the fallout: on the other side

The number one question I answer at work is some form of inquiry as to the insane possibility of being both female and a computer technician. The second is the question of how I've "earned the clip on tie" – how did you learn all this stuff?

I learned by playing around on our home computer, and getting in lots of trouble for doing so. I learned by working on my grandmother's mac, because she didn't know enough to know what I was doing, and I couldn't get in trouble. I learned by building my own computer, with the help of a friend, and then blowing up a power supply and a video card and letting the smoke out of some wires.

People always ask me how I earned this clip on tie. I tell them it's just continued punishment. They laugh. Hey, you wanna wear this thing?