…of a nerd.

This is what I have been elbow deep in the last two days.

Lovely, isn’t it?

** Update:

As Rob mentioned below, this isn’t exactly the recommended way to route cables, let alone mixing cable types (ha!) which I suppose in a real data centre is a large no-no.  But this is a government data centre, and the prevailing theme here is to do the least amount of work possible, so this is what happens after 10 years or so.  You are free to formulate your own metaphor from this picture, having it symbolize the red tape and bureaucracy most of us identify with when we think “government”.

Ali sent along a sample of what happens in her tech writer world.

She helpfully mentions:

Notice how eight cables per side rail are invisible behind 1/8 of an inch of rack flange. Also observe the tidy, physics-defying 90-degree cable bends which are helpful in these situations.

I will have to amend our real life data centre to reflect the manufacturer’s view of these sorts of things ASAP.  Most notably absent in Ali’s picture is the patina of grime and dust that dulls every surface in our location, befouling the fingers of anyone foolish enough to try to impose order in the chaos.  Trust me, I know all about the grime.