Random thoughts
22/12/14 05:26
There is a peaceful calm about our house this morning. The pace of our Christmas preparations is about to seed up. Christmas Eve is a hectic day for us, with all of the preparations for the services. There are candles to be put out, lights to be checked, music to be rehearsed, liturgy to be reviewed, people to be recruited, instructions to be given. I think that I am better able to deal with all of the hubbub now than was the case years ago. My family got used to me being uptight on Christmas Eve and waited patiently for the services to be over and me to relax for the celebration of Christmas. These days, I don’t take myself so seriously. I’m a bit better at accepting mistakes and glitches.
After all, God has never demanded perfection of us - only faithfulness.
Still, I do notice that my anxiety levels rise when I am thinking of the big 7pm service on Christmas Eve. I do want things to be right. I do want them to go smoothly. I do want the timing of the star to be correct. I do want the baby to be comforted.
But that is a couple of days away and preparations are on track. Today is a bit slower pace. Everyone else is in the midst of their Christmas preparations and they don’t have time to stop and visit.
So, in place of the usual, this morning’s blog will be devoted to topics that have run across my mind, but will probably never make the blog. In most cases I don’t have more than a paragraph to say on the topic.
Why don’t all pajamas have pockets. I know. They’re for sleeping. What do you need to have in your pockets when you sleep. And, of course the answer is nothing. The problem is that I don’t just wear pajamas for sleeping. I’ve been known to put them on and sit and read a book for a while before crawling into bed. When I am on call, which is about a quarter of the time, I have to have my phone at hand all the time, day or night. There’s no place to put the phone if I have no pockets. How much extra cloth does it take to put a single pocket on a pair of pajamas. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t destroy the economy if every pair had a pocket.
Why is it so hard for people in the computer industry to admit mistakes or to say that they don’t know. There is a short list of things that I can do to check the Internet connection at the church before calling the provider. They include rebooting routers and computers, checking our network and making sure that our equipment is working properly. I do this every time we have a problem before calling anyone. When I get on the phone with the technician, the first thing they assume is that the problem is caused by our equipment. Even if I know for certain that the problem is not with our equipment, they won’t believe me. And it isn’t just the cable company. I recently spent several weeks exchanging e-mails with the technical support of a software company showing them how their most recent “upgrade” failed to work in situations where the previous version had worked. They blamed the brand of computer I own. They blamed the size of my files. They blamed the way I had my data organized. They came up with a new thing I should try for every e-mail. After several weeks, I finally got an admission from them that there was a problem with the new version, that their engineers were aware of the problem, and that a fix would be included in a subsequent upgrade. At least I got them to admit that the problem was caused by their software and not me. Subsequently, two upgrades have been released without fixing the problem. Chances are they can’t figure out how to fix the problem.
When we hire a technician to work on the network at the church, the first hour (for which we are paying), the technician will repeat all of the things I’ve told him or her that I’ve already done. They don’t seem to believe that I have any competence with the machines. They don’t seem to trust that I might know something about how to administer the network.
The bottom line is that if a computer or a piece of software requires an engineer to use, it isn’t useful for us. We need equipment and software that can be used by normal people. The failure to produce such products is an engineering flaw, not a failure of the end user.
If the priceless and irreplaceable statue of David by Michelangelo is in danger of falling because of micro cracks in the legs and frequent earthquakes in the area, why don’t they gently lay it down in a safe location while they build a new plinth? The Italian government is set to spend the quarter of a million dollars required for the plinth, but it is going to take a year or so to complete it. Why risk the statue while the plinth is being made.
Actually, I doubt that the statue is in much danger. I just like using the word, “plinth.”
Why is it that with over 17,000 acres of the San Joaquin Valley in California devoted to the production of apricots the only dried apricots we are able to find are produced in Turkey? I’ve no problems with Turkey producing apricots, but why do the dried ones have to take such a big trip to make it to our markets? You’d think someone could produce a dried apricot a bit closer to where we live.
And none of these topics is earth shattering or very important. They are just the crazy thoughts that go through my mind. Writing them down is a way of getting rid of them so that I can focus my attention on more important thoughts.
After all Christmas Eve is the day after tomorrow! I’d better get to work.
Just one more question: Why is is that this blog sounds a bit like something Any Rooney might have written?
After all, God has never demanded perfection of us - only faithfulness.
Still, I do notice that my anxiety levels rise when I am thinking of the big 7pm service on Christmas Eve. I do want things to be right. I do want them to go smoothly. I do want the timing of the star to be correct. I do want the baby to be comforted.
But that is a couple of days away and preparations are on track. Today is a bit slower pace. Everyone else is in the midst of their Christmas preparations and they don’t have time to stop and visit.
So, in place of the usual, this morning’s blog will be devoted to topics that have run across my mind, but will probably never make the blog. In most cases I don’t have more than a paragraph to say on the topic.
Why don’t all pajamas have pockets. I know. They’re for sleeping. What do you need to have in your pockets when you sleep. And, of course the answer is nothing. The problem is that I don’t just wear pajamas for sleeping. I’ve been known to put them on and sit and read a book for a while before crawling into bed. When I am on call, which is about a quarter of the time, I have to have my phone at hand all the time, day or night. There’s no place to put the phone if I have no pockets. How much extra cloth does it take to put a single pocket on a pair of pajamas. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t destroy the economy if every pair had a pocket.
Why is it so hard for people in the computer industry to admit mistakes or to say that they don’t know. There is a short list of things that I can do to check the Internet connection at the church before calling the provider. They include rebooting routers and computers, checking our network and making sure that our equipment is working properly. I do this every time we have a problem before calling anyone. When I get on the phone with the technician, the first thing they assume is that the problem is caused by our equipment. Even if I know for certain that the problem is not with our equipment, they won’t believe me. And it isn’t just the cable company. I recently spent several weeks exchanging e-mails with the technical support of a software company showing them how their most recent “upgrade” failed to work in situations where the previous version had worked. They blamed the brand of computer I own. They blamed the size of my files. They blamed the way I had my data organized. They came up with a new thing I should try for every e-mail. After several weeks, I finally got an admission from them that there was a problem with the new version, that their engineers were aware of the problem, and that a fix would be included in a subsequent upgrade. At least I got them to admit that the problem was caused by their software and not me. Subsequently, two upgrades have been released without fixing the problem. Chances are they can’t figure out how to fix the problem.
When we hire a technician to work on the network at the church, the first hour (for which we are paying), the technician will repeat all of the things I’ve told him or her that I’ve already done. They don’t seem to believe that I have any competence with the machines. They don’t seem to trust that I might know something about how to administer the network.
The bottom line is that if a computer or a piece of software requires an engineer to use, it isn’t useful for us. We need equipment and software that can be used by normal people. The failure to produce such products is an engineering flaw, not a failure of the end user.
If the priceless and irreplaceable statue of David by Michelangelo is in danger of falling because of micro cracks in the legs and frequent earthquakes in the area, why don’t they gently lay it down in a safe location while they build a new plinth? The Italian government is set to spend the quarter of a million dollars required for the plinth, but it is going to take a year or so to complete it. Why risk the statue while the plinth is being made.
Actually, I doubt that the statue is in much danger. I just like using the word, “plinth.”
Why is it that with over 17,000 acres of the San Joaquin Valley in California devoted to the production of apricots the only dried apricots we are able to find are produced in Turkey? I’ve no problems with Turkey producing apricots, but why do the dried ones have to take such a big trip to make it to our markets? You’d think someone could produce a dried apricot a bit closer to where we live.
And none of these topics is earth shattering or very important. They are just the crazy thoughts that go through my mind. Writing them down is a way of getting rid of them so that I can focus my attention on more important thoughts.
After all Christmas Eve is the day after tomorrow! I’d better get to work.
Just one more question: Why is is that this blog sounds a bit like something Any Rooney might have written?