Time Engaged vs Time in Chair

I was at my son's computer class and sure enough a PC was still out of service for two weeks. So after his class, I thought I'd take a closer look... Now my specialty is the gigantic systems, but even though I'm not a PC jockey as we Enterprise Support folk call them, I can hold my own quite well.

Maybe it's starting and spending a good part of my career at a University, but I've always been somewhat of a go getter. I walk fast, talk fast, do stuff fast. I'm always reading (big boring tech stuff), learning and doing new things. Lucky thing, the equipment I started on is in a museum and has less computing ability than a PDA.

So first thing is to isolate the problem, nothing on the monitor, adjust brightness and contrast (even though I couldn't see anything), check connections, reboot PC, looks like the monitor, swap out for the monitor next to it, works fine, OK, its the monitor or the cable. Just ready to swap cables when the next teacher comes in.

First Pet Peeve

OMG you can't do that, our main tech guy is here, oh he'd be mad. The "I'd rather suffer for the process" problem, the artificial barrier of in the box thinking. This is the same teacher that was bitchin she didn't have enough PCs for the class last week. But oh lets not try to do something to fix it, we have a process. Fill out a form and wait...

Now to be fair she probably doesn't realize that I've worked with computers for 30 years and usually have at least one PC being torn apart or rebuilt at any point in time... But technically my resume may not be good enough to get me a job as a PC jockey. It almost didn't get me a job selling them after I was fresh out of selling IBM''s small business computers (in the startup consulting company) that go for $50-500 thousand dollars. That's another post... Well OK, I almost have it, I'll send my son's teacher an email. So I hang out a little longer to check out the new configuration the school installed this year.

Second Pet Peeve

Here comes the PC Guru. Oh boy. What is the etiquette for greeting the exalted one? Any one who calls themselves a guru or a czar and isn't at the top of a mountain or in a Russian grave is full of shit or full of themselves or both. (jqism)

Third Pet Peeve

He moved in slow motion. Have you ever seen that? This guys a little younger than me and moves like an 95 year old man. Ya just want to go over there and get him moving. He looks at his one sheet database list for at least 10 minutes, then he's gonna leave. The frustrated teacher stops him, points to me and says "Ask him". Should a guru have to ask? Would it be so hard to walk around the room to the only PC that wasn't in use and assume that's the one that could be broken?

I don't know how someone with so little logic can leave the house in the morning let alone get a job with computers. So, I can see this is the lowest form of PC Jockey, so I make it easy. "The processor is fine, it's the LCD panel or the cable". He fidgets for the longest time and I see that all he is doing is disconnecting the LCD panel. Thank God I saved him the trouble of shooting the problem, that probably would have been weeks. Then in classic single tasking fashion, he's gonna come back to straighten up the little mess he made on the desk, being unable to watch this snail in action anymore, I told him, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it". He grunted and left with the LCD and cable. I would have done a cable swap right there and have figured it out for sure if that teacher was just a few minutes later. I can hardly wait to see how long it takes the "guru" to fix it.

In Summary

Engaged	In Chair
Watches results	Watches clock
Enjoys solving problems	Enjoys being praised
Works quickly to get to next problem	Works slowly to avoid next problem
Thinks out of the box	Should be put in a box
Life Long Learning	Life Long Lazing
Obsolesce Avoidance	Work Avoidance
Legend among peers	Legend in their own mind
Enterprise Strength	PC Wimp

Feel free to give me suggestions for more Engaged/In chair comparisons in the comment section.

Benefits of being engaged

• Reduces boredom
• Enhances self worth
• Prevents Alzheimer's Disease
  
• Reduces risk of being mistook for dead when you stand still
• Should enhance your employment opportunities, but that's only if management is engaged and that could be rare indeed (another post)
  

On the lighter side

There were some funny moments during my son's computer class.

• My son's friend called me over to show me his bandaged finger and he explained how it was slammed in a door, how it was all black and blue, how his fingernail was kind of slimy and then with excitement on his face he said, "Ya want to see it?", "Oh gosh no, I'll take your word for it, it will heal better if you don't fuss with it". Then several more times he asked, "Are ya sure?".
  


• Apparently his teacher talks with her hands too (and neither of us is Italian), I was standing next to her while she was giving instructions and she unexpectedly pointed at the computer projector output and I (with quick reflexes) leaned backwards to avoid being poked in the face. She said, "Oh gosh [my Son's name] I almost hit your Father".


• The children occasionally raised there hands for permission to go to the bathroom. So while we're walking swiftly around the room to answer questions, the teacher leans towards me and asks politely, just like the students, "Can I go to the restroom?" And I replied as usual "Sure, I'll tell the teacher", with a giggle.

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