Technical Denial

It never fails to entertain my darker side when I realize that the internet, wifi, and computer communications including cell phones hang by a thread of improvised human understanding. I say improvised because most of us know the basic overview of how the whole system works, but the minute the flow is interrupted our actual knowledge is put to the test. When this happens we are exposed as knowing just enough to operate the machine, not really control it.

It all started when I decided to secure my wifi network at the house with a pass word. A year ago when I set up the network it was at least a day of frustration . To reach the back of the house, which includes the master bedroom, the signal has to go around a large triple fireplace brick structure which renders it too weak to be affective. I extended the network with another wireless router at the back of the house to boost the signal. If that sounds like I know what I am doing it's a sham. I know more than the average person about Macintosh because it is dyslexic friendly and doesn't mind a trial and error learning curve; but once it is up and running I promptly forget the steps needed to repeat the operation without the same trial and error frustration.

For a few moments it seemed to be going fine. I set the new pass word, updated the base station, and clicked continue. However, when it restarted it showed only the one station in the office and not the one in the back. What followed was hours of cursing, calming, correcting and coercing the entire system, continuing until late into the night. In trying to connect to the back of the house, I rendered the entire system inoperable. I was left trying to solve the problem of a blinking yellow light on my base station rather than the necessary non-blinking green light. I had no internet, on any computer, I couldn't get online, check my email, write this blog... at midnight it seemed hopeless. I thought to my self, "Don't panic, I am sure there is help for this situation on line....(panic) Wait, I can't get on line....". With that I accepted the fact that I would be Internetless at least until the next day, when I could call my friend Andrew, an actual Mac Genius. So, I turned the entire system off, thinking that after it had a chance to rest over night it would start to operate properly.

It is easy to turn off the mechanical machinery, but the human worry machine is not so accomodating. I finally drifted off to sleep. The next morning with a fresh perspective and the knowledge that my Mac genius friend was just a call away, I began the process again. The rest had not changed the attitude of the machinery. I was exactly where I was the night before.

Over the phone, Andrew gave me a new method to try and after an hour the base station was back on line, but the network still did not work. Two hours later after resetting the factory defaults it was back and all working again.

I was thrilled to be back on line, back in communication with the world after being denied for 24 hours. I was now able to do anything I wanted to online. I breathed a sigh of relief, poured a cup of coffee, and read the morning newspaper. It wasn't the fact that I needed to actually do anything that required the online network, it was the frustration that "it" wouldn't let me if I did.

A great lesson was learned. I learned I have much more determined energy to overcome the idea of being refused something than the need to use it when it is allowed. They say computers are great learning tools, this was an unexpected and more esoteric course.

As you were,
Jay