Spreading the aloha of Macintosh, Hawaiian music and island culture from the sunset side of Haleakala volcano on the wonderful island of Maui

Last update:
5/2/05; 6:29:28 AM

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Sunday, April 3, 2005

Email and Magic This morning I received a quick succession of panic driven emails from someone about their email not working. (please read that again) The trick to email problems, especially when you live in a third and a half world location such as Maui where connectivity is more a function of weather and mythology then technology, is to wait until it stops raining. Really! When an eighty-knot wind makes it hard to keep your car on the road, it's a safe bet that your internet connection is also under stress. But instead of causing your computer to go dark, the problem can occur upstream at the cable or phone company, baffling your computer which desperately asks for a password. This is because the signal is still there but it's not responding correctly so your computer tries to blame everything on you. Being a good parent, you enter your password. Nothing. It asks again, you bang it out and click the mouse even harder - nothing. Now, before you resort to anything as dangerous as firearms, explosives or changing your email settings, you need to shut it all down, and just chill the fuck out. I don't know how many times I've driven over to someone's place to fix an emergency internet or email problem only to pass a white truck and a bunch of guys with hard hats crawling around the phone poles. If I time it right I can often manage to reboot just as the truck drives off which makes me look like a real hero, but I then feel guilty for entire minutes. We're so used to the wondrous internet being available whenever we need it, that our brains lock up when the magic fails. Instead of looking out the window to see if there are any strange cattle in the yard, we immediately assume that the computer is at fault and proceed to screw things up beyond recognition by messing up what wasn't broke. Then, when the nice men in the white trucks get the juice flowing again, there isn't a hope in hell of your receiving even spam without professional intervention. So, lay back brah! This is one time patience can pay off. Mac 4:16:12 PM    comment []