Little Mysteries

I believe that life is full of little mysteries. Whether it be the mundane “Where’s my keys?”, the exciting “Blind date? Wha?”, or the unusual “What the hell is wrong with this piece of shit” (in reference to car/computer/gadget), they fill our days, our lives, and through the process of elimination, we figure them out.

Well, that or Google.

Today I spent half an hour (or longer, I wasn’t counting) working on a preferences problem in OSX. Not “just” a preferences problem, it was a problem that had to be fixed with lots o’ Googling and plenty of sniffing. Sometimes what may lie just beneath the surface might as well be 10,000 feet below you, because reaching blindly toward it won’t get you any closer.

Another example: Annie has developed these little bumps on her back. Small red bumps, 3–4 per clump, and we have no idea where they came from. Last night we noticed them, as well as the fever Annie was inducing, and with some Tylenol she felt better and was sent off to bed. Today she is lethargic, quiet. I talked on the phone to her, with little response. I finally got her to respond to, “You’re not feeling good?” “No,” she replied weakly. Again, another mystery.

Throughout our existence we find all kinds of mysteries. The world of computers is nothing if not a mystery to be solved, and that is partly why it intrigues me so much (and my career has went the path it has). I love learning systems, behaviors, and methods. Between those three things you can figure out just about anything in regards to computing, and by observing them over the years I have learned quite a bit. Most people have caught on not to click on this window or that disk or that picture or wait until the CD drive spins up. These are behaviors learned time after time.

Of course, not all behaviors are good ones. Many people still send along those “joke chain letters” filled unfunny gags and dozens of fresh email addresses that spammers can’t wait to get their hands on. Many people still believe that hitting the monkey with the boxing glove will bring them to a “special reward zone” filled with cash and prizes. Others still believe that their machines are immune to spyware and malware, usually when they are infested with it.

Mysteries are solved through the same ideals that drive computing: systems, behaviors, and methods. These three things hold the keys to just about any automated system out there, whether it be a printing press or a computer. But computers are built on the idea of 1’s and 0’s. They store their information on hard drives, accomplish their computing at blazing speeds. When they break it is brainpower that fixes them, not physics.

The difference is, a printing press can cut your fucking arm off if you screw up working on them. The worst I can do is reinstall an operating system.

Fair trade, I guess.

I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.