Mike Dooley

Nooooo, Kris, NOT the Kool-Aid! Seriously, I've maintained computing environments for various businesses for 30-some years now, and I cling to my philosophy of "the leading edge, NOT the bleeding edge"... Those with iPads in their paws today are just doing free product development for Apple; wait till the gadget matures, let the "gotta-gotta" maniacs suffer the bugs, and you'll be fine. Did you leave something burning on the stove? (sniff)

Love your sense of perspective, Kris... I participated in trade shows for years, in the IT Industry, as a neophyte, was amazed at how much of the "wow" factor of those dog 'n pony exercises was pure smoke and mirrors. I even participated, wiring up a new model of notebook computer's screen to a full desktop computer running (hidden) beneath the display, so we could impress booth visitors with the amazing quality of our not-yet-extant notebook computer! I sometimes feel 'out of it' that I don't attend any more of that guy Brad's soirees, either... yes, it's networking, yes, it's moderately informative, but wow, give up my comfy recliner for a hotel room all weekend, just to listen to a 50/50 buncha predictive or prophetic "gurus" raining "dreams"? Nawp... I too stick to a full shovel in the trenches and the long slow "payment plan" to feelings of success. Wise, we are, methinks. By the way, your writing style rawks! Mike Dooley

Wow, you've hit the bane of technologists, everywhere... "I don't need to know anything but how to use it!" I wonder where we'd be today, if the average American settler had said, "Gee, I don't need to know anything about sharpening an axe, I just need to know how to swing it!". Or, "Wow, I don't need to be a veterinarian, I just like to use my horses to plow my fields!" "Golly, I don't want to be a botanist, I just want to feed my family!" This, my friends, is exactly what's wrong with much of the world today... we're so "goal oriented" and focused on just one destination, we can't be bothered to learn to navigate. The "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has gone the way of the Dodo, I guess... I submit that to be truly successful and self reliant, if you use technology, you owe it to yourself to learn a little, at least, about the underlying science. America has fallen so far behind the rest of the world in the tech sector because it's not glamorous, it's detailed and requires effort to learn, and besides, we don't fix anything anymore, we just toss it in the landfill. Great plan, if you like living atop a toxic pile of junk. I wonder how many RE Brokers succeed, who never spent time learning the forms, or how to stage a home, or how to function as an agent, or social skills, or personal hygiene, even? The fact is, if you equip yourself with some background and underlying "theory" behind anything from a digital device to an automobile, you're more efficient, more capable of resolving problems, and more likely to avoid those problems, than someone who takes the "call triple-A" route. I am reminded of the help call posted as an audio file on the internet, not long back, of a woman calling OnStar to report she was stuck inside her car, and afraid of suffocating. The operator had her lift the lock button... but hey, she didn't need to know that to drive, now, did she? Would she have succumbed to heat stroke, had her OnStar failed her? My $0.02 is that you'd better learn some technology, if you want using that technology to be a pleasant experience. We technologists will continue to make things more simple and reliable, but let's face it, things break or foul up when your favorite technologist is out learning fly-fishing technology, ya know? Mike Dooley, Digital Janitor