Hey hey hey, I build networks so people can talk to other people. I don’t want them talking to me.

You see, comms networks have nice, straightforward protocols for interaction. There’s defined handshakes, everyone’s clear on who the message is for and what’s the actual content versus just the packaging (headers, etc.).

Human to human communication? Now that’s a complicated mess. Can’t always tell what the actual message is, there’s multiple carrier types (body language, voice, etc.) and it’s really bad at handling packets from multiple senders over short periods!

I went on a date with a girl who said she was going to school for communication.

We were at a bar and grill, so I misheard her and started deep diving into networks, fiber, PTP and OTA, my favorite switches and routers, why I hate and love Cisco, but why I prefer Brocade and Ruckus, was even starting to get into AM and FM when she finally stopped me:

not communications, communication. Like, you know, talking.

Oooooh. That’s cool.

And somehow I saved the date and we were together for a good five years.

Didn’t even get to satellites. She did really appreciate that she didn’t have to pay to have her macbook repaired, or any other IT shit.

Just like so many amateur radio operators are afraid to speak on air