I am your mirror, we would work well together. It is the difference between Field and Factory perspective. John Ferrell http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 12:23 AM Subject: [OT]: Patience > How patient are you? > > It seems our profession is one that requires a great deal of patience. > > Things I have patience for: > > Code that doesn't do what I expect it to > analog glitches that occur very rarely and take days or weeks to track > down and fix > soldering 0604 components with a soldering iron > computer troubleshooting that requires reboot after reoboot after reboot > after reboot. > Tiny little hemostats and needlenose tweezers > Manipulating tiny objects under microscopes and 10X loupes whille holding > a soldering iron in one hand, a tweezer with two fingers of the other > hand, and a wire of solder in another two fingers of the second hand. > etc. etc. > > Things I do not have patience for: > > People who yell when there are no fires about > Children who obstinately put themselves in harm's way in order to be > disobedient > Software with buggy and needlessly complex user interfaces > Mechanical contraptions in general, if it is smaller than a two-by-four > and the tools weigh less than 5 LBS, and it is not electronic. > > Now these are all things that would try the patience of most people, I > believe. however, here is a situation where my patience is tried to the > breaking point. This is typical - I have no patience for mechanical > contraptions. > > I have a cord retractor for an appliance. The cord retractors are > prototypes, and so do not work very well. There is a major appliance show > in two days, the guy who made these is in China, The appliances are going > to be shown to a major client who may buy a million of them, the > appliances are here and so am I. There is a fix that needs to be applied > that involves taking the cord retractors apart. So far so good. > > Now it is almost impossible to get one of these back together if the > mainspring gets out of the cord retractor unit. > > Step 1. I take one apart, being careful not to let the constant-force > spring go sproing! and fly out of the housing like a jack in the box. I > put it back together after appling some grease. It works a lot better! > But the cord doesn't go in all the way. > > Step 2. I take it apart, and SPROOIIIYOYOYING! There goes the mainspring > across the room. > > No Worries! I have another. > > Step 1. I take one apart, being careful not to let the constant-force > spring go sproing! and fly out of the housing like a jack in the box. I > put it back together after appling some grease. It works a lot better! > But the cord doesn't go in all the way. This time, I clamp onto the > mainspring with hemostats and hold it in place. THis works pretty well > for a while and then... > > Step 2. I take it apart, and put it together. It works a lot better! but > the cord still does not go in all the way, but it is closer now. > > Step 3. I take it apart, and SPROOIIIYOYOYING! There goes the mainspring > across the room along with the hemostats. > > No worries ! I have one more. However, my career may depend on whether > this one works when I get done. BTW it is midnight. > > Step 1. I take one apart, being careful not to let the constant-force > spring go sproing! and fly out of the housing like a jack in the box. I > put it back together after appling some grease. It works a lot better! > But the cord doesn't go in all the way. I Anchor the end of the > mainspring with epoxy putty so it cannot go sproing. > > Step 2. I take it apart, and SPROOIIIYOYOYING! The other end comes loose > and there goes the mainspring across the room . > > At this point, ... well, ... I am not sure I want to publish what I > said at this point. > > > Anybody wanna hire a mechanical klutz? I will be looking for work > tomorrow........ > > -- Lawrence Lile > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads