SHE ALWAYS HAS UP-TIME FOR ME - Mark’s Musing Wednesday Dec. 23, 2009

today’s Musing  written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park

 

Morning walk: -21C/-6F, a late walk (see story below), a few clouds, fresh snow to clog Gusta’s paws …. and just enough wind chill to make me rush back once her business was done.

 

Alone time, down time, quiet time, are so important when it is our choice.  When it is someone else’s choice, or an equipment malfunction – that’s a different matter. Most days, whether we are near or far from one another, we need to rely on technology to make connections complete; oh joy .. I’m connected, to so many people. So many websites. So many services. I start and end my day, connected.  Like thousands of connected finger tips … just in my circle … and millions, soon billions, worldwide who connect to their world, work, friends, lovers, business, banking, shopping and shipping – all with a click. This is great.

 

When it works.

 

People, when they are together, don’t need technology to connect.  We need other skills for that.  We touch. We talk. We call each other by name.  We kill rodents. We paint things. We rake and shovel things.  We shake hands. We hug in airports.  We walk dogs. We go to bed together. We wake up together. We work together. We laugh and play together. We have things in common. We don’t need technology, much, for those things.

 

Reliance on technology; we all do it, blissfully unaffected, until our one little machine, item, software or tool doesn’t work the way we expected. Waking up without the lights, or heat, or water working …. things that hardly every happen would be just as challenging and more significant. We take them all for granted. 

 

All was not lost.  TV works, phone (the one I was on hold with) was working; all three fed from one supplier’s line. Its called bundling.  A good deal for the customer, unless there is an outage, then I risk losing service on all three. (memories of so many lectures from Warren about the wisdom of redundancy ring in my mind). Modem lights, all green except for flashing yellow one (supposed to be flashing). I tried ‘Diagnose Connection Problems’ function on my computer. Checking connectivity.  None.  Rebooted, again, again, again. I dug out help desk number.  Forty minutes later, still with music on hold (rather good actually) interrupted by ‘busy serving other customers’ recorded script; my call would be answered, in the order in which it is received. Sure.

 

I made coffee.

 

Was I subject to an outage?  How would I know; or having some other problem on a very busy ‘help desk’ day?  Holding for the next available service representative, how long can it take – to tell someone the system is down? They’ll get to me eventually, won’t they?  Or at least play an informative recording at the next interruption of this great orchestra I’m listening to.  Then, again ‘Please remain on the line. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.’  And again. And again. I tried opening a browser, just in case service had been restored while I’ve been on hold.  Nope.

 

Time to walk the dog, read the paper, make some breakfast.  But, if I leave the phone ‘just listening’ and come back later, will I still be ‘on hold’?

 

Coffee is great. Hot.  Perfect for this crazy-makin’ exercise.  Just the other day, I was thinking, smugly – on hearing Blackberry users had disruptions/outages – that problems with my email recently were minor; I remember thinking, just yesterday, ‘wow . . it’s been such a long time since my service provider has been down’ ….

 

Music interrupted again, another recording; are those recordings coming more frequently now?  Does that mean anything?

 

I wondered, at any moment, how many people on the planet are ‘on hold’ – calling 1-800 numbers to find out where the missing ‘4 inch heavy duty London style pointing trowel w/archaeology holster’ has gone or other seasonal questions … just how many people are on hold like me? Does the world have enough coffee for this every day?

 

And, I needed to walk the dog.  What should I do?  I could put down the headset, leaving the line open.  I tried opening a browser window, again, no luck.  At this point, though a non-believer, I’ll take luck.  None.

 

Hold it .. I then got a DIFFERENT recorded message, being transferred to ‘internet support department’ .. ‘please hold’; it was ringing, then a nice young fellow explained there have been outages affecting most of southern Alberta this morning, that the problem would be solved soon.  I opened a browser, and there it was - internet – I checked email; I checked the weather.  I checked my websites.  Oh joy .. I’m connected.

 

Now I could walk Gusta.  I checked the online weather service. Brrr.

 

It seems there is no technology on a dog; no wires, chips, dongles to connect, no software interface. She doesn’t have to be re-booted or have a browser window opened, she doesn’t need connection time or to measure the quality of her attention in baud, bit or byte.  Just romping, playing in the snow – keeping her master from going crazy - wagging her tail (her entire body actually), like a monster furry sausage with a hinge in the middle. She’s happy to see me, any time of day. She’s never down, she always has up-time for me.

 

Gusta, you don't drive me crazy like my computer glitches, but, being crazy about you, I can only imagine that not being with you would make me the worst kind of crazy. I'm crazy about you . . in the most soft, stable and sane way I know. I love you . . without hesitation or reservation and know that love is returned the same way.  I am daily amazed by you, by your heart, by your caring for me and your easy way of being . . so much to learn from you beyond being happy without a technology requirement.

 

Mark Kolke

326,028

196.4

 

 

RESPONSES/COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME; send to musing@maxcomm.ca

 

December 22  Responses  

 

December 22 – ONE BY ONE, DAYS INCH BY – Thanks for including the pictures of your children and father…those will be the most precious memories of this Christmas by far!  SR, Calgary, AB

 

December 22 – ONE BY ONE, DAYS INCH BY – re: Photo in today's musings - The only image I ever had of you in my head was the photo on your website with arms crossed.  That image never jived with the person who could open his soul daily to allow others to pick and choose what we needed at that time on our journeys - miles and miles away.  I never look at the package a person is wrapped in , cause the "wrapping paper" sags, stretches or bunches up over the years.  Somehow the photo today has moved back into synch with the image I want to "see" when I think of the "body" in Calgary allowing the rest of us to share his words while he "explains himself". (Its the "open-ness" in the eyes.)  Few people can allow themselves to do what you do daily and as always, I appreciate the ideas you toss out for thought.  The next act in the play.....the next page turned in the story.  Today I have the time to be able to read your words shortly after they are written, not days later like usual as I try to catch up with the important things in my life. ( Even though I know that  the important things in Life, are not Things.) Thats because I packed up my desk yesterday from a 5 year period in my journey and will start Feb 1 sharing my days with a group of 20+ engineers and technologists who I will be "Managing".  I don't think of it as "managing"......I think of it as sharing, learning together.  Walking on the same route for part of Journey through Life.  Thank God for online communication that allows souls to collide in the universe when in the real world existence, the bodies would most likely never be occupying the same room, LAR, Winnipeg, Man

 

December 22 – ONE BY ONE, DAYS INCH BY - With Christmas so close, I'm sure that you're as crazy as I am with shopping, traffic gridlock, and getting ready for the holidays. I hope you get a chance to take a step back, relax for a few days, and enjoy all that the holidays have to offer. Please extend my best wishes to your family, and I hope you have an amazing 2010.  Happy holidays!, JC, Edmonton, AB