One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

I did not go to the Iris Farm today. I guess I could have, because it didn't rain, but I'm just as happy I didn't go. The wind was annoying, and it would have made for a less than fun day, I think.

I went into the Gallery instead. A memory chip for the computer came in, so I installed that, and began loading software. You see, I had three computers .... my Mac laptop, of course, bought after my husband died so I could take it with me as I traveled; a Mac G5 tower desk top, which I use at home, especially when I'm working on something like photographs; and an eMac which was my husband's and used probably less than 20 hours. I knew I would not need all three. I talked with Da Boss about bringing the eMac into the office for compatibility and ease. Both of his young adult kids had been after him to go to Mac because of the nature of the business, and since they both use them in their respective art programs in college (graphic art and photography). However, a lot of upgrades needed to be done to pull the eMac up to the level of my other computers.

Today I loaded the most current OS, but I had a couple false starts. Some of the old software was not wanting to let it load, so the third time I told it to erase everything on the hard drive and reformat. There was nothing we needed to keep there anyway. But it takes longer to do that rather than a simple upgrade. Once it was done I had a screen that was to set up the Internet. Good. I called the DLS provider, so they could give me the appropriate gobbledy-gook strings of letters and digits to fill in the boxes.

Now, I don't like our IPS anyway. They are a bunch of .... fools. That name is printable. What I'm really thinking isn't. Does anyone else out there suffer with W*ind*strea*m? Gawd, do they suck. Their IT Department has always been a joke, but now it is worse because it is being outsourced to .... can you guess?? .... India. I have nothing against people from that country. In fact most of them that Ive met are really nice people. But their accents are usually quite strong, and understanding them and being understood is difficult, and especially while trying to do something technical like this. Arghh.

After being on hold for nearly a half-hour, I was working with "William" who was a nice person, but I swear it was his first week on this job. You could tell he was reading from a cheat sheet, and he frequently asked questions or gave instructions two or three times, or there were long silences during which I could only guess if he was still there. I couldn't get it through his head that I could not back out of the installation program to use Internet Explorer without losing part of the OS just loaded, so I finally set up the old computer in order to get on line and follow his instructions.

After being on the phone with "William" for about another thirty minutes, he ran a test on the DSL line and found that the company has a problem on the line. Geez. They promise to have it fixed in the next 24 hours. Yeah, thanks. Now the eMac is going to have to be left turned on until late tomorrow or early Thursday! Then I get to call them back and go through the set up process again. I hope there are no more speed bumps in the way. Once I'm done with that I can begin reloading all the other software .... the stuff that I erased today .... then add a couple more new programs and do upgrades on several others. sighhhh. Wouldn't it be nice if things just, uh, went as they should?????

I hope I can finish the Internet set up tomorrow. It depends when they actually get the line ready. And I have to work around other things. A friend is having a colonoscopy, and I'm driving her to and from the hospital in the afternoon.

On a good note, today everyone was in the Gallery for a short while, and it was clear that we are all "recovering" for the last three weeks of tense, high pressure schedules. You know how it is when you've been under stress for an extended time, then when the cause(s) for the stress has passed, you sort of melt-down? It seems we are all nearly "normal" again. The other part that is good is that we all felt really good about how well all the events have gone in these three weeks. We had some really tough moments, dealing with "prima dona" egotists who want everything their way, artists bring pieces for the show literally on the day of the show, giving us no time to set up, permits that didn't come through and has to be resubmitted, on and on. As a team, we are da bomb!!!

It is always great when you work with such a group. When everyone is able to overlap into the others' jobs enough to handle everything to keep the business rolling at all times, it just rocks. When everyone can do this without hurt feelings or toes throbbing from someone else's stomping on them, there just isn't anything any better. Period.

So despite my aggravations of the day, I feel good about where I am and what I'm doing. I can't ask for much more, can I? At least I had a couple steps forward today!

Life is beautiful!!!!

PS - This is just too funny and coincidental!! After I wrote and posted the above, I checked my email before turning the computer off. The following was in my inbox!!! Now, be sure to read the lines at the bottom of the pictures!!

THIS IS INDIA.

IT'S WHERE YOU CALL WHEN YOU HAVE A TECHNICAL PROBLEM WITH YOUR COMPUTER.