The Remarketer

To the winners of the 2006 SysAdmin of the Year award, Congratulations!

In the immortal words of Strongbad:

“Now that’s what I’m talking about, that was amazing! I mean.. you… I mean … I’m buying you a pizza!”

- As told to The Cheat after he created the Everybody to the Limit / Fhqwhgads video.

So if any of the winners, runners-up and honorable mention sysadmins are interested, contact us with your favorite local pizza joint and address and we’ll send you a gift certificate. Hopefully your employers reward you with some real bonuses though (see cash/money).

“This Server we bought… um, it’s DOA.”
Nobody ever likes that call, So what do you do next?

Keep the following in mind before proceeding: You’re not a server tech, so tread lightly here. However, you can solve some issues before calling a tech, or at least collect some good info to help them out. Finally, stay relaxed (with a sense of urgency).

Before Best Buy dominated the retail electronics universe, they were a fledgling Minnesota upstart and I was a child of the 80’s lucky enough to have TV Darryl on my side.

Best Buy and the Table of No Return
“Put that back… those returns never work.” An early lesson received from my father at the Best Buy “open box table.” Items were discounted 20-50% because the box was open or sometimes missing altogether. The products would carry notes such as “missing antenna” or “scratched screen.” Anecdotal evidence backed up my father’s theory that purchases of these Walkmans and FM stereos would often result in disappointment.