bitseeker
Thank you for creating this place and unleash the best of us. Since then I feel less alone in my Lab.
How did you come up with the TEA idea?
After the millenium it's time for some documentary background BBC planet earth style.
![](https://www.21global.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_top_image/public/images/tea-revives-the-world.jpg?itok=xM3Sf1jr)
Hi zucca! Glad to hear that our "therapy" is yielding good results for your state of mind and your lab.
![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif)
So, where did TEA come from? China. Oh, no, wrong kind of tea.
Well, it all started back on January 14, 2017 (Pacific Time) in the "List your test equipment scores" thread where xrunner and mtdoc were talking about the GW Instek GDM 8251A bench DMMs from the ITT liquidation that they had recently scored on eBay. xrunner said, "Do I need it ... Um, well, ... What if I told you yes ..." and I
replied, "I'd say, 'Welcome to TEA (Test Equipment Anonymous).' So glad you could join us."
After that, mtdoc asked about the 12-step program for TEA, I started a list, Cubdriver built on top of it, VK5RC stood up and declared he was a "test equipment-aholic," tautech went next and told his story of woe and addiction, and it continued for many posts thereafter.
The following evening, having seen how many people also enjoyed acquiring, using, tinkering with, and fixing test equipment, I started this thread. It was partially meant to be facetious, rather than about an actual medical condition, but that lighthearted tone about what, for some (most? many?), could be considered an actual addiction, enabled folks to feel free about their particular flavor of electronics passion, even if outsiders might otherwise consider them abnormal or crazy. After all, everyone's got their own kind of crazy. We just created our own name for ours.
And here we still are, two years and over 25,000 posts (1010 pages) later. Just as crazy as ever and enjoying every minute of it.