03.27.2003 - 12:11 p.m.

The Guy Who Knows Computer Stuff is a ghost. Theoretically he has an office by the multimedia lab, an email account, a phone, but in no way are any of these things guaranteed to help you track him down. Theoretically he has a schedule, too, but anyone who sees him walking a hallway is likely to hijack him for help setting up this data projector or finding the problem with that network connection, so he�s never where he originally expected to be. And he�s pretty much fine with that, since it protects him from most of the computer-illiterates on campus. It means they have to find other outlets for their more repetitive questions, and really, campus life is more efficient that way. It forces them to learn, and it frees him to do his real job.

I�ve had his undivided attention for four or five hours this week. He confessed today that the reason he lets me find him when nobody else can is that he likes the way I use him to get started on something, disappear for a couple of months, then come back to say, �So I�ve developed all sorts of phenomenal cosmic powers, but I have this itty bitty question.� And of course the itty bitty question turns out to require two days of his help, but if the answer had been simple, I would have found it on my own. After that, he won�t see me again until months later, when my next batch of powers runs into a snag. I guess he finds helping me to be a rewarding use of his time.

Someday, I�d like to react to a compliment like that with calm appreciation that my strengths have been recognized. This mix of awe and complete surprise reminds me too much of grade school.

-stonebridge

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