http://www.sol.net/tmp/nanog/toolbox2.jpg Ahhhh sweet memories....the 3COM/USR screwdriver. Nice to see someone still has one. -- Jim Wininger On Feb 18, 2012, at 9:41 AM, "Joe Greco" <jgreco@ns.sol.net> wrote:
Do you guys ride your bike to the colo and show up in shorts and a t-shirt? Who goes to the colo without things like their laptop?
Quite frankly, when the colo is 800 miles away and you've flown out to do something important, only to be tripped up by a lack of some stupid $something, and it's 11PM at night, you get a very different (*very* different) outlook on it all. Especially with the way it is these days to fly, you don't want to be carrying odd stuff with you if you can avoid it. We'll ship gear via FedEx or UPS. We rely on existing on-site supplies to cover most unexpected stuff.
It is easy to justify keeping a well-stocked toolbox with a ton of generally-useful tools, and also some specialty tools, for example.
Our Ashburn toolbox contains, among other things:
Laminated maps of the area with distributors like Graybar located (now probably useless, 8 years out of date, anyone familiar with NoVA will understand, haha), Notebook and pen, pencil
Precision flat & Phillips screwdrivers, Mini Maglite, Sharpie RGB Markers, Utility Knife (cutting boxes), Xacto Knife set, hex bit extensions, DB25 pin inserter/extractor tools, scissors, surgeon's clamp, metal nibbler, wire stripper, various general crimp tools, several pliers, several needlenose/ bent-nose, flush cutters, adjustable wrenches, Victorinox Swiss CyberTool, Milwaukee Power Screwdriver #6546. 22" (not a typo) hex Phillips bit.
Outlet wiring tester, telephone line tester, RS232 snooper, AUI xcvr (don't laugh, I actually used one within the last 5 years), wire wrap tool and wire, pencils and sharpener, anti-static wrist strap, logic probe, tool magnetizer, digital multimeter, soldering iron and supplies, electrical tape, punchdown tool, heat shrink tubing kit, hex key sets, socket drive sets, medium screwdrivers.
Tap & drill set, 20' tape measure, hammer, rubber mallet, big pliers, big utility knife, torp level, various bit kits, large adj wrench, tongue and groove pliers, big wire cutters/needle nose, spare charger and battery for power screwdriver, small cordless drill, crimpers, first aid kit, big MagLite, test lead kit, serial adapter kit.
Now I will concede that we've used a lot of this stuff only a few times over the years, and some of it maybe even never, but the point is that it really stinks to be on-site and in-need without an easy way to address the need. It's really amusing that there've been people who have made it a habit to borrow tools out of our toolbox "because we have just about anything."
Since you guys like pictures:
http://www.sol.net/tmp/nanog/toolbox1.jpg http://www.sol.net/tmp/nanog/toolbox2.jpg http://www.sol.net/tmp/nanog/toolbox3.jpg
We also keep some small roughtotes with:
Fiber supplies Copper supplies Power cords etc Server parts Telecom supplies
So, yes, sometimes I show up at the colo in shorts and a t-shirt. Matter of fact, most of the time I do. It's more fun that way.
... JG -- Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net "We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN) With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.