Glitches
17/07/13 07:24
You probably noticed that the photos that accompanied yesterday’s blog were rather strange. In my blog software there are two beautiful pictures – one of an orca whale surfacing, the other of a sunset from my kayak in Fidalgo Bay. For some reason, the blog site is displaying the wrong images and one of them is distorted. I did three different uploads of yesterday’s blog page and I even changed the file names of the photographs to see if that would help, but I was unable to correct the glitch.
And I am on vacation, so I didn’t invest more time or energy in correcting the problem. In fact I went paddling instead. And after I went paddling, I had breakfast with my family and we went out to Discovery Park and unloaded the boats and rowed around the area. It was a delightful day. I didn’t give any more thought to the problem with the blog. And we were tired so we slept in a bit this morning.
I guess technically the problem isn’t really a “glitch.” A glitch is a problem that is short-lived and therefore difficult to diagnose. I tend to use the term for all of my computer problems especially those that I am not able to diagnose. Problems that are difficult to diagnose are a part of computing. It is one of the frustrations of computers for those of us who use them in a business setting. At work, when we have a computer problem, I try the “fixes” that I have learned from experience. There are certain things that often provide a remedy for the problem. I know a little bit about network management. I can install software and re-install it when required. I know how to format a hard drive and I can even replace computer components when needed. The problem is that I have learned most of what I know about computers simply from working with them. As a result, I often don’t know why things aren’t working. So I simply try a variety of possible solutions. Often I get lucky and the problem goes away. Often I don’t really understand the cause of the problem.
When we run into problems that I cannot solve, we call a technician who comes. I think the service call rate for technicians is around $60 per hour. Almost always our technicians don’t know what is going on when they arrive. Almost always they start by trying the things that I have already tried. It is very frustrating for me to be spending the church’s money to have someone repeat things that have already been done. I try to carefully tell technicians exactly what I have already done to avoid this duplication of work, but it almost never works. There is something in the nature of the technicians that distrusts customers – especially those who haven’t had any formal training in computers or network management.
But computer system repair often involves coming up with a solution to a problem with an approach that is less than systematic. It isn’t a matter of diagnosing the problem and then addressing it. It is a matter of trying a series of “fixes” until one works. Good technicians apply their “fixes” in a rational order so that they don’t repeat steps. When a technician is unable to fix the problem the solution they offer usually involves replacing components – sometimes even complete computers. We have a backup computer in our system at work with two functional network cards that the technician swore had to be replaced because it was outdated and it would no longer support the network cards. He recommended replacing the computer because one network card had failed and the other was bound to fail soon and he had run out of slots for network cards. He never explained why he didn’t remove the old network card freeing up a slot. We did purchase a new computer, but I kept “messing” with it until I got it working. We have continued to use the machine for a year since that incident and, as I say, both network cards (including the one he said was ruined) continue to work.
This isn’t the first time that a technician wouldn’t believe me when I reported what I had done to address a problem and then went on to propose a “solution” that clearly demonstrated that he didn’t know what the problem was. The technicians understand that at some point buying a new computer is less expensive than paying a technician to chase an elusive problem when they don’t understand what is going on in the first place.
I am perfectly capable of not understanding what is going on all by myself.
And occasionally, I replace hardware or software simply because I don’t understand what is going on. In that, I’m a bit like the computer technicians.
All of this is to say that I don’t know why the pictures failed to load to the web site correctly. I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution. By the time I do you will have gone on with your life and with the blog and won’t go back to see the pictures. Perhaps I can work the pictures into some future version of the blog.
In the meantime, I’m on vacation. So I’m not stressing too much about the glitch. I’ll continue to write the blog and I’ll try to post some pictures as well. When I get home, I’ll archive a bunch of old blogs and create additional server space and decrease the number of images in my uploaded files. That will probably address the problem without my ever knowing for sure what was its cause.
On the other hand, it is possible that I will come up with a solution as we travel. If so, it won’t be the first time that the solution has come to me when I wasn’t thinking about the problem. Sometimes I just need a little space from the problem to come up with a solution. Sometimes it takes creative thinking – approaching the problem from a different perspective. And vacations are great places for creative thinking.
So no pictures today – not even some strange ones. And who knows what surprises will show up tomorrow.
And I am on vacation, so I didn’t invest more time or energy in correcting the problem. In fact I went paddling instead. And after I went paddling, I had breakfast with my family and we went out to Discovery Park and unloaded the boats and rowed around the area. It was a delightful day. I didn’t give any more thought to the problem with the blog. And we were tired so we slept in a bit this morning.
I guess technically the problem isn’t really a “glitch.” A glitch is a problem that is short-lived and therefore difficult to diagnose. I tend to use the term for all of my computer problems especially those that I am not able to diagnose. Problems that are difficult to diagnose are a part of computing. It is one of the frustrations of computers for those of us who use them in a business setting. At work, when we have a computer problem, I try the “fixes” that I have learned from experience. There are certain things that often provide a remedy for the problem. I know a little bit about network management. I can install software and re-install it when required. I know how to format a hard drive and I can even replace computer components when needed. The problem is that I have learned most of what I know about computers simply from working with them. As a result, I often don’t know why things aren’t working. So I simply try a variety of possible solutions. Often I get lucky and the problem goes away. Often I don’t really understand the cause of the problem.
When we run into problems that I cannot solve, we call a technician who comes. I think the service call rate for technicians is around $60 per hour. Almost always our technicians don’t know what is going on when they arrive. Almost always they start by trying the things that I have already tried. It is very frustrating for me to be spending the church’s money to have someone repeat things that have already been done. I try to carefully tell technicians exactly what I have already done to avoid this duplication of work, but it almost never works. There is something in the nature of the technicians that distrusts customers – especially those who haven’t had any formal training in computers or network management.
But computer system repair often involves coming up with a solution to a problem with an approach that is less than systematic. It isn’t a matter of diagnosing the problem and then addressing it. It is a matter of trying a series of “fixes” until one works. Good technicians apply their “fixes” in a rational order so that they don’t repeat steps. When a technician is unable to fix the problem the solution they offer usually involves replacing components – sometimes even complete computers. We have a backup computer in our system at work with two functional network cards that the technician swore had to be replaced because it was outdated and it would no longer support the network cards. He recommended replacing the computer because one network card had failed and the other was bound to fail soon and he had run out of slots for network cards. He never explained why he didn’t remove the old network card freeing up a slot. We did purchase a new computer, but I kept “messing” with it until I got it working. We have continued to use the machine for a year since that incident and, as I say, both network cards (including the one he said was ruined) continue to work.
This isn’t the first time that a technician wouldn’t believe me when I reported what I had done to address a problem and then went on to propose a “solution” that clearly demonstrated that he didn’t know what the problem was. The technicians understand that at some point buying a new computer is less expensive than paying a technician to chase an elusive problem when they don’t understand what is going on in the first place.
I am perfectly capable of not understanding what is going on all by myself.
And occasionally, I replace hardware or software simply because I don’t understand what is going on. In that, I’m a bit like the computer technicians.
All of this is to say that I don’t know why the pictures failed to load to the web site correctly. I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution. By the time I do you will have gone on with your life and with the blog and won’t go back to see the pictures. Perhaps I can work the pictures into some future version of the blog.
In the meantime, I’m on vacation. So I’m not stressing too much about the glitch. I’ll continue to write the blog and I’ll try to post some pictures as well. When I get home, I’ll archive a bunch of old blogs and create additional server space and decrease the number of images in my uploaded files. That will probably address the problem without my ever knowing for sure what was its cause.
On the other hand, it is possible that I will come up with a solution as we travel. If so, it won’t be the first time that the solution has come to me when I wasn’t thinking about the problem. Sometimes I just need a little space from the problem to come up with a solution. Sometimes it takes creative thinking – approaching the problem from a different perspective. And vacations are great places for creative thinking.
So no pictures today – not even some strange ones. And who knows what surprises will show up tomorrow.