Say it in a “radio” voice. Maybe a bit like HAL from the 2001 space odyssey movie. Or not…

I SWEAR I have heard The Guru say “remote data concentrator” in a deep radio-type voice. I dunno if he remembers this or not but he and Sam the Archaeologist (not dog) were here at the Landfill and I’m sure that’s the last time I’ve heard that phrase from anyone.

The Remote Data Concentrator was a snake pit in a closet down the hall from our office at the EPA (“Operations”) when I worked at that darn EPA. I’m not sure I ever knew what purpose it actually served but for quite a while, if we needed Byron for anything and he was AWOL, I knew where to find him. Butt up in the Remote Data Concentrator closet. And yes, it was a closet.

Byron was a great boss. I think he was skeptical about me at first because I got hired because I knew people. But I am a fast learner (and humble) and we became good friends and after a couple years, he trusted me to run the damn office when he was, uh, not there, for various reasons. When I returned from multiple week vacations in the summer, there would be stacks of Data 100 printouts with error messages all over them on my desk. I would start at the top and pick through to solve all of problems. I’ve been told the auto industry depended on me to get new vee-vickles to the showroom floor on time and maybe they did but I am too humble to accept that.

Being humble is one of the many reasons I am not a goddamn politician. All I was trying to do was do my damn job. I do the same kinda thing in the fintech industry.

I also loved my childhood boss Byron because when I started my family, he said to me that my baby was my first priority. He (and my husband and other folks) helped me craft a half-time schedule. Byron is long dead these days but I have always appreciated that he was always willing to accept women as *valued* employees. He was ahead of his time.

P.S. I don’t blame Byron for being skeptical about about hiring me in the beginning. I knew nothing about computers at all. Little did he (or I) know what I might become.

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