grousing

[da]

The system administration framework here at the University is old and clunky. While it simplifies some things, accounts management is enough to make (many of us) tear our hair out. I will spare you the details.

There has been a cool front-end loader digging up dirt around the building all week. It looks like fun to drive. Not for the first time, I wonder maybe I should go into construction.

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[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Construction people built a huge parking garage in the space next to where I work. We would wander over and watch them do things, wonder about why they did things...

It was awesome. Aside from the back-breaking lifting of rebar when it was >90°F outside, of course. Silly workmen, they should have worked at night! I kept comparing what I was doing with source code with what they were accomplishing and thinking "hey, with a union, they probably make as much as I do".

I want to be the one controlling the concrete pouring gizmo that goes up several stories. It looked like the remote control had six different control levers (one per joint). That sounds like fun...

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those concrete pourers are amazing. I saw one working on a bridge, and it looked just like something out of Doctor Seuss. You could just imagine the operator saying, "and a shift over there, and a tweak to that, and..."