Technology and Me

Technology and I get along great. We generally hang out everyday and work on all sorts of things together. We solve problems, explore the universe, and we just have a fun time. Occasionally we run into a problem or and issue but together we fix it and learn from the experience.

But then there was Wednesday...

Technology reminded me that it doesn't owe me a thing and it can essentially do what it wants. The simple fact that a company that is supposed to protect end users from malware can cause so much damage with a small mistake. I lucked out at my work. Only two machines updated with the faulty DAT file and crashed. Other places around the nation/world completely shut down their offices for the day because of widespread computer failure.

I did more IT detective work yesterday then I have in the last year. It didn't help either that the two computers that crashed at my job were my two bosses. When something like this happens you, as the IT person, are supposed to have the answers/solutions to the issue. Yesterday, left IT personnel around the world completely speechless. Everyone was trying everything and listening to each other's suggestions like never before. There was kind of a tech nerd beauty about the whole thing.

   

what do you want to do? Part 1

I hate that question. It gets attached to your life at a young age. People start asking you as soon as you get in school. Some kids know at an early age. They say "I want to be an astronaut" or "I want to be a mommy just like my mommy" or "I want to be the first to climb a mountain" and so on. 


When junior high hits you begin to take personality and career tests. They tell you this and that. They say "hey kid you should be a doctor because you answered some of these questions a certain way" or "your personality shows that you are very talkative and like it when people recognize your struggles so you should be a politician." 


In high school all they teach you is that you have to go to college if you want to "do what you want to do" or "find out what you want to do." You take a few fun classes but what you really need to learn slips through the cracks. You may run into a few teachers that mold your future or inspire you to make a career choice, but chances are you're more likely to be inspired by a Hollywood film portraying a teacher or a coach inspiring a class or an entire school.


If you make it to college you fall in one of two categories: You're paying for it or you're parents are paying for it. You have at most two years before you have to make any solid decisions about your "major." This time gives a chunk of "young adults" the space they need to try a few different classes and try to find "what they want to do." Then there are the rest of the "twenty somethings" that pick open a course catalog and flip to a random page...BINGO A MAJOR! 

Short Term Part 2

Does the digital world that we live in contribute to our short term lives?

Everything we do in the digital world leans toward the short term mind set. Facebook and Twitter allow us to be more connected than ever with friends and family. We summarize events, entire days, and life changing moments with a single post. This post flashes for only a moment letting the world see you if they choose to look, then it falls to the bottom of the list. A text message conversation quickly becomes extinct as your phone clears old messages. Even email, with its seemingly endless storage capacities, has a way of loosing a thought under th piles of digital junk mail.

Will my grandchildren see the love letters (emails) I wrote my wife before we were married? Or will it be lost forever in my Gmail account? Will my home videos and photographs hold the same value once they're posted to the web? Am I trusting in Google and Facebook to store all of my memories in hopes that they will be there fifty years from now?