The view at the end of a scenic drive.

Learn to love the medjo pangit.

Adminisk8or

05/14/2023

Playing catch-up a week after you’ve been playing catch-up really gets to be a lot of work- go figure.

From last week’s “show up with a UPS and actually deliver a box of junk” story, the resolution to that was that I showed up Monday morning to go over and simply install the UPS. The worst of that job was supposed to be that I simply power down their office network, plug everything into the UPS, and go singing on my merry way. Well, the possibility of singing stopped the moment the core router bricked itself. Yeah, their whole office network backbone suddenly went POOF, and just like that things went from simple to “oh crap, oh crap, oh crap” in a matter of a minute. I ended up spending all day on what was meant to be a morning drop-by.

But to combat that with a good work story, this week, I was given a task from one of my teammates that they said they couldn’t figure out. It involved a MacBook and a Printer. THAT alone made me want to shrink from the task. As most network engineers and IT techs will tell you, printers are one of the most finicky network devices to work with, and adding MacOS to that equation is enough to make grown man weep. But I decided to head out to this school to do what I could to figure it out. In colloquial terms, I went in armed, but unprepared (metaphorically speaking- this is a school, for crying out loud!). Anyways, as I arrived to look at the issue, it hit me that this was similar to an issue I faced before. I went into our company documentation and looked for KB articles, and to my amazement and joy, I had, in fact, written up a KB article on this EXACT issue only about 5 months ago! And yes, it solved the issue in a quick matter of minutes, where I thought I’d be spending hours banging my head against a wall. You’d think I would have remembered.

Other than that, I finally took my bike out and made her land-worthy again… eh, more like I made myself land-worthy. I was impressed, that on a short but continuously uphill trail, that I only had to stop a few times! I also found myself taking a hike on a trail near it with my friends, where the trail would be more appropriately called a brook with how much runoff water is careening down it- and for the spring that has mysteriously emerged from it.

Perhaps one of the best things about this week, though, was a moment on Saturday- where after I had been fixing sprinklers all noon, and then went on a date and a drive in the evening, I got to sit out on my back patio under the upstairs tenants’ porch and listen to the sound of strong winds blowing furiously out of the nearby canyon, and got to feel the occasional draft of rain spill on my face. It felt as though I were in the midst of a hurricane, but was sheltered and protected against the storm.

I think it’s a rather interesting concept, that built into each of us, is this sense of “coziness”. I would wager, if I asked 99 out of 100 people, they would agree that the scene of a frozen, snowy mountain, with a wooden cabin providing warm light and a roaring fire within would qualify as one of the coziest things they could think of. But I like thinking deeper into these things and breaking them down- what makes it cozy?

Well, part one is obvious- the warmth of the fire, the glow of the warm light, and the soft interior of it all- by nature, that is what it is! But all of that would only be called “ kinda nice” or even “just decent”, were it not for the other half of the scene- the biting snowstorm outside. Isn’t it intriguing that we find comfort far more rewarding and fulfilling when we discover it in the midst of affliction and suffering?

At this point, it obviously goes without saying that such “medjo pangit” parts of life are what give meaning to the “maganda” ones- but even knowing that, it’s so easy to forget, sometimes. We seek fun, we seek thrills, and we sometimes seek things that look like happiness, but essentially equate to 5-hour energy happiness shots, with a big crash that comes thereafter. All of these things are not necessarily evil, as our intent was in the right place- we want good. But sometimes it’s critical to allow a little suffering to be a part of our lives- though it’s easier far to say than to go through. But by denying ourselves of certain instant pleasures, (though we don’t realize it,) we are giving ourselves that cold, bitter snowstorm that will lead us towards that nice, warm cabin.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not very good at many aspects of such a practice I preach- there are SO many times I love taking the easy way out, when it comes to satisfying instant gratification on many things. But even I have to admit, as often as I’ve made sacrifices and delayed the present reward for a bigger reward to come, it’s been well worth it so many times.

I hope everyone, when they fill the wind and the rains on their porch, while cuddled up under a blanket, or when they see a winter storm rage outside their warm abode remembers that- we need to let a part of our lives be medjo pangit, so that we can truly enjoy the best things in life. Until next week, see ya!