Funny Feeling

It's still a funny feeling, looking at this black brick on my desk. If you took about 5 regular sized DVD cases and glued them together, you'd have the footprint of this 1 Terabyte external drive I got from Costco for around $130. It's the backup drive for our computers, so if they crash and burn, or they are replaced, the transition is painless.

But when I got home with it, I had a flashback to the start of my career in Colorado. We had STC 3350 drives, about the size of a washing machine that held 300MB. To get the same capacity I was carrying with one hand would have filled our entire house, the backyard, front-yard and continued a half mile down the street. Oh, and cost 2 million dollars.

I think the computer field, more than any other branch of technology, has accelerated at the fastest rate by an order of magnitude. It's impacted major aspects of our society, business, science and social lives, both locally and globally. It's been a fun ride. And now it gets more interesting. In my previous job, the directions I pursued as architect had to maintain a complex balance between the way technology was evolving, our capabilities for handling change, the existing landscape, the costs, the available support, the work culture and a myriad of other factors. Without this balancing act, I can now explore things purely for their potential. Exciting times ahead I think.

And STC brings back another memory. It was a company in a town next to the one I live which actually made those 3350 drives. I interviewed there once. It was the only interview in which I ran for the exit. The job description suckered me in. Working with Artificial Intelligence for some of their tape robotics. But as I wound my way through the sea of cubicles to the small side office for the interview, I started feeling like one of grandpa's coyotes tied to a stake. Inside I was pacing back and forth at a trot. On the outside, I was doing ok in the interview, but then I just jumped up and bolted out, without a reason or an escort. And felt like a rat in a maze trying to find my way to an exit. When I finally made it outside, I felt I could breathe again, and went home shaken but relieved. It's been a strange ride as well.