That "wild stat that completely shifted a story idea" thing happens to me all the time. I just make a note of the cool wrong idea in a separate file for later. It keeps me from getting derailed but saves the fun spark for something else.

Man, a tech at the supply house said the same thing. He called those error codes a "shortcut to the part, not the problem." I guess the old click really did force you to learn the machine.

SSL certs going bad are the worst. I mean, I had a car's whole computer system freak out once because of a bad sensor, same kind of hidden problem. Just eats your whole day.