I spent a morning this week in a client’s cold warehouse computer closet digging through old computer gear and determining what was junk, what was salvage, and what was more or less functional. Forgive me if I find this all kinds of fun. I did of course regret the loss of adult human interaction which I generally look forward to when paying visits to clients, this office in particular, though my sci-fi buddy was out of the office on a field survey that day anyway and we’ve already discussed as much of Heroes as he’s willing to divulge until Season 3 comes to those of us with empty DVD players.
Human interaction is great and all, but I do find the hum of a server room oddly comfortable. It’s the sense of “system”, I think. The notion that any problem can be ironed out here. Eloquent solutions are attainable in this realm. Or at least organizable.
I dug through old CPUs and tested a parade of failed battery backups, coiling and organizing cables into neatly labeled boxes as I went. I wish cleaning my house was this much fun. The first thing I did was test a pair of old computer speakers by jacking in my iPod and blasting some music that wouldn’t bother anyone out in my cave. Sadly my battery quit on me shortly thereafter. That’s okay. I can sing the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical from memory with or without musical accompaniment. And I did.
And while we’re on the topic of Buffy, can I just say that I’m totally ashamed of myself? It was a full two episodes before I placed that familiar looking high school principal as Armin Shimerman. Duh. What kind of geek am I? Were there any profit in it, I would hang my head in dishonor. Somebody quote the 74th Rule of Acquisition at me, lest I ever forget it again.
I’m on a Buffy kick. I’ve avoided it for years, because I figured I would like it and I don’t need another show. That, and...well... Buffy fans are their own breed of obsessive, you know? I wasn’t sure I wanted to join ranks.
It started innocently enough. I love Firefly so of course I had to jump all over Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. When a friend idly suggested that if I enjoyed that, that I perhaps should see the Buffy musical. No big deal, right? Just one episode. Right....
Now I’m half way through season 2, borrowing from the same friend who has quickly become my dealer. You watch – season 3 is going to cost me something. They get you hooked for free, you see, and then wait until you come sniffing around for more.
So now I’m wrestling with some pretty compelling evidence that I just might have an obsessive streak in my list of personality attributes after all.
Friends and readers, you’re laughing now, aren’t you? You already knew this and I’m just figuring it out. You feel smarter than me, don’t you? Fine. Revel in your brilliance. I’ll tackle your personality traits in the next blog. [Insert evil laugh here.]
So I’m into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fine. I can accept that. It’s not like it’s any muppet news flash that I’m a geek. The press release is already out on that one. I think it’s fun to power up 15 year old Macs just to see if they still work, one of my cats is named after a Jedi Knight, and my two-year old thinks that OSH Hardware is the “lightsaber store.” I troubleshoot geodatabase errors in my dreams, and I own a trill costume. Guilty as charged. Moving on.
It’s not like that’s the end of me, anyway. I have other interests. I’m also a nerd to lesser degree so I have some depth of character.
So this blog was a perfect ramble on very little content, but hey, it’s Friday. If you were so interested in working on all that important stuff you had to do, you wouldn’t be surfing the internet and reading my blog. And I suppose were I interested in being a productive member of society, I’d be working, or maybe cleaning something.
Nah. It’s Friday. (And there’s a whole new disc of Buffy in my optical drive.)