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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Technology 101

The last snowstorm-related power failure shot a gun at the temple of our antique desktop computer. When the lights came back on, the system did not. Key funeral music here, please.

It didn’t bother me much. The thing had been panting for such a long while that I backed up all my files and moved over the laptop ages ago. I positioned myself at a table at the front of the house and ignored the dinosaur wheezing in the family room behind me--other than to suggest once in a while, that perhaps the music aficionados in my family might want to back up the large file of downloaded songs that lived on the desktop hard drive. Whoops. When, after the fact, they reminded me that I had an I-tunes play list too, I muttered, “Oh well.”

Then, the three of us started pulling the chair out from under each other in our quest to get to the laptop, the only remaining computer in the house. That’s all it took for my husband and I to discover a hidden cash reserve and purchase a new system, which was installed yesterday.

We are not tech savvy. We paid extra for a Geek Squad guy to show up at our house, network the thing and make it go. And it does. Off he went though, before we discovered we have no volume on the new computer. Yes, we’ve clicked all the doohinkgies. And while we were able to have a professional recover the songs we lost from the old system to an external hard drive, we are not having much luck downloading them.

God I feel clueless.  Has technology progressed so fast that the people we pay to bail us out from these minor inconveniences figure they’ve done all they need to, because they can’t fathom how hopeless our understanding of the equipment actually is?

You don’t have to respond to that. I already know the answer.

11 comments:

Anne Gallagher said...

Which is why I don't have technology in my house. I have one computer that I can barely manage. I am computer illiterate.

I figure in another 5 years, we'll all be implanted with some sort of micro chip and all we'll have to do is squeeze a finger for music, and it will play in our ear, squeeze a thumb and books will appear right before our eyes (kind of like the dashboard screen in the new fangled cars). And if we touch our ear, we'll automatically be plugged into our phone.

Ugh. Modern technology.

Bish Denham said...

Oh, I'm just as computer clueless as you are! We got a new monitor only to discover we had no sound! GAK, it had no built in speakers. So we had to buy little speakers and then had to figure out where to plug them in. (As it is we mostly use the ear-buds.)

Helen Ginger said...

The people who build computers, work on them and/or understand them will rule the world in a decade or so. The rest of us will be lost in the muck. That will be the majority in the ooze, but it'll still be ooze.

glnroz said...

advanced? why, I remember my first computer. Radio Shack with 2 floppy 5 1/4 disks,,,the operating and storage were on both of these,,no hard drive. Do they have a new model on the market?

Jan Morrison said...

thanks for the reminder to backup my novel doo-dah - today, right now. see ya later...

Wine and Words said...

Yes. I believe the answer to your question is Yes. We are now at the mercy of the Geeks and they will have their revenge! I can't even watch a DVD without three clickers and several calls to my son or husband on how to get the damn thing to play...with sound please! I do find that I can figure out most computer issues if I google the question. Perhaps you could google your sound problem. I loved the images of your computer dying, as if it had breath. Next generation will I think. And a heartbeat. {{shiver}}

Empty Nester said...

I'm glad you already know the answer because I didn't want to be the one to tell you that the answer is Yes. Luckily Hubs is somewhat knowledgeable and we have a nephew who is a whiz with computers and a SIL who is as well. All that makes us is LUCKY DUCKS!

Sue said...

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a geek (a relative) sit down with me and show me some basics (basic to him I might add) without once rolling his eyes! I'm a tad less clueless now. Lovely to see the word doohickeys appear. thanks.

Colette Martin said...

Yup -- they figure you just know how. I live with a bunch of geeks and every single one of them can't fathom how everyone else doesn't know what they know. Go figure.

Anonymous said...

I remember going to buy a PC at Compaq years ago and asking where the A drive was. This was when burning CDs was the latest and greatest. The sales rep gave me a really stupid look and walked away.

Have fun with your new toy!

Jacqueline Howett said...

Yes, in the next month many will have learnt the new ropes to what apps can do, and that you don't need a Kindle if you only have a laptop or a computer, which is great for all those foreign countries. The background to reading on screen is also in pale pink, so its not harsh on the eyes, which seems to be many peoples excuses not to read books on their computers. People have to be shown more until it sinks in.