Broke

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”
-Murphy’s Law

On Friday, my computer broke.

What was supposed to be a fairly simple task for my boss (I was going to send something in to Technical Support) turned in to an all-day affair that ended up corrupting my computer, screwing up my database installation and otherwise making for a pretty crappy, frustrating day.

I read online forums, read the official support sites, found some technical blogs that explained in detail what the error message I was seeing meant, but none of the solutions fixed the incredibly annoying errors that were causing my computer to go on the fritz. It was also a brand new computer and I was getting to the point where a reformat was needed. This was going to make me very unhappy; I just set it up the way that I wanted to.

I spent hours inside of the Windows registry, learned all about administrator-level user accounts that were “hidden” to the user and all kinds of security rules set at the domain level. I still have no idea what any of that stuff means. After hours upon hours of clicking buttons and changing settings where I really have no idea what I did or what the implications are for doing so, I finally got it to work. At 6pm.

There is something excruciatingly frustrating about dealing with something that simply doesn’t work. Perhaps it’s better said by saying that there is something excruciatingly frustrating about not knowing why something doesn’t work. Either way, it makes for a bad day.

Here are some common examples:

Turning the key in the car and nothing happens.

Powering on your computer and nothing happens.

Flipping the thermostat to “Cool” and it never drops in temperature.

Of course, there are other more personal and more serious examples, too:

Being on chemo for six weeks and the tumor gets larger.

Watching a loved one go to AA or Rehab for several months, only to watch them relapse.

Being on Depression treatment for months and still not feeling any better.

Having interview after interview and never getting a job.

Studying all night and getting a “C” (or worse) on the test.

I can think of very few things in life that make me angrier and unsettled more than not having the answer to why something simply doesn’t work that should.

You know, towards the end of a Gun’s Quote, I try to impart some wisdom about what to do with the dilemma experienced above, usually something about how I ended up solving the problem or dealing with the feeling. Tonight, I find myself without any.

I guess that’s because sometimes the answer is that you can’t do anything about it. You’re not going to get the lost time back from dealing with the stalled car or the broken computer. Sleeping in a hot house just sucks. There are no words or advice for someone suffering despite following doctors’ orders to a tee.

Sometimes, things just go wrong and don’t work. We can prepare, create a Plan B, come up with alternatives, but sometimes things just don’t work.

So, I guess my only advice is to plan, prepare, do what you can, and ultimately accept the outcome. Be grateful for when things go right and try not to get too caught up despairing when they don’t. At the end of the day, our best efforts can result in the best outcomes or in something totally different. It doesn’t change the fact that we gave our all.

Sometimes, things just don’t work. (And maybe you should go a little easier on yourself; it may not be your fault.)

...and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!!