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Advice From My Wife (Sort of Like ‘Plugged In’)

 I’m the tech support for my wife’s in-home design studio. It’s a role I’ve always taken seriously and been rather proud of. I have from time to time had to seek out some help from brains more developed than mine if I really got stuck, but for the most part I’mthe man.

And there it is, that attitude that needs to be checked at the door. I recently upgraded an operating system on a laptop, and that’s when the problems all started. Our modem seemed to be all of a sudden rebooting itself at random. The first order of business that any good tech guy knows is that you retrace your steps and figure out exactly what’s changed with your hardware, software, etc. My wife jumped right in with, “Didn’t you just upgrade the laptop’s OS?” I let out a quick, condescending chuckle and made the brilliant observation that in order for that to be true, “Then maybe the car won’t start because the dishwasher is broken.”

Two modems and a few tech support calls later and there it was: This particular OS does in fact cause random drops on Wi-Fi networks and can also be the culprit of a randomly rebooting modem. Looks like maybe my wife needs to hire a real tech support guy. Or not. She pretty much figured this one out on her own.

Lesson learned. Never get so big for your britches that you don’t listen to someone who’s offering a possible solution to a problem.

That’s exactly what we here at Plugged In do for our readers and listeners. We try very hard to offer suggestions that may sound odd from the world’s point of view. You know, like maybe steering clear of that new “family” sitcom or avoiding that latest “innocuous” pop radio hit. It may serve you well to take the time to hear a perspective that’s so simple yet so effective at the same time.