February 03, 2006
Spinning Out
I know my posts here have became increasingly rare despite my numerous promises to post more often. Although I know all of you understand what it's like to be insanely busy, I believe I should share a decision I've taken to make my life a little easier in the hope that it will reflect in my relationship with Kelli, our family and friends.
As of today, February 3, 2006, I will no longer be doing freelance computer work. I will continue to help family and friends because I think it would be selfish to turn them away and I will finish the few jobs I still have pending and honor the warranties on the new machines I have built within the past year. Other than those few conditions, I'm out. And even for family and friends, I will no longer build new machines.
If you've read this blog for a while, you know I have said this before. The extra money is nice and the work is not physically demanding, but it is beginning to take its toll on me. Why? Put simply, most people whose PCs I have worked on can not distinguish between problems they have caused and problems I am responsible for. I'm not trying to make any claims about anyone's intelligence; everyone has marketable skills and this is mine. But I am not Dell or Apple and when I build a new PC for someone and something happens to it almost immediately, it hurts my pride, makes the person angry and/or frustrated (which is understandable) and ends up eating up the small profit I make on a new machine.
There is also the issue of time. As Peter and I discussed last night, every day that goes by is another one that we will never get back. No value can be placed on a lost weekend spent working on an 8-year old PC when that time can be spent with my wife, whose company I enjoy immensely (I've never understood men who look forward to weekends away from their wife; if you don't like being around her, why did you marry her? I miss my wife after a day at work---I'm miserable after a weekend away from her).
And then there are all the things I am NOT getting done around the house. Add to that the fact that my podcast and blog are suffering (I haven't put out a 'cast in four days) and you see why I'm so frustrated. Thanks for letting me blow off some stress. I've always said this is better than therapy. Or cheaper, anyway.
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I can't say that I blame you; though I still won't often say no to a request to repair a PC, I'm done with building PCs for other people -- that is, unless they want to build one but want help picking out the parts or have questions about assembly. I've had too many cases of a PC that I build having a faulty component or a user-caused problem (an example includes the guy whose PC was overheating b/c he had it shoved underneath his desk, with all ventilation holes against the wall or desk - I spend hours on the phone with him, walking him through various things to try to find out why it was locking up, and only realized the problem when I visited his house).
I think the "general purpose computer" idea is great for people like you and I, who know what we're doing and can make educated decisions about what goes on our PCs. For the general public, I think all decisions about hardware should be left out, and I think the software that they can use should be restricted to those things that won't kill their computer.
That brings me to Apple; their system of somewhat abstracted hardware and thoroughly tested software means absolutely stable computers working as they should.
Unfortunately, people have been living in the Windows/Intel environments, and view the lack of choice that Apple offers to be restricting and "dumbed down." What these people fail to realize is that the problems they face with their "smarter" computers are really caused by their not knowing enough about how to operate the machines.
So with all this, I see two markets for computers: one for people who don't have time to learn the workings of a computer, and just want something that's stable and secure, and another for people who either know what they're doing or need the freedom and customization and have a full time IT staff at hand.
That would certainly solve a lot of problems, and stop so many people from calling me with spyware problems.
Posted by: Tony at February 3, 2006 04:56 PMI can't say that I blame you; though I still won't often say no to a request to repair a PC, I'm done with building PCs for other people -- that is, unless they want to build one but want help picking out the parts or have questions about assembly. I've had too many cases of a PC that I build having a faulty component or a user-caused problem (an example includes the guy whose PC was overheating b/c he had it shoved underneath his desk, with all ventilation holes against the wall or desk - I spend hours on the phone with him, walking him through various things to try to find out why it was locking up, and only realized the problem when I visited his house).
I think the "general purpose computer" idea is great for people like you and I, who know what we're doing and can make educated decisions about what goes on our PCs. For the general public, I think all decisions about hardware should be left out, and I think the software that they can use should be restricted to those things that won't kill their computer.
That brings me to Apple; their system of somewhat abstracted hardware and thoroughly tested software means absolutely stable computers working as they should.
Unfortunately, people have been living in the Windows/Intel environments, and view the lack of choice that Apple offers to be restricting and "dumbed down." What these people fail to realize is that the problems they face with their "smarter" computers are really caused by their not knowing enough about how to operate the machines.
So with all this, I see two markets for computers: one for people who don't have time to learn the workings of a computer, and just want something that's stable and secure, and another for people who either know what they're doing or need the freedom and customization and have a full time IT staff at hand.
That would certainly solve a lot of problems, and stop so many people from calling me with spyware problems.
Posted by: Tony![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opaquelucidity.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 3, 2006 04:57 PM
Smart. I made the very same decision a while back.
Funny... I thought I had read something pretty similar when browsing the archives at some point.
I bet that Kelli will appreciate the extra time with you, too. :-)
Posted by: Christy at February 4, 2006 02:28 PM