Tech Juggler

Yes, but don't forget to give credit where it is due.

After all these centuries, I am still here, pupil.

Interesting blog. I learned computers for the most part in a conventional manner. One year for Christmas my Dad gave me a Timex-Sinclair computer. If memory serves I could make a clock. It did start me on a 30+ year career in IT. College, post grad school, 1st job with Bell Labs but it was the non conventional tools I picked up along the way that would amaze some people.

By way of example....it's 2am and I'm at a Holiday Inn attempting to fix their switchboard. The book says I should be getting 1.5 volts output from an RS 232 source. My digital meter probe was too big to fit in the aperture. I called someone and they said "take a shunt cord and put the alligator clip on your meter probe. Take a paper clip and straighten it and put the paper clip on the other end of the shunt cord's alligator clip. Insert paper clip in tiny aperture and, viola. 1.5 volts.

Necessity is the mother of innovation. 

Perseverance - I just don't give up - you know it can be fixed and if you just try all of your ideas and all the books and all the web pages eventually - you will fix it. Sometimes I even remember what I've done - and I call this... LEARNING.

I still can't do handwriting or art or soccer but I can fix the computer - because I TRY VERY VERY HARD.

OSSMOSIS This stuff just sorta filters into my brain when I'm around a computer.

I learned because I wanted my own computer for AutoCAD and the wife wouldn't let me buy one (4,800 bucks back then for a 286 set up for CAD). I bought a book on building computers, then bought one piece at a time until I had enough parts......

The neighbors started asking me to "look" at their computers..... then the women at work would ask me to fix their office computers..... now I keep over 100 systems running everyday.

Kinda like leaning to fix a car.....Wanted a car, but couldn't afford one.... bought a wreck, fixed stuff, added different stuff.... soon was running 9 sec quarters on the weekends at the strip..... Next thing I know, everybody wanted me to work on their cars! 

Computers are much cleaner to work on and there has never been a time where I had to lay on my back in the dirt to get at something.

All comments ring very true in my career.  Been there and there.  I have also found that if I'm stuck on a particularly complex problem, I leave it and sleep on it.  My subconcious must be at work cause everything's clearer the next day and I have more options to try which usually lead to a speedy solution.  But the people I support don't know or even care how I did it - just that it works!  I remain amazed at the complexity and power of the mind to problem solve!

Of course I started on a 286 in 87. Give a bored employee a computer on a midnite shift and look out. The funny thing is someone had to show me how to turn the damn thing on. Anyway it just snowballed from there. Now I have 3 states and 19 servers to watch over. But the thing that always works for me is, "I tell them that it's magic, just technical magic" or "that's why they pay me the big bucks", since they think we're all millionaires anyway, and they leave it there. Nice thing about my workplace is that most of my users think I walk on water when it comes to computers and I sure don't discourage it, if they only knew ha ha.

Most of the time I just smile. But the hard part is handling the outpouring of gratitude from frazzeled users. My normal response is "Every two weeks, they give me a slip of paper my bank will turn into money. Can you believe they pay me to do this?"

You guys bring back many memories.... I "usually" tell people why I know so much about computers is I have done it wrong more than anyone else !  Starting out on the Timex-Sinclairs, TRS-80's, Commodore 64's and the very first IBM desktop, I have read the DOS 1.0 and the Basic 1.0 books from cover to cover, used Xtree, fdisk, wrote batch files.  Even have done a diskcopy from floppy to a Huge 10 meg. harddrive !   Back then there was no one to ask, it was either read or just do.  Got used to fixing, what I tried to destroy.  The first formal training I ever had was in Austin Texas, at Texas Intrustments training center, to learn "fat fingering".  Ouch... lol those were the days.

Dr. Who, right?

Good list!  ^_^

I imagine we've all had the experience of getting a call about a computer problem and when we get there and try to replicate it, the computer works just fine.  "But it REALLY WAS doing that.  What did you do?  Does the computer sense your presence and obey you??" the user exclaims.  I just mumble something about the "laying upon of hands" or that "I'm good with small animals and computers..."

You missed the one about the visit to the lab and the radioactive Tandy TSR-1 bit you granting you strange and unusual abilities like clinging to floppy drives and ability to sense when a bit was being flipped in a router.

Maybe you can get Toby to play you in the movie and have David Warner playing as your arch-nemesis, the clueless program manager.

When asked how I fixed something or learned about computers I respond "It's MAGIC".

I enjoyed your answers a lot!  I have had same questions asked of me over 25 years of working with computers, and I have finally settled on the reply "Its Magic!"  No other explanations seemed to matter.  So when I retired from my regular job, I set up a small home business called "Gerry's Computer Magic", and now they don't have to ask. They know its Magic!

• this video is proof that I do actual work 
• and this video showcases my second daughter on ultrasound and my first daughter playing. 

Disclaimer: The actual length of time between events may differ slightly from reality. Truth to tell, the actual time lengths could make the story more humorous, but I'm doing this from memory. Give me a break, okay?

Day 1: Upper
Management notes that my new Behavior Management System Database runs efficiently
and saves several hours every week on data entry time.

Day 5: Upper
Management notes that the old training database continues to have
problems. The formulas don?t calculate
accurately and its too easy to make input errors. Perhaps, they ponder aloud, Scott could
overhaul it or completely remake it.

Day 6: I am asked to make updates to the Behavior
Management System. It works so well,
they want to put unrelated information into the database. I sigh and get to work.

Day 10: The requirements for the Behavior Management System change. Nobody informs me.

Day 21: I complete
the changes to the system.

Day 22: I am asked
why I did not implement the new requirements.
I tell upper management why and discover they are not big fans of
sarcasm.

Day 31: The
training staff asks if I can create a new report on their old Training
Database. I begin to do so, shuddering
at the spaghetti logic code in the system.
I say a prayer, thankful that I?ve not been asked to work on that system.

Day 33: I
complete the new report.

Day 40: I finish
the Behavior Management System. Again.

Day 50: Upper Management
asks my supervisor when I?ll be finished on the Training Database. Later in the day, I am assigned the task.

Day 51: I begin
trying to coordinate a meeting time with everyone involved in Training to
properly gather requirements.

Day 63: Having given up on ever meeting with all six
employees, I take what I can get and have the meeting anyway. What I can get turns out to be three. Including myself.

Day 65: Having
reviewed the code and the requirements I conclude that I need to completely redesign
the system, while at the same time being able to import the old legacy data.

Day 70: I?m asked
why I haven?t finished the system yet. I
tell them I haven?t had time. Them: How
much time do you need?

Me: About a month.

Them: That?s unacceptable.
This was assigned three months ago.
We?ll task you out. Work on
nothing besides this and emergencies. Have
it ready in a week. This is our number
one priority.

Me: I can?t. Two
weeks; maybe.

Day 77: Much to
my surprise, I finish early.

Day 78: They don?t
look at the system. They?re too busy. There are too many higher priorities.

Day 90: I train
the person who will be entering the data

Day 95: I train
him again.

Day 100: He begins
entering data into the new Training Database

Day 101: Upper
management begins pondering aloud whether more unrelated data should be entered into
the Behavior Management System.

I'm a geek.  I also love basketball.  I admit both
freely.

So when the juvenile detention facility I work at hosted a staff vs staff
basketball game with the inmates watching, I was eager to play.  The
results were pretty much what you'd expect.

At one point the staff were going to play the inmates, but the medical
department said the temperature and heat index were too high, so they could
only watch as the computer geek embarrassed himself.

That?s not entirely true. 
I had three assists, three blocks, four rebounds and one busted
shoe.  I forgot that we were playing
today, but avid fan that I am, I opted to play in my dress shoes, dress pants
and a t-shirt.  I refused to lay my
security keys down, so they hung off my belt loop during the entire game.  This, of course, did nothing to enhance my
image. I only missed one shot though. Guess how many I tried?

I can also achieve a sunburn in moonlight.  By the end of the day I?ll probably look like
a lobster.  At least my deodorant wore
out so I can smell bad.

The worst part of it? 
All those people I?ve been apologizing to because I?ve been too busy to
get to their minor tech issues? 
Yep.  They were there.  So I have some explaining to do later.

So what does this have to do with IT?  Well, sometime this weekend, I?ll probably
break out the XBOX and play a game of basketball on it.  This time, I?ll win.

Here are my thoughts on Superman Returns. Becuase it's important to me, that's why. There will be some spoilers, but I'll warn you ahead of time so you can read up until that point.

I had very high hopes for this film, and as always when that is the case, it took some time afterwards to digest how I truly felt. First though, let's remember some of the ideas that were thrown around for a "Superman movie" that thankfully didn't get made:

- Nicholas Cage as Superman
- Giant spiders
- Fighting polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude
- Tim Burton directing which would have included
- A completely different costume
- A Superman that could not fly
- Intersteller war with Krypton
- Lex Luthor as a CIA Agent

There's more, but you get the point. The film itself? Loved it. There are things I can nitpick about and I probably will. But I loved it, for four reasons.

1) It gave tributes to the Superman movies and comics
2) It contained some of the best superhero action scenes ever (I'm specifically thinking about the plane scenes)
3) The cast was great
4) I believed a man could fly again.

1) The opening sequence blew me away. Remember I saw it on an IMAX screen too. It looked, sounded and felt just like Superman I & II. Only better. It brought out all those feelings I used to have watching I & II (and also III & IV, back when I didn't know any better)

The lines & parallel scenes from the first films were there. The classic Action comics cover was there. The love for Superman was there. Making this a loose continuation of the first two films was a stroke of genius.

2) I?ll add this to the action bit. The film did an excellent job of creating tension, even when I knew things would work out. That?s hard to pull off.

3) Brandon Routh looked a bit young as Superman at times. But he also looked like Superman. It took one scene with him in the suit for me to buy into it. He reminded me of Reeves, but the part was his own.

Kevin Spacey was incredible as Lex Luthor. I expected a decent job by him based on what I had read, but really I was blown away. he was funny but dark. You could see the Hackman character going this direction.

Kate Bosworth sounded nothing like Margaret Kidder. I really appreciated that.

4) Superman looked and felt? like Superman.

Let?s address some issues now. The cape had no S on the back. Until a friend pointed that out, I didn?t even notice it. I?m ashamed, but its true. Obviously though, it didn't detract. If that's the worse the film has to offer, we're in good shape.

But there is a plot point that people are discussing. I want to address it, so if you haven't seen the film and don't want to know (which I didn't) what happens, stop reading now and come back after you've seen the movie.

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

Lois had a son. *sigh* The son belonged to Superman. *sigh* This makes for some controversy, and rightly so. However, it didn?t detract from the film for me and here?s why. This is based on the first two Superman movies; and for my money this was implied in the second film. Yeah, you didn?t have to go that direction, and if I had made the film (heh) I wouldn?t have. Still, while not overt, it was implied in that film that the relationship was? intimate. Watch it again and tell me if I?m wrong (I?ll be watching it again myself.)

It certainly does open up interesting story ideas for the sequels. Time will tell if they are good story ideas.

There is also the issue of why Superman left. It?s been rightly pointed out that Superman told the President at the end of II that "I'll never go away again." If you?re going to buy into my II rationalization for the son, this has to be addressed. And here?s what I came up with?

Sorry. I?ve got nothing.

Finally, a friend asked this in an email: <respectful tips of the hat turn into blatant copying? Several lines were direct swipes from the original Donner movies. Several scenes seemed to be copies, including the opening credits.>>

That?s a good question. I have a poor answer: ?I?ll know it when I see it.? And it wasn?t the case here. I was thrilled to see those in there. They added to the film.