Have you ever noticed that when you have the least time, you’re absolutely going to run into the person who has the most to say? I was on my way to meet someone after work when I ran into one of those chatty types. You know the ones: likeable, outgoing, and just old enough that you’d feel like a genuinely awful person if you ducked out of the conversation a single second early?

He’s a little more on the science-y tech-y side of my life than this blog, but he told me about the computer he and his son built, and the computers that have been donated to his church to sell off to the highest bidder. They’re a good deal–he says–at twenty dollars a piece, and if I want one, I should stop by. The truth is, I could probably pull one apart and get more than twenty bucks worth of parts out of it, (if I choose wisely) but I’m not even slightly in the mood to go spelunking in a strange church basement. (strange to me, not strange in general. They’re mainline Lutherans.)

I’ll pass the information on to a couple people I know, who could probably use a “right now” computer on the cheap.

Here’s the thing. I can and do build my own computers. I do not run a mad-scientist type workshop out of my basement or garage. I have one ship of Theseus type monstrosity, and I play around with the parts, but they’re either parts from my own computers, or  they’re new parts that I’ve chosen for lifespan (out of a dread of moving files around). And it is a monstrosity. It’s sorta… evolving as I go.

This guy… well, he may have the biggest mad-scientist workshop in town. He buys it, fixes it up, and–hopefully–sells it, although exactly how much actually leaves the workshop is anybody’s guess.

So, I heard about the computer he built–which is probably a Raspberry Pi–and the channels/programs/downloads he can get using it. I guess the question here should be something along the lines of “is it legal?” but I’m pretty sure I already know the answer. And then, about the computer he fixed up (one marketed for the audio, which apparently can actually blow you through the roof.)

I never seem to get exactly what he’s doing… just a vague overview.

And from there, we moved on to the latest gossip from his end of the world. I now know more about the private details of his church than I ever wanted to. Suffice it to say, the phrase “waiting on a cadaver” came up.