Career Change? Cable Monkey?

Today I wrote my manager at IBM to say that I would be interested in participating in a BlueGene install in the future. I think I am almost guaranteed to get accepted because:

• Part of the job is being a cable monkey, installing the machines as shown below. This can be done by anyone with two hands and a strong back.
  
• I have Linux skills which they need.
  

(Picture of a Blue Gene installation taken from c|net news.)

The only foreseeable problem I would have with this is that this job would take me far away from my family. Some installs are are in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), some are in Europe, and some are in far away places in the US. Also the hours are long and you tend to work Saturdays.

Sandy and the kids would be free to join me in my hotel room (but I would pay the airfare, of course).

I think that doing these would be good for the longevity of my career at IBM, but I don't want it to affect my family, I also think it would be fascinating to install the world's fastest computers all around the world.

I'll keep you updated!