choose your barrels wisely

I work on a project with a very nice middle aged single mother who makes up what she lacks in contemporary computing knowledge by posessing decent interpersonal skills, which is something most computer engineers (at least around here) don't have. Recently I was recruited for a project that she's working on with 'finance people' to help get their numbers in order. When I got the gist of the task we had, I realized it boiled down to simple algebra and getting data from computers. It comes down to, at least as far as I can tell, a bunch of people with a horribly disorganized computer infrastructure doing weeks of work by hand to accomplish something that would take mere seconds of a computer's time.

Their computer problems run deep- they have systems that have probably been in use since I was in diapers (you know, like, two years ago)- and I am only working with them part time so I really can't solve everything for them. However, being the most computer-savvy of the bunch, I have been able to do what I think of as very simple, even menial, things that have blown them away. They are so impressed with my 'computer wizardry' that I was told at my last meeting that my name comes up frequently in their meetings and that they want to erect a statue in my honor over there. They also alluded to trying to poach me from my current project and double my salary, which would certainly make me re-think this whole school thing (hey, man, everyone has a price).

My point? Sometimes it's good to keep some well-stocked barrels of fish and a fully loaded automatic weapon in your life. It's good for the ego and can even help out your wallet a bit.