Spam ([info]madbodger) wrote,
@ 2008-02-21 17:05:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current location:Herndon
Current mood:geeky
Current music:someone trying out new ringtones :-#
Entry tags:computers

Geekery saves the day
Once upon a time, the government had a custom document storage and retrieval system built. They used it for a while, and then they boxed it up and put it in storage. Years went by. Then the government realized they needed those old documents. The people who had worked for the system had all left, and the company that wrote the software was no longer in business. So they handed the system off to a data recovery team, who worked on it for 18 months, to no avail.

Luckily, someone on the project ran in to someone who'd heard stories about me. Arrangements were made, and I was sent to where the system was waiting in boxes. In a single afternoon, I reassembled and configured the system, derived the necessary passwords, and got the software running and retrieving documents.


(Post a new comment)


[info]ohio_geek
2008-02-21 10:10 pm UTC (link)
Oooooh! Aaaaah!

(Reply to this)

[info]bikergeek
2008-02-21 10:10 pm UTC (link)
Go you! That's fantastic!

(Reply to this)

[info]n5red
2008-02-21 10:15 pm UTC (link)
Eh. I know you, so this isn't at all suprising. Really, why don't you tackle something that would be a challenge to you.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:43 am UTC (link)
You hiring?

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]idragosani
2008-02-21 10:17 pm UTC (link)
And we're s'posed to be surprised? You're the guy who, when approached by someone wrapped in chains and padlocks who proclaimed "I'm Spam-proof", produced a pair of bolt cutters... or so the legend goes.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]whitebird
2008-02-22 03:04 am UTC (link)
Wait, doesn't everyone carry bolt cutters?

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]maugorn
2008-02-22 04:54 am UTC (link)
So the legend goes.

The story is almost as true.
It was a young lady with a leather vest at a con. She came out of our hotelroom's bathroom snapping a padlock onto it and declared:
"Ha! Now it's Spamproof!"
Without a pause, Spam pulled his boltcutters (about 8") out of the suitcase he was kneeling over and said "NOTHING is Spamproof!" and merrily chased her around the room.

But the point remains valid. Nothing is Spamproof.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:43 am UTC (link)
She gave me that outfit, many years later, as a memento. Hmmm, I owe her a visit.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]rmd
2008-02-21 10:27 pm UTC (link)
"Arrangements were made" is like "hijinks ensued", here, isn't it?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]roozle
2008-02-21 11:23 pm UTC (link)
Ooh! I hope so!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:44 am UTC (link)
No, this is more just getting the equipment and me to the same facility, and arranging for my salary to be drawn from a contract I'm not listed on. How dull.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]missionista
2008-02-21 10:29 pm UTC (link)
What stories had the person heard?!

And I really hope you got paid some obscene amount of money for doing this.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]155metrocard
2008-02-22 12:32 am UTC (link)
yeah. f'real.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:45 am UTC (link)
Nope, just my standard salary, which ain't too shabby, but it's not like the time I made $5000 in an afternoon either.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]supremeherptile
2008-02-21 10:29 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, but *which* documents did you enable the system to retreive?

(Reply to this)

[info]marmota
2008-02-21 10:31 pm UTC (link)
So... what exactly was this 'data recovery team' actually doing for a
year and a half if they hadn't even set the system up?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:46 am UTC (link)
I assume they'd set it up. It had to be broken down again and moved to another facility for me to work on it. I don't know what they were up to, but whatever it was, I'm better!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]jim_p
2008-02-21 10:41 pm UTC (link)
Go you!

I, too, hope that you sought adequate compensation for this :) Something like "For you, I'll charge only six months' worth of that team's salaries" :)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:47 am UTC (link)
That would have been nice, but I just got my usual salary.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]rennie_frog
2008-02-21 11:09 pm UTC (link)
I third the hope/wish that you were adequately compensated. I'm sure it wasn't hard for *you*, but to quote my favorite author, "We're not paying your for hard. We're paying you for good."

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:48 am UTC (link)
Like the joke "you're not paying me to whack your engine with a hammer. You're paying me to know where and how to whack it!" But this was just government contracting, and I just got my usual salary for the day.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]ginevra007
2008-02-21 11:26 pm UTC (link)
YAY! Super Geek to the rescue!

(Reply to this)

[info]eastertheatre
2008-02-21 11:43 pm UTC (link)
That's because you rock!

(Reply to this)

[info]gore_whore_5
2008-02-21 11:54 pm UTC (link)
That is the most badass thing I've heard all day! r0x0r point number two!

(Reply to this)

[info]selki
2008-02-22 12:00 am UTC (link)
*applause*

(Reply to this)

[info]deguspice
2008-02-22 12:37 am UTC (link)
I'm curious that the ratio of money spent for 18 months with a data recovery team vs. one afternoon for you?

How was your approach different than their approach? You both started with the same boxes. My guess is that since their expertise is data recovery they looked at the bits on the disks and tried to figure out how to extract the data. You looked at it as a system that used to work and possibly could be made to work again.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:49 am UTC (link)
You're right on my thinking, and I'm guessing you're right on theirs too, but I have no knowledge of their methodology, other than its lack of results. I'd love to know what they were paid.


(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]dcseain
2008-02-22 12:46 am UTC (link)
Go you! Hope you were compensated appropriately well for your wondrous skills.

So what was the team doing for 18mos before they called you, if anything?

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:50 am UTC (link)
Don't know what they were doing (previous comment has some logical conjecture). At least they didn't break things beyond repair.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]whitebird
2008-02-22 03:04 am UTC (link)
Very cool!

(Reply to this)

[info]vvalkyri
2008-02-22 04:24 am UTC (link)
nice

(Reply to this)

[info]badgerthorazine
2008-02-22 09:21 am UTC (link)
Whoa! You rock, babe. :-)

(Reply to this)

[info]r_ness
2008-02-22 11:03 am UTC (link)
What [info]deguspice said.

I hope they paid you very big bucks for this. Go you.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]madbodger
2008-02-23 12:50 am UTC (link)
Nope, government contract, I just got paid my usual salary for the billable hours.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]wordwelder
2008-02-22 12:50 pm UTC (link)
Who Da Man?!?!

Way to go!

(Reply to this)

[info]rizbone
2008-02-22 01:45 pm UTC (link)
Well. . . as long as you were wearing the right shoes when you did it I suppose that's OK.

(Reply to this)

[info]jasra
2008-02-22 02:36 pm UTC (link)
That's wonderful!

(Reply to this)

[info]shagbark
2008-02-23 08:51 pm UTC (link)
You gotta become a consultant. Seriously.

(Reply to this)

[info]jodawi
2008-02-26 12:03 pm UTC (link)
I think NASA needs you to decode some old moon landing data that got similarly lostified.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…