The Enchanted Mi-Fi Forest

This morning, I woke up with the tired feeling of having made it through another work week--but of course, it's only Tuesday.  I am not sure why technology issues leave me feeling SO exhausted, but that's the week I'm having.  I think it's especially exhausting because, much like the pandemic, we don't know for sure when it will be over, and we're not sure exactly what we're dealing with, how it may shapeshift, and so what to do with our hours right now.

I took my laptop to school because we were expecting the tech guy to come with a mi-fi, a hotspot that would allow us to access the internet.  Of course, it will only allow us to access the internet if we bring our own devices to connect.

When I got to campus, lo and behold, it appeared the internet had returned.  But it hadn't returned to every computer--odd.  And then, later in the morning, the internet on the desktop computers blinked off--even odder.

As the morning progressed, and our tech support did not come, I made several phone calls on my cell phone, paid for by me, because we don't have phones either.  I finally got to our Chief Information Officer, who said, "Why don't you use one of the company iPads?"  I tried to keep my composure as I said that our campus had never received these iPads, and even if we had, we had no way to connect to the internet, and only one of us had had success with following the instructions to have our e-mail restored.

I was told that a lower level IT tech would be heading to us in about 15 minutes.  I requested that he also bring a HTMI cable, and was questioned about why we would need it.  I said, "So that our faculty can connect their laptops to the TVs in the classroom so that they can teach classes."  No wonder I feel tired.  I realize that not everyone comes from a teaching background, but it's been decades since people taught by writing on a board.  Now we show videos and use PowerPoints and all sorts of other technology that we need to be able to deliver.

The past 9 days have made me want to go back to writing on a board, but that's neither here nor there.  I am also astounded at the assumption that we'll all be perfectly happy to use our own devices to do school business--and at the larger assumption that we all have laptops and cell phones ready to be pressed into service.  I don't have a smart phone for a variety of reasons that I've specified elsewhere:  budgetary, wanting to resist the technology taking over our lives, wanting tech-life balance.

Hours later, the tech did show up with a mi-fi, and unlike Friday when he showed up with a wi-fi, this time, it worked.  I was able to log on with my laptop, and then I was able to reset my passwords and access the new school e-mail account.  It's a different Outlook format, and it irritates me in the way that it shows me the e-mail chain.  I have trouble accessing the older e-mails on the chain if I want to just answer that e-mail.  At some point, I'll see if I can tinker with the settings, but yesterday, by the time I could finally access my e-mail in the late afternoon, I just wanted to see what I had missed.  Others have had their e-mails restored since Wednesday, so I'm behind.

So perhaps it's not surprising that we ended our day in a bit of hilarity, as we decorated the spot where the mi-fi will live:

I'm calling it the Enchanted Mi-Fi Forest--all it needs is a gingerbread cottage.  For those of you who are wondering, the horse is a Vet Tech teaching tool, where students can see bone and organ structures.

I am glad that the technology upheavals happened before my classes at seminary start.  At the same time, it makes me fearful about my ability to keep all of the balls I'll be juggling up in the air.  But I do have some back up plans in place, if technology fails again.  And the internet at our new condo has been upgraded in the past year, and we've had no disruptions there.

Going forward, fingers crossed!