Why Is It?

No matter where I go people immediately tap me to fix their computer? Is it because I'm Japanese and that my genetic code predisposes me to be able to naturally figure out technical issues? I mean if you say that then you pretty much box me and say that I probably eat rice and raw fish. Well, OK, I do eat rice and raw fish, and for some reason I can figure out almost any technical issue presented to me. It is pretty funny though being the technical "go to" guy sometimes. I cite three examples to illustrate my point:

Case 1: 9PM, a mission from God....

So I go to plant my butt on the couch w/ a bowl of Edy's Fudge Tracks and watch some mindless show, like Smallville. The phone rings. "JP" the voice says. Immediately I recognize the voice. My pulse quickens, my throat goes dry, and that sinking feeling goes down my stomach. "Yes Pastor how can I help you." "Look my son I hate to bother you, but my internet is down, can you help me out?" Now you have to understand I'm not intimidated by the man of the cloth. Oh no. He and I are buds in fact. I joke around w/ him quite a bit. But what you have to understand that this man's computers do not act the way computers should. I have reformatted and rebuilt 2 of his machines, only to have them mock me and throw up intelligible error codes. I networked the church and have spent hours figuring out why the network went down and why printers are inaccessible. (OK, truth be told, the lightning that hit the church may have had something to do with that) So I get my sneaks on and out the door I go armed w/ my MCSE equipment ready for the next new challenge. I kiss Sharkey and the dog goodbye, because, well if history has taught me anything it is that this job will take a while. I get to his house, found his router jacked up, so I powered it off and on and was done in 5 min.!!!!

Case 2: The Family....

So every time Sharkey and I go to MN, I almost always make sure to pack a few items I may need. You know, MCSE stuff: Extra network cable, some CD's. Again, things usually play like this, "Hey JP good to see you....if you have some time can you take a look at...." So I have networked, hooked internet hubs, replaced OS systems, fixed DVD drives, and corrected some nasty system errors. Until recently I'd actually pack my MCSE CD's with me because I never knew what I might need, but now that both of Sharkey's parents have high speed internet, my need to travel with software has gone way down. So I pretty much have accepted this is the way things are, and hey I found my place in the family!!!!

Case 3: Dinner Tonight...

Sharkey and I went to dinner over one of Sharkey's friend's house. Over dinner, we talked about work. Her friend K'ren happens to work in IT just like we do. Over the course of dinner, we find out that K'ren's wireless internet hasn't worked right since her company gave her a new work laptop. So what comes next??? So I figure out the problem in like 10 minutes, and everything was right in the world. Got a hug from K'ren too!!! Hubba... hubba.... =)

So it would seem no matter where I go, I fix stuff. But hey it is what I do. It has definitely enabled me to make a name for myself in my present job and it seems that it flows into my personal life as well. And helping people out, really isn't all that bad. You do what you can with what's been presented with you and try to make it better for the people around you. That's a bit zen too, right? Heck how would I know? Not like I'm an Asian or anything....