It has been such a freakingly long day today. I was “trapped” in a meeting with a vendor for seven hours. I wanted to just beat my head into the table I was sitting at. Over and over and over. And now that I’ve left, I think I still want to. Why is it that vendors want to send in the sales guys to talk to the engineers? Argh!!!

I need a diversion.

Like this.

Sometimes the picture is even sexier without any naughty bits in it…

(And no, that’s not me. I wish I had a body and fur like that…)

This is how I have felt after this week at work so far.

I am having issue integrating a new tablet model into our multi-hardware XP image. Usually it’s something simple like a missing driver or a driver conflict. But not this time. Something odd is going on with this piece of hardware that I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around yet.

Nothing in setupapi.log indicates anything out of the ordinary is going on. Yet the tablet will not shut down completely after minisetup has completed. I thought maybe the incorrect HAL was loaded, but it matches the HAL on the vendor’s factory image. At this point I am starting to think some odd BIOS conflict, but it functions correctly with both the vendor’s image and a “virgin” OS image. Which leads me back to a problem with our image.

This is the first piece of hardware I’ve ever had this level of an issue with in the 4 years. It has got me stumped! Maybe I’ll luck across something today…

Sorry for the “technical” post, but this has consumed me the last week. So I had to share!

I used to think the above was true. As time passes—having worked in IT in mostly support functions for the last 13 years—I have slowly been changing my mind about the truth of the statement. And I am not necessarily sure my mind has changed for the better.

I believe people should understand how the tools they use work—including their home computers and peripheral devices. This, however, does not seem to be the case for a lot of the people I know (and I’m sure a large group of humanity in general) when it comes to computer-related technology. Being the only (former) computer technician many of my friends and relatives have known, I am frequently bombarded with computer support questions. They seem genuinely “scared” of the computer, as if it will somehow harm them if they do something wrong with it or to it. Are people afraid of their dishwashers, washing machines, pencils or calculators?

Why does fear come to them when they sit in front of a computer? From where did/does this emotional response come? I have yet to come across anything that cannot be fixed when it comes to “broken” computers, and I doubt I ever will. The computer is just another tool. There is nothing that can be done that can’t be un-done (somehow).

Is it this mentality that separates the computer “laity” from the computer “clergy”?