Firewall Rules
In one of my past careers I worked in mental health in various settings but the last setting was at a drop in center. Kind of some sidewalk social work. I can't disclose a lot about this job but suffice it to say that while it had some serious and somber moments of reality there were also some very fun and enlightening moments. I know how embarrassing it is to have the fire department show up because once again, the pop tarts started on fire in the microwave.
I have experienced a police stakeout as they often used our location to stake out the drug deals going on at the sidewalk across the street. I am not sure how to accurately describe the site of members of the drop in center trying to walk around in this designated safe space while police with walkie talkies and guns are very seriously focusing on the drug deals across the street and ignoring the members of the drop in - somehow very surreal. I started to realize the value of daily coffee for people in the winter.
When working the front desk I realized how very important the first 30 seconds are when folks walked into the center - I became adept at knowing who I needed to check in with very quickly. Words became less important than watching a person's ability to dress appropriately - you start to notice who has every piece of clothing on their body - homeless or their heat was turned off, and who does have not enough clothes on for the weather, did they stand up, greet others, were they interested in anything or interested in too much, how much energy did it take to sign their name, how did they do putting on their make up today - too much, too little, lip stick on lips or around the lips - amazing how many cues you pick up and how much you notice with your senses - all your senses. I sometimes miss this work.
As I made a transition into technology as a career I had a job that was kind of in between. My job was to locate and screen various resources for people as part of an employee assistance service. I loved this job because I used the Internet and the computer and stayed on the phone for less than 5 minutes with anyone. I felt like a little social service super fast private investigator. I remember sending out a link to google and tell folks that there was this group of folks at Stanford that was developing a new type of search engine for the Internet. I was very interested in technology. One day during my research I had a case that requested a support group for transgender folks. I must have been a little naive because the results that came back the first time I searched for transgender support were not exactly what I expected. Yes, well I refined my search. Then I clicked on one of the links and wowsa - this whole screen huge message came up that firewall rules prevented viewing of the site I had chosen. Any further attempts to view this material would be reportable offenses. I didn't want to get reported to anyone but I had a job to do. I had to figure out how to get through the firewall. So I clicked on the link to find more information on the firewall. It had information about what information or words indicated an inappropriate site. So for instance - the word breast might be okay, although it would depend on how often it was used, or maybe used in the context of say chicken breast would be okay, but if the site made multiple references to big breasts that indicated a site that was in appropriate for viewing at work. Well I can say I wasn't looking at chicken breast sites and the GLBT community does sometimes get away with a little more provactative adds in their community resource guides than the average everyday newspaper or internet guide. There was more...but after reading this I think I was crying from laughing - oh, to finally understand the rules...So get this, I had to contact the tech team and have my firewall rules changed so I could view sites for transgender support groups -
For Gromit and Chewie we have created our own firewall - also known as the child gate. It stops them from being tempted by inappropriate content. Of course I am not talking about big breasts. I am talking about say, newly arriving guests private areas, 19 year old cats butts, any part of the poor, poor chimney sweep who is deathly afraid of dogs.... Gromit must have read the link though, the one with the rules - he has figured out that things on the stove or counter while people are in the room are inappropriate content, but when no one is around it is fine to stand at the sink or the stove and pull them down to the floor for a thorough taste test of whatever was for dinner. He must have read the part where the gate is fine if you are lame in a leg, but if not you can leap over it and it truly is meaningless to large dogs.
Chewie has his own personal version of the firewall - it is everthing that was not in his life the day before. Everything new is possibly inappropriate content to Chewie and for that very reason to be avoided. Chewie is his own firewall.
Oh, the ying and the yang of these dogs.
I have experienced a police stakeout as they often used our location to stake out the drug deals going on at the sidewalk across the street. I am not sure how to accurately describe the site of members of the drop in center trying to walk around in this designated safe space while police with walkie talkies and guns are very seriously focusing on the drug deals across the street and ignoring the members of the drop in - somehow very surreal. I started to realize the value of daily coffee for people in the winter.
When working the front desk I realized how very important the first 30 seconds are when folks walked into the center - I became adept at knowing who I needed to check in with very quickly. Words became less important than watching a person's ability to dress appropriately - you start to notice who has every piece of clothing on their body - homeless or their heat was turned off, and who does have not enough clothes on for the weather, did they stand up, greet others, were they interested in anything or interested in too much, how much energy did it take to sign their name, how did they do putting on their make up today - too much, too little, lip stick on lips or around the lips - amazing how many cues you pick up and how much you notice with your senses - all your senses. I sometimes miss this work.
As I made a transition into technology as a career I had a job that was kind of in between. My job was to locate and screen various resources for people as part of an employee assistance service. I loved this job because I used the Internet and the computer and stayed on the phone for less than 5 minutes with anyone. I felt like a little social service super fast private investigator. I remember sending out a link to google and tell folks that there was this group of folks at Stanford that was developing a new type of search engine for the Internet. I was very interested in technology. One day during my research I had a case that requested a support group for transgender folks. I must have been a little naive because the results that came back the first time I searched for transgender support were not exactly what I expected. Yes, well I refined my search. Then I clicked on one of the links and wowsa - this whole screen huge message came up that firewall rules prevented viewing of the site I had chosen. Any further attempts to view this material would be reportable offenses. I didn't want to get reported to anyone but I had a job to do. I had to figure out how to get through the firewall. So I clicked on the link to find more information on the firewall. It had information about what information or words indicated an inappropriate site. So for instance - the word breast might be okay, although it would depend on how often it was used, or maybe used in the context of say chicken breast would be okay, but if the site made multiple references to big breasts that indicated a site that was in appropriate for viewing at work. Well I can say I wasn't looking at chicken breast sites and the GLBT community does sometimes get away with a little more provactative adds in their community resource guides than the average everyday newspaper or internet guide. There was more...but after reading this I think I was crying from laughing - oh, to finally understand the rules...So get this, I had to contact the tech team and have my firewall rules changed so I could view sites for transgender support groups -
For Gromit and Chewie we have created our own firewall - also known as the child gate. It stops them from being tempted by inappropriate content. Of course I am not talking about big breasts. I am talking about say, newly arriving guests private areas, 19 year old cats butts, any part of the poor, poor chimney sweep who is deathly afraid of dogs.... Gromit must have read the link though, the one with the rules - he has figured out that things on the stove or counter while people are in the room are inappropriate content, but when no one is around it is fine to stand at the sink or the stove and pull them down to the floor for a thorough taste test of whatever was for dinner. He must have read the part where the gate is fine if you are lame in a leg, but if not you can leap over it and it truly is meaningless to large dogs.
Chewie has his own personal version of the firewall - it is everthing that was not in his life the day before. Everything new is possibly inappropriate content to Chewie and for that very reason to be avoided. Chewie is his own firewall.
Oh, the ying and the yang of these dogs.
Comments
Post a Comment