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Does anyone have any fun...?

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by midniteone

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Here's a question for a wet Friday morning - well, it's tipping it down here!

Just rediscovered 'Soul of a New Machine' - excellent book, and one of the things that got me messing with computers in the first place - and it left me wondering if anyone gets that kind of overwhelming 'buzz' anymore?

Alright, they were designing/building and going into new territory, but I'm sure I used to get a sense of challenge out of dealing with PCs or mainframe links or whatever else. Do people still get that sort of feeling, or has it all become routine - as IT has moved onwards and outwards, have "they" engineered all the initiative and endeavour out of it?

How to avoid falling into a rut, or the dreaded 'white goods' syndrome (where the computers are nothing more interesting than the average washing machine)?

8 replies

by mjd420nova

The equipment has really become just "more of the same" and just a box these days. But it's the users that continue to excite me. Always finding ways to trash their machines in new and inventive ways. Everyday is an adventure with different users with unique ways of breaking their toys. This week I'm doing a different thing, infra-red scanning of all electrical equipment on off-shore oil rigs on Cook Inlet, off shore from Anchorage, Alaska. I do the same job every year but it is a real switch from fixing computers and cleaning up server rooms. I also get the fantastic scenery and a chance to do some salmon fishing at night. The midnight sun is not just a phenomenon but a reality that my body won't let me waste. It is a bit hazy from nearby forest fires but it doesn't stop the fish from biting. Eleven more days and it'll be back to the users plights to keep me happy.

by charliespencer

Last week, with jmgarvin's help, I got cheap thrill when I was able to install Fedora Not-Core 7 as a virtual machine. I got a similar buzz doing the same thing with MS's Vista vm a couple of weeks before. I spent part of this morning helping a couple of CNC programmers work out a new way to upload and download software from their laptops to their mills, lathes, etc. High-fives all around.

Maybe I'm just easily entertained, but I still get a kick firing up a new toy.

by gadgetgirl

Well, yes, actually, that too! The excuses that users come up with for infracting policy, hitting porn sites, emailing rubbish - they're all very entertaining. I mean - what part of porn*stars*XXX*4*U [b] doesn't [/b] tell the user it's a porn site, so he tries five more times to get in it.....???

I get much more fun out of gadgets! (DE!) My 14"-er from jd really got me going!

(if you need to ask, G, pm me!)

Love my U3 drive, satnav, lappie, biometric usb flash, mini digicam, oh, how I could go on. Oh, and not forgetting the vibrators, as well..

Ooops.

Think I just revealed how I got the present monicker.... ;) :p :D

GG

by gadgetgirl

It's taken me ages to find him, but I can be persistent...... :p

Have a couple of Muttley t-shirts, too!

Apparently - so they tell me - when I really go into a gigglefit, my laugh sounds just like his.... - so they tell me. That would appear to be confirmed by a couple of people on here that I've talked to as well. Hmm. They may be right ]:)

Boss calls me Muttley, too (amongst other things :0 )

Just another nickname I've picked up over the years ;)

GG

by labrat636

I get to "play" with all kinds of stuff that comes through here. I test voice and data networking equipment in a lab environment. I get hands on experience with equipment from multiple vendors. A big emphasis is shifting towards VoIP, so I've had to set up a Cisco Call Manager SCCP based system, an Avaya Office IP system, and a SIP based system. This stuff is fun for an old phone guy. We used to run data over the PBX, now we're running virtual PBX software using TCP/IP protocols over the network. Interfacing data equipment to the PSTN is old news for us.

by midniteone

...that there is still some life in the profession and that there is room for you to invent and improvise!

have to admit the local policies here are very prescriptive and limiting so I don't think the IT people here would be as positive - ageing infrastructure creaking its way forwards very slowly!

anyway, thanks guys and gals - I must go off and work up some inventive errors to make life interesting for the Helpdesk ...??!! ;-)

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