#technically it's all supposed to go on tortillas with sides

[zhooniyaa-waagosh]

You can buy a roast, cut it up into cubes, then throw it in the slow cooker with a cup of broth, onions, garlic, and whatever seasonings you want. Then you can put the cooked meat on a sheet pan and broil it so that it gets delightfully crispy on the edges. Then you can throw that on some seasoned rice (and maybe beans!) with whatever toppings you want, spoon leftover liquid on top of it, and mix it all together into soup. You can do that. No one is stopping you. It's totally legal.

#i like the crispy slow cooked carnitas from gimme some oven #technically it's all supposed to go on tortillas with sides #but legitimately turning things into soup is fucking great and i highly recommend it #hush and shush

[leam1983]

First Steps

Here's something one of the juniors asked me:

"I really like computers, but I suck at them! How can I get better? I'd also like to make a job out of it, like you!"

You've got two avenues. One is standard and bland and safe, and the other involves you discovering the sweet, sweet scent of burnt-out power supply units or the joys of stripping motherboard stand-offs. Among other things.

But first - Long Post is Long. Clicky the thingy below to get A FUCKTON OF FUNBUCKS FOR PHREE!

So. You can either:

wait for the next Community College enrollment window for an institution that's within travel distance of your residence or job, and check to see if they've got either Computer Science 101 or Technical Support. Pay the expected fees, wait for your start date, and realize you're probably months ahead of the curve even if all you know is how to open or close your PC. It's all peaks and valleys from here, from Assembling everything from scratch (Scary but fun!) to Realizing that you can acheive near-godlike power over your rig or nearly anyone else's using batch files saved on a pendrive (quick and easy - a snoozefest). You'll realize that two-thirds of your average Helpdesk stuff amounts to what I nominally go through, which involves reminding Walt that he shouldn't plug his mouse's receiver dongle in one of the rear ports... The one remaining third comes waaaay late in your career track, and involves turning Eldritch glyphs into room-spanning lengths of Cat5 Ethernet spaghetti. You'll realize you need a stepladder and ibuprofen more than you need to worry about crosstalk or potentially accidentally engineering a line patch on the same rack.

look on eBay for used 1U enclosures (as in One Unit of server-grade computing) and a workable side rack, mount it somewhere where you won't mind the thing screaming at you for all eternity, and then start working with a system you've intentionally built to destroy and rebuild as you see fit. That's what's colloquially known as a Home lab, and it's the best starting base you could ever want. In a pinch, you can also sub that 1U for an old and dinky laptop you're not attached to anymore. Do everything to it. Upgrade its memory, learn how to replace old mechanical drives with SSD or NVME drives, get used to stripping screws, destroy it, drop it off at a recycling centre and then BUY ANOTHER ONE ON EBAY, AGAIN FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF DESTROYING IT.

Option 2 is long, kludgey and much, much more fun. You'll run into every bottleneck a Helpdesk worker will encounter, and you'll be both your own worst client and your own trustworthy boss who gradually adds to your responsibilities. It also involves watching vids from creators like NetworkChuck or Lexikitty on your off-time and introduces you to everything you could ever want or need in order to sandbox a new operating system with the prospect of - you guessed it - ripping it to shreds.

The one catch is that Option 2 can be dangerous if you're too enthusiastic. So, considering this, some formal basics are needed:

always wear an ESD strap or keep one nearby

wear Nitrile gloves if you can't keep your fingernails or fingers consistently dust or oil-free. Your skin's PH balance will eventually thank you

steal guitar picks from music stores, most of 'em give them out like Spicy Tortilla Chips you Aren't Supposed to Eat. As to why, it's because picks are cheap and somewhat reliable plastic spudgers and pry-tools. Wiped-out credit or rewards cards can also work in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend making a habit out of it.

If you're working on a system, keep it plugged in even if you've flicked the PSU's rear switch off. The ground pin will save your hardware.

The only liquid a computer can tolerate is isopropyl alcohol. It is non-conductive and will be perfect at lifting fingerprints or smears off of metallic elements. Do not use anything stronger, acetone turns evil when paired with PBT plastics such as those you find in keycaps or even Chicklet keyboards like a MacBook's.

If you own a laptop and the palmrests start to lightly bulge - turn off your lappy, unplug it, carefully leave it in an open and well-ventilated area for several minutes so the power supply's capacitors discharge safely over time, and then take it out to a recycling centre. Your onboard battery has turned into what is informally known as a Spicy Pillow of Death, and it should be treated with the utmost care. Most laptops can operate while tethered to their external power source and while having no battery of their own, so use this time to recover your files. If you're lucky, you can contact your manufacturer's Support service and ask for a replacement cell.

Why do batteries do this? I don't know, Jim, I'm a systems engineer and a weekend programmer, not a chemist! What I do understand is that the two opposing components of a typical cell (the alkaline and the base) are typically kept well separated by walls in-built into the cell, but that this membrane can sometimes degrade. A reaction then follows, which eventually turns to a very real fire courtesy of the charge being passed on inside it.

Complement all of this ad-hoc nonsense with a few serious CompTIA certifications - Microsoft and Google both offer online classes - and you'll be swinging for the fences in, oh, two to three years. You'll have a sucky starting salary but your skills will forever be in demand.

Also remember that the best Home Lab imaginable is life itself. A relative bricks their machine? Try and flex your muscles by attempting to repair it from scratch, or by reformatting the hard drive! Did someone give you a long-term loan for a machine that needs fixing but that won't be needed for several months? Keep their hard drive aside and toss Linux or Proxmox onto a new one, so you can either pick up server-side console commands or Hypervisor tools!

Mostly - have fun. Just don't visit r/hardwaregore too often, you'll eventually start having nightmares.

#work post #life post #IT post #how to get a foot in the door