>A while back I signed up for rollouts.com, forgot all about it. It’s a sort of outsourcing company for techs. Computer upgrades for retail outlets (replacing cash register motherboards, warranty repairs/replacement) and odd jobs here and there.

On the way to Tori yesterday I received a call — an emergency job involving Stop & Shop Deli machines (the touch screen to order meat/cheese). They’d been hit with the MSBlaster and needed everything updated. So I had him send me all the info, got up early – chose my jobs, and was on my way.

I went to Staples after checking out the wrong Stop & Shop (they’d already been updated… not a very good start) and picked up a nice little clipboard and screwdriver. It reminded me of when I used to read “hacking manuals” that would talk about attempting to get admin passwords and such – “Just walk in like you’re supposed to be there with a clipboard and no one can stop you…”

I got in the groove, drove around all day store to store checking in with the store manager first — then proceeding to the deli to dismantle the kiosk and plug in my keyboard to begin the updates.

The longest part was waiting for the 266MMX to reboot. A little slow but otherwise a normal NT machine. Kinda odd. I didn’t receive half the curiosity that I expected, but a grocery store in the middle of the day isn’t usually the place for tech-heads.

Normally I’m calling dispatch from customer service asking where the tech is — now I was the tech calling to say I’d finished one and was now proceeding to the next. I got to be on the other end of the job – actually being out on the road, much as my father used to do for sales of welding supplies. I realize why he got home so tired every day. I was beat by the end, but felt good that I’d been out and about – driving, listening to music, and free of supervision and time delegation. Hell, mid-day I realized I passed 8000 miles and hopped into an empty Jiffy Lube for 10 min for an oil change. Then I grabbed some chicken from the deli and a peach for an impromptu lunch after I finished up at the next job.

It was good pay for 1 day – got 5 done, but who knows when I’ll actually see it. I had some additional expenses, but was able to shop that evening with confidence. After finishing up one store close to home, I met up with my housemate and did some shopping @ Costco. Now we’re set for a long time… on many things =]