I don't know what this person did... but... WTF??

I asked a client to send me a log file today... I wasn't prepared for what I received.

The e-mail comes in with two attachments. I open them and they're both like this:
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Hmm... looks like Base64 encoding... No problem - I run it through a decoder and get this:

From:
Subject: Job Log: BEX02256.xml
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:01:26 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="unicode"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Location: file://C:\Documents and Settings\SUZANNE\Local Settings\Temp\logE98.htm
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198
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What?? MORE Base64 encoded text?? At least I now know that the data is HTML and this aberation is courtesy of IE7... Decode it AGAIN and get this:

ÿþ?
?
????J?o?b? ?L?o?g?:? ?B?E?X?0?2?2?5?6?.?x?m?l??
?
??
?
??B?O?D?Y? ?{?
?
? ?F?O?N?T?-?S?I?Z?E?:? ?9?p?t?;? ?F?O?N?T?-?F?A?M?I?L?Y?:? ?A?r?i?a?l?
?
?}?
?
?P?R?E?.?W?W?_?I?N?D?E?N?T? ?{?
?
? ?M?A?R?G?I?N?-?L?E?F?T?:? ?1?0?p?x?;? ?W?O?R?D?-?W?R?A?P?:? ?b?r?e?a?k?-?w?o?r?d?


What's with all the question marks??? Wash those out and I get:




Hey! Look! Semi-valid HTML code! Feed that to my browser and I get the log I'm looking for!

How the hell did a user end up with a question mark infested, double-Base64 encoded log file? I'm sure you can't do that by accident...

I am an Engineer....

I've been doing a great deal of thinking about my profession and myself lately. Interviewing other engineers, interviewing non-engineers. It's been a bit of a revelation. I hope this makes sense to most of you....

I am an Engineer; this means I can't look at a new device without having to know how it works. This doesn't mean that I want to know that pushing this button then this button will make it do something cool. I need to understand how the device actually works. If I don't have a basic block diagram in my head with 5 minutes I'm off to do research.

I am an Engineer; this means I'm always conscious of my methods for doing things and trying to find more efficient ways do to them.

I am an Engineer; this means I always insist on people explaining what they are doing and won't let them stop until I understand. This applies to everyone, especially repairmen. The furnace guy HATES me.

I am an Engineer; this means when I'm walking or driving I worry about my routing and whether it is the most efficient. Is it shorter to drive the classic "L path" (following the opposite and adjacent sides of a right-angle triangle) or should one make lots of small turns trying to approximate the hypotenuse?

I am an Engineer; this means that I'm lazy. Very lazy. I will spend 20 hours, figuring out how to do a 10 minute weekly process in 30 seconds, and another 20 figuring out how to never have to do it again.

I am an Engineer; this means that I think I'm pretty damn smart. I also make a point of surrounding myself with other people whom I think are pretty damn smart. If I choose to associate with you, I probably think your smarter than average, you're also likely to be an engineer.

I am an Engineer; this means that I'm always thinking about something. Whether it's something altogether new or a modification of an existing device there's always something rattling around in my head. Things come to me at the most inopportune times and while I'm better at filing them for later I will occasionally blurt out a new idea in mid conversation and ABSOLUTELY HAVE to explore it right away. This sometimes makes me miss meals (though you'd never know to look at me) or a night's sleep. Any time is the right time to innovate. This has been detrimental to most of my personal relationships.

I am an Engineer; this means when I was given a plastic screwdriver at age 2 I immediately began unscrewing anything I could get it into. This includes electrical switch plates. My crowning achievement was the disassembly of my crib. As my father was working nights I had to show my mother how to reassemble it.

I am an Engineer; this means that I follow a basic scientific method for most things. All engineering began as science. Engineering is merely APPLIED science. The science that actually works outside the theorists head. Proven, applicable, repeatable science.

I am an Engineer; I see that the world in composed of two typed of people. Scientists and Engineers and Everyone Else. I'm not referring to professional scientists and professional engineers. I'm also referring to the people who are curious about the world, who have to understand everything they encounter. Those people are the scientists and engineers, even if they're janitors or McDonald's workers. Just as those employed in engineering jobs who want to learn by rote... if X happens do Y. They are not engineers.

I am an Engineer. Not because I have chosen to be but because I have to be.