Ten easy ways to check under the hood

We look for simple answers, don’t we? I mean, who of us want a long, drawn out, complicated solution? No, that would be unfavorable. We should always try to follow the path of least resistance, I think. Why push a bowling ball through the eye of a needle, when you can roll it right down that nice big alley and knock down all those gangly pins.

This morning, I didn’t know I was doing it. But I tried to sew with that bowling ball.

I have an iMac in my office. I love it. Loved it, I should say. Lately, it has been making “static” noises. Not really anything obnoxious. But it wasn’t “right” either. It was a little like that “white noise” that possesses TVs in horror movies. So early this morning, I contacted Apple Help through a Chat Session. Quite early. Around 4:30 a.m. They were quite nice and we did some trouble-shooting over our typing-chatting. Eventually, the Apple Helper Guy typed, “next, we recommend these procedures. You will have to shut down you Mac for any or all of these, and we will be disconnected.”

Okay, I say. I mean, I am into it waist deep at this point and it isn’t even 5:30. Besides that, I am a Geek. What else am I going to do? So.

So.

I unplugged my Mac. That was the first item on the list. Waited 10 seconds. Reconnected the power source, and turned it on again. Theoretically.

It never came back on. I don’t suspect Apple can help me, really. After closer inspection I uncovered the source of the problem. The verdict? I have dead machine on my hands.

Yet. When all of this started, I just wanted a simple answer. Instead, I got a big bowling ball of a lesson in Spirituality. And now, I will find a way to move on to my next good trusty machine.

That old phrase comes rolling around today. “What lies beneath.” This is yet another reminder that we don’t immediately see the things beneath the surface. The tip of the iceberg, as they say. The cover of the book, and we won’t be judging what’s inside.

We don’t know what we don’t know, in many cases. It is only through “looking” and “seeing” that we find the wider perspective. There is usually a small and known part of something much larger and unknown. Everywhere in our midst.

That simple answer loomed large. But, when I really step back, this glitch in my day is small in comparison to the things that others are experiencing. In that way, I am grateful.

Finally, a few days ago, I was reading my MacLife Magazine. There was a review of the new iMacs that Apple just released. I might have been drooling over the page. Which brings to mind the last good lesson of the day.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

============

“Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.”
― Walt Disney

===========

“All paradises, all utopias are designed by who is not there, by the people who are not allowed in.
― Toni Morrison

============

“Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”
― George Carlin

===========