After wasting a morning struggling with network and computer problems and incompatibilities, I have reminded myself to keep everything as simple as possible. It’s so easy to become a slave to the machine. For example, at one stage, moving files to another disk, I found myself mindlessly clicking over and over again on a confirmation button. I was sure that that operation would take four or five minutes, but half an hour later, in a half conscious state, I suddenly realized that this had been going on too long and, cursing, pulling at my hair, cancelled the operation. There is no doubt that I felt like a fool, and was a fool. But this is what happens sometimes.

The important lesson to learn is just to keep things simple, so that our interactions with the machine are kept to a minimal. And also to be mindful about the length of time that is being spent struggling against unconquerable technical issues that sometimes arise. It’s so easy to become absorbed in a problem. Often, just getting up and going to the bathroom gives a different perspective, and new ideas, so that I can go back and solve the problem another way. Alas, that didn’t happen today.