Trying to explain your TEA activities to someone who is “non-technical” can be tough. For years I've shown and tried to explain to the Lady Cop what I've done or what I'm working on and her response is puzzled looks. But while she doesn't totally understand it she at least appreciates it and encourages me when I tell her I'm having issues repairing something.
But when it comes to explaining to her coworkers or friends what I do she's at a total loss. She just can't convey what TEA is...
Oh, there's a simple explanation... we're all nucking futs. But no; seriously. I've successfully explained it to my wife and several of her friends thusly:
"Okay... you know how some guys love to collect and restore antique cars or vintage tools for the nostalgia and history of the thing? Well, for engineering nerds, that urge exists for classic test equipment. They are our vintage tools. You see that scope right there? It was in use at NASA when they were designing and flying the Space Shuttle. It might have had something to do with all those historic missions."
*blink-blink*"You see this crusty old signal generator? Its grandfather was one of the ones that made HP a household name. Without that signal generator, Disney couldn't have made Fantasia the amazing piece of musical history it is. Without HP and Tektronix, the modern world... all the technology we take for granted... would be completely different, and we would probably be decades behind where we are now. Using these old instruments... handling the same tools that made all those great advances possible... it is our way of communing with our engineer ancestors."
"Okaaayyy... so it's like collecting antiques. I get that. Just don't spend the house payment on it, okayyy?"Not a perfect explanation. But at least enough to grok what we're all aboot.
mnem
moo...?