[Dialogue] NASA software developer moves on ...

[W. J.]

I imagine many of us have a few secrets or stories to tell about how we sneaked 
around O:E strictures (or even paid off government officials) to get things 
done.
Thanks, Tim, for sharing one of yours.
Smiling broadly,
Marshall



________________________________
From: Tim Wegner <twegner at swbell.net>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sun, September 30, 2012 10:27:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] NASA software developer moves on ...

Janice wrote:

> Abe was absolutely passionate about e-mail possibilities for 
> connecting 
> colleagues, because he knew what significant work was being done and the 
> power of connection. 

I remember Abe well and enjoyed working with him as a co-conspirator 
on the early listservs.

Here's another anecdote.

Soon after I arrived in Houston in 1982 I bought an original Compaq 
luggable computer - the first "IBM-compatible" computer, weighed in 
at 35 lbs. It cost over $2000. I bought it with an American Express 
card I rarely used but had as an emergency backup for international 
travel. Now what to do to pay for it?

I saw a help wanted advertisement posted by an oil trader who wanted 
consulting on dbase III and lotus 123. I wrote him a letter saying 
"there is a right and a wrong way to use Lotus 123 and Dbase III 
together, and I know the difference!". He hired me for $35 an hour (a 
fortune in 1982), and computer was paid for in no time. That was my 
one and only consulting job, my acceptance rate in getting consulting 
jobs is 100% :-)

The consulting money did not go through the order/ica books. I never 
would have gotten priorship permission to do it. But nobody tried to 
stop me either. I put the computer in the ICA office, and it was very 
popular with my order colleagues, floppy disks and all. (Later I 
added a 10mb hard drive I bought for $900.)

I worked off hours for 6 months or so with the oil trader, acting as 
his computer tutor. I wrote a dbase III program that let him keep 
track of buying and selling oil all over the world. Little did he 
know I was teaching him things I had in most cases learned just a few 
days before using McDonnell Douglas's one (!) PC in my NASA job! 
That's where I learned how to use Lotus 123 and Dbase III!

I guess I was more in tune with freedom than obedience. I'm calmer 
now with a more Buddhist transcendent consciousness, but I'm still in 
touch with my freedom!

Tim

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