Very Cool

You may already know that Toronto summers can be hot, muggy, and sweltering. My apartment seems to channel all the heat from everywhere else, right into my work area. Having the computer on all the time doesn't help, either.

So today I finally got a new air conditioner installed, and life has become very cool indeed. My son, the future Avionics Technician, has helped me fly by doing all the installation and fine tuning on the machine. He's quite clever when it comes to making square pegs fit into round holes.

Remember Apollo 13? The scene where the techs are instructed to come up with a way to make square filters fit into round scrubbers, or vice versa? Apart from that being a fighteningly laughable design flaw, seen too often when the various contractors on a project don't talk to each other or know what the others are doing -- aka "specifications problem" -- it is a testament to technical ingenuity. We know now, of course, that they were successful and the Apollo 13 astronauts made it home safely.

While my air conditioner is not quite as high profile as a NASA command module, it is still mission critical technology for me. I spend a great deal of time at the computer, and during the summer, it can be brutally hot. RJ had to figure out how to make an air conditioner that was designed for double-hung vertical windows fit into a sliding horizontal window aperture. Half a roll of duct tape later, we have lift off! IIRC, duct tape figured prominently in the Apollo 13 solution as well.

That's the mark of a great technician. He not only fixes the problems he can see, he fixes the problems he can't see, and has the creative vision to use the tools and apparatus at hand to make a solution where none seems possible. Clever guy, my eldest son. Thanks, RJ!! Now I can have a cool summer, and do cool work. Totally!

And We Both Laughed

I mentioned yesterday that I knew God has a sense of humor. I know this for a fact. I have proof. But first I have to tell you the story.

A few years ago I was speaking at the STC Conference in Anaheim. On my way back, I stopped off in Utah to see some friends. They gave me the grand tour of the state, and we had a great time. One of the sights we went to see was Goblin Valley, an area of stone formations with unusual shapes.

If you remember the movie Galaxy Quest, you'll recognize this area as the setting for their conflict with the rock monster and those cute pig lizards.

It's typical for visitors to play hide and seek among the rocks. There are well-worn paths so you can't really get lost. At one point, I wanted to get a picture of me with some of the rocks, but I couldn't find any of my friends, or anyone else at the moment. My camera had a time-release shutter setting, so I concentrated on finding a flat rock about waist height on which to set the camera so I could run around in front of it when the shutter clicked, and take my own picture.

I was intent on finding the proper place to set the camera so I didn't pay much attention to the background. When I saw the right rock on which to set the camera, I activated the timer on the shutter, hustled to a position directly in front of the lens and hunkered down so my face would be in the shot.

It was only much later, when the film was developed, that I noticed what else was in the frame.

No human hand took that photo. No human selected the location -- I wasn't paying the slightest attention to the rocks around me. The rock itself was placed there millions of years ago, and of all the thousands of rocks in that place, this particular rock was the one that happened to be in my photo.

So that's how I know that God has a sense of humor and is willing to share it with me. We had a laugh together. And now you've been let in on the joke. Cool, eh?

Extreme Irony

I know that God has a sense of humor. More on that in a future post. Today, however, I want to point out that the universe has a sense of the ironic. Yesterday, I posted about the Blessings of Adversity. On my tombstone is going to be inscribed "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?". I was not inviting adversity, mind you. Just pointing out a couple of things.

But that was sufficient. Middle of the night last night I started having pain in my leg and foot, which has bothered me before. By 5 a.m. I was unable to walk and glad to have the appropriate drugs on hand. 12 hours later I'm still not able to put weight on it. I know the only remedy is really time and rest. That crimps my style, however. I don't like being invalided, even for a short time. I really am moving at the speed of light -- with all the digital projects I'm involved in. So this leg thing is very annoying, to say the least.

Ironic, don't you think? Speaking of irony ... that was the one of the topics I spoke on at last year's Pop Culture Conference. You can see the presentation on my Conferences page. Scroll down to Tribes III: L33TSpeak and Extreme Irony -- Metacommunicating the Subculture. (Egad, sounds awfully academic, dunnit?)


I'm out of the closet, and the laundry room, and into the urban jungle. I am an extreme ironist!! Codename: ExPRESSive. You didn't know I was an extreme athlete, did you?

Considering how much I like housework, that's true irony.

The Blessings of Adversity

As some of you know, I have another blog called Adversity. If you want more adversity, go there! No, just kidding! It's meant to help people who are experiencing adversity, in whatever form. Call it an Internet act of service.

There may be some thoughts there that help you, or someone you know. I am well-qualified to write on this topic. Qualified by experience. In spades. Everything from being shot at in the Middle East, to having my business partner destroy my company. Fun stuff, in retrospect. NOT.

In The Da Vinci Code post, I mentioned that one of my interests is Spirituality. Adversity is only good because it brings you closer to your infinite source. Consequently, I have spent a lot of time pondering the nature of my infinite source. More on that later.

Because of an overwhelm of projects, and I guess a lot less adversity than at other times, I have not updated that blog for a while. Today, I did. Something triggered a thought, that prompted a blog entry.

Feel free to share it with someone who needs it.

Customer Care Less

Fortunately, I seldom have occasion to contact technical support for computer-related issues. I usually have enough knowledge, experience, or web search skills to track down the answer and resolve hardware and software problems. 30 plus years of being a gadget junkie does that for you.

But today I exhausted my knowledge and patience on a TV Tuner/Audio issue (cable tv input to tuner, video plays with sound but a lot of static on Wave channel). Yes, updated all the drivers, reinstalled all the software, checked all the devices, tested all the inputs, ad nauseam.

So I created a support ticket on the Tuner card manufacturer's website.

<**sigh**>

When I next checked my e-mail a short time later, there was an answer, complete with plenty of exclamation marks that followed "Thank you for choosing XYZ Co.!!!"

I rather expected them to say "it's a third party issue", which they did.
I even expected them to say "try this and if it doesn't work, get back to us", which they did. I almost expected the impersonal voice in their response.

But what I didn't really expert, or want to hear, was a completely care-less attitude. "In our experience this is a third party issue. Try to resolve it with the manufacturer of your sound card. If this doesn't help to resolve your issues, please respond to the ticket once more and one of our representatives will assist you."

Their support desk autoresponder picked up "audio" in my subject line and kicked out a stock reply. Try to convince me it didn't. Will I follow up on this issue? Yes, but only when I'm good and angry, now.

In the course I teach on digesting technical information, PWR381 for York University, I call this "suppressive writing". It is intended to make you stop contacting them. And it works. Insurance companies use it all the time. It's very effective.

It also shows a complete lack of customer care.

Funny how many companies have changed the names of their customer/technical support departments to "customer care" departments, but haven't actually instituted any customer "caring".

If I had received a response (even from an autoresponder!!) that said "Hi, Jim here from XYZ Co. Sorry you're having a problem with your [TV Tuner Audio]. We've found that most of these issues can be fixed by changing something having to do with your [sound card]. I'd suggest you try contacting the manufacturer of your [sound card] and see if they can help you make these devices get along. If that doesn't work, contact me directly by replying to this e-mail and I'll help you sort it out. I appreciate your choosing XYZ Co. products!"

Completely different tone. Completely different impact on the customer. What do you think?

Another Blog?

Someone asked me, "Why do you need another blog?" File that under "people unclear on the concept". :-) Seriously, though. This blog is the pointer to all the others. If you only subscribe to one, this should be it.

As I mentioned in The Da Vinci Code post, I have too many interests to rein in, and each one has its own stream of information. Just as it would be confusing and unproductive to twist all those themes together into one, there needs to be a central broadcast that provides some form of linkage. Isn't that what the blogosphere is all about -- linkage?

Continual "look at me, look at me" blogging can get tiresome -- gosh, I should know about that! Alternative points of view may note that an internet diary is nothing more than a paper diary updated to use newer technology. There will always be personal expressions in these media. Some of them are outstanding; some of them are a crushing bore. The good ones will rise to the top of the heap, as did Samuel Pepys and Anne Frank in their time and medium.

I'm always telling my students: "Hey, do something significant with your writing!" and "Think about what you're doing, and why!". Makes me check my own motives every now and then, and inspires me to have a plan, or at least a vision that goes beyond my nose.

Lessons of a Sunday

Dontcha just hate it when you go to church and all the lessons are about YOU? Oh, not me specifically. Nobody stood up and said, Beth, you need this lesson. But I got the message all right.

First, I haven't been as good as I should be about supporting something I'm involved in that I don't entirely agree with. By profession, I am an educator, a consultant, and consequently somewhat of a perfectionist. I'm a little kinder than to say "My way, or the highway", but too often I secretly wish some people would just hit the road, if you know what I mean.

Today I was reminded that if the project itself is worthy, I should hang in there, continuing to be supportive even when others are struggling to get it right. I know not to do it for them -- 24 years of motherhood teaches you that pretty quick -- and I have enough restraint not to just abandon them to their misery. But sometimes I'm not as helpful as I could be.

The other lesson was to be more patient when waiting for answers to prayers. When I worked for the Pacific Geoscience Center I learned about geologic time, which is very, very slow. Once you grasp that, you can begin to understand the Lord's timeline, which at times seems to be even slower. Remember, He's taking all eternity into account, too, not just Earth time. I definitely have to work on my patience. Of course, with broadband expectations, who wants to wait for dialup anymore?