Trouble

Yesterday when I got home from our Easter at work (we were closed
because the mall was closed) Robin told me the fridge was not
working. Sure enough not only was it not working but it was moldy. It
hadn't been working for many days!

I was too pooped to work on it then but after a nap I took a look
(which included banging on the sides). After pulling moldy sausages
and a couple cartons of milks (now cottage cheese) I noticed that the
freezer was still working fine. A little investigation (what's the
easiest, cheapest possible solution beyond whacking) and I discovered
the dial for the fridge was in defrost mode. Easy peasy fix.

But it makes me think about trouble-shooting. Being able to fix
stuff. It involves being outside the emotional catastrophe and
"looking." I think this is what made me good at fixing computers. I'm
able to "see" abstractly what might be the problem. And, like I said
above, what is the easiest, cheapest option to try first (as opposed
to car repair shops; replace the most expensive part first philosophy).

I had to design and build a latch/lock for our music cage at work.
It's more complex than it looks and now that the solution is done it
seem obvious, but it was a corker. Two sliding doors that don't line
up. They needed to be held together when locked but be easy to slide
when unlocked. It took 7 trips to Ace Hardware, and a couple
missteps, but an elegant solution was eventually found.

Of course, sometimes things just seem to fix themselves, too.