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06 January 2011

Learning by Frustration

I like things.  I like things that work.

This is a side-door, sneaky, dishonest way of saying that I hate things that don't work.

I'll get right to the point.  This morning I'm frustrated (again) by computers, specifically the two ancient laptop/notebook/whatever computers I own.  We'll call one the Little White One and the other we'll call The Other One.  They're both PCs, not Macs.

I know the Little White One is about six years old.  I'm not sure how old The Other One is, but I know it's four or more years old, and that's why both of them are ancient.  Not old, ancient.  That's just the way it is in the tech world, right?

I like to wake up about 4:00 a.m., walk a mile, come home, build a fire in the fireplace, find my glasses, and sit down on the couch with a Thermos of coffee and a little white Styrofoam cup that I keep refilling.  I do this because that way I can drink an entire Thermos of coffee one tiny cup at a time and not feel like I had a big ol' cup of coffee.  But mainly I do it because I have a very difficult time finishing things I start (including cups of coffee) and that way, if my coffee sits too long and gets cold, I merely take the top off the Thermos, pour the tepid coffee back in, and voila!  A Thermos of coffee just a little less hot than it was before, but still hot.

Back to the point.  The Little White One connects to our wireless internet connection, but it's really slow.  So all the stuff I said about wanting to be patient, well, I really don't want to be patient when it comes to computers.  I want them to work and I want them to work right now.

The Other One connects to the internet sometimes and sometimes it doesn't and I don't know why.  I do know that it frustrates the hell out of me because I get caught up in this vortex of trying to fix the connection, with just enough little pop-up messages to give me hope, and end up spending an hour or more accomplishing nothing.  Nothing except changing my mood from serene to frustrated and angry.


I have no more time to complain about this this morning, so I'm going to work.  


God bless the slow Little White One.