Patience

Every morning I ride my bike into the office. When I get there, I am a little hungry as I wait to have breakfast until after my ride. The office has an instant-hot-water tap from the coffee machine and so I use it on a couple packages of instant oatmeal. That makes for a great way to start my day.

When I first started eating oatmeal in the office, I would mix the water with the oatmeal and then immediately start eating. After all, I was hungry and didn't want to wait any longer than reasonable. Then I discovered a trick: wait a minute or two. I was amazed at how much better my breakfast tastes after letting the oatmeal absorb some of the water. I don't get that gritty texture as everything is soft like oatmeal is supposed to be. My breakfast experience has risen above sustenance and is now tasty as well.

The Internet is similar to my breakfast in that sometimes you have to be a bit patient. It is not uncommon for my kids to complain about how something on the computer isn't working. The problem is simply a matter of patience. Rather clicking around and hoping something will happen, the offending child just needs to wait a moment or two for the website to catch up. There are a number of areas where a slowdown can occur (i.e. automatic system updates on the local computer, lots of internet traffic, lots of people accessing the website, etc.) and so while it may have been fast yesterday, today it is slow.

If waiting a couple of seconds doesn't resolve your Internet problems, then you might want to go get a drink of water or make a sandwich. If you come back and the computer still seems stuck, then there really might be a problem. Until then, just give it some time.