Isn't not responding an option?

I'm sure that the situations are more complicated than I could ever understand in my small, safe, sheltered, secure little world, but why does one offensive or violent gesture have to be answered by another? Why is it that when Israelis kill Palestinians the only possible answer seems to be for Palestinians to kill Israelis? Yes, the cartoons depicting the Prophet are offensive, but do they really necessitate killing people? And it wasn't even the cartoonists who were killed or the editor of the newspaper that printed them. Nevermind the irony that the cartoons depict the Prophet--and by association, his followers--as violent, and the reaction by (some) Muslims to the cartoons was, well, extremely violent.

The surest way to get someone to hit you is to hit him first, but if someone doesn't hit back, isn't the fight over? Doesn't the aggressor become the bad guy to be appropriately villified and reviled by all who believe in the cause of righteousness?

Isn't that more or less how the Cold War ended? The Soviet leadership pretty much said, "I refuse to be the enemy anymore." Again, it's more complicated. If nothing else, they ran out of money to continue the insanity of the arms race. But someone opted to admit to having less testosterone and got up and walked away from the table.

And while I am on this rant, I might as well include a short tirade on the United States' apparant maxim of "do as I say, not as I do." A country cannot have nuclear weapons unless we say it's okay?!? Who gave us permission to have nuclear weapons? And why doesn't anyone suggest that we give up our nuclear weapons? Probably because any country that suggests such a course of action would probably get blown off the map by the one country with a history for actually using massive nuclear weapons.

On that happy note, I think I shall return to the hermitage and bolt the door.

The Learning Process

Today's entry in Jonathan Carroll's Blog contains a homework assignment. He poses the question "What have you learned?" You are not allowed to ask for elaboration. Just answer the question instinctively.

I have learned how much easier it is to get going in the morning when I don't dread going to work because I actually enjoy my job (most of the time).

I have learned that it is possible for another person to make my life better, more enjoyable, easier, rather than more complicated and stressful.

I have learned that cats believe absolutely in their right of way.

I have learned, by looking at the clock just now, that it is time to get ready and go to work.

If only technical support weren't so technical

I had a simultaneously fantastic and frustrating experience with technical support last night. It has been rather windy in my neighborhood for the last couple of days, and various places lost power and phone service and such. I didn't lose power, but my wonderful dsl connection was not connecting. Well, the computer said it was connecting, but I couldn't access anything.

All I really wanted to know was whether the problem was with my dsl line and/or connection or with my computer.

I spent over half an hour lost in an automated telephone system before I spoke with someone who could actually help me. The first call resulted in a dead end, and the system hung up on me. The second call I got a nice lady who told me to call the number which had resulted in a dead end. I informed her that it was a dead end with no human being apparently connected to it, so she noted my experience and transferred me to someone who could help me. Evidently the transfer to India or Bangladesh or wherever technical support might actually be didn't work too well because the technician claimed she couldn't hear me.

I hung up and contemplated giving up, but I really wanted to know what was wrong or at least find out if I had some sort of limited dial-up access available on my account so that I could at least check my e-mail. So I tried again, grumbling all the while about my aversion to being so dependent on and so easily thwarted by advanced technology.

After wading through the system (which in a persistent fit of irony continually referred me to various helpful web sites) one more time, I was finally connected with someone who could hear me and could help me, and he helped me figure out and solve the problem in five or ten minutes. He was courteous and clear in his instructions, and I don't care if he was reading from a script. He figured out exactly what was wrong and helped me fix it in such a way that I understood what the problem was, how it happened, and why what was done to resolve the issue worked.

Hooray for the nice man whose name I can't seem to remember!!

And so I offer three observations and/or pieces of advice:

1. A large part of the frustration which tech support folks have to deal with is probably due to the cumbersome, aggravating, irritating, vague, looping, infuriating, lengthy automated path customers had to follow to be able to speak to an actual human being.

2. Be persistent with said system. Refuse to give up the belief that somewhere out there on the other end of the line there is someone who can help. And don't blame the person who does finally answer for the horrendous experience of getting to him or her. The technician has probably already heard many times over how horrible the system is but has no authority to change it, especially if he or she is in some far away land. By all means mention the difficulty. Just don't take out your frustration on the tech.

3. The CEO and several other highly-paid, high ranking employees of large corporations (i.e. people who could actually change the system if they had a mind to do so) should be required to call their own companies and go through the automated system without using any short cuts.

In praise of the low-stress job

I have this tendency to not sleep well. I used to be able to sleep soundly under all sorts of conditions. Not so anymore. One recent morning after a less than stellar night's sleep I discovered a wonderful perk to not being stressed out by my job to the point that I dread going to work every day--it's not all that difficult to get up, get dressed, get my act together, get going, get out of the house, go to work and still be somewhat functional and productive. Not only is life easier (even if it isn't quite as profitable), it is also a lot more fun, and I get more done on non-work projects. Hooray!!