Yesterday was a long one. But two very good things happenned at the end of the day.
The first started with Printer Problems...
A Friday, a work day. Saturday would be eight more hours, so there was no end of the week buzz.
We are short handed. That's just how it is. Our business is slow. Partly because of the time of the year, and, just because. We used to have three or four people. Yesterday, and alot of days now, two.
The printer in our area was on it's second day of not working. "No connection to the network."
I spent at least three hours with two different Techs on the phone. My boss spent at least two hours as well. Promises to "escalate" the call to a higher level Tech went unfulfilled. Our software is licensed, and our computers and printers are largely blocked from us doing anything to try to fix them.
During the second call, a nice young lady named Sara, in India, tried to help me. I wondered silently is Sara a popular name there? My cynical self imagined Sara to be a made up name, one that us Westerners can say. I googled it later. Sara is in fact a top twenty name in India. I stand corrected.
In the meantime, our work flow was disrupted, and customers waited longer than usual. With two of us here, and me on the phone with Sara, my team mate was left doing all the work. Customers were aggravated. It wasn't pretty.
At three PM, frustrated, and tired of the process, I gave up. Sara was asking me, with her heavy accent, to get into the printer functions and do this and do that. Then checking and reattaching the cables for the tenth time. My concentration trying to understand what she said, and then trying to do what she said wore me down. I finally said, "Sara, I'm done. I can't do this." She said, "OK, when you are ready to try something else, call back." And that was it.
I walked around with a cold sundrop, to breathe some different air. I was glad to be off the phone, and printer still didn't print.
Being a stubborn man, it bothered me enough that at 4:45 I was back on Google AI, trying to trouble shoot, and fix it myself. I'd figured out the IP address for the printer. The tiny screen on the printer was maybe ten characters. I got far into the printer functions, and saw a place where there was all zeros and a blank IP address. I wondered what would be the harm of putting in the IP address. So I hit the up and down arrows, and the OK button at least a hundred times, to enter and save the IP address.
Then, I slowly backed out of that function, like Daniel Boone on TV, carefully stepping backwards out of a creek, using his same footprints. He was one hard to track dude.
That's when I saw a Network Reset option.
I'm reminded of some things Tommy Griffin said, while patiently working on the computers, printers, and router at Dr. Lee's office. During my ten years there, when I got in over my head, I called Tommy. I recall one day he said, "The machine can only do what it's told to do." Tommy's words kept me moving forward, stubbornly trying to fix the non working printer, and not let it win the day.
A few minutes after manualy entering the IP address, and the Network Reset, the printer woke up. Lights flashed as it self tested, spun, whirred, and came to life. Then at least a hundred pages printed, starting with the orders from the previous day, right up to the order that I loaded five minutes ago.
At 4:50 in the afternoon, after being at work ten hours with a non-working printer, I celebrated. I'm still not sure which step fixed it.
Same day, A Second Very Good Thing...
Baby Rabbits
Thirty minutes before dark. I was mowing a yard after work. Half of the back yard is inside a privacy fence, and the grass was thick and tall. All of a sudden, my eyes saw something running away from the deck and spinning blades. Three small rabbits.
I shut the mower off and sat still, fearing the worst. Three got away, did I hurt or killed any? Then I got off the mower, and walked through the grass till I was sure there were no more rabbits burrowed down close to the ground. One of the three little ones got under a gate. The other two ran the wrong way, and were trapped with me. I picked each one up, and gently petted on them and told them how glad I was that they are ok. When I put them down by to the gate, under they went.
That should have been the end of it. I finished mowing. Then put the mower on the trailer, and got the weedeater.
I kept working and counted my blessings, and the rabbit's blessings.
Trimming the front sidewalk, I saw one of the three in the corner next to the front door. It ran the wrong way after getting under the gate. I picked this little one up a second time, and walked to the field behind the house. I shook my head and talked to him like he and I were both pushing our luck. The momma rabbit was in the tall grass. I saw her, and she saw me. I held him up and talked to her letting her know, "Here he is! I'm bringing him that way!" I gently put him on the ground, and watched him hop straight up and then forward. I walked back to the front yard, so thankful the baby rabbits were ok, and that their momma was watching for them to get them back together.
Glad I didn't give up on the day. The first ten or so hours, were not that great.
The long day ended very well.
How often are we in the wrong place or with the wrong attitude, and the Lord gently picks us up and moves us? We fuss about change, and sometimes like that one little rabbit, go the wrong way again. Sometimes without us even knowing, God's hand of protection is there.
I'm thankful for these long days. For friends like Tommy that can do things I can't do. For strangers like Sara who are willing to help, even when I've given up. For stubbornness, good luck, and realizing I don't always have the answer.
Mostly, I'm thankful for the loving protection the Lord provides for little rabbits, and foolish men.
** Rabbit photos above were lifted off the internet. I was too tore up to take any pictures. ( : > ! )