Welcome To Thunderdome

When it rains, it pours; when it snows, it gets white.

In deference to my last post, the weather is yet again playing havoc with my day-to-day existence, but I have to admit it could be -- somehow -- a lot worse. That's not just the glass being half-full or an outpouring of an overwhelming sense of hopeful optimism.

Yesterday, after some early concern, yet another speed bump along the road of life was traversed without incident. Without expounding on the details, suffice to say -- any time I feel the need to complain, herein or elsewhere -- I come to the realization that I really shouldn't. It's rare that I reach a low point or become enveloped in some sort of sour mood; there's far too much for which I am thankful to be overtaken by any extended dark period, and for that I am lucky. I know plenty of people who are either clinically or emotionally dysfunctional, and I'm similarly lucky to have limited my interaction these types of people.

Work-wise, I'm expecting to be heading downtown yet again in this snow-globe of a day. I advised Kaia last night about the then-incoming (and now well underway) storm set to blanket the region with yet another multi-inch coat of snow, and while she gets excited each time it snows us in, when she asked me if this was to be a real storm, I advised her it sounded like the kind of storm that people who work at home get excited about ;-) It's not that I don't enjoy the snow; it's more that it's a pain in the ass that makes my life -- getting to and from work, getting around the City, etc. -- that much more difficult. Since I got a heavy-duty parka, I don't much mind the snow. I'm keeping dry and (relatively) warm. Aside from the clothing (wearing extra layers and boots to keep my feet warm and dry) and the travel issue, the real pain vis-a-vis the snow (versus solely frigid weather) is that it's much harder to use a cellphone or the iPod. I have a pair of gloves that lets me use my iPod (the Touch, like the iPhone, isn't compatible with regular gloves) so that's not much of an issue, although the gloves (the North Face "E-Tip") aren't very warm and consequently my hands get a lot chillier than I'd like. But overall, no one wants to operate sensitive electronic devices (read: pricey) in snowy, wet weather.

Today's agenda -- rapidly becoming relevant -- has me headed downtown among the winter-weary travelers en masse and visiting two City agencies. I spent some time doing so yesterday amid the quasi-chaos, but because of a little surprise courtesy of The City of New York and its creative scheduling and reworked tax exemption laws, a lot of yesterday's travel time was relatively futile. While I garnered some much-needed information that will help us moving forward, yesterday -- especially yesterday -- wasn't really a day which I would have accepted a few hours of wasted-ish time. As they say in Norway, c'est la vie. You do the best with what you've got and move forward. And, to complete the cliche "tray," when life hands you lemons, make key lime pie.

In either case, the remote network had some issues over the last 24 or so hours so I addressed those and I did some basic diagnostics last night prior to our consultant doing what he had to do to get us updated info. I've been checking and rechecking everything to make sure it's workable and everything seems to be functioning at 100%. Of course, part of why I'm good at the PC side of life is because I expect things to go FUBAR at any given moment, which a) lets me get at the solution without being surprised there's a problem; and b) anticipating the problem rather than being surprised by it means I can take steps prior to the melt-down to handle it rather than waiting 'til the fan is coated with manure. It's much easier solving problems when you know how to solve them without the pressure of a nuclear countdown clock ringing in your ears.

Actually, somehow, that whole PC strategy works in life, too. Sometimes, however, it's a lot easier to apply these basic tenets of simple, focused thought to sections of our lives than our lives as a whole. Put another way, it's a lot easier to diagnose a network than your life.

The network can be restarted ;-)

Until next time...