The Gremlin in the Machine

One thing that separates Stan Parks from your run-of-the-mill IT expert and computer consultant is that he doesn't know everything.

And, admits it.

I know enough about information technology to strongly suspect that some 'experts' are either clueless, or assume that the rest of us are. Years ago, at one of my first jobs, I overheard a technician tell my boss (this was before I worked at the Chronicle-Gazette) that data had gotten "stuck in the cable."

That sounded like a good explanation for why data sent to the printer would drop out of sight, only to re-emerge later. Often, when special paper had been loaded.

Problem is, the cable was an inert piece of metal wire and plastic insulation, with a plug at each end. How data could get "stuck" in there - and come out undamaged - is beyond me. I think the tech was pulling my bosses leg. Or, covering his own lack of knowledge.

Anyway, Stan still doesn't know what caused the latest problem with our network. It's working now, after Stan did a cold boot, using a backed-up copy of the system from a couple weeks ago. That's not what Stan said: I'm translating it into English.

Why it went nuts, Stan doesn't know: and told us. He's taking data he pulled out when it was a little psycho, and says he'll see what he can learn from it.

At this point, I'm almost ready to believe that there really were gremlins in the building.

Technical Difficulties and the IT Guy

I still like Stan Parks. He's the one who installed the Chronicle-Gazette's network.

I'm beginning to think he should get more sleep, though.

There's a good reason why you haven't seen last Friday's column online. I still can't log in. Even if I could, it probably wouldn't do much good. Candace Kane let me use her computer, after logging in, to get some work done: including that column.

Everything else went fine. In fact, I uploaded the column without any trouble.

Then, it disappeared.

The column, I mean. Candace's computer is fine.

Stan has been working since very early Saturday morning, trying to find out why the Chronicle-Gazette's new Frisco-Shamrock Envirowarp computers, and the Vacnet Local Area Network that connects them, had a psychotic break late Friday. And, fix it.

Someone here in the office suggested a crudely mechanical means of dealing with the issue. I sympathize, but Mr. Johnson's old pedestal fan might have been damaged in the process, so we dissuaded him.

Back to Stan.

I'd say that he hasn't slept since he arrived at the Chronicle-Gazette offices, early Saturday morning: but when I came in, early, Monday, to pick up some equipment, I heard snoring in Mr. Johnson's office.

It was Stan Parks, sitting at the Vacnet console. The monitor was displaying a 'progress' bar.

Technical Difficulties and This Columnist

I like Stan Parks. He's a great guy: smart, diligent, and all that.

I'm beginning to wonder if he ever sleeps.

My telephone rang at about 2:15 Saturday morning. It was Stan. He was in the Chronicle-Gazette offices, getting up close and personal with our network. Seems it had decided to replace the current online version of the paper with articles that had no headlines, were datelined November 17, 2006, and were blank after that.

One more thing: my column was gone. Stan wanted me to know, so that I could re-post it. Good idea, actually.

Only one problem: I couldn't log in. I call Stan, let him know, and try to get back to sleep. About 9:00 Saturday morning, the phone rang again. It was Stan, asking me to try again.

Same result. Or, rather, lack of a result.

That went on all weekend. I've gotten on the network now, obviously, but the system won't let me upload anything.

That's it. I'm done for now. I've got an assignment tomorrow morning, and I have got to get some sleep.