If At First

Posted on Friday, Feb 25, 2022 by Ned Bellavance

Crap. You found us. We were trying to hang out in an obscure corner of the internet where we could ramble on like two old fools sitting in rocking chairs toasting with wine coolers. And now, we have an audience.

The Past - In which Chris and I start a podcast for an indifferent entity that actively disliked it.

Since you’re here, I suppose you’ll have to indulge this elderly curmudgeon with a tale of the good ole days: when slacks were pants, oranges were a garnish, and technology just worked. Chris and I worked together at a VAR (Value Added Reseller, although the added value is often just a surchage for acting as a middle-man). We would have long animated conversations about the evolution and future of technology, why it was all terrible, and how we were all doomed (🎶 doom, doom, da-doom doom-doom 🎶).

At a certain point we decided to turn our incoherent ramblings into slightly more coherent thoughts delivered via an audio medium. You know, like a focused beam of concentrated tech and disdain. An audio L.A.S.E.R. if you will. I believe the kids call it a podcast? Thus Buffer Overflow was born in late 2016 and ran for just over 200 episodes into March of 2021.

Alas, all good things must end. I left the VAR in May of 2019 and it simply stopped making sense - not that it ever made sense - for me to contribute to a podcast owned by a company I did not work for and wasn’t being compensated by. With a tang of bittersweet melancholy, I resigned my duties as cohost of Buffer Overflow, which effectively ended the show.

Shortly after the show ended, the VAR redesigned their website for the umpteenth time, and in the process removed Buffer Overflow from their list of podcasts. I was shocked, indignant, perturbed even! But ultimately, they owned the IP (“intellectual” property) and I did not. What I do have is the full catalog of mp3s, so if you really wanted to hear some of the magic, I know a guy 😉.

R.I.P Buffer Overflow 2021. 🪦 We always said we were doomed, you made it a reality.

The Present - In which Chris and I start a podcast for an indifferent world that will remain utterly ambivalent.

Chris also exited the VAR life in March of 2022, and we thought it might be a good idea to revive the Buffer Overflow concept under a new moniker and new management (us). This time we were going to retain our extremely valuable intellectual propery and us it to make 💰? Well, at least we’ll own the IP.

And thus we have the Chaos Lever podcast, launching sometime in the Spring of 2022. Just like Buffer Overflow, our goal is to discuss enterprise technology with a critical eye, review current events and place them in context, and be as flippant to each other as possible.

Will you tune in 📻? Will you lend us your ear 👂? How about a pancreas? This pandemic has not been kind to my internal organs.

- Ned