They Just Work

This was the scene in our living room—and in my brain—last weekend. A snarled mess.

In a nutshell(ish), the cable company shipped a new cable box to us because the old one was about to become obsolete and non-functional on June 4th. We dragged our feet on making the swap because I hate messing with things when they’re working, and Fred is not exactly what you’d call a tech wizard. (Exhibit A: He was a flip-phone.) But on June 2nd, we bit the proverbial bullet and swapped the cable boxes which went relatively well, despite the need to crawl behind the TV, untangle spaghetti cords and cables in 80+ degree heat and high humidity. During the activation phone call, we learned that the new box WAS SUPPOSED to go on the BEDROOM TV. GAH!! Long story longer, we decided to have them ship us a new box for the bedroom and we’d leave the living room one where it was.

But then suddenly the wifi in our house wasn’t working, and nothing I did would restore it. The modem and router have nothing to do with the cable box, that I’m aware of, but our home network was down and I got that panicky alone feeling that happens when I’m over my head with a tech problem.

The ordeal stretched throughout the day (not a peaceful way to spend the Sabbath)—new modem, new router, new cable, an hour (at least) with tech support and a supremely patient man named Graham who amazingly did not pretend we got cut off and shared my whoops of joy when the wifi was eventually restored. YAHOO!

But then I had to reconnect ALL THE THINGS to the network as the settings had changed — the desktop computer, my Kindle, the Sleep Number bed, the Ring doorbell, the Generac generator, and probably some things that I haven’t discovered yet. Oof—everything is complicated and connected!!

Except for pens and paper.

What a relief to sit at my desk after all of this and fill a page in my journal with these technology woes. I uncapped the pen, put the nib to paper, and all was right with the world. This recently acquired, used, $35 Narwhal pen wrote like a dream.

Every now and then a pen will act up a little—very rarely in my personal experience—but usually the fix is a simple one—a good flushing, a different ink, at most a little nib work. No fiddling with settings, no gnashing of teeth, no passwords required.

Pens—they just work. Isn’t that the best feeling?!