Physician Heal Thyself
When a doctor has a lousy cold and therefore the sniffles, a cough, and watery eyes, people find great humor in trotting out the old saw "Physician, heal thyself." I don't know who said it first, but he was kind of a jerk, don't you think? People find it hilarious to think of their mechanic being late for work because his car wouldn't start, but the poor guy whose pay is getting docked fails to see the humor. Likewise, when your local computer guy is suffering through the woes of a malfunctioning laptop, probably because of something he did to it, it's hard for people to gin up much sympathy. That's me, the guy not getting enough sympathy.
What I did was something that we never do in a professional setting. On the computers I manage, we generally wait 60 to 90 days before installing any kind of upgrade, with the exception of emergency security patches. For things as big as an operating system upgrade, we might wait a year or longer. Well, Monday, a new upgrade was released for Apple computers, phones, iPads, and watches. Within 10 minutes of the release of these updates at 1:00 PM, I was simultaneously downloading them on my work computer, my personal laptop, and my iPhone. My watch got updated 30 minutes later, and my iPad when I got home.
I did this because I've been reading articles about the new features since June when they were announced. I resist installing the beta versions of Apple software on my devices because problems are expected with these pre-release versions. I use my restraint in avoiding these pre-release versions to justify my Day One adoption, even though logically I should wait a few days in case there are major issues like the famous antennae-gate from the days of the iPhone 4. But I don't wait because it would be like telling a kid to postpone Christmas. Release day happens once a year, and dammit, I want my new software. Besides, I tell people who warn me of my recklessness, I'm a computer guy. If anything goes wrong, I'll be able to fix it.
LOL
Of all the devices I updated, only one has developed any problems, and that one would be my personal laptop. It mysteriously drops connections to one type of internet site - the type that hosts updates for applications. I can surf the regular Internet just fine, but when I run one of the programs I use to update my applications, I start getting pop-ups that I can't connect. The worst part is that whenever there's a new version of Apple software, lots and lots of developers release updates to coincide with the new features. I've made some progress in mitigating the issue, but it's not 100% fixed. My relaxing evenings of creative bliss have been nothing but a continuation of my work days all week.
On top of that, I have another problem that existed before the upgrade that's still with me. A type of program I use for privacy and security called a VPN started disconnecting frequently on me a couple of weeks ago. Attempts to reconnect were not always successful, and attempts to just use the computer without the VPN were stymied by a dysfunctional Wi-Fi connection until I rebooted. In frustration, I uninstalled the VPN and went without it for a few days. When I reinstalled it after the upgrade, the same problem reemerged. The company that makes it, Nord, has been less than helpful so far.
I can assure you that I will come out of this with a fully functional laptop. I will not, however, have learned my lesson. I will most likely do the very same thing next year, likely with similar results.
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇