Caltrops - Rants - Before there was an OMM

Forum Overview :: Rants

by jeep 08/04/2006, 12:53pm PDT

...or any OGs, or an SA, or even a Slashdot, there was a jeep, and he had a job, and it was good.

Many computers were configured and maintained, many programming languages were developed and libraries were written, much science was done, many Fields-medal nominated egos were propped up, and many leukemia babies were saved, all on your government's relatively thin dime. Also Magic Johnson survived a bit longer with the hivvy on our account, but HIPAA says that's no one's business but his.

Then came the time of the SAs, and the Slashdots, and the OMMs, and the OGs spread about the land, and jeep lurked a bit, and it was good.

And then jeep posted once, twice, ten thousand times, and the internet became frankly a bit more interesting than jeep's job, but the computers still worked and the leukemia babies were still saved, so no one noticed. jeep got to talk to Hokie over the phone for no good reason and helped buzzard acquire some textures for a video game (which was never finished, but he did make Chromatron, which was awesome), bought some hosting from Chet and generally enjoyed this new thing which used to be just usenet but is now much cooler.

Then OMM went away and things Really Sucked for quite longer than I'm comfortable admitting, also there may have been a negative reaction to some prescription drugs which involved internal bleeding and a bit of short-term disability in there somewhere as well.

And then many years after the beginning, fucking rent prices in Boston got way the fuck out of hand and jeep, who is maybe a bit too proud and must live in a half-decent place on his own dime, had to get Another Job, and Turn In His Notice, and Wait Ten Full Business Days, the last of which is today, right now, and the end of which is 3 hours from this minute.

jeep's reward for eight years of very, very high quality systems administration and very, very harshly worded emails to management: $250 Gift Card to Amazon, lunch at the "Sunset Cantina," a very nice card from the users I've terrorized for years, 99% of whom weren't even here when I started, and a very kind offer: "We can't afford to replace you, so if you don't like your new job, give us a call and you can come right back here." Which is pretty awesome, frankly.

/jeep/
...is not sure that double his salary is worth leaving a pretty good place, but there you go.