Computers: Love 'em or Hate 'em

Computers: Love 'em or Hate 'em

I have a love/hate relationship with computers. Please assure me I am not alone. 

 

It is particularly frustrating when I am working on a novel and my computer seemingly crashes. 

On Saturday. 

After hours. 

No tech support.

 

I have a back up computer. That’s good… even though it is just different enough to cost me a couple of hours to reset the password, go through pages of “I accept” statements and a bit to figure out how to get the “view” I’m used to seeing.

 

My REAL tech support team lives up north. I call them Kids ‘R Us. It includes daughters, sons-in-law, and grandkids who know much more than I do.

 

The helpdesk at Kids “R” Us usually starts with a "did you try" statement.

 

“Did you try turning it off then turning it back on?”

“Did you try resetting your password?”

“Did you try…” Well, you get the idea.

 

The answer is yes. Yes I have tried everything. (Well there was that “throw it against the wall thing, but I decided against it.)

 

Computers are part of everyone’s life, it seems. My mother who is a young 92, uses her computer every day. Every. Single. Day. She stays in touch with family and friends via Facebook. She knows how to research something,check her email, and she connected with family during COVID via Zoom. She reads this blog every week as well. Of course she lives close to our shared tech support family. Just sayin’…

 

This past week I have moved between two computers, hobbling along day-to-day. I have two novels in the works. One is in revision. The other is a companion novel. I am about three quarters through the first draft. This is not the time to “hobble along.” 

 

I tracked down a computer guru who specializes in Apple computers and headed that way. Over an hours drive. I dropped it off and got the answer after I returned to our house. The man knows his stuff, but his answer weilded a crushing blow. 

 

My computer is outdated. Old. And the software I loaded is on its last leg. He told me he could do a few things…technical magic…and I could use it for maybe another year or two. The price he quoted was more than I wanted for “maybe a year or two.” MAYBE.

 

I wanted to cry. I have unfinished novels on that computer. I have memories on Facebook and pictures stored. My little backup computer doesn’t have the power of the other one. It doesn’t have the feel of my old friend.

And there’s that scratch on the side…a scar if you will…from when I slipped on a gravel road in Kosovo. The new keyboard doesn’t have the worn places on it from working late into the night hammering out a blog post or meeting a publishers deadline. 

 

But life goes on. I am in a new phase of adulthood. I’m in a new marriage, living in a new place, and learning my way around a new computer. It was a hike to get from our house to the Apple store in Brandon, but as always, the folks at the Genius Bar are rightly named. 

 

How about you? How do you manage your tech life? And if you need a little help, I know a few geniuses!