Friday, June 27, 2008

Finding lost accounts

Work is not happening at the rate it needs to today. Internet has been particularly unreliable this week and it's been an internet-using kind of week. Just about to send out an e-newsletter that would have gone out days ago if it weren't for a stream of unexpected technical glitches. The funny thing is, looking back, the greatest sense of achievement I've had in this job has been when some technical issue has turned up and I've figured out how to fix it.

Yesterday's surprise issue was realising that when the server computer had died it took the general office email account with it. No one had checked the inbox of the email address splashed all over our materials and business cards in months. But how does one 'find' an email account? I had dealt with problems with this account once before so I wasn't starting from scratch, but it did keep me in the office until very late and took up an unexpected three hours. But, as I said, this kind of thing is oddly satisfying...too bad it isn't my actual job, maybe I've missed my calling as the I.T. guy ("are you sure it's plugged in?" "Switch it off, wait 10 mins and switch it back on...if that doesn't work call me back").

I'm sure the fact that it isn't my regular job is part of why it's satisfying...using your brain in another way, or maybe just feeling righteous and a bit like a renaissance woman.

Now I am plowing through the kind of thing I do everyday, a summary of one of our projects...fortunately iTunes has just thrown up a party shuffle of 30% Tom Waits, 30% Joe Jackson and 40% other great stuff which is totally pushing me through the last hours of Friday! How does iTunes know better than me what I need to hear?

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