You knew it was going to be a weird day when Comet limped in to me this morning after she woke up on three legs. Somehow in her night full of stretching groaning and rolling around on her bed, her front paw got hooked in her collar. She hopped over to me and sat down. She knew who to come to.

An hour later, I received instant messages from a very frustrated and cranky sutton named Jennifer. Apparently, her internets were not working and she needed help. As the go to guy for technical issues in my family I can tell you that it is infinitely less complex to troubleshoot a problem when I am either there or can replicate the exact environment. Asking people what they see and telling them where things are from memory can be extremely fruitless and equally frustrating. So you can probably see how this session went for the first hour. Luckily we found a feature on the router that allows a tech to log in and troubleshoot remotely. (Apparently this feeling is not unique to me.) Once I was in, we were able to resolve her issue, and make Jen happy.

By this point in the day I was pretty committed to fixing and solving any issues I could find. I was looking around the house for a good challenge, but then remembered that I had a lunch get together so that my family could meet Jason who will be living in our house while we are in London. We went to California Pizza Kitchen which I had previously sworn off, but relented because we needed “something for everyone!” Either way that went well, but by the time I had returned, I had my latest challenge queued up! Julie’s laptop wouldn’t start. We tried a few quick things on the phone, but I soon realized that this was a process that would be best handled in person. She brought it over and I fixed it with time to spare so I could relax and watch the basketball game. When Rowdy and Julie came by to pick up their fixed laptop, Rowdy said something that made a lot of sense. He was very thankful I had fixed their machine and I said it really isn’t a big deal, but he insisted it was. He told me to think about how grateful I am for having a dad who can help me with home improvements, which is true. I am always in awe of how he knows everything we need to do. So I guess that people see me in that same way, but with technology. It still doesn’t feel as valuable as say, knowing how to remodel a bathroom, or as manly, but I realize that my dad and I do have something in common in how we will attack a problem until it is done and never give up; that is as long as it is in our area of expertise. We both have learned that when you are out of that area, you try until you screw up just enough that you can’t fix it, but someone else can… then call ‘em.