Hey Red Barchetta

Your sig says you're a software engineer.  Are you with one of the fun design-type companies downtown or a weed in one of the Intel farms?
 
(I've contracted to both.  ;-)

You know that area where you can auto-tune multiple cores?  I did the speedometer graphics using Expression Blend, custom XAML and some C#.

Evidentally, it's a utility that comes with every motherboard that can be run by the end-user to setup their PC for different uses.

What do they have you doing?

Yep, 'tis the nature of IT right now.  Everyone wants an employee who's a specialist with five years of experience (and a bunch of expensive certificates), then what they know becomes obsolete...

hahaha... Man... The 486 was my first computer. I jumped onboard late. In fact, I wanted nothing to do with them at first. I was in college taking drafting courses, I was going to be a die hard manual pencil draftsman until the day I died. I was oldschool minded.  Then I finally got to a point where I was FORCED to take my first AutoCAD class. I instantly fell in love. So, I went from hating computers to wanting to become a game programmer overnight.  I was about 3/4 done with my drafting degree, up and changed it to software engineering... Rest is history.  If I had only known, I would have stayed a draftsmen.  I get tired of chasing technology around. It's got to be as bad as being a doctor.

Well, I started as a young kid on an HP 2000 and even helped build a Heathkit computer (complete with 8" floppy drive - WOW!).  I've used cards, but never had to use paper tape.  I also used to be able to make space invaders or worm war on a Trash 80 with only 4k of memory...

I also helped port Advent from Unix to the HP 2000 back in the early 70's ("A hollow voice goes 'Plugh!'").

*Sigh*

Ya...  Too long and not enough of that time spent in fields I would have found fun.  WAY too many financial applications - I wish I could have done game design, simulators or sound processing...  Oh well.

Ever hear about those 19 year-old punk kids getting jobs at defense contractors?  That was me.

Let me give you a pointer there.

*dontdoit

Feel free to keep the complimentary triple-dereferenced pointer below as well.

***becan
 

BTW, what is the deal with "becan" around here? Everyone is always making some reference to it.

You know how an "in" joke requires explanation in order for it to be funny?  Well, sometimes the explanation is so much trouble and the humor has so little payoff that it's not all that funny in the end. 

In the CH, there have been "special" moments.  You know the kind.  It's like the time you opened the cabinet and a can of beans fell on your head, knocking you to the floor in front of your In Laws, who took it as confirmation of their views of your intelligence.  It stands out in your memory.  It gets repeated ad nauseum by the In Laws.  References to it take on a life of their own until they eclipse the original event itself.

Becan.  It's like that.  It's 20-40% funnier than the original "special" moment.

(Do a search through the CH on "20-40%" sometime.  It's special, too.)

redbarchetta


How long has the inside joke been going on?

Most of the inside jokes have been going on for a little over 51K posts.
(or so it seems)

Oh, yes they call him the Working Man
I guess that's what he Am.

By the way, I don't think anyone ever really leaves IT completely.  Except for Microsoft Bob, of course. 

Bapu has paid the cost to be Boss.

Uh!

By the way, how's that gnu gig going?  Have you given yourself a cool title, like Archmage, or Despot of Destruction, Tyrant of Terror, or Guy With A Desk?

(This Fred DeRail has been brought to you by the letter 7.)

 
Sawsedge rocks when becan is not available


Bapu walks over rock history 

Bapu with some ancient rocks 

Bapu with an old rocker

UbiquitousBubba
By the way, how's that gnu gig going?  

Starts on April 1 (an that ain't no joke)