·:[ Jason On A Shtick ]:·
• • • • •

People, the fence should follow the curve of the ground.  If you want it level across the top, then cut the boards to match.  Otherwise, you will end up with a gaping hole and *dare I say it* chicken wire at the bottom like this, which looks hideous:

Notice that they DID follow the curve of the ground on the back side, but not the side facing the street!  WOOF.

After a year and a half as an IT director, something has happened that I never imagined: I don’t really like technology anymore.

When I first took the job, it was a big challenge and I was up for it.  The school had some aging infrastructure and older software; it was an appealing idea to design a fresh strategy.  But after a while, it became clear that the only strategy one can have with technology is to mount a continuous battle of keeping it updated.  There is no stable, settled mode – there is always something new, something to update, something to fix.  The decisions we end up making are less about what will be beneficial and more about what we can live without or what can wait to be fixed.

This constant churn is made worse by the realization that technology is no longer simple for anyone.  Nothing is easy – even a new computer right out of the box is daunting for most people.  It will surely be missing something that they need or they won’t be able to figure out how to use it.  And nothing seems to work on the first try.  We find ourselves taking second and third passes at things that should be simple, and we are the staff that the campus relies on for answers!  If it is hard for us, how can it be easy for  the average user?

Some say that you bring the churn on yourself, that it is your decision to update and upgrade.  But you simply cannot afford to just get things working and leave them alone.  It would be one thing to forgo features and functionality in return for stability.  But in our great software era, you risk the one thing that you absolutely cannot afford to if you stand still: security.  There is always an update or patch that simply must be applied if you want to protect yourself.  And hardware fails – period.  It is inevitable and you must plan for it and deal with it.

Add to all this a budget crunch that brings focus on how many IT people you have, not on what they do to keep things running, and it makes you wonder if you are fighting a battle that can never be won.  We rely more and more on technology for everything, yet we seem to be “pissing up a rope” in trying to manage it all.  How long can you keep that up?  I am getting old and my aim is not that good anymore.

…Begin HQ communication…

June 2009

Fire crew dispatched to area for cleanup.  Additional subterfuge reinforcements called up and new rotation established.  Landing prevention cables installed on enemy’s stronghold zone.

Please advise HQ of updated mission status.

I plugged my ancient (nearly two years old) iPod car charger into my fancy new iPod Touch today and got the famous “charging is not supported with this accessory” message.  Why isn’t it supported?!  It is the same #@$% jack as the old one!!  What is it about Apple stuff that makes us tolerate this crap?

If you have ever fumbled with a Mac computer, you are probably familiar with their myriad assortment of proprietary video ports.  If you want to do something outrageous like, say, plug it into a VGA monitor or a projector, well you are just out of luck unless you go drop $20 on a special VGA adapter.  But in a couple of years, that adapter will be old and busted and you’ll have to get a different one for your new Mac.

In a technology world where we rail against proprietary gadgetry (think about most anything with Cisco, Microsoft, IBM…), somehow we give Apple a pass on this one.  Many of my dear friends who are die-hard when it comes to things like open source and development standards would not trade their precious Macs for anything.  Indeed, if you tried to take my iPod, I would bite your fingers off!  But why?  Why don’t we treat Apple with the same spite for this behavior?

Driving down the road today and looking at this message, I think I put it together… Apple’s stuff is slick and just flat works.

Consider the America that we live in today.  You call someone to do X for you, maybe fix your car or do something around the house.  They come, they do it right, you pay them and then what?  You feel like you got a bonus!  We are so lazy and terrible these days that we EXPECT things to go wrong.  How sad is it that we actually feel like we hit some jackpot when we get someone to DO WHAT WE PAID THEM FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE without having to watch them the whole time or make them come back three times to finish?

So Apple gear is just one big, fat bonus.  Their stuff is so cool and works so well that we are willing to overlook the VGA adapters and non-charging accessories.  Heck, we would have tipped the guy that did it right the first time, anyway.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stand in line and smile while I get a new car charger.

…Begin combat report…

June 2009

Mayday – mayday – mayday.  Enemy has adapted to subterfuge devices and turned them into bombardment targets.  Enemy avoids spikes but now lands on lower sections and continues to bombard the area.  Mission outcome doubtful.  Request immediate reinforcements.