Where are all the Hobbyists?

There is not much to do in the evenings on a sailboat once the sun goes down. I really only have 3 choices: go out, watch TV, or read. Lately I have been studying electrical engineering. While I was in school getting my degree, I took a lot of different courses and was presented with a lot of information without any context. I remember having one class on feedback systems and kept trying to get the instructor to explain a real-world application for this information. It is only since I have gotten my amateur radio (ham) license that I have seen useful applications for all the stuff I learned in school. Why couldn't one of my professors just drawn a block diagram of a radio receiver and showed us a practical application for what we were learning? My gut tells me that they didn't have a clue either.

While I was going to school, I had a good friend that had gotten his ham radio license while in the Boy Scouts. He seemed to understand all of the principles being taught every day and had the best grades in all of his classes. Now it makes sense, he had a practical application for everything he was learning. While the rest of us were just trying to get the math right, he knew where the circuit would be useful and why we were designing it that way. Getting my ham radio license when I was in the Boy Scouts really would have helped my college career.

All of this studying combined with Lance Armstrong's bad luck in the Tour de France this year has gotten me thinking about the old Radio Shack store. If you don't know, Lance rides for team Radio Shack, which is trying to shake off 20 years of declining popularity. When I was a boy, I used to go to Radio Shack and look at all of their neat electronics kits. You could buy things like resistors, diodes, and capacitors. Even though I had no clue what they did, I wanted some. I had visions of creating wonderful electronic devices in my garage, as did many other visitors to the store at that time.

Now when you walk into a Radio Shack, it is like a ghost town. I don't know how they stay in business because nobody is ever there. Sure they sell things like mobile phones, but so does every other store. I'm just waiting for Starbucks to add them to their list of goods. If you go to the back of your nearest Radio Shack, they still have individual electronic components but I never see anyone back there.

This has me asking the question: Where are all of the hobbyists? Have they disappeared or are they still out there?

Low Tide

This morning I was riding my bike to work on the path shown in the picture above and it was very low tide (unlike in the picture). Along the bike path are several piers that go out into the water. They are not much more than a couple of planks of wood and are used mainly by kids doing a bit of fishing. I have often thought about stopping on the way home and taking a walk out on one of the piers. After my ride today, I don't think that is a good idea.

At low tide, it is about a quarter of a mile walk from the bike path to the water. This leaves the piers totally exposed and you can see their supports. Salt water is a very corrosive environment and some of the supports have been eaten away to the point that they are little more than toothpicks. One or two are completely gone. At high-tide it is impossible to see the decay that has taken place and it is easy to assume the pier is safe.

Computers can sometimes be like those piers at high tide: it is tough to see what is going on underneath. Most of the time, that is fine because computers are fairly reliable. However sometimes things go wrong. Computers can easily pick up a virus and so a scan should be done on a regular basis. Hardware can also fail and so it is important to pay attention to errors you get. Hard disks are the most common component to fail and should be replaced at the slightest hint of a problem. Cooling fans and power supplies are also components that can fail. While it is rare to have memory go bad, it can happen.

Unless some maintenance is done, someday soon, one of the piers I ride by on my way to and from work is going to fail. If someone is on it when it does, then he or she is going to get wet and/or muddy. Don't neglect your computer and let the same thing happen to you. While you may not get wet, you may lose some cherished pictures from your digital camera or important documents. If your computer is getting old, be sure to make a backup of your irreplaceable files. Most importantly, pay attention to any error messages you get. It could save you some grief in the future.

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.