ColdFusion Muse

Pro-bono Tech Support - Give Your Relatives a Break

Do you ever get frustrated with your relatives lack of technical knowledge? I see my skills and my company as fulfilling a very specific need and providing valuable services - particularly to business. But to my relatives I just "...work with computers". You know what I mean right? You might be a fabulous OO programmer, or an awesome Flash designer or an unparalleled network engineer, but your job is usually described like this:

"Have you met my son Bob, he works with computers."
"Mabel's youngest, Sally... she does something or other with computers"
"George is a good friend of mine - he works in computers." (like there's a giant computer somewhere full of laborers)

To the rest of the world, what we do is somehow tied to their aging Windows 95 desktop computer where they email each other and send the latest Internet joke around. To most of my relatives, the guy at the end of the tech support line helping them get the video resolution set on their new Dell PC is no different from me. They imagine me in a sweat shop with computer parts strewn around "making things work". How do I know? Who do you think they call when their PC won't boot or their monitor is fuzzy? Did you ever get this call? "Mark, my printer is not working, do you know what is wrong?".

Those support calls make you angry - right? Stop a moment and think of a Doctor getting this call, "Doc, my leg hurts, do you know what's wrong?". The doctor might chuckle, but he or she not likely to be angry. The Doctor doesn't expect his patient to know the ins and outs of diagnosing leg pain. The doctor also isn't likely to get bent out of shape if she's a dermatologists and she has just been asked a question about orthopedics. Doctor's are more likely to react with patience and to appreciate the trust that is given by the patient. Why is that? What can we learn from this example? Why do I.T. professionals have so much emotionally invested in how others treat their profession?

Geek Humor - Finding IT in the Bible

I saw this quote in the Community MX Newsletter today:
""It's a well known fact that computing devices such as the abacus were invented thousands of years ago. But it's not well known that the first use of a common computer protocol occured in the Old Testament. This, of course, was when Moses aborted the Egyptians' process with a control-sea..." — Tom Galloway

Being a biblical scholar myself I thought I'd try a few early adaptations of computers as well. See if you get any of these.

1. Genesis 1 - A worm spreads malware using only a single byte. Ironically this worm used an Apple.
2. Genesis 8 - World's first backup plan largely succeeeds, but the dinasaurs are lost.
3. Genesis 11 - Worlds largest and most impressive project undermined and scrapped by communication problems.
4. Genesis 17:23-28 - A new asthetic design enters abraham's household, complete with four skins. In spite of the press release members feel short-changed.
5. Exodus 7,8,9 - Egyption economy grinds to a halt due to DOS attacks by God.
6. Exodus 34 - Moses impulsively deletes a file given to him by God and is forced to recreate it from scratch.
7. ...The rest of the first 5 books - Children of Israel set a precident for Apple's business plan by wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. (ouch!)

If you think of more feel free to add....

Jack Kilby - Changing the World

In 1958 a young Jack Kilby, working for Texas Instruments, found a way to fabricate all of the components of a an electronic circuit onto a single semiconductor about the size of a paper clip. Like most of us, he was trying to solve specific problems, not revolutionize an industry - much less the world. His invention, the "integrated circuit" became the ground work for the computer age. What Edison was to the industrial revelution, Jack Kilby will be to the computer age. Although he won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000, his passing on Monday was a footnote in most newscasts - if it was mentioned at all. So this post is to say thank you Jack - your effort has enhanced the lives of millions.

What My Spam Thinks I Am

Bumper sticker on the way to work today: "Lord help me to be the person my dog thinks I am". Homespun but I like it. My beagle thinks I hung the moon. Then I got to work and did task #1 - deleting the spam from my spam filter. I got to thinking of another bumper sticker that should be out there - "Lord don't let me be the person my spam thinks I am".

For those of you who enjoy the great outdoors

I usually feel bad about "personal" posts because I'm aware that's not why most people read my blog. We all need a break from the everyday routine though - and I always feel more productive after a good vacation. We are having a great time here in Northern Woods of Minnesota. The weather is great and the fish are biting. Enjoy these pics of my three kids and their fishing expertise.

Mark's on Vaction!

I'm on vacation in Northern MN so my posts will be more limited this week. Just by way of bragging, my 11 year old caught a 7 pound Northern this morning. It took him 10 minutes to hall it in. He was pretty juiced about it. I won't bore you with too much "personal" blogging - but I may upload a picture once or twice this week. I'll be back in June at full strength.

An entertaining Trip

I wanted to take a little break from talk of CF and programming today and share with you an image from our last family trip to colorado. This picture turned out to be so entertaining that I use if for my desktop wallpaper. I sure hope this year's trip is better (whew!).

Mark and his youngest son enjoy some quality time