the biggest news headlines at the moment is the persistent clamor from fully half of the candidates with a realistic shot at winning that the election is rigged.

I was at a high-school football game the other evening watching the home-town team get beat like a rented mule. They were down by 30 points at the half and it didn’t look like things were going to get any better for them. One of the coaches gathered the defense and led them in a cheer: “Good, better and best. Never stop trying until the good is better and the better is best!” The players seemed to respond like a different team. They completely shut down the opposing offense, giving up just two first downs the entire second half, and coming back to make a game of it.

Last week I played pool with a colleague and learned a valuable lesson about seeking employment. We played on a table that neither of us had ever played on. It didn’t take us long to realize this table was very unique. The cushion on the rails of the table had become separated from the wood in various places around the table. This created dead spots which caused any connecting ball to rebound in an unexpected manner.

Lots of things in life are unexpected. Who would have predicted, 20 years ago, that Starburst candies would one day be sold in “miniature” form, bagged assortments of individual chews that can be popped straight into your mouth by the fistful without the hassle of removing a paper wrapper? Donald Trump probably didn’t think when he was chatting with Billy Bush on the Access Hollywood bus 11 years ago, that he might someday revisit the contents of that conversation as a widely scrutinized contender for the highest elective office in the United States.

A week ago I received a phone call from an individual claiming to be from Microsoft. He said they were “monitoring my computer and detected that it is performing at a very slow speed.” As an implacable nemesis of Bill Gates, I was immediately suspicious. Even more so when he directed me to read him my IP address.