April 7, 2005 Archives

They're young. They're good looking and well dressed. They're well educated. They're here to apply for internships all over the TV station.

I hate them.

OK, maybe I don't hate them... maybe that's an overstatement. But, think about it. Their goal is to (some day) take my job and the jobs of all the other people working here. And, of course, they have this advantage of being younger, better looking and willing to work for less.

Damn you interns!

The good news for them is, if they are accepted for an internship they'll probably learn as much or more than they learned in school. At least they'll have that access and meet people. They'll have the opportunity to get a foot in the door.

You would be surprised at how many interns come to the TV station and then do the minimum required, getting little out of the experience. I've seen interns leave at the end of their 'shift' though the news is just starting. Hello? If I would have been given this opportunity while in college they would have had to shoo me away to make me leave every night.

Because of labor laws and our union agreements there are a lot of things interns can't do. Actually, that's good. This is the time they're supposed to watch and absorb. When there are interns who express a desire to be on the air, our photographers always accommodate them and let them cut a tape and go through the on-air motions of a reporter.

From the other side of the studio I can hear them being asked to leave two copies of their resume. What could they have possibly done at 20 or 21 to put on a resume? Those with little, or nothing, are probably feeling intimidated. They shouldn't. Meaningful experiences for their resumes are ahead of them.

In some ways I am envious. Their whole careers are ahead of them. Will they make the right decisions... or will they think like 20 year olds?

I wish them lots of luck and good fortune, as long as they promise not go after my job.

Steffie called earlier this evening to tell me the "Internet was down."

There are many possible failure points before leaving our house, but a quick check of some user forums shows the problem was Comcast's and not limited to Connecticut. There are some angry subscribers out there tonight.

Could that have been written to be any more confusing? I think it means it's out... it's still out.

This is related to their DNS servers, the Comcast computers that tell your computers where to find other computers, were down or slowed or otherwise impaired. So, when you type www.geofffox.com, your computer is never told that corresponds to 66.225.220.189. There are rumors, which I can't confirm, that this is some sort of organized attack on the Comcast DNS to route users to infected websites.

There are some simple fixes for users. I talked the husband of a co-worker through the procedure in about 90 seconds. Hopefully that won't be necessary too much longer.

Now that Internet access is being used for everything, including phone service, it's time it became as dependable as a public utility.