[LargeFormat] lost in the carpet

[Les Newcomer]

Uh oh here comes another war story from Les......


In high school I got a job working for a one man shop that repaired Radio 
controled equipment for the RC airplane hobby.  He was also a second tier 
supplier of prototype electronics to Ford Motor Co.  I was the kid that 
got to fill all of the PC boards for the Ford job.  My 'station' was with 
the rest of the company-one other employee- in his basement.  The place 
had been finished as a rumpus room beofre he went into business and he 
hadn't Hoovered the high pile carpet since.  I  think the carpet was 
monotone but with 5 years of bits of wire both bare and multi-colored 
insulation, it was a riot of pattern.

One item that was spec'd was a 1 ohm .1%, non inductive resistor.  He 
couldn't find it anywhere. So he spent the better part of the day making 
one with a lenght of nichrome wire, a couple of bare copper leads and a 
wheatstone bridge with his very expensive digital volt meter.

He laid two of these resistors on my desk next to the iron.  Within 5 
minutes I had brushed one off onto the floor. Talk about looking for a 
grain of sand at the beach!  The boss's blood pressure  was already up and 
if I spent any time on my knees he would have figured out what had 
happened and fired me on the spot. Knowing that I was doomed already, I 
did the only thing that came to my mind. I put the other piece on the 
table and brushed it with my elbow, watching this time..... it landed on 
top of the first.  Whew!!!

Now whenever I start to open a shutter I make sure the dog is locked 
upstairs the kid is at school or in bed and I lay white butcher paper on 
the floor.

Les