This week was catching up week for me. Since I was sick for quite awhile, I needed to catch up on my contribution towards the IT Automation book. Knocking out two chapter drafts, System and Backup, and almost finalizing another chapter, Ticketing, was quite the accomplishment. Hopefully next week I can finalize the System and Backup chapters so I can get back on schedule again.

Pão de Açúcar is a famous mountain in Rio de Janeiro. It’s located at the mouth of the Guanabara Bay and provides an excellent view of Rio de Janeiro and the Atlantic Ocean. I visited this amazing site last Wednesday and had the privilege of viewing the sunset from the peak and it was breath taking.  Taking two separate cable cars are necessary to get to the top of Pão de Açúcar.

Tomorrow, we will be renting a boat and going to Ilha Grande which is a famous island in Brazil and has amazing scenic landscape and beaches. I will post some pictures in my next blog post on how it went.

It seems like I didn’t have a bad cold but rather a virus called Dengue Fever. It can be mistaken for the flu since the symptoms are almost the same. Some of the symptoms are, fever, headaches, eye pain, dehydration, weakness, and red rashes begin to show up on the skin. It can only be transmitted by a certain mosquito, Aedes mosquito. Definitely it made me aware to wear mosquito repellent more often while I am outside since the virus takes a serious toll on the immune system.

Unfortunately, being sick has held me back from working and I am a bit behind from my tentative schedule. This coming week, I will be working hard to catch up and finish a couple of chapters for the IT Automation book.

I had an amazing opportunity to hike up one of the mountains in Brazil and it was an amazing experience. The hike was a bit rough since I wasn’t used to it but it was fun.  The view from the top was amazing; skyscrapers looked like little buildings from the view. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would in a heartbeat.

My chapters for the IT automation book are going well. Info Center was finalized and approved earlier this week. I am currently awaiting feedback on the Ticketing chapter while working on screenshots for Patch Management chapter and Info Center. I’ve been fighting a bad cold that I’ve had this week and because of it, I have been trying to get better quickly and catch up on work that I missed.

It’s been almost three weeks since I arrived in Brazil, and I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by! After their loss in the World Cup quarter-finals on Friday, the Brazilians went crazy--demonstrating just how passionate they are about football. It’s been an amazing cultural experience being here, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my summer in Brazil holds.

I’ve been making a lot of new friends from the Universidade Federal Fluminense, and they are all wonderful. The Brazilians have proven to be a joyful and friendly people who “work to live” instead of “live to work”--quite opposite from the view I believe is afforded by most Americans.

I have been behind in creating the screenshots that go along with my chapters for the IT Automation book. The reason is because my partner, Flavio, depends on me to write up the chapter, he then proceeds to record a demo video while following the steps written in the chapter, and then I produce the screenshots using his demo video. The issue came along where the recording program, Adobe Captivate, failed to properly save the videos and thus the videos became corrupt and unusable. We have now been able to find a work around and finally have been able to complete the screenshots for one chapter, Remote Control. Starting next week, I should be able to produce the screenshots for the rest of the chapters without any further issues.

Besides the screenshots, my write-ups for the chapters have been going well. Agent Procedures was the latest draft that got finalized earlier this week, opening the opportunity to start the next chapter, Info Center. My goal for next week is to completely finish the Info Center draft, get it approved, and being the next two chapter drafts by the end of the week. If all goes well, I hope to use that “work to live” mentality Brazilians have. :)

I had to work extra hard this week since the university was going to be closed on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday it was a city holiday and on Friday, Brazil and Portugal were playing in the World Cup. As I stated before, literally everything closes during the match, and if they win a celebration occurs in the streets.

I had a pretty productive week. I was able to complete the first rough drafts for Monitor and Agent Procedures.  The final draft for Monitoring should be done next week as my local advisor is reviewing it now and giving me feedback on it. This chapter was relatively easy to think about but, in my opinion, the most crucial chapter since learning how to use Kaseya’s Monitor module is one of the most important sections. If a technician can create a well defined monitor set, the technician can then diagnose, or even prevent, issues from arising in his/her work environment. It’s a module I’m still learning from because the possibilities are endless.

With Agent Procedures, it was easier and simpler than the Monitor chapter. I focused on teaching the reader how to create a procedure, or a script, and the possibilities of the script. I also asked them to deploy an install package, using Agent Procedures, to multiple computers through the network. I ran into an issue when I tried to use VLC player as the install package; however, Professor Sadjadi gave me some few tips as to how I can alleviate the situation.  Hopefully, this chapter will be finalized by the end of next week.

Taking a break from work, Flavio, Gabriel, and I went to a small bar to watch a Brazil vs Ivory Coast match on Sunday.  To show how emotional people get in the game, here is a link to Gabriel’s post on a video he recorded immediately after Brazil scored. What you don’t see that provoked the situation is someone set off a firecracker within a coconut. This produces a loud bang, and if you are about within 10 feet away from the blast you could even feel the shockwave, get within 5 feet and you can possibly be temporary disoriented for a bit. It seems like someone wasn’t too happy about the firework being set off so close to him and well….you can see it for yourself.

http://latinamericangrid.org/elgg/gabriel.lizarraga/weblog/678.html

Enjoy!

This is my first post concerning my trip to Brazil. It has been an incredible experience so far! Gabriel Lizarraga, Flavio Suguimitzu, and I arrived early last Tuesday on a 767 American Airlines flight. The flight was better than I expected for an 8 hour flight. Our remote collaborator, Esteban Clua, picked us up as soon as our flight arrived. We then got settled in our flat, Boa Viagem Flat Hotel. From the inside it’s comfortable, we have a kitchen so we can save money and cook for ourselves.  From the balcony, the view is incredible! I couldn’t believe I had the luxury of waking up to this view everyday!

 
Unfortunately, I haven't learned Portuguese yet and that has held me back during the first few days of my trip. However, I’m making a huge push to learn the language since it’s crucial during my stay in Brazil. Esteban, along with the students in UFF, have been extremely helpful in showing us around and teaching us a few key words in Portuguese to help us out through our daily activities.

When it comes to football, Brazilians know how to have fun! We have the best opportunity to show up during the World Cup. During the game, practically all businesses close down just to watch the football match. So far we’ve watched one game with a large group of people and every time a goal was scored, people started to celebrate. The energy put out by Brazilians while watching the game is intense. It gets even better after they win the game. Police come out and block intersections and it’s the biggest block party ever! Music, dancing, street venders! All the citizens of Brazil go nuts. We will be attending another game this Friday and I’ll be sure to post some pictures of people celebrating and having a good time.

In regards to our research, Flavio and I had major issues with their internet service in Brazil. During the first week of our stay, we attempted to work at the university; however, because the FTP, SSH, and our virtual machine ports were blocked, we were limited as to what we can do. We had the option to work from our flat but for the first week, the manager had issues getting the ISP technicians to our flat. As of today, all issues regarding the internet have been resolved.

Prior to my trip, I have been able to complete my Agent and Audit hands on chapters for the IT Automation book. As I await approval and feedback from Remote Control and Patch Management chapters, I’ve began to work on the drafts for Monitoring and Agent Procedures. We are on a tight schedule and it’s crucial I stay on schedule so we can finish by our deadline. Hopefully, I can get at least Monitoring completely done by the end of this week.

Until next time! :)