Wire wrap boards are a hot commodity in the computer engineering department. I had a batch of them that Dr. Smith ordered last summer. All semester, Pinocchio has been coming into my lab and begging on bended knee for these boards which are just what he needs for his project.
Last time, I said, "Look, this is our last spare. These last two we need for our project. If you need more, you have to get the departmental secretary or the supplies guy to order you some."
"But I don't know the part number!"
"It's printed on the board."
"But I can't order from Digilent. They'll only let me order from Digikey."
"They'll order from Digilent! Where do you think these came from?"
Today, during Dr. Smith's perambulations through the labs, he told me that he'd be placing orders, so if I needed anything, I should let him know. The next time I see Pinocchio, I grab our last wire wrap board and haul Pinocchio into Dr. Smith's office.
"We need more of these!" I wave the board. "We need a couple for our project and Pinocchio needs some for his project too."
This precipitates some discussion to determine that we actually need these particular boards and not some cheaper option, but the result is that we'll be getting more boards.
Later, I say to Pinocchio, "Now was that so hard? All you have to do is ask."
"But he wanted to know what I was doing with them! What does he think I'm doing with them? He was at my critical design review. I showed them the board I was working on…"
273 words | March 29, 2005 10:33 PM | Ivory tower