The Computer Scientist Strikes!

 

Many of you might know (or maybe you don't) that I actually have a degree in Computer Science.  In fact, I am fond of pointing out that I have a PhD in Computer Science and Adult Education - therefore I farm.  It makes perfect sense.  Sort of.

The justification for the CS to farm connection is that both reward those who have developed skills in problem solving and pattern matching.  As far as the Adult Ed part is concerned, we're still reserving judgement about how that and farming connects successfully.  Perhaps what this means is that I can make excellent spreadsheets for the farm and then be able to explain how they work to someone else.

In any event, I worked for a short time after my graduation with a Bachelor's Degree (this time in math and CS) at Rockwell-Collins in Cedar Rapids.  The company was large enough that I had opportunities to connect with people from various places.  It wasn't an every day sort of thing, but it happened once in a while.

Technology at Rockwell-Collins was all over the place depending on where you worked.  My job focused primarily on a computing system that my college professors had described and then stated that "they were old and we were not likely to end up working on them."  However, there was also cutting edge technology - especially when the bigger contracts came into play and investment was made into that new tech.

At one point, I had a conversation with a guy who worked for Rockwell in Sydney, Australia.  For some reason, we started talking about our work environments.  The area he worked in was in the sub-basement of a building.  I was deep in the middle of a large complex with no windows.  So, we found something to connect on there.  My work space was probably about a half mile away from the nearest window.  Not under ground, but it might as well have been.

After awhile, he told me about the Local Area Network (LAN) setup they had been configuring for the offices there - a fairly new thing at the time.

Of course, they called it the LAN Down Under.

You're welcome!  Have a nice day!