This is probably my way of explaining to my few readers why I haven’t blogged for a while - I was moving.  Part of moving is getting various services to the new place, internet being one of the vital ones.  Following is a short sketch about how a piece of rather “old” technology delayed me in receiving this rather “new” one.

I made an arrangement with the local cable company and patiently waited for the “cable guy” to show up within the 5 hour window set for me by the service center.  When he finally arrived, he turned to be a very nice, rather senior, man who worked as a subcontractor for the cable company and happened to be new to the are.  He started setting up a cable modem - a procedure that is supposed to take about 15 minutes - when he realized that he does not have the keys to utility room of the apartment complex where cable box is located.  It took us between 20-30 minutes to bring the manager of the complex to open the utility room, just to figure out that the padlock key for the box itself was not matching as well.  It took us another 20-30 minutes until the cable company representative showed up and unlocked the box.  Five minutes later i had internet in the new house.

That may be a slightly boring story, but it made me thinking how a 4000 years old technology keeps on playing such a central role in our lives and even has the ability of interfering in our interaction with the “newer” technologies.  A simple few dollars lock and (lack of) and even cheaper key prevented my access for over an hour to one of the more sophisticated contemporary pieces of technology in domestic use.  It was both ironic and fascinating to think about about it.

More so, it was really interesting to think about the human factor involved in any technology application.  At the end of the day the fact that the “cable guy” did not have the right keys was a results of a human error or organizational failure.  It is fascinating how little things actually change at the base even as technical sophistication grows.