Sometimes technology empowers me. Things work smoother and faster and I can write, connect, watch, create and generally do and be more, as result of magic of technology.
Then there are times when technology thwarts me at every turn. Things break, slow down or just become ridiculously complicated. When that happens, technology can suck the energy out of just about every task big and small.
After months of everything working relatively smoothly, I seem to find myself thwarted by machines, captive to electrical conundrums, bogged down by bad connections and generally wading through the muck of technology gone wrong.
The televisions have had memory cards replaced, firmware upgrades and new panels installed. The cordless phones have taken to randomly deciding to let me know who's calling or not, as it pleases them. The programmable thermostat seems to want to decide for itself when the heat should go full blast or completely off. Bulbs in my bedroom and the backyard refuse to power up and provide light. My Blackberry's trackball has developed a sluggishness and a stickiness that makes me suspect that some of that nasty green goo from Ghost Busters is oozing just behind the faceplate.
But the most vexing problems are with my computer and its relationship to programs and the Internet. It's slow. Really realley sl-o-o-o-o-o-o-w. Which is maddening enough, but it loses things. It forgets things. It doesn't want to connect to sites and people it should connect to. It misbehaves, acting like it doesn't care to help me do the things I need and want to do. This defiant, sluggish laptop was purchased in May of this year.
I've tried all the usual (but not extreme) remedies that those of us with an above average comfort level with personal technology know to do in these situations. I've tried them two and three times or more.
It might be time for more drastic measures. But before I go that far, one of my business partners offered up his "Technology Cleansing Ritual".
I think it might be worth a shot.
When you are in the snowy cold of Minnesota, take your laptop, remove any jewelry and do the following:
1. Gather freshly cut parsley and place it in a pan of distilled water. Let it soak for nine minutes. Sprinkle the water throughout the house while visualizing a calm environment.
2. Go outside, face Seattle and chant the following: I will uphold the Redmond creed. High in spirit, I shall succeed. Power of the Elements Five, will help my data stay alive. From grains of earth to the moving air, past the burning fire that magic flares, flow with water, lakes, and streams; around the spirit's aura and dreams. Keep my karma high aloft and let me play with Microsoft.
3. Avoid eating any liver or organ meat for one month.
You should be good to go!
J
This morning, I went to get my camera out of the car, and discovered that my car was locked tight and I had no idea where the Key was.
I finally got back in touch with the HR lady who called me. She was very friendly, in a way that I found difficult...Ie: she made small talk that was inquiring about my life. She asked if I had been at work, and I said, no...clearly if I had been at work, I would STILL be at work. But she's not really in touch with the Nurse schedule. She then asked if I was out Christmas Shopping.... And I am now trying to think of something to say. In truth I have been cleaning out my Kitchen and paying some bills.... So I finally just said, "Oh trying to get the house ready for the Holidays. Thank GOD, (really, I do thank God) she said, Oh I did a lot of that over the weekend too...So having identified with me, we moved on to the Job offer.
Oddly I woke this morning to dense dense fog. The entire town has disappeared. Amazing.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Well, it may not be the worst book I've ever read, but it popped immediately into my mind as one of the worst:
The First Apostle written by A James Becker. It really really stinks. It follows a Davinci Code type plot (which by the way is not one of the best books ever either). The worst part about the book is that the author feels compelled (Or was he paid?) to place brand names for laptops and cellular phones throughout the book. Me thinks he was paid.
It was trite, banal and just commercialized. I'm learning not to buy books at the supermarket.
Watch this stunningly beautiful, breath-taking vision of Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica animated by Lena Gieseke.
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
“This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.”
Since I returned to Florida, it seems the weather has not cooperated with my photographic aspirations.
This sucks.
I guess I should be optimistic, but it's hard. I know that's dramatic, but guess what folks, I don't have THAT much to be really excited about.
I remember talking to one of my best friends at the end of 2008, and she said to me, "2009 is going to be a big year for you, I just know it."
Surprise. It wasn't. I moved out with a friend, she moved, I moved back to my mom's. I re-upped at school, again. I guess I am that bored. (Although, I really do want to teach.) And I was broken up with severely, by the man I thought I was going to marry. Wow. Rough.
I was just talking to another of my best friends a couple weeks ago who (without knowing what the other friend said) predicted that "next year is going to be a big year for you."
Well, shit. I sure hope so.
Whew. What a Week. It was exciting, but not really a good kind of exciting!
