[geeks] Re: [rescue] It's official, the U.S. is screwed for

[Mike Parson]

On Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:44:17PM -0600, Bill Bradford wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:29:50PM -0500, Dave Fischer wrote:
>> Personally, I hate academia (I'm a college dropout) but I can't stand
>> the computer industry either. I enjoy working with computers too much
>> to do it as a job.
>
> I'd love to do something other than computers for a living, but don't
> have adequate skills in any other area.

Same here.  I hate how computers have become too much like work and not
enough play, even with my home systems, which are sadly neglected these
days.

This host (bl.org) was originally a play system for me, a place for me
to try out new things, test configs, have an identity on the internet
that wasn't connected to my job, etc.  Back then, this was all run on my
Amiga 3000 running NetBSD 1.1.

Somewhere along the way, I started giving out accounts to friends, so
they could have a sandbox to play in, then more, the demands on the
system grew, the box grew, now it's a 'production' system for 20 or so
people, some of whom have had this email address for 5+ years and would
be pretty annoyed having to use something like hotmail.

I'd love to do something else for a living, let computers become a
hobby and be fun again.  Unfortunately, the only other thing I've been
professionally trained as is a truck driver and fuel handler, by the
Army.  I really don't feel like becoming a long-haul driver, and it's
been years since I've seen a full-service gas station, at least here in
Texas.  Besides, I don't think I'd be able to keep this lifestyle I've
become accustomed to.

I could go back to school and maybe finish it this time, but the idea of
sitting in a classroom just makes me ill any more.  Maybe a trade-school
and i could repair appliances or something.

Feh.

Guess I'll go swap out some tapes in the DLT library.

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson at bl.org