Houston, We Have a Techie
During the nine years Dan Goldin was head of NASA, he famously demanded the agency do things “faster, better, cheaper.”
After stepping down from that post in November, he has had the chance to apply that mantra while buying an array of computer equipment. Ironically, while administrator of NASA, Goldin rarely used a personal computer.
Goldin, 61, who was a mechanical engineer and executive at TRW before going to NASA, lives in the Washington area. He is a senior fellow with the Council on Competitiveness research group and is weighing other options in the private sector.
DESKTOP: It’s kind of an oxymoron. I went to NASA and went into a tech hiatus. As someone who worked for the president, I did not want to use e-mail.
My conversations needed to be protected and secure in order for people to have confidence in me. I had to deal with the lives of astronauts and a variety of serious matters. I didn’t want these things to be found later.
Question: You didn’t use e-mail for mundane matters?
Answer: I’m a very verbal person. I want to talk to people directly.
Q: Even for things like travel arrangements?
A: That’s why God gave us fax machines.
Q: So now you are going tech.
A: I bought a Dell 4100 with a 19-inch, flat Trinitron screen. It has a 40-gigabyte hard drive, 256 megabytes of memory. I’ve got a DVD, CD-burner, speakers. I’ve got everything.
I’m a researcher. I read computer magazines and checked with buddies and decided to go with Dell because I was looking for reliability and they had a high rating. I was willing to pay a little more for that.
Q: So what are you going to use it for?
A: I’m not done yet. Initially I bought an HP machine that was a combination fax, printer and scanner, but it was too big. So I bought a printer from Epson for $250 and then for a fax machine I bought an HP 1120. I can’t believe I remember all these stupid model numbers.
Q: If your consulting gigs don’t work out, you can work at CompUSA.
A: I really had to dive into this thing. I used to have a staff of 19,000 [at NASA]; now I have a staff of one--me. I have to be equipped for writing, communicating, making presentations. I got a digital camera too.
I just left a job that I loved, but it was 14 hours a day, seven days a week with unbelievable stress.
I’m going to take it slow before deciding the next step--I’m talking to investment bankers and venture capitalists and techies. There might be a major company that needs to be fixed. A start-up. As the Boy Scouts say, “Be prepared.”
I still have to decide which Internet provider to go with and then I will order DSL. I’m on the five-yard line, ready to go for the touchdown.
LAPTOP: An 8100 Dell with a 15-inch screen. The only attachment I didn’t get for my computers was a Zip drive. I figure I will get one external one and use it for both. That way I can easily take information back and forth between them.
HAND-HELD: I got a Compaq iPaq because it uses a Microsoft operating system. I wanted everything to be compatible. Then after I met with entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley and saw how they used the blackberry, I got one of those, too. I plan to use them both for six months and see which one I like better for quick e-mails on the road.
Q: How much did you spend so far?
A: When you add everything up, about $6,400. I had figured it would cost me $7,000 and I have a little more to go, so I think it will work out to just about that.
Q: Are you worried everything will become obsolete at once?
A: I’m always going to stay a step ahead of the curve. As each piece goes out of date, I’m going to replace it. You have to pay for productivity. Seven grand is not bad if it makes me as efficient as three or four people.
Q: Have you started using this equipment?
A: It just came, you should see all the boxes. The UPS man delivered it to my home and my wife asked him to take it upstairs. He said, “Are you crazy? It’s too heavy.”
I’ll tell you the one problem I had with Dell. I was looking at their site on a friend’s computer and every time we went there, the prices had changed by hundreds of dollars. So I called and got a real live person. He said they had been having some trouble with that. Duh.
They need to do a better job with how they display their products and all the different combinations you can get.
Q: So now you are set?
A: There’s one thing I would want to get in the future.
For the last two years I was at NASA, I had a video set up so that on a flat screen on my desk I could talk to the astronauts as they got ready for a mission.
It was not just talking--the resolution was so good I could look into their eyes and see the stress. I needed to know what was going on with them.
Q: Did you ever make a change in a mission because of what you saw on that screen?
A: I don’t comment on those things.
GADGETS: I’ll tell you a story. Seven years ago, the stereo my wife and I got when we got married finally broke down and I went into a store to get something new.
The salesman asked me what I wanted and I said, “A turntable, a tape deck and an amplifier.” And he just laughed and said, “We don’t have turntables,” and he told me about CDs.
I had been so immersed in my job I didn’t know about them, but I got one. Now turntables are making a comeback.
Q: In your recent buying spree, did you buy anything just for fun?
A: No. I prioritize. Right now I have to focus on getting these things for my work life. There will be time for fun later.
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As told to David Colker
