I'm a volunteer search and rescue k-9 handler in Virginia. Two years ago, my team got rid of pagers and went to text message alerts via cell phones for a number of reasons:
1. Pager coverage had gotten really crappy. Most of us live in the country. We would frequently miss pages because we were out of range when at home. No pager service provided the rural coverage that we require. Shoot, I would miss pages when I was in the server room at work in town.
2. Pagers are an all-or-nothing medium. By that, I mean that you either get the page or you don't. Pages would frequently come through garbled and you would have no clue what the message was. With a cell phone, if you happen to be out of range when a message is sent, you will get it when you get back in coverage. With pagers, you don't ever get the message if you are not in coverage.
3. Dispatch has become much more streamlined by using cell phones. We can send out much more info in fewer messages with text messaging. The group members can reply to the text message instead of having to call dispatch. This has been a huge win as we can now tell the Department of Emergency Management how many dogs we have responding within 15 minutes or so compared to 30 - 45 minutes with the pagers. This is due to the dispatchers' phones not being tied up with everyone calling at once. And since VDEM can now request us by sending an email to a mail list, we know immediately what type of dogs are needed and where the search is. No more waiting on dispatch to call DEM and then page us with the info.
4. I have a WinMo phone and I have a specific ring tone (an mp3 of an old submarine klaxon) set up for text messages that come from group members and VDEM. If I happen to sleep through it (it's pretty damn loud), the dog knows that sound means she is likely going to work and she will wake me up.
Pagers definitely still have their place, but text messaging offers much better coverage and more versatility.
Some people define their life by their job. I have friends like that. They would much rather make less money andwork a lot of hours in order to have interesting work. On the other hand, are people like myself. I see my job as nothing more than a means to an end. While I am fortunate to do something I enjoy (I'm a *nix sysad), I don't particularly care if my work is mentally stimulating. I place a premium on flex time, a 40 hour work week, vacation and being able to leave my work at work. I get my mental stimulation by volunteering as a search and rescue dog handler for the state in which I live. While it's and expensive and time-consuming hobby, it has great rewards. I get to be in the woods with one of my dogs every weekend, I have a highly trained and skilled dog and I'm fascinated by why my dog does what it does and how to train it to have the necessary skills. Plus, I've been able to take my dog training skills and start training my dog's cat (yes, it's my german shepherd's cat). As an added bonus, I get to help people. Additionally, I have time to spend with my friends and family, do work around my house and DJ once a month at local bar. If I made less and/or worked more hours, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of those things.
My point is that there are a myriad of ways to find fulfillment in life that don't revolve around your job. In fact, you're probably better off if you get your fulfillment outside of your job. To most employers, you are nothing but a number, to be laid off when they need to cut head count or you are no longer needed. If you get your fulfillment from something other than work, it is much harder for it to be taken away from you. It sounds like you have a great job aside from it not being interesting. Having been through a number of layoffs due to companies closing offices or going under, I place a high value on job stability. I would suggest staying at your job and saving/investing a good portion of your salary. Since you are young and don't have debt, you're in a great position to let your money work for you. It will pay tremendous benefits down the road: you may be able to retire early and/or you will have the financial freedom to do other things. Staying in your current job because the money and benefits are good is most definitely not selling out. You are simply looking out for your best interests if you stay. Paul Graham's January essay (previously linked to on/.) would be a good read if you haven't already read it. Jobs with benefits/pay like yours are very rare. Don't make the decision lightly.
If plea bargans were limited to only cases where a person became an informant, the judical system would quickly become overwhelmed with cases going to trial and a lot of cases would likely be thrown out for lack of a speedy trial. Plea bargans serve an important purpose in that they save the tax payers money and the judicial system time in cases where the evidence against a defendant is so clear that going to tril would likely be an exercise in futility for the defendant. This isn't to say that plea bargains are abused (they are), only that getting rid of them would be a Bad Thing.
DirecTIVO is where it's at. As long as you have at least a dual-LNB dish, you can record two channels simultaneously (something the standalones can't do). The TIVO service is cheaper due to DIrecTV's deal with TIVO (IIRC 5.99/mo). The only time I've lost the signal was during a heavy snowstorm when snow built up on the dish. Even then, it was only some the channels. Since my dish is on the roof, I wasn't about to climb up there during the storm, but about five minutes with a supersoaker filled with windshield washer fluid did the trick. The one downside is that DirecTV is only selling series 2 TIVOs now and the 2's aren't as hackable as the series 1's. That's a minor quibble tho'.
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I'm a volunteer search and rescue k-9 handler in Virginia. Two years ago, my team got rid of pagers and went to text message alerts via cell phones for a number of reasons:
1. Pager coverage had gotten really crappy. Most of us live in the country. We would frequently miss pages because we were out of range when at home. No pager service provided the rural coverage that we require. Shoot, I would miss pages when I was in the server room at work in town.
2. Pagers are an all-or-nothing medium. By that, I mean that you either get the page or you don't. Pages would frequently come through garbled and you would have no clue what the message was. With a cell phone, if you happen to be out of range when a message is sent, you will get it when you get back in coverage. With pagers, you don't ever get the message if you are not in coverage.
3. Dispatch has become much more streamlined by using cell phones. We can send out much more info in fewer messages with text messaging. The group members can reply to the text message instead of having to call dispatch. This has been a huge win as we can now tell the Department of Emergency Management how many dogs we have responding within 15 minutes or so compared to 30 - 45 minutes with the pagers. This is due to the dispatchers' phones not being tied up with everyone calling at once. And since VDEM can now request us by sending an email to a mail list, we know immediately what type of dogs are needed and where the search is. No more waiting on dispatch to call DEM and then page us with the info.
4. I have a WinMo phone and I have a specific ring tone (an mp3 of an old submarine klaxon) set up for text messages that come from group members and VDEM. If I happen to sleep through it (it's pretty damn loud), the dog knows that sound means she is likely going to work and she will wake me up.
Pagers definitely still have their place, but text messaging offers much better coverage and more versatility.
Some people define their life by their job. I have friends like that. They would much rather make less money andwork a lot of hours in order to have interesting work. On the other hand, are people like myself. I see my job as nothing more than a means to an end. While I am fortunate to do something I enjoy (I'm a *nix sysad), I don't particularly care if my work is mentally stimulating. I place a premium on flex time, a 40 hour work week, vacation and being able to leave my work at work. I get my mental stimulation by volunteering as a search and rescue dog handler for the state in which I live. While it's and expensive and time-consuming hobby, it has great rewards. I get to be in the woods with one of my dogs every weekend, I have a highly trained and skilled dog and I'm fascinated by why my dog does what it does and how to train it to have the necessary skills. Plus, I've been able to take my dog training skills and start training my dog's cat (yes, it's my german shepherd's cat). As an added bonus, I get to help people. Additionally, I have time to spend with my friends and family, do work around my house and DJ once a month at local bar. If I made less and/or worked more hours, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of those things.
My point is that there are a myriad of ways to find fulfillment in life that don't revolve around your job. In fact, you're probably better off if you get your fulfillment outside of your job. To most employers, you are nothing but a number, to be laid off when they need to cut head count or you are no longer needed. If you get your fulfillment from something other than work, it is much harder for it to be taken away from you. It sounds like you have a great job aside from it not being interesting. Having been through a number of layoffs due to companies closing offices or going under, I place a high value on job stability. I would suggest staying at your job and saving/investing a good portion of your salary. Since you are young and don't have debt, you're in a great position to let your money work for you. It will pay tremendous benefits down the road: you may be able to retire early and/or you will have the financial freedom to do other things. Staying in your current job because the money and benefits are good is most definitely not selling out. You are simply looking out for your best interests if you stay. Paul Graham's January essay (previously linked to on /.) would be a good read if you haven't already read it. Jobs with benefits/pay like yours are very rare. Don't make the decision lightly.
If plea bargans were limited to only cases where a person became an informant, the judical system would quickly become overwhelmed with cases going to trial and a lot of cases would likely be thrown out for lack of a speedy trial. Plea bargans serve an important purpose in that they save the tax payers money and the judicial system time in cases where the evidence against a defendant is so clear that going to tril would likely be an exercise in futility for the defendant. This isn't to say that plea bargains are abused (they are), only that getting rid of them would be a Bad Thing.
DirecTIVO is where it's at. As long as you have at least a dual-LNB dish, you can record two channels simultaneously (something the standalones can't do). The TIVO service is cheaper due to DIrecTV's deal with TIVO (IIRC 5.99/mo). The only time I've lost the signal was during a heavy snowstorm when snow built up on the dish. Even then, it was only some the channels. Since my dish is on the roof, I wasn't about to climb up there during the storm, but about five minutes with a supersoaker filled with windshield washer fluid did the trick. The one downside is that DirecTV is only selling series 2 TIVOs now and the 2's aren't as hackable as the series 1's. That's a minor quibble tho'.
I'm chalking this one up to the Discordians and Operation Mindfuck. Sometimes it's best to enjoy a moment of WTF? absurdity, smile and move on.
It's all part of Operation Mindfuck.
Hail Eris! Hail Discordia! Kallisti!