An Exchange of Favors

[billroper]

So I called Sam and proposed an exchange of favors today. I went down to his place where his computer still wasn't working correctly with his old external modem, looked it over, and led him to the store to buy a new modem. Things appear to be working correctly now, although Sam remains unsure as to whether the "Roper Effect" is in play. This would be one of those psychic phenomena where the computer only works when I'm there. We'll see.

Then we came back to my house where Sam helped me put up a ceiling fan in the office. It's much nicer up there now.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

So far, so good.

Thanks,
Sam Winolj

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

I am familiar withthat effect. I am a bit of a freak in that they often work better for me than other, even more illiterate people. But if it breaks for me, it will work fine for whomever I call to look at it.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Is the Roper Effect, akin to the way engines stop making funny noises when a woman gets a man to listen to them? This same thing can happen with computers, although it seems to be more dependent of the level of expertise of the people involved.

[billroper]

Oh, yes, that would be exactly it.

Actually, Sam's pretty good with computers, but this problem was just being a bit weird.

[(Anonymous)]

As in, the modem worked just fine with another computer.

Sam Winolj

[billroper]

Right. I think it was a driver problem with WinXP. The computer that worked correctly with the modem was running Win98SE.