Reboot

My laptop is dying a slow death. The optical drive (CD/DVD) doesn’t work, it starts up about half the time and takes forever the other half, it runs too hot, and today I discovered that the built-in webcam no longer ‘exists’ as far as the computer is concerned.

It is old enough and I’ve made enough upgrades that HP doesn’t want to touch it. I scoured the web most of the afternoon looking for help on the webcam issue because I need it for a project. Found a users forum where two people have the same problem with the same machine and no solutions.

Going Amish

There are days when the promise of technology is a noisy gong or clanging cymbal, and you just long for the ‘days of simplicity.’ Things weren’t fancy, and often could be a little uncomfortable, but the pace was slower, the needs usually less, and the reality of interdependence with your neighbors was great.

Today was one of those days where more time was wasted than things accomplished, all because the promise of technology fell through. Devices refusing to be on speaking terms because one thing got updated and the rest couldn’t hang, aging devices on the verge of obsolescence and silicone senility, and non-existent or callously cavalier support that doesn’t really try to solve your issues.

A former colleague had as his email sig file, “Computers were designed to help more people waste more time, faster.” Amen.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening helping friends build cattle pens, then run the calves through the chute to give them medicines for worms and pink eye. It was a long hard day, but there was a sense of ‘mission accomplished’ with the ability to look at what our hands had done. Yeah, we made heavy use of tractors, trucks, ATV’s, generators, power tools, arc welding, but we also used hammer, nails, post-hole diggers, horses, rope and other manual tools. The cell phones were usually an interruption. It was nice.

It was also in the 50’s and 60’s instead of the 90’s and 100’s. It was sunny, not rainy. It is funny—no matter how pointless or significant our work may seem, how old-fashioned or cutting-edge, the Curse is found there too. What makes us keep going? Why do we keep striving against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?

I can only conclude that either 1) we don’t know what else to do, or 2) we have a vision, a goal, that drives and compels us to push over, past or through the obstacles of this life.

How can we help our students find their vision and draw strength and dignity from it? How can we inspire them through our example? How can we point to the Creator and Sustainer of all things, through whom we have the power and command to overcome?

SDG

Computers

The hard drive on my laptop has been filling up and also failing slowly over the last several months, so I’d bought a new, larger drive for it and an upgrade to Win7 and waited for the semester to end to install it. I decided today was the day to take the plunge, and, of course, since it is a computer I’m dealing with, it went smooth as silk.

The computer wouldn’t let me make back up disks of the original recovery partition. Then when I put the new drive and the new operating system DVD in, nothing happened. I tried a variety of tricks to get something to work and nada.

I go to campus to the department IT shop and experienced what I call “Mechanic Syndrome.” I start up the computer for the techs and the DVD boots up and asks if I want to install Win7.

In the intervening hours, I have installed the OS and many of the main applications I use and am now restoring my data, settings and documents. It looks like it will take several days for everything to be restored and cleaned up properly. Indeed, in order to post this, I had to restore certain things first.

A colleague in grad school had as his signature file on email, “Computers were designed to help more people waste more time faster.” That bit of truth is so solid, it belongs in the Bible. Imagine the shock scholars would have if it were found on a newly discovered manuscript of Mark’s Gospel, in red letters no less.

Actually, it is in Scripture in Ecclesiastes. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What profit has a man from all of his labor in which he toils under the sun? (or by the light of an LED screen!)

“What could be so hard? It’s just ones and zeroes…”

{Remember, be sure to check in Christmas Day…}

SDG