Rants, diatribes, attempts at humor.
My troubleshooting rules can really help focus on solving a problem, but maybe first you’d like to not solve the problem for a while.
What?
Well, let’s look at a common sequence of events in creative or constructional work of many kinds:
- See a problem.
- Figure out how to fix it.
- Fix it.
That’s pretty instinctual. Can’t really do those out of order. And once you’ve seen the problem, there is often some amount of urgency to get to the fix.
But the next step, if you’re conscientious, is:
4.. read more...
Sometimes when troubleshooting, you look at the problem very closely as it exists now. But in many cases, you can look back at what things were like before the problem existed. What worked then, and what has changed since that time? read more...
If you’ve gotten this far in my troubleshooting rules, this is a tough problem. Maybe you can solve it…
… but maybe instead you can replace the situation with a simpler one that will be less prone to problems? read more...
Maybe you’ve been troubleshooting for a while on your own. Or maybe you’ve discussed the trouble with someone else, but not the right someone else. Who could you talk to? read more...
Having gone through the cycle of back pain many times, I felt like posting this handy chart to aid in discussion:
| Stage |
Pain |
Phrase |
Response |
Activities |
| 0 |
none |
“woohoo” |
charge around |
anything |
| 1 |
tweaks a bit |
“oh” |
stretches and strength exercises |
careful lifting |
| 2 |
twinges more often |
“hm” |
stretches, careful strength exercises, maybe ibuprofen |
no lifting or bending |
| 3 |
angrier twinges, aches most of the time |
“not this again” |
careful stretches, ibuprofen |
no smiling or fast movement |
| 4 |
constant ache and some stabbing |
“oh no” |
ibuprofen, cyclobenzaprene |
no facial expression or unnecessary movement |
| 5 |
strong pain whenever vertical and often when horizontal |
“holy sh*t” |
above + narcotics |
lie and grimace |
Fortunately, none of these last forever. Unfortunately, that includes Stage 0.
When are we going to get artificial discs? I’d like a whole new spine, please. read more...
Sometimes you start by troubleshooting assuming something’s broken, when really it’s just not working the way you expected. Put another way, it’s “working as designed” - but you and the designer miscommunicated, or disagreed.
Some questions to ask: read more...
(the photos below and more are in a gallery of Oscar photos)
I first met Oscar at a party given by Mary Crinnin. I was playing guitar, and he came up and sat next to me all while I was playing. read more...
“Manos found guilty
Jury convicts Ithaca woman of murder, abuse of niece, 2”
Life recovers.
But not completely.
Wounds heal into scars, sometimes beautiful scars.
But not always. read more...
While troubleshooting, another embarrassing discovery is that the thing in question isn’t working because you didn’t turn it on. This rule could come first, as in some sense it’s more basic than Rule #1, but for the simple AC-powered appliance, you have to plug it in before you can turn it on, so I list it second.
Again, there are lots more useful ways to think about whether you’ve turned something on. For instance: read more...
