DM - is HFA similar to Asberger's? I think that's also a form of autism. Difficulty with social interactions is one of it's hallmarks.

I had a pretty sheltered childhood and no siblings so I got used to being content by myself early on. I eventually learned how to cope but it always seemed like more of an effort than it was worth. Unless my fiancee is around, I go for days without any kind of interaction and barely notice.

V - I can really relate to your comment about being irritable, except I don't think that's changed very much as I've gotten older. Some of the meds I take seem to help with that though - especially lithium and amphetamines. Although the latter tends to wear off and can cause you to be super b*tchy if you forget the second dose (or in my case, third dose). In ADHD kids they call it the "afternoon nasties".

I've thought about doing some kind of independent pc repair/tech support work but I'm not sure how I should go about starting something like that. I haven't even made the attempt up until now because I never know from day to day how I'm going to feel and I have butt load of my own stuff I need to take care of. But I've been taking an Alzheimer's drug the past few weeks (Namenda - to counter effects of brain damage from encephalitis) and seems to be helping so in another month or so I might be up to it.

(1) twilyth wrote:

From the reference Vester has found in Wikipedia:
Some clinicians deny that AS is differentiated from other autistic spectrum disorders at all. Instead they refer to Asperger's as HFA, or treat the diagnoses interchangeably . . .
So does the medical research facility where the diagnosis was made, the clinic of the university of Cologne in Germany.

And further from the same reference:
Some positive characteristics include things such as enhanced mental focus, excellent memory abilities, superior spatial skills, and an intuitive understanding of logical systems.
In our information society this makes it possible to have an independent life with at least enough financial resources.

(2) twilyth wrote:

So do I.

I'm hard-pressed to find a compelling reason to start a computer business. If you have space for a shop and don't have to make a profit for a while it is worth trying. There are some things about working on people's computers that try my patience. It is hard to compete with the image of the big box stores with guys running around in company cars. I've fixed a few computers that have been to the geeks first and I'm not favorably impressed with what I've seen.

House calls are difficult. People aren't there or want me to show up after supper most of the time. In their homes they expect me to be in and out in just a few minutes when I need two or more hours. I prefer to take the computers home with me. Here's an example: Customer bought two new computers for his kids for Christmas and wanted them added to his wireless network. The router in the large home is on the second floor at the far end of the house from the two kids' downstaris bedrooms. Signal was fair to poor. I couldn't convince him to get a repeater. Both new computers needed to be registered, recovery disks burned, wireless adapters added, router configured PPPoE (didn't know his password and had to call his ISP), the fourteen year old son wouldn't get off his computer to let me remove Norton, and on the second evening there, I found that he also wanted me to connect his XBox to the internet...more router changes...and added a cross-connect cable to the nearby PC. Get the picture? He would have been better off to run LAN cables than to use wireless in his large home, but he'd already bought the wireless router. I eventually brought each of the computers to my house to tweak them properly.

I ran into a new computer last weekend from BestBuy that would not let the user with administrative privileges assign a password. I don't know how they managed to do that on Vista Premium Edition. I added another user with administrative privileges, assigned a password, and deleted user BestBuy. That is an example of a new computer leaving the store without being prepared for the new owner. I've seen similar things at other big box stores. New owners aren't happy to spend money for things they thought they already paid for.

The computer owners who need us the most are the least likely to pay us for our services before their computers will not run at all. I saw a Windows XP computer without SP2, firewall, or antivirus. After removing over 3500 malware items, it still had two rootkits to be removed and one onerous browser hijacker. I told the owner that I'd rather reinstall Windows XP. He didn't have an installation CD.

Ever seen Windows XP on a computer with 128 MB RAMBUS RAM? Can you sell someone $250 worth of used memory for a P4 @1.4 GHz? I can't because they could buy a new Intel dual core HP computer with 2 GB RAM for about $800.

I haven't even mentioned the cost of running a business: Forms, records, business license, taxes...

Here are two good forums: http://aumha.net/index.php and http://www.duxcw.com/yabbse/index.php

It is the same for computer repairs. Fix the CPU fan and its your fault that the hard drive quits. They even call about connectivity problems after weeks of connectivity.

Auto mechanics have the same problem. I replaced a VW clutch once and the customer came back the next week saying that I messed up his brakes. Really!!! I once worked as a service adviser/manager for a new car dealership and I'm no longer surprised at anything customers say. The last thing I'd ask is for a repair shop to provide my old parts. We had tons of old parts! Customers sometimes thought we were telling them of additional problems because we wanted the work. Most of the time we didn't need more work, but we had to tell them when we saw unsafe conditions.

A Mitsubishi 3000 GT customer called complaining that his car wouldn't go. The tow truck driver told me that the car was high-centered on a parking curb at a notorious night club. The clutch was burned out and the customer wanted it replaced under warranty. He had also complained after a wreck the previous week that the throttle had stuck near the same night club. He was more reasonable two days later after he got his head on straight.

Another customer drove his new turbo Eclipse until the engine oil turned to something resembling liquid asphalt with chunks in it. The engine still had the break-in oil filter on it at 25,000 miles. Over my objections, his engine was replaced at no cost.

V - gooooooh teeeeaaaam!

People are always suspicious about things that they don't understand. Considering the number of people out there who would like nothing better than to rip you off, there's some basis for that I suppose. I have an old Honda with the original equipment alternator. It finally gave up the ghost over the weekend and I had to take the car to the repair shop I've been using for nearly 20 years. The total bill came to over $300 - about 2/3 of that being labor. If I had gone anywhere else, I'd have sworn they were overcharging me. But I know the owner is honest and his mechanics usually do an excellent job. Unlike a lot of shops, each mechanic spends a couple weeks a year in training programs to keep up with the technology. I know it's a rough job because there is almost no room to work with transverse mounted engines.

But it's amazing what some people can get away with by working the system. It's hard to belief Mitsu shelled out for a new engine in that one example. But it might make sense from a PR point of view. They did have a run a problems with their cars about 10 or 15 years ago as I recall. Most companies probably would have said "screw it", but the Japanese companies know the importance of marketing and of being patient. One person telling everyone how great Mitsu is beats any other form of advertising on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

I practiced law for a few years before I got into IT and I had one case where a guy was busted for several ounces of pot. I had virtually no court experience but he wanted me represent him - we had known each other in a former life. Also, I was a lot cheaper than getting a real lawyer. So we argued that the cops had no right to stop him. He had just been walking along the sidewalk, but a local security guard had called to report him as a "suspicious person". When he was stopped, the cop ran an id check and it turned out that he had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on a summons issued for loitering or some such nonsense. It was about as serious as a parking ticket, but even municipal courts get p*ssed when you ignore them. Once they had a reason to arrest him, they were entitled to search.

So the only way to get the evidence thrown out was say that the stop was invalid. I'll skip the details, but the cop told the truth about what happened (a rare occurrence) and since there was a US Supreme Court case directly on point, the judge had to throw out the evidence.

Well, from that point on, this guy thought I was a notch above royalty and kept sending me clients - eventhough there were plenty of other attorneys who had much more experience.