A simple Glitch in your system.

As I may have mentioned before (many times) when it comes to computers I am quite illiterate. I know how to switch them on and operate them when all is well, but other that that, I am dependant on my children for help and assistance.
Well the other day when I went to connect to my Internet server it would not do so, saying it couldn’t make the connection. Normally I would have rung my son crying, “Help” but as he was coming up that night anyway, I decided not to bother him at work but wait till he arrived. Nonetheless I kept trying to connect on and off during the day. All to no avail.
When our boy arrived, he also had no immediate success and eventually rang someone for advice. Thus he was told that there had been a glitch in the Modem and all he had to do was switch the computer off, unplug the modem, wait 10 seconds and replug it in and it would/should start again. All of which he did and low and behold it was soon working again.
Again I was struck by the similarity we humans are to computers, or vice-a-versa! And how often we have unexplained glitches, where we too simply have to briefly at least disconnect ourselves, and then start again. Often with little or no change in our original Modus Operandi. Simply a little break away to recharge or reset our batteries before re- connecting to life again in all its complexities.
Me, I've just had a week away in beautiful cloudy and overcast Queensland for a week, and apart from the Sunburn, feeling the better for it too. Now maybe you can’t quite withdraw that far or even for that long, but maybe, just maybe, you too need to unplug too for while/ Maybe not a week, but much longer than 10 seconds too? What say you?
****As a footnote, it did the same thing the next morning too. But armed with the above information, which I followed to the letter, I soon had the Modem connecting again. And again able to e-mail again! Just showing that sometimes we need to do things more than one! Of course if it does it again tomorrow, then I know it is more than a minor Glitch and in need of more precise and specialist treatment.

Knowledge of your equipment or else have good Backup or else lots of Money!

Well I am back on line after an absence of some 30 hours due to some technological fault of some Kind in my computer. As I have said many times before, when it comes to computers I am totally technological illiterate as to it’s finer workings and leave that all to my son to fix up for me. This time with some help from his friends and the service provider’s technical service team, he got me back on line. As he works and lives elsewhere, I had to wait for him to find the time between his job and other committeemen’s, hence the longish delay. Of course I could have got someone from the Computer shop to come and check it out but at a cost of close to $100 dollars. Again, hence the delay as I waited for my son, who actually went out of way two nights in a row to make the time to come around and address the problem. The first time obviously without success. So again I am very, very grateful to he and his mates freely given help and assistance in my time of need.
Yes if like me, you don’t have great knowledge of your equipment, nor lots of money, it really pays to have a good support team to call on doesn’t it? And I really appreciate mine! But what about you? Do you really appreciate your backup team and tell them so? Or do you just take them for granted; Call on them when needed; and expect them to come running; and then ignore them the rest of the time?
Well today’s message is just a word of encouragement to you to be appreciative of your support or backup teams and to let them know personally that you appreciate them, as well as their help. So in closing, Thanks again Son. I not only appreciate you but love you too! Dad.

Computers! Great when working, not so great when not!

Well here I am again after an enforced Break. Switched my computer off as normal last Thursday night, but on the Friday morning, couldn’t switch it on no matter how hard I tried. Of course our one and only son and computer “fix-it” was away for the Easter weekend, so I couldn’t get any help there, could I? His older sister suggested ringing a couple of her/their cousins for advice and help, which I followed up on. Fortunately one was able to help me, just not the one I/we had thought of, that’s all.
Anyway he soon diagnosed that the problem was the power board and that I needed a new one, which of course I couldn’t get till the shops re-opened Tuesday on. Anyway he used his computer to open the files that I needed for Sunday’s Service and got me out of trouble there and then. Yesterday when the shops reopened I was able to get the new part and have it installed. So now it is now back on and working with a new Power board and me a few dollars lighter.
Anyway my problem on Friday was that I had material in the computer that I needed and no way of getting them out over the holidays with my son unavailable to help me and I had to turn elsewhere for help, with no idea where to turn too. Had my younger daughter also not been away for the weekend, I would have turned to her next.
In all honesty, had I not been in desperate strife, I would not have turned to my first born as she is not noted in our household as much help when it comes to problems with the computer. Helping use various programs and such, Oh yes, but providing solutions or help in fixing problems? NO! However she was able to point me in the right direction.
In trying to track down one of those person’s of possible help that she had indicated, I had to go through his house mate (and another relative,) to reach him, only to find that this first person, much to my surprise knew as much, if not more about computers, as the one I was trying to Contact. Although I know this young man very well and have called on him many times for help and advice with my fish, I was not aware of His computer competence too, and had always considered the other Guy to be the so-called expert.
I know I have written about this before, but I was again guilty of only seeing one dimension of a persons abilities and expertise and in my mind at least, didn’t think he could do much else, especially when he was overshadowed by someone else in that field.
What about you? Are you perhaps guilty of the same thing of overlooking someone’s expertise, simply because you associate them with some other area of talent and who are normally overshadowed in another field (which they might even be better at) because you automatically associate someone else as being better.
Last Friday I was guilty of under estimating the help that both my daughter and my Nephew were able to give. Yet both very graciously helped me despite my initial snub of them both. Thank you both heaps. I sincerely thank you both for your graciousness as well as your help!

Back On The Computer.

The other night my last-born came around and used my computer and switched it off for the night. The next Morning I could not open the system at all, as it kept claiming it was shut down improperly and I had to do certain things to correct this. However when I did those certain things nothing happened, so I rang my computer expert and He said, “Yeah Dad what have you done this time?’

So I explained my problem and he said he would call by that night to see what he could do, and he did. I had to go out to a meeting and when I came home briefly before going to another, I saw him sitting at the Computer. With his phone in one hand to his ear and his other hand tapping at the Keyboard. He had tried to fix it himself but it was beyond him and so he was on the phone to his Mate who works with Computers getting further expert advice. I am still not sure what the real problem was as when I got home the second time it was fixed and he was gone.

Isn’t my computer saga a little like life itself? It seems that things are going well for a while and we don’t need anybody’s help or assistance and then for whatever reason, maybe our own or someone else’s, things go wrong. Some we can fix by ourselves, but with others, we need to call in help, whether it is from family or friends. Usually we go with those we know and try to keep the expenses down. But at other times we need to call in more ‘Expert” help than was first available. Sometimes, like that night you can still get this expert help for free, but at others you need to pay for it.

So forgetting computers for the moment and looking at life itself, is there something in your life now that you need to get help with? Perhaps you have tried to fix it yourself and failed, and maybe it is now time to go to others for help. Maybe it is even time to call in the experienced experts, the “Big Guns” for help? Sure it may be expensive, but you are worth it aren’t you? What say you? Walter.