Monday, December 3, 2007

Long ago, during the time of the Fonz and corded telephones, cobbling together a car was a rite of passage, a firm imprimatur that, indeed, you were a man’s man. That was then. We’re in the glorious Age of Geek now, an era where Blackberries and other gadgets hold us in wireless captivity, and the rules have changed a little. You can still build a car, sure, but building a computer may very well get you a commensurate amount of Nerd Cred.

Tonight’s discussion, in fact, is being beamed from a new box I built with parts that were bequeathed to me, and this baby is about twice as fast as the previous one, which only puts us three generations behind current technology. There’s a certain pride to be had from taking a pile of circuitry and, with naught but a screwdriver, producing a real working, whirring piece of electronics.

You won’t find me sitting in some basement, however, holding forth on the benefits of RAID over SCSI or whatever. It’s the scrappy ethos that appeals to me, and if the computer activates when I hit the power button, then heavens be praised. Decades from now, when the grandkids are gathered around me as I float and expound from my LevChair, I’ll point to this ancient machinery with my Fissionite arm. Look there, I’ll say, at what your grandpappy dun’ built all those years ago. She may not seem like much on the outside, but she’s a real beaut. Purrs real smooth. But mainly because I crammed a cat into it.