Tinkering as Learning

I enjoy tinkering, and when I run up against problems, I tend to dig in with greater fervor and persistence. Currently, I’ve been struggling to post to my blog from the blackberry bold with an image.

Most likely, only an anchor link will result from this test. So I’ll go back to the drawing board. I’ve worked the email plugins, the mobile phone plugins…this attempt is using the blog live software. (Yep, test failed, so I came around to the web interface and added image through Zemanta.)

The reason I decided to post about these various failed attempts is simple. Each attainment I’ve made in this space has come about from the same type of tinkering. The same process is underway with learning to podcast this past week. While the first series unfolding has poor audio quality, through tinkering I’ve managed to get the special podcast rss feed sent into and a few other podcasting networks. Lately, I’ve been doing a great deal of tinkering over at friendfeed as well.

I’m reminded of how my father would work on the cars in the driveway on weekend mornings back when you could still play under the hood. Often, by the time I’d shake off the slumber and roll out of bed, he’d be up to his elbows in oil and grease.

So eventually I’ll figure this out and most likely never mention it once I do. But sharing about the process when I’m in it up to my elbows is the best possible answer for when people ask, how’d you do it?