I’ve been getting to work later than usual lately. So much later that the self-proclaimed late guy, who seems to think I normally get to work at 4am, beat me to work two days in a row.
“I’m building computers again,” I told him as we both got coffee. He nodded knowingly.
“Building for yourself? As a side business?” he asked.
“My wife asked for a computer, and that means I can’t just buy her a computer. That means tearing apart every computer in the house, mixing parts up to get the best combination of stuff running everywhere, and then she’ll have a nice computer.”
He nodded knowingly. Maybe I’m the only one who does this, or maybe this is a sign I don’t buy new enough stuff, but some new computer gear comes through the front door, and I get things up and running, but then I think everything would be nicer if this video card were in a different computer, and that SSD were in another, causing a downward shuffle of hardware. Then just when I think I have it right, I think of something else to shuffle around.
Maybe in a few months when I have some spending money, I need to just buy enough Celeron J1800 motherboards to replace any of the pre-2010 hardware I still have kicking around.
I guess there’s something wrong with me. Then again, the complaint I most often hear about IT professionals is that most of them don’t love technology enough, and love of the technology is what the good ones have in common.
And that’s probably why nobody’s hassled me at all about coming in to work a bit later than usual for a few days in a row.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.