That's pretty wacky, Allyson.

My husband is a Network Engineer and second from the top of his IT dept. I don't think he's taken a single CS class in his life. His degree is in history, I know he taught himself Perl on the job, and he just realized in the last year or so that he no longer has to exagerrate his experience to get the kind of jobs he wants.. OTOH, he was around computers and tinkering with them from a pretty young age - his dad bought Tandy kits that they'd build, stuff like that.

interesting talk. especially since I am looking a possible career change and I am hoping to find a position that relies on on-the-job training for teh specifics.

lunch today was supposed to be a salad from home, but instead it is a bean and cheese burrito from 7/11. At least I resisted the slurpee and am drinking water.

It's Allyson Appreciation Day at TheFuselage.com.

You get Appreciation Days at The Fuselage? Sweet deal.

Why? Or am I being naive in assuming that you struck the word "only" from the sentence, and not something more disparaging?

Oh, we're being very disparaging here at Chez Shrift. Partially due to lack of food, and partially due to my grumpiness at not being more brilliant.

As far as programming goes, I seem to be annoyed with myself that I bake from a mix and not from scratch. And as far as writing goes, I've been doing something similar, but now that I've been stuffing my face with food, I'm less inclined to put my self-confidence through the paper-shredder.

So, you people sound like you know a lot about computers. Can anyone tell me why the fuck my computer will no longer print envelopes??? It fakes like it's sending to the printer, but the printer never gets the job.

I don't mean to disparage your ilk, Kalshane. I do find that, once over that hurdle, most of the tech folk are quite helpful and willing to converse at my level. And I can understand that there needs to be a hurdle -- you can't talk tech the same way with a newbie and with someone who isn't a newbie.

I just wish there were a universal password or handshake or decoder ring to signify to all tech folk I call up that I am on one side of the hurdle and not the other.

(Ngh. Similarly, when I am being lectured at about the Cool New Process involving Software 2.0, which is not yet released, and I ask, "Does 2.0 fix that bug in 1.0 you and I talked about?" the correct answer is not "I don't know.")

Probably because it doesn't want you to send that letter. They're capricious beasts, computers. Passive aggressive to a fault.

Oh, I want a burrito, now. I have an unholy love for frozen bean and cheese burritos. I have three in my freezer. Unfortunately, my freezer is miles away.

Oh well, in another 45 minutes I can have my Green Apple Pie Yogurt, which is probably full of added sugar but I convince myself is healthy.

It seems like that sentence should have a "that" or a "which" in it, but I don't know which.

I just wish there were a universal password or handshake or decoder ring to signify to all tech folk I call up that I am on one side of the hurdle and not the other.

Tell me what it is if you find it. Despite having paid my rent at times doing tech support (not like I helped Jesse, in case you were wondering), I get the "there, there" treatment from tech support here.

Probably because it doesn't want you to send that letter. They're capricious beasts, computers. Passive aggressive to a fault.

Just what I suspected! I will hand-write the envelope, and hide it from my boss.