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A definition:
“PATIENCE – n., A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.”
-- Ambrose Bierce
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Since early December, many of my newsletter subscribers have not been getting my Monday Motivators.
In fact, I haven’t even been receiving my own newsletters!
So far, I’ve spent several hours on the phone and sending emails to the three companies responsible for this problem. Unfortunately, at this point my efforts have been completely unsuccessful.
Technological tribulations – how we hate them.
Crashed computers, zapped wireless networks, erratic email. Gah!
Problems with modern day technology follow the long-established law of Murphy: What can go wrong will. Furthermore, what can go wrong does go wrong at the worst possible moment. Know what I mean?
In my own case, years ago, my laptop melted when I was frantically trying to revise my defended dissertation in time to file the document before paying for another semester of graduate school. I also needed to meet my deadline so that I could officially begin my post doctoral fellowship.
Fortunately, when the crash occurred, I had copies of the complete dissertation. Unfortunately, I lost all the revisions I’d made in the two weeks since the defense.
The meltdown also left me without a computer.
When I wasn’t on the telephone with the computer nerds who were trying to recover my hard drive, I was at the library continuing to make revisions. So much for late night sessions of productivity. So much for working in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in my hand. So much for scattering needed spreadsheets of statistics all over the floor of my home.
That computer crash was a major hassle rather than a devastating disaster. In the years I’ve been coaching grad students and faculty, I’ve certainly heard much worse. Dropped laptops. Burgled apartments. Devastating fires.
Do you have any tales of woe to share?
If you do, I’m sure that you back up your work with great regularity. If you haven’t experienced devastating technological tribulations, then you may not be appropriately proactive about protective measures.
This week, please be sure to back up every computer file. Email yourself the latest version of your document. Give a hard copy of recent drafts to a friend who lives in a different building. Check your spam-filtered messages carefully. Invest in an external hard drive. Start today.
Please also cross your fingers that the folks at Earthlink, Professional Cart Solutions, and 1 Shopping Cart will come to their senses, fix my problem, and allow this newsletter to be read by everyone who wants it.
And give me the patience to keep harassing people until they fix these glitches.
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