The HeliOS Project is now.....

The HeliOS Project is now.....
Same mission, same folks...just a different name

Search the Blog of helios and all comments

Loading

Friday, April 18, 2008

Auction Bid Comes Through For Us


Well, it was done on a whim really...

Remember when you were a kid? Did you ever spy just the perfect throwing rock on the ground? Do you remember picking it up and feeling the heft of it in your fingertips? Remember how you tossed it up a couple inches a few times to appreciate the absolute perfection of the projectile? You looked around you, trying to spy a fitting target. All around you were neighbor's houses, maybe a lake you were walking by...possibly you were trudging down the railroad tracks with your friends.

Then you saw it. Old Man Boreland's house. And yeah, it was a LONG ways away. You could never make that kind of distance...maybe...

You mentally calculated the arc of the throw. Even if you could get the distance, you could never hit that kitchen window...never in a million years. Your friends started taunting you...alternately telling you to do it and telling you to give them the rock if you wern't gonna do it. You took a step away from them and turned toward the house. You jiggled your throwing arm a few times and your grip tightened on the rock. With more strength than skill you began that jerking, hopping approach to the throw, then with all your might and will, you let fly that perfect projectile.

And you watched...and your friends watched. No one breathed for minutes it seemed.

The Rock flew to it's highest ark. You and your friends marveled at the distance and accuracy of the throw. You watched it as it seemed to gain acceleration on its own.

And then you realized.

You hoped and prayed in two seperate directions at one time.

Please God, Don't Let It Hit.

Oh Lord, Yes, Let it hit, let it hit...

And it did.

With the magnificence of a perfectly formed rock, perfectly thrown, with 4 perfectly credible witnesses, that stone crashed through the window and you could see the curtains jolt as the rocket passed through into places unseen. You looked at each other in awe and then as if mentally spoken by all at once, you obeyed the silent command.

RUN!

Remember that? Were you part of that group? Did you make that throw? No...? Really?

Then never mind.

I guess you just had to be there.

I made a throw like that last Monday. I got wind of a sealed bid auction at a cartage company and on the list was 7 Dell computers "with mixed peripherals". "Boxed and ready to ship", read the manifest. I checked our account, silently calculated the bills to be paid with just a bit of cushion and I let fly with the remaining amount.

I'll be damned if we didn't get the bid. I was notified today. So here we have 7 Dell Optiplex GX 260's with 512 meg of ram, 2.4 ghz chips and single 40gig hd's. In the deal we got the keyboards and mice with them, 4 1 gig cruser thumb drives and two 17 inch dell flat panel monitors.

Our bid?

$244.71

Unfortunately, we've had some expenses come up and we had to spend most of our account cushion. I never for one moment dreamed the rock would actually hit the friggin' window. There is money coming in from contract work later next week but we have until noon Sunday to pick them up. We would be more than appreciative for some help in getting these computers. I mean, if we don't, they're not gonna line us up and poke our eyes out, but I would hate to pass up 7 ready-to-rock computers. That means I don't have to build any computers for the next seven kids that come up on our roster.

That in itself is a good thing. My carpal tunnel is on the verge of rejoicing.

Should you folks be in the position to give us a hand, I would sure appreciate it. I will be glad to post the bill of lading once purchased so those donating can see their gift went where it said it was going.

If you can, you can lend us a hand here.

And if I say so myself.

That was a hell of a throw.

All-righty then

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you Folks,

Ken Jennings,

David Rea,

Gene and Wanda Lake

Frederic Mora

You'ze guyz are the ones that made a difference and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am happy to announce that, as we do sometimes, the person who takes us over the top gets just a little sumpin' from HeliOS Solutions. I am glad to send
David Rea an autographed copy of Carla Schroeder's book "Linux Networking Cookbook".

Thank you everyone...It means more to us than we are able to express.

h