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1999-12-27 - 22:28:49
Desperate straits.
Well, main computer's out. Stuck now using the ThinkPad.
Due to a combination of gross user failure and a malfunctioning CD-ROM drive, I'm left with one useless 'puter. Wow, I've never experienced a hardware failure before.
I've got to learn the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But hey, that's not why we run Linux is it? Maybe I'll run V2 'til I get a new CD-ROM drive.
You know what fascinates me about computers? Operating systems. That's my big thrill. I love learning to use new OSs.
Now some of you edgemucated CS types out there probably know a lot more than I do. In fact, I'm sure you do. Are you familiar with more than a couple of OSs? I guess you all probably are.
I guess you'd call me a hyper-user. Maybe a meta-user. Uber-user? Anyway, I didn't study computer science. And I don't program. 'Course I don't wanna PROGRAM. Coding's too tedious for me. But damn, I sure do admire people who do code, especially the folks out there doing it for a living, and especially the folks in the open-source community.
I just recently became a bona-fide computer professional. That's not to say that I haven't been doing computer related work for many years, but now it's official. At least to the university where I work. I guess I'll have to start taking some of those computer science courses. Well, I DO want to, so it's not a burden or anything.
It's so strange how so many people are so completely helpless when it comes to using computers. I mean yeah, they know how to turn them on, use MS Office, some know how to use their e-mail client, and some, by the grace of God, know how to turn their computer off properly. But few know how to get their computer to work if it should stray from the path of righteousness and start freezing up or exhibiting the BSOD.
Up until just recently I've been relatively poor. For most of my life I've lived on the edge of poverty. So when I got my first computer, it was pretty darn humble. But I was ambitious. I spent a lot of time trying to squeeze as much performance as possible out of that 286. I think that was a good grounding though and it's served me well throughout my computing since. In fact, if I ever got a top notch, high-end computer, I think I'd be bored. Oh to be bored.
So now I make my living helping people who are pretty darn ignorant about working computers, use their computers. Not to belittle them, they know a lot more about the what they're trying to DO with the computer than I do, I just help them get it done. Maybe my boss can't upgrade our web site, but she can tell me whether or not polyvinylchloride is gonna kill me in the next ten minutes. I'll miss her.
But sometimes I wonder, especially when I'm dealing with my dad, why don't they ever Read The Fucking Manual? How do they think I learned what I know? Basically, people will actually pay YOU to RTFM for them. Weird.
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So, how do you like them apples?