I returned from San Francisco, via Houston, late last night. Both lunch and dinner provided courtesy of Continental Airlines. The food in First Class scares me, yet I feel compelled to eat it for fear of appearing ungrateful. The dessert, however, is sublime.
On the way from San Francisco to Houston I chatted with my seatmate, Ms. 4D. We talked about work; at that point I realized once again the utter futility of trying to explain to anyone exactly what I do for a living. It's not that I don't enjoy it--far from it, I don't know anyone else who has the level of freedom I do, and actually likes (most of the time) going to work. The body of my work just defies accurate one-word summarising. If someone tells you they're a Nuclear Physicist you probably have no idea what precisely they do but you at least have an idea.
If I tell you I'm a Crestron Programmer (or Automation Programmer or AV Consultant or...) I usually get a blank stare; if I tell you that I do high-end automation programming, and happen to throw in that cursed "Home Theater" phrase -- which is a bad idea to begin with since I don't work that end of the industry -- I invariably get questions about things like surround sound. If I tell you I work in high-end video and audio conferencing I either get a blank stare or a response like last night, "I make /videos/ too".
That response isn't really inappropriate or unexpected-- but it demonstrates that short of taking 20 minutes to explain exactly what I do to someone who really doesn't care, no one will ever understand my work.
I don't know if there's a problem with this-- rather, I think there isn't a problem with this, but it would be nice to be able to label my employment etre.
Hmmmm....
Tonight: Blossom.
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