Section 3.1
Daily Logs

At the end of each day I set aside 5-10 minutes to recount everything I had done that day in a text file. The following are some example days that reflect what I did on a typical day. It should be noted I started off each day with a cup of coffee, I opted to leave that out of my logs.

Day 1

• Came in to work around 8AM.

• Tried to find my mentor but could not, he doesn't come in to work until 10 apparently.

• Find someone working in my group, they point me towards a manager.

• Manager takes me around to get set up (badge, computer, greetings)

• Finally sit at my desk and unveil my new machine (400MHz IBM ThinkPad)

• Meet with the QA's Systems Administrator to set me up with accounts for the boxes I will be working with as well as the version control system and private FTP servers.

• I peruse various documents in the version control system just to get an idea what I will be doing.

• My mentor arrives, briefly goes over what I will be doing and hands me the Perl book from which I will be learning.

• Begin reading over Perl, making sample scripts along the way.

Day 2

• Meet with mentor around 11AM to discuss my progress, he shows me exactly what I'll be working on and the problems they are encountering.

• He gives me a list of systems that I should research in order to be understand what I'm working with.

• I return to my desk and begin doing Google searches for the specified systems/commands that I will need to be familiar with.

Day 11

• My mentor and I decide I am ready to begin working on the tools.

• I log in to various machines and get cracking, first on the list is creating a tool that will parse our SNMP entity's logs and come up with some useful information.

• Speaker Series #1: VP of Operations

Day 14

• My tool is completed, I present it to my mentor and we discuss various changes and some logging features he'd like me to implement.

• I gave blood as a part of the companies blood drive.

Day 15

• Changes are completed and logging is ready.

• My mentor would next like me to familiarize myself with snoop.

• I sit down, read the man pages and grow comfortable with my next task, "snooping" all of the incoming packets and logging the pertinent ones. Although this may sound easy, snoop takes program control and writes it's own binary logs.

Day 20

• My snooping tool is complete, I present it to my mentor. We again discuss changes.

• Changes are completed.

Day 21

• Interns venture to Baltimore for an Orioles game, upon arrival we find it has been rained out, so we head back home, no work today I guess.

Day 22

• Next of the agenda is a tool to monitor all of the DNS server's packets as well as the hardware.

• I begin to search for solutions as there appear to already be many out there.

Day 24

• I have found an acceptable solution, but it will not work properly with our configuration.

• I attempt to contact the creator of the solution and eagerly await his response.

Day 26

• I give up on getting a response from the creator of the software I'd like to use.

• I begin writing my own scripts to do the task.

• Speaker Series #2: President/Founder of Road Runner.

Day 30

• My DNS monitoring tool is completed and meets approval, no changes need to be made at this time.

• My department meets at the local indoor go-karting track for lunch and some laps.

Day 31

• I meet with the creator of a cable modem simulator, we discuss his software and how to use it.

• I hit my test machines hard (with software of course) and log the results.

• I have found some flaws in the simulation software and a potential glitch in the firmware in our SNMP entity.

Day 32

• Simulator is fixed, I can continue my work on hammering my test boxes and modems.

• I have found a general trend that I can attribute to  being the limits of our current firmware and/or hardware.

Day 36

• Interns meet at a pool-hall for lunch on the company. I appear to be a hustler because I get extremely lucky and play well.

• Over the weekend some new software and hardware has been implemented, I have to rewrite my code to work with these new systems.

Day 38

• All code is re-written to take in to account new logging styles and directories by certain systems.

Day 40

• Pack up my cubicle into a small box.

• Re-test my software to ensure it works.

• Re-read my comments and documentation to ensure it will be useful for the next person.

• Department head takes my mentor and another intern to lunch.

• I clean up my machine (delete personal things) and turn it in.

• Interview with the "Talent Acquisition Manager" to discuss work over the Winter Break and the likelihood of my re-hiring this next summer as a full-time employee.

• I exit the building.

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