Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Old and New
The power went out for more than two hours here last night. It was a reminder about old and new ways of living. First, my daughter sat outside on the porch while she did her homework by fading day, then we went to flashlights and finally, I went to candles to read. It took four candles, and it was still hard to see the book.
When the power went back on after 10 pm, the next step was getting everything started again, especially the computer and phone system. Our phone is VOIP and my wife is on WiFi. Getting this functioning is an exercise in unplugging and replugging the cable modem, router and phone box in the right sequence then hoping. My wife couldn't get back on the internet, but I could.
It is more inconvenient than ever to lose power. What worried me was the surge of the power failing then blinking and going dark as it did. I have double surge protectors, but even so, the thought of frying a hard drive is angst-inducing.
All this has little to do with the practice of PR except it is a condition of what practitioners do now. We need to know things that those who came before never considered. In that respect, the old days of manual typewriters were easier. About all one had to learn was how to change a ribbon and unstick keys. (And most of you, dear readers, won't remember that.)
When the power went back on after 10 pm, the next step was getting everything started again, especially the computer and phone system. Our phone is VOIP and my wife is on WiFi. Getting this functioning is an exercise in unplugging and replugging the cable modem, router and phone box in the right sequence then hoping. My wife couldn't get back on the internet, but I could.
It is more inconvenient than ever to lose power. What worried me was the surge of the power failing then blinking and going dark as it did. I have double surge protectors, but even so, the thought of frying a hard drive is angst-inducing.
All this has little to do with the practice of PR except it is a condition of what practitioners do now. We need to know things that those who came before never considered. In that respect, the old days of manual typewriters were easier. About all one had to learn was how to change a ribbon and unstick keys. (And most of you, dear readers, won't remember that.)
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