The same wavelength
My spouse phones me from England. He left in a “hurry.”
“I left a few things behind by mistake.”
“Nothing important I hope?”
“Paracetamol, Excedrin Migraine, the New Scientist.”
“Oh good, nothing important then.”
“What do you mean? They're all important.”
“Um ……well you can buy all that over there.”
“Oh……I suppose.”
“They do have shops too you know.”
“Yes…….I suppose…..anyway I was wondering if you could do a couple of things for me?”
“Of course, just name it.”
“Could you take the oscilloscope out of the garage and put it somewhere safe.”
“What is an oscilloscope and why isn't it already safe in the garage?”
“Well you often leave the garage door open…….you forget to close it………which means that anyone could just walk in and steal the oscilloscope.”
“Of all the things that someone might want to steal from us, you think that their first choice would be the oscilloscope?”
“Yes.”
“?…..well don't worry, since you're not here I'm being much more careful about security.”
“And at night?”
“Ooo yes especially at night. Don't want to invite the attention of the local axe murderer do we?”
“Is there a local axe murderer?”
“?”
“Um…I mean……who is the local axe murderer?”
“?”
“Er………”
“Tell you what, why don't you go and rest. Stress and jet lag can play havoc with your brain waves.”
“Right.”
“Ooo by the way, what is an oscilloscope?”
“It's an instrument that displays the level of a signal relative to changes in time. A voltmeter is fine for measuring steady levels like test tones or for checking torch batteries, but it is impossible to observe a signal’s instantaneous value or to determine whether you have a square wave or a sine for that matter.”
“Of course, silly me. So what do you use if for?”
“I use it to check newly designed circuitry. The new circuits misbehave because of design errors, bad voltage levels and electrical noise.”
“Misbehave?”
Maybe we have more in common that I thought?
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Yes, silly you! Everyone knows what an oscilloscope is, don’t they? And I hate it how those new circuits misbehave sometimes. SO annoying.
???????????
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Sounds like my husband… scary.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
lol, men are weird. I had no idea what an oscilloscope was, either.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Well obviously a burglar would kill to have one of those ossy things. Obviously.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I know what an oscilloscope is, my dad was an electrical engineer.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
My husband is an ex-engineer and I had no clue! LOL Of course, they’d have to *find* the darned thing in our garage, first!
Glad hubs is coming home soon! You know, to protect you fromt he neighborhood axe murderer! LOL
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Nerds are so sexy/cool!
Talk to me about that oscilloscope, baby.
Over the phone even!
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I’d give up chocolate for an oscilloscope. I’d give up smoking for an oscilloscope. I’d give up other people’s turn-signals for an oscilloscope. I’d turn off the answering machine and fend off telemarketers and loan-collectors in person for a whole month for an oscilloscope.
OTOH, I wouldn’t want to steal one.
But that’s just me.
:-p
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I’ll sleep so much better tonight knowing what an oscilloscope is. lol! Even though he explained it over the phone I’m still confused.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
what does an oscilloscope garner on the black market? can i hide it under a trenchcoat?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Maybe the oscilloscope’s in the garage because it’s been misbehaving.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 pm
[...] trip to a restaurant with a gentle stroll? I’m on my own at the moment as their Dad had to “leave” for “England” [...]
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 am
hehehehe..
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 am
Wow an oscilloscope? I havent thoight of those since leaving university. I think Madonna was still like a virgin at the time. Men Without Hats had not yet become Men without recording contracts!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Ooh, oscilloscopes are fun! (I used to use one in the lab.)
Have you seen this tee shirt? Too fun!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/sciencemath/60fd/
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
This oscilloscope sounds like something out of that TV show Lost!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
My husband thinks I’m inviting in the lastest axe murderer when he is out of town too. Sadly, I still have not idea of what an oscilloscope is. I even had to copy and paste the word. Time to go Google it!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Also, if you’ve got the right model and know the secret button combination, some oscilloscopes have Tetris! (I empathize with your husband on this, it’s such an everyday tool for electrical engineering types, it’s hard to remember that it isn’t something everybody is familiar with – like talking to someone about a microwave and getting blank stares.)
March 6th, 2008 at 11:46 am
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March 18th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
This is the way things should be, get off what we are on now