Archive for August, 2007

I got a paper published online…

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Networking certifications: How to pass your exams
27 Jul 2007 | Jared Heinrichs, A+ and MCP certified

This networking certification advice was one of the winning articles selected from SearchNetworking.com’s CCNP Video Mentor contest.

I was able to pass all my network certification exams with flying colors by doing the following:

  • First, research which books are good. I find that you have to buy more than one because some authors explain certain ideas and topics better than others; some books hardly touch on subjects that are crucial to the exams.
  • Play, play and play some more with the technology you are studying. If you are going after your A+ or Network + and you don’t have the technology to play with, understanding key concepts is going to be difficult. Now that a lot of the enterprise devices have made it to consumer goods, I recommend installing the software trials. Like anything, you must spend money to get money.
  • Try and stay up to date with technology and understand what the acronyms mean. If you don’t love what you are doing this will be very hard. With so many acronyms out there, it is much easier to remember what they mean if you understand what they stand for. Even if you can’t remember what the acronym does, you can normally understand what it might do. For example, someone new to networking might not know the meaning of DNS or DHCP. Once they know that these acronyms stand for Domain Name Service and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, they are that one step closer not only to acing the exams but to keeping that info with them on the job site, which is really the most important test.
  • Although many people use exam questions that they find on the Internet, I do not recommend it. Trying to memorize these questions will only frustrate you because exam questions change regularly. In the end, you will finish the exam much faster if you just know how to work out the questions.
  • The one tip that I learned at a very early age is to make flash cards. Flash cards are great. If you make them yourself, you are studying them at the same time. Try and get a friend or family member to help you with the cards. Also, try to randomize the cards, because it’s amazing how well the human brain remembers patterns.
  • My last piece of advice for you is to create questions that you think may be featured in the exam and practice them. If you are not sure, look at the questions in a text book. Are there areas they didn’t ask questions on? Do you know how to repeat the steps blindfolded? How do you set up “X” service? If you don’t know, go back and try and learn it again.To sum up, certification is a lot of work and you must be willing to take it on. Many shortcuts are available, but people who take shortcuts hardly ever get anywhere. Work with the products and you will be comfortable with them — and well enough prepared to pass your tests.

    • http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/general/0,295582,sid7_gci1265992,00.html

    Posted in Basic Post | No Comments »

    echo double quotes in PHP as well as other special characters.

    Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

    It took me forever to find out how to display the symbol ” as output from PHP into a dynamically created HTML page.

    newline = \n return = \r tab = \t dollar = \$ double quote = \"
    Hope this helps someone else out ;)

    Posted in Basic Post | No Comments »

    Play Quicktime Files without installing Quicktime

    Monday, August 20th, 2007

    I’ve had enough of installing crappy apple software on my machine. I just took the plunge by installing Windows Vista 64bit edition. On a sidenote, I got a legit copy through my Microsoft Actionpack subscription.

    Windows Media player is way better then Quicktime for several reason:

    1. Not nearly as bloated.
    2. Loads faster
    3. Plays video full Screen for free. If you want to play quicktime files fullscreen you have to buy Quicktime Pro.

     In my searching I found a plugin called Quicktime Alternative plugin.  I can install this on any system. I have tried it on Windows XP, Vista 32bit & now Vista 64Bit. Once you install this codec into your system pretty much any program that understands video can now play quicktime files. :)

    Posted in Software Links | No Comments »

    The Winnipeg Wedding Photographer we chose was….

    Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

    Darell Malone.

    We had looked at god know how many photographers work. One thing we noticed when right away was several photographers had only 3 or 4 nice shots from the whole wedding!! When you put together an online web gallery with the best 4 shots from each wedding it looks like the person is a great photographer.

    There are many things that my fiance and I loved about Darell.

    1. He remember who we were the second time we met and both times made us laugh and feel comfortable. Something I think is required to get good photographs.
    2. We had wanted a very photo journalistic view of our wedding. He had started clipping out items and ideas that we might like.
    3. His fees are unbelievably competitive and he is willing to work out a package that suited our budget.
    4. You can tell he loves photography the way I loved technology, computers, networking and web design.
    5. When we asked for a quote to compare our top 3 photographers he repsonded VERY quickly. Nghia Tran Photogrpahy did not email us back, Red Dot Photogrpahy just re-emailed us info on her website. To us this showed us a lot about photographers here in Winnipeg.

    Because we are so happy with everything Daryl Malone has done for us we decided to link to his website using some keywords that we hope will help his ranking.

    Daryl Malone Photography

    Winnipeg Wedding Photographer

    Posted in Basic Post | No Comments »