A few months ago I wrote a couple of pieces for aNewsCafe.com. And, fortunately — and out of character for me — I happened to print them out and put them in my “Just Sayin’” folder.
And then, obliteration reigned. My computer crashed. It went, clutching the vestiges of my imagined genius to its electronic bosom and sank into oblivion of the electronic River Styx. Granted, it had crashed before, at least umpteen times. After all, it’s a 2004 model. Besides, always before, the wizardly gurus of the tech world have been able to breath life back into the infernal machine. But not this time. Cue sad music with much gnashing of gears and smoldering motherboards.
So, since the middle of August, I’ve been beholden to library computers; friend’s computers; my Kindle; and my phone and most recently my iPad.
And now? Ahhh. I now I have a brand new (to me) pre-owned (by my daughter) laptop that I am sure ill do me fine the rest of my natural (and a few un-natural) days. Of course, I said the exact same thing in 1983 when I bought my first computer, a Tandy, 10 mg hard drive . Ooooh, I was living on the cutting edge.
All that to say this: Like Jack Nicholson, I’m baaa-aaack!
Of course, I still have to learn to use this *&^$# thing. Even though my last one was a Mac laptop, as is this one, we all know how much the tech world has evolved since 2004. The slight problem here being that even though the world around us, and the tech world in particular, evolve at a frenetic pace . . . we of the 80+ contingent of the population, do not evolve at that pace.
I, for one, insist that as we get older, we don’t get any more learning curves to master as we age. As we grow older, the learning curve just gets steeper, and, in some cases, more slipper.
And it didn’t help that about the same time my very old smart phone decided that the end had neared, and I, heeding my daughter’s advice, moved from an Android phone to an iPhone. Copy and insert the paragraph above right here. I kept whining, “But I’m too old for this kind of stress!” To which she would patiently answer, “Just keep after it, Mom. You always master it in the end.” And I have. Kinda. And as an aside, have you noticed that as we move into old age, the child becomes the parent? Yup. It’s true. And to that I say, “What a relief!”
So, with the help of various friends and even a few of my students (do you have any idea what it does to your ego when a 12-year-old student has to explain, with great patience, for the third time how to do something?) . . . and even Matthew (our Align Workout Studio guru), I’m receiving the ultimate tech support.. Talk about a full service gym! I’ve begun my relationship with the newest member of my family.
As a promise , no, make that, as a profound hope, I will try to keep my long absences to a minimum. No guarantees, you understand. At this point in my life, it’s considered a guarantee made on an act of faith when one orders pizza delivery!
