bearded basement guys

[eirias]

If you're an academic you have probably seen a person meeting this description: a man of indeterminate age, with a long scruffy beard, who builds things -- whether mechanical, electrical, or digital. You give him the specs and, some time later, probably sooner than you think, the desired device shows up and it is perfect. You may never have any idea how he did it -- he may not be able to explain it to you -- but there it is. Ta-da!

We have a couple of great basement guys in my department, but my current basement angel is at a university a thousand miles away, and yet he helps me troubleshoot his completely inscrutable programming language for no fee, always within a few hours. I've yet to send him a problem he couldn't solve with it.

Have you thanked your local bearded basement guy lately?

Comments

[harleybitch.livejournal.com]

I am my local bearded basement guy, well without the beard. I do have a few engineers that help me out of jams once and awhile.