Wog v. Technology

Hi All!

It has been awhile since I ranted about how impossibly frustrating and difficult it is to get things to work just right with Windows.

Am I gonna rush out and "solve" my problems with "Vista"?

Not on a bet. I've bled on the edge of every Microshit offering since DOS 1.0 and with age comes wisdom.

I don't live on the bleeding edge no more.

Windows XP has been out for years and still frustrates endlessly.

To think that I made my adult living from pounding square technology pegs into round organizational holes when multi-user mini-computers walked the earth...

About half of my waking hours in the last 24 has been spent trying to do something for my in-law's email handling that should have been sooooooo simple.

Unfortunately, they have dial-up which is like listening to radio on a home-made crystal set.

In the course of several years, I have set up email accounts with various free services and their changing ISPs, always trying to maintain transparency, ie, anyone who has their uraddresse (a little German lingo there -- means: original address) can still get mail to them, even though it passes through what is now up to 4 "hidden" accounts. Think of an email as a baton passing along in a relay race and having been handled 4 times from start to finish.

Still, should be easy.

Still, it was not, is not.

Here is why I am REALLY feeling stupid right now. Even dumber than I look.

The reason I didn't make millions by being a computer consultant on the goddamned ground floor was because I was -- am -- too honest.

I promise the world for a song and I eat the overtime in making the improbable possible. Did it for years.

Worse, I don't cheat people. I could have made a mint on Y2K, but I assured my clients that every application I had put on their system was ready for it, as any decent programming in the 70's anticipated.

Even so, several clients hired "consultants" to "evaluate" their "Y2K readiness" because they believed the headlines more than their trusty old Wog.

A couple of clients actually got conned into new systems, several got needless "upgrades" and all spent alot of money on that scam that stayed free of MY wallet.

So now I spend a dozen hours beating my head on the wall just trying to make email access clean and easy for my wife's parents. And I beat myself up about it and I make it known that I am beating myself up over it.

Too late, I've realized that I should just accept the fact that I CAN figure this stuff out and the "client" doesn't need to know how, as long as I act like I am an expert and bill accordingly.

For now, here is $1000 worth of advice (at least): If you get something to work OK in Windows, DON'T TOUCH IT!

It occurs to me that I had clients in the past who didn't trust me because I worked so hard for so little.

If God gives me a chance to get back in the game, I will not repeat my mistakes. I will earn what I am worth. And just perhaps, I will have financial independence again.

Cheers!