[The Game Hen]

I'm married to an engineer.
His latest hobby - building free PC's. He buys all the parts on the net. Often better than free after rebate. He likes to buy two of everything. Then he sells one on EBay to someone in Canada for twice what you would pay at the local Best Buy.
It makes me nuts! We don't even need a fourth PC! My den and dining room are covered with dismembered machines. Once a month I sit down at the computer and my links are gone or my programs don't work because he's monkeyed with it.

[twigs]

my links are gone or my programs don't work because he's monkeyed with it.

That would drive me nuts. Fortunately, my husband knows as little as I do about this. You need a laptop that goes somewhere with a key that only you keep!

[afraidfortherepublic]

My den and dining room are covered with dismembered machines.

That's nothing. Mine kept a dismantled Model A car in my entry hall for a couple of years! (Just all of the parts -- the shell of the body and the chassis were in the garage. Still, it was a lot of stuff in and out of boxes.) I was ordered to not touch it under any circumstances. It gradually made it's way to the garage, piece by piece, however; and he didn't even notice for a while. We're still married.

I remember one time the Mayor of the town stopped by when my husband had the washing machine taken apart all over the kitchen. He looked at me in astonishment and exclaimed, "You let him do that kind of stuff in the house?" "Try and stop him," was my answer.

[KC Burke]

I had an engineer that worked for me that created and utilized a PERT schedule (a computerized schedule. much like a Critical Path Method schedule) to plan his and his fiances wedding.

It actually worked, but I imagine the wife's mother about had a heart attack.

[ArGee]

I think you could coin another aphorism.

If it ain't broke, there must not be any engineers around.

Shalom.

P.S. Before the flames start - yes I R1.

[WIMom]

Oh boy, that is my house to a tee. My husband has 5 working computers, and spare parts to build at least 5 more. The UPS guy is always delivering computer components to our house. It's so bad, the dogs don't even bark at their trucks anymore! He's built computers for all his family and my family. It's never good enough, there's always some tweeking to do. By the time the computer is just perfect, the latest and greatest gizmo is out and the process starts all over again.