Work != Thrilling

I have a dull job.

I'm not complaining. There is a proverb: "May you live in uneventful times." This makes me a lottery winner with my career.

I came to the startling conclusion when we saw the article "10 common mistakes when flashing a BIOS"

A BIOS is a chip that tells your computer it's a computer not a toaster (No toasters don't have a BIOS). The computer finds out what parts it has from the BIOS. Think of it as a morning self-affirmation. "I'm a computer with a hard drive and video and memory. I am good. I can do this. I can make Vista work.".

Flashing a BIOS is simply loading a newer program on the chip. If this fails the computer will revert to believing it is a toaster. At this point you throw out said computer after you pull your files from it.

Typical instructions include maybe 3 steps. This is not a difficult job, but it can result in about 300 dollars of replacement cost.

The instructions we found at work included the phrase "not for the faint of heart".

...

Ok. I have done things in my life that were "not for the faint of heart". Serving on a warship in a tropical storm is not for the faint of heart (or stomach). Being beside my wife as they carved out a shriveled albino gnome out of her was not for the faint of heart (or stomach). Inciting an incipient spin in a Cessna 172 was not for the faint of heart (or stomach).

Maybe we should just change the phrase.

The instructions went on to implicate there were 10 COMMON ways to mess up this procedure.

10?

Here are the ones we came up with:
1. Unplugging the power to the computer when the BIOS is updating (despite the clear warnings to the contrary).
2. Removing the disk from the computer when the BIOS is updating (providing the small file was not already loaded to memory, which it certainly would be)
3. Pouring coffee on the computer when the BIOS is updating.
4. Cutting power to your building when the BIOS is updating.
5. Loading the wrong BIOS (despite the fact most programs loading the BIOS won't allow this to happen).

Aside from the power problems (and the coffee) I don't think I COULD mess up flashing a BIOS if I tried. I would let my 7 year old do it. I would let the 5 year old try but she'd pull the power just to be funny and make Daddy's forehead veins show.

Fact is my job is so boring that $300 damages counts in the same league as activities that sideline you for Life Insurance.

In my opinion, running a program on a computer whose worst case scenario includes a visit to the Future Shop is ....

On reconsideration, flashing the BIOS isn't for the faint of heart.