Read the Instructions

From time to time I build/fix things.  Not anything grand, inspiring, or life changing.  I certainly haven't been building the next wonder of the world or even the next wonder of the zip code.  Normally I am tasked with putting the toys together that my children receive as gifts, or fixing some miscelaneous broken thing around the house.

For example, this past Christmas, Santa Claus saw fit to give my kids a kitchen.  Not a real kitchen, mind you, just a plastic one.  I am sure he thought it would be easy to put together and would provide a bonding experience for my kids.  I will speak nothing of the bonding experience except to say that the only bonding that occured was due to the sticky saliva of my kids on the play food.

Anyway, the point is that everytime I at least gave lip service to the instructions.  Certainly I don't need to know how to put a bolt and a washer together, but there were some more complex things that I didn't quite follow.

All of this is to say the following... don't call Technical Support unless you have read the instructions five ways.  If it says "Click Here if you Forgot Your Password", click on it.  Don't wait for Tech Support to tell you to try that.

Check all the plugs to make sure you have power to whatever you are trying to turn on.

If there are six steps to completing a registration, don't skip the important ones.

That is all I have to say about that...