I Can Do Hard Things!

Our Seminary office received a huge brand new Xerox printer/copier/scanner/fax machine. It's an amazing piece of technology that I get to play around with. It arrived two weeks ago, and I have been pretending not to notice it sitting on the spare table.....waiting to be installed and appreciated.

You see, I'm the only person in my office these days, since my boss had surgery and is spending many weeks recovering. There's no one else to help me figure out how to get this incredible piece of equipment set up. Finally, I couldn't ignore it any longer. I used to tell my kids that “You Can Do Hard Things”, and now it was time to tell myself the same thing. I removed all the packing tapes, Styrofoam, instructions, and began to study it out.

Much to my dismay, it became clear that in order for all the connecting wires to reach, I would have to unplug the entire CPU, move equipment around, drag all the wires along a new pathway, and then reconnect everything again to make it work. As I stared at the mass of tangled wires under the desk my brain went dead...as if it couldn't possibly process the confusion. When all those cables and wires were unplugged, HOW was I going to get them all back in their rightful places?? If any “techies” are reading this, I know they are shaking their heads and snickering. Sure, it seems easy to THEM. But this was a very daunting task for me!

I must have stared at the problem for a half hour or so. I might have even whimpered a time or two. Then slowly I came up with a plan to label each cord as I pulled it out. I used blank address labels wrapped around each one with a little drawing to indicate where it should be returned. The parts got moved, the wires redirected (and organized a little bit more neatly!), and then I carefully got them all put back into CPU and power strips. I followed the directions on a cd to install the Xerox, and finally tried a test print. IT WORKED!! (And there was no one around to hear me cheer.)

Only one problem remained. I no longer had access to the Internet! But, I did have a spare cord that didn't get replaced because it was too short for the new pathway. That required a trip to the store, with the old wire in my hand, asking: “Um, whatever this is, I need another one just like it, only longer?” Back at the office, I plugged in both ends of the new cable, and Ta DAAAAA! I had Internet connection!! I am so proud of myself! And so relieved that it's done! Next time I go to the office, I might even play around with the new Xerox and figure out all the cool stuff it can do. It shouldn't be hard at all.

Here's a picture of me and all the wires, confidently resolving the problem. Yeah, right. :)