ML> I still have my 286/20 with 2mb ram and plan on 
 ML> powering it up one day, maybe put another Maximus node on it :) 

 RdL> Cool!  I kept my old 386 that used to run the BBS. It 
 RdL> still has a copy on it.

I lost my first BBS on that 286. It was a Maximus board with a loser
uncreative name. These days I use an even MORE unimaginative name :/ I was
poor back then and couldn't afford the backup media. Bummer.

 RdL> Yeah I think you're right there. I don't know what I'd 
 RdL> do with myself when retired.  Start a software 
 RdL> company? :)

Mate, if you don't know what to do now I suggest start forming some dreams.
Avoid being defined by your work. People who say "I wouldn't know what
to do on my day off" (or time in lieu, paid leave etc.) have
absolutely NFI. They might as well get a Second Life account or some rope
and a chair.

 RdL> True, and that's why they went open everything. New 
 RdL> CEO, they've turned the company uside down, layed off 
 RdL> thousands, restructured their business.  I like what 
 RdL> they are doing.  I own SUNW shares which don't really 
 RdL> go up or down, but obviosuly I'm hoping they go up 
 RdL> some day.  I bought in after their price went down.

Were they awarded as part of an employee plan ? or did you actually buy
those shares -- good grief if the latter.

 RdL> Good advice, thanks. I've realized that many of the 
 RdL> companies we work with no longer have programmers. 
 RdL> They only keep business system analysts and software 
 RdL> architechts.  The programmers are off-shore.  Many 

Yep. All SAP analysts, or learning some in-house ERM/CRM, work flow,
collaboration, delegation process. Bleh.

 RdL> programmers have told me to build strong system 
 RdL> analyst skills meaning be able to gather and document 
 RdL> requirements in a certain way etc... That's part of my 
 RdL> focus now. 

I use this thing called Visio. I can draw some spiffy pics with that.

 RdL> As for building wealth,  I got a head start on 
 RdL> building my wealth and am doing pretty good so far.  
 RdL> I'm still quite young though and have a lot to learn.  
 RdL> It sounds like you're quite the seasoned professional 
 RdL> when it comes to contracts and finances.

I'm an equities trader/investor. I have lost a lot of money. I have made more.

 ML> Well basically it's a complex process to run doors 
 ML> under DOS EMU. Sycnrhonet uses a mod to make the 
 ML> process easier.

 RdL> Oh it's easy, you can do it :)

VMware I tell you. VMware !

 ML> See, you spend $4k on a PC. I control almost half a 
 ML> million dollars with it. That's how much $4k is really 
 ML> worth to me - not to be spent on easily 
 ML> obsolete/redundant stuff. 

 RdL> I didn't say I would buy it for myself at home, I 
 RdL> meant for businesses. Don't buy Dell, HP, IBM. Buy Sun 
 RdL> SPARC. Faster, uses less electricity and you need 
 RdL> fewer servers.  It can be more affordable. 

Yeah. The whole vertical scaling thing. Until your big server dies and
there's no failover ... Sorry. I'm a big cynic.

 RdL> I have no idea what your calculations meant, but you 
 RdL> obviously know your stuff.  I put more money into my 
 RdL> retirement savings and extra payments on my mortgage 
 RdL> every year than I spend on computer gadgets, clothing 
 RdL> and entertainment.  I too hope to retire by 40. I'm 
 RdL> quite the penny pincher.

Man. You mean that 401k ponzi scam your government runs ?

You need to be more active than that.

You can't beat me. I had to think about attending my best friend's
birthday. If I did I would've had to move my body, which burns energy, from
the food I bought. Every calorie costs money. So try not to breathe.

 RdL> For some reason the full screen editor won't show me 
 RdL> the last few lines to quote them.  You asked me to 
 RdL> look around the room and see how much black I see.  
 RdL> Then you asked how much blue I see.  I don't get it?  
 RdL> What's kind of funny is that I'm in a blue room.

It's an exercise in perception, meant to demonstrate that you see what you
want to see. Or more accurately you see what you have learned to see :)

 RdL> So how many years have you been working as a programmer? 

I don't program professionally.

I know some C. Now I'm learning C++ so I can understand all that PowerShell
stuff. I'm a strong Unix shell scripter (Perl, Ksh/Bash, Awk/Sed, Regexps).

I started in OPs. These days I work in "infrustructure support"
(whatever that means). I have to kiss a lot of ass, and work with them all
day.

--- Maximus 3.01