Random Access Memories

A few quotes I stumbled into. Needless to say he’s one of my heroes.

If this does not appeal to you sufficiently to recognize in me a discoverer of principles, do me, at least, the justice of calling me an “inventor of some beautiful pieces of electrical apparatus.

There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without.

We build but to tear down. Most of our work and resource is squandered. Our onward march is marked by devastation. Everywhere there is an appalling loss of time, effort and life. A cheerless view, but true.

All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed – only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle. Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, the future, for which I really worked, is mine.

So, my job description is very heavily skewed towards the “stockroom” aspect of my job. The only line of it that mentions repair work is the following:

“Clean and make minor repairs on power tools and other equipment and advise users on cleaning and minor repairs of used stock, supplies, and equipment.”

Note the word “minor”. What exactly is a “minor repair”?

If i’m replacing the drive shaft on a 24″ bandsaw is that a “minor repair”? Something tells me the answer to that is “no”.

But you see I *CAN* do it. But should I? I’m not getting paid very well for what I do, but I have been doing any and all repairs that have crossed my desk.

Is this just the protestant work ethic of the USA rearing it’s head? Should I ask my boss what constitutes a “minor repair” and sit on my hands when anything bigger comes along? They can just take it out of the repair budget, which is not really very big in the first place. Which means most things will probably not get fixed.

Decisions, decisions…..