Wisdom comes with a charge. Usually by the hour.

I like old things. Old shirts. Or old soft sweaters. Old test engineers recommend themselves. Old explanations. You know what to expect. Like a long-term, happy marriage. There’s a comfort level. Fewer mistakes, more detail. Less bewilderment. General competence. Analog testing. The ability to answer the question, “Why?” in waveform. Experience and familiarity sometimes matter. Some dare call it wisdom.

Why do we still worship youth? Haven’t we learned?

Old cars provide a certain comfort, too. As of this writing, my current model has accompanied me faithfully for 14 years and 417,000 miles with no engine rebuilds. Sure, the leather in the driver’s seat is ripped, but it’s still comfortable, and the ride remains blissfully smooth. So, I keep it. For now. Cognizant that the risk-reward ratio is tipping left toward risk with each succeeding day. Am I pushing my luck? Probably. But it still works. I know what to expect. So much else in life isn’t that way.

Explaining solder joint defects, one interruption at a time.

“Thank you all for promptly joining this morning’s webmail conference call. Today we are going to review the x-ray images our outside lab FTP’d us yesterday. Please set your phones on mute by pressing *6 if you are not speaking, and set your computers to the link provided by the meeting invite. You can unmute your phones in the same way, by pressing *6, if you wish to contribute to the conversation. You may listen via phone link, or by plugging earbuds into your laptops and activating sound. If you feel compelled to speak, unmute your phone and speak one at a time. We’d like to give equal time to as many members of our several participating engineering groups as possible. We have a big agenda, and many participants, so let’s get started.”

Here we go. Amateur hour.