Conference 7.286::digital

    K.O. might well have been fishing out one of the other windows... Now I
    understand the attraction people have for working in the mill. Mind
    you, from what I have heard of the Mighty Asabet river, I'd pass on the
    fish dinner. 
    
    q
    

    You forgot to say "and thanks for all the fish".
    

    Amazing the fisdh came that close since they would have been busy
    dodging failed memory boards that were being flung from 5-5.
    
    

    I recall stories of H744 type powersupplies, being flung out the
    window, to determine of the ice, was still skatable towards the end of
    winter...
    
    q
    

    Sorry to see go one more person who really knows what a Mill Rat is.
    The other day I came across a piece of mail from way back listing what 
    made up a "real" Mill Rat.   For all you newcomer MBA types, it was
    about not wearing socks that matched ties (some not wearing socks!),
    entering the cafeteria through the exit door, and knowing what was in
    the basement of building 3.  
    
    Ah! those were the days!!!!!
    
    

   >>>> KNOWING WHAT'S IN THE BASEMENT OF BUILDING 3??????????
    
    That's us! Our lab (Workstations and Servers) is located in building 3!
    Hmmmmmmmm, we do have a water closer (opening a certain door shows a
    stream running along the wall), certain fuzzy bugs walk across the lab
    floor from time-to-time, and once in a while it smells rather....funky.
    BUT, we in the lab don't bite (hard)......
    
    
    So, please do tell, what have we replaced?
    
    BTW: We might not fish, but soon the tadpoles will hatch.
    
    
    Always smiling			lynne

    How about when the machine shop was on 1-3 . not only did the floor
    bounce around , but after a rain storm you could watch the pigon dung
    run down the inside walls . The aroma was fantastic .
    
    C.L.T. 1972/1992 R.I.P (RETIRE IN PEACE)

yeah, but what's in the basement of 21 is much more interesting...

    .8...speaking of fish stories, I'll bite ;^)  WHAT'S in the basment of
    21?  As an ex, but always loyal in my heart Millrat...currently
    residing in the more elegant, but totally characterless, halls of the
    Marlboro Campus, I always tell my fellow DECies, that when all is said
    and done, when ya work for DEC, not only do all roads lead to Maynard,
    but more specifically, they lead to the Mill.
    I inhabited 1-5, with my back to a window, overlooking the pond, and
    when that summer sun came a pourin' in...I used to run my entire
    repetoire of bad words that I couldn't open a window or two, and GET
    SOME AIR!  I was *told* that the windows were sealed shut, so as to try
    and slow the torrent of chips, terminals, typewriters, you insert any
    rumour you have heard here, into the totally innocent and blameless
    pond.  Hey, maybe they make great fish apartments.
    Awright, who has seen the water wheels in the basement of 4?
    Hm-m-m, .0 was "true confessions from a SERPer", seems we have
    digressed into "true confessions of a Millrat".
    .0 don't know you, but good luck in your new life outside of DEC.
    
    Ta,
    
    ...mms

    Hum! fond memories of hanging out in the clock tower, reading the
    carved names from the 1920's and watching the babes on main st.
    on a saturday afternoon while my PDP-8 compiled furiously. Those
    were the days. What the HELL happened??????

    
    	I can remember our Field Service "office" in the Mill, on 3-5...
    	chicken wire strung across some two by fours. We fondly named
    	it "The Cage" (remember, Jack?). We would plastic up our
    	window in winter time, and put a fan in it in summertime.
    	Those were the days.....
    

Well, I knew this company was going downhill when

-- they put signs in the Mill telling you which building you were in.

-- I got lost in ZK because the folk who painted the stairwells didn't
   know the resistor code.

-- surplus moved from the attic of what-was-it, building 4?

-- and I finally located building 8, or was it 11, perhaps?

Martin-with-one-day-to-go.

For thos of you waiting with bated breath, it was a Trick Question....















The "basement" of building 21 is the Mill Pond.

    I used to work in Bldg. 3-6 in the Mill. In the winter it was HOT up
    there (hot air rises...).  The windows were supposed to be sealed shut.
    Actually, they had screws through the bottom. I used to just unscrew
    the bolts in the morning, and seal them up at night. At least that way
    I got some fresh air. The floor was also rather warped.  If I opened
    the drawer to my desk, I had to hold on to it, or it would roll shut on
    its own!  The place did have character. I swear I think some of those
    old wooden floors still had lanolin in them. It was much safer to wear
    sneakers than dress pumps there. 
    
    To get back onto the confessions track, I'm not retiring, but I guess
    that was mine. 
    
    I think there should be some general message across the network wishing
    all the retirees well... Good luck!
    
    Kathleen in Georgia
     

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm........... last day and still can use tube.
    
       O.K. some oldessssss but goodesssssssssss
    
    The little pub, fish n chips, a PICTURE of beer fer lunch.
    
    The red door
    
    The avelon (sp)
    
    The P.C.
    
    Stretches
    
    Bug house corner.....(for REAL mill rats only)
    
    Alphonses (sp)
    
    The wall at the curch ....... ( yo check out the 10 man (man not dude)
    
    Mini skirts in the stairwell.................YES !
    
    Time cards.........the kind ya punch .
    
    $ .90 meals in tobys cafe
    
    A parking spot close to the door
    
    Ya knew almost every by name
    
    A  good mornin by K.O. himself
    
    K.O. in his escort wagon
    
    and on and on..........................
    
                 BUT MOST OF ALL ............
    
    EVERYONE had good moral, worked hard because they had an incentive,
    and worked AS A TEAM FOR DEC., not the cost center.
    
    Before i carry on to much .....................i will end with
    
    PLEASE.......... some things should NEVER change.
    
                       I FOLD !
    GOD BLESS !
                   
                         A PROUD MILL RAT
    DAN

    Sigh...all of this is bringing back such memories!!
    
    RE.15   Don't you mean K.O. in his "Pinto" wagon?
    
    Marie

     
    
                          RE: .16
    Yup, Pinto fer sure....................... pinto/man, escort/dude.
    
    Ya can take the MAN out of the pinto, but you WILL NEVER take
    the pinto out of THE MAN.
    
    Regards  Dan

    I remember after a nite of revelry at the Avalon, swimming the mill
    pond to get back to our student digs on Thompson Street.  The 50 cent
    quohogs were great there too.
    
    Less fondly I remember the student "apartments" right next to the
    Avalon, otherwise known as Rosie's Cathouse.
    
    Then there was Jack Shields holding court every Thursday and Friday
    nite at the Powdermill.  I won't comment further on that one.
    
    The night we were moving Ed Services from ML5 to brand-new PK02, and 
    got caught drinking beer in somebody's VW van during a break.  My
    career almost ended precipitously.
    
    Mostly I remember being excited about going to work each
    day....literally would wake up early rarin' to go!  Haven't had that
    feeling since about 1978.
    
    Gotta go now.....trout are biting.
                                      

    Re .18:
    
    >Mostly I remember being excited about going to work each
    >day....literally would wake up early rarin' to go!  Haven't had that
    >feeling since about 1978.
    
    What did you in?  VAXes or DECstation 78s?  :-)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    How about not being able to go from one end of building 3 to the other
    because of the small companies that still had space in there?


    How about shark fins and submarine conning towers floating in the mill
    pond?


    How about the fuss during the oil embargo because DEC had the Christmas
    lights in the tower lit ----- Powered by the water wheel generator in
    the bottom building 4?


    How about the tunnels between 3 and 7 when you didn't know if the wet
    spots were water seepage from the pond or acid from the board shop?


    How about in 6B3 (above the carpenter shop) where in the summer you
    never stuck your hand into a box first thing in the morning without
    dumping out the overnight collection of bugs and beasties and in the
    winter you worked with gloves and boots because of the drafts around
    and through the window casings that carried in the snow?


    How about the times you worked around the clock and on holidays and
    weekends to get a project done ---- and the rest of the TEAM including
    the manager was right there with you. And then the personal thank you's
    from Jack Shields, or Don Zyreski, or Hal Long, or Ken Olsen.



    Not old or good looking enough yet to qualify for SERP but here long
    enough to have been through the good times of the seventies and early
    eighties and the @##$ of the late eighties and now nineties.


    Best wishes on any upcoming adventures to all SERPers

    Last entry from a former mill-rat:
    
      - There was a seagull that used to appear outside one of
        the windows of building 5-5 every day around coffee break  
        time.  Someone would give him a donut, which the seagull would
        carry in his beak and drop in the water.  Then the gull would
        wait for little fish which came up to nip at the donut.
    
      - And one year there was a terrible infestion of spiders in mill.
        Purchasing actually cut a P.O. for 50,000 praying mantises
        which eat spiders.  At the last minute it was decided that 
        the mantises might cause more alarm than the spiders.
    
      - And then once in a while we would find our desks covered with
        dead flies of some black fly species.  They thrived in the lanolin
        that was imbedde in the floor cracks. 
    
      - I once heard a guy roaring with laughter.  He had just moved
        into a new, freshly painted.  He said he was laughing because
        they had even spray painted the cobwebs.
      - Once we were in a meeting when a bat started buzzing around
    
    So many fun stories... great memories.
    
    My last note
    
    Dimitri Dimancesco
    4402
       

Rosie's? boy, does that bring back memories.

But, the disgusting horror of Rosie's (one cut above the Railroad units)
was balanced by the wonderful Wooden Shoe and their 40 cent Vienna pastries.

Almost done cleaning out my mail file...

Martin.

    With two hours to go, I chose not to SERP and turned in a hand-scrawled
    revocation.  (The reason was that the job offer I wanted had just been
    approved by David Stone.)

    But I can remember the mill in 1964 when Digital didn't own most of the
    buildings and one had to walk through mostly dark to get from building
    12 to building 5. Those unused buildings at night really gave a
    feeling of adventure.
    
    So how many noters over 50 are still left?

    Tom,
    	It is good to see that you are still here. So many very good people
    that I have worked with over the years are serping out.
    
    Dave
    

    Tom
    	thankgawdyou'restillhere.
    /andy

    i wonder how many others that choose not to are now wishing they had or
    soon will.