Medieval IT

Sometimes I take my computer skills for granted. Then I talk with someone who doesn't know how to use a search engine, upload photos, attach them to an e-mail, or pay their bills online (this was more common 10 years ago when I was teaching middle-aged building inspectors how to turn in reports using an online program), and I realize how cool it is that I know this stuff. Plus, it's nice to help others out once in awhile. It's nice to have a bit of service experience. I feel useful AND I develop empathy!! My mom is just happy I was able to turn all those hours goofing off on the internet during college into a viable job :D

If you've ever worked in IT (information technology), or just taught someone how to send an e-mail (Hi Mom!), this video is for you.

And even if you haven't, you might get a kick out of it.


Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend :)

Testing the Blogger app

So, I have a fancy new phone that has apps and a camera and all those delightful frills I've been dreaming of for a year or more. On the down side, it's expensive and I have to charge it at least every other day (usually every day). On the plus side, being plugged in and a part of the tech conversation is awesome! It seems I've become yet another person who spend ridiculous amounts of time playing with her phone. Now I'm only 2 years behind the trend :-)
I've been using the Blogger app for my photo blog, and now I'm wondering how the photos will display when there is actual text.
So...this post is my test. Here's the second photo:
Doesn't get any cuter than this, folks.
And now to publish and see how it looks...
(After viewing on a computer.) Looks like all photos end up at the bottom of the post. Good to know! Might stick to the tried and true methods for the larger posts, especially since the uploaded photo quality isn't very good (or maybe that's just how my phone photos look?). Also, I was only able to accidentally link to my photo blog... there's a link option, and a highlight option, but I can't figure out how to keep the highlight from immediately disappearing when I navigate to the Link button >:-(
Like a goof, I accidentally posted this to my photo blog first. On the up side, I learned how to copy/paste -- pretty cool!

Fighting with Mac

*This post might not be interesting to most, but if anyone has computer/mac experience I'd love your advice!

If my laptop at home were a person and had a face, I would have punched it days ago.

We are in a fight.

Basically, I want it to work as it has for the last two-and-a-half years, and it just wants to play with ColorWheel.


I HATE ColorWheel! It's been my constant companion for most of the last WEEK!

Last Thursday, I videotaped the last dress rehearsal of my show (it's legal because the script's in public domain and it wasn't an official performance anyway). I forgot how long it takes to download a video of 2+ hours. Unfortunately, it takes about 2+ hours, and I didn't want to stay up until 2 a.m. Thursday night. So, I let my computer download until its usual time for shutting off (you know, to save power).

Well, when I woke up the next morning and rebooted the machine, ColorWheel had appeared. I didn't worry, because I figured the machine needed to reorient itself. I went to work... went to a show... came home after midnight and turned the machine on again... and ColorWheel was still there, which I took to mean that it was still downloading the video (even though the countdown on the downloader wasn't ticking down). I stayed up with it until 2 a.m. but didn't see much of a change, so, again, I went to bed.

Saturday morning, first thing, I turned on the computer, and saw that the video had failed to download. There wasn't enough memory on the machine!! I spent the bulk of the day finding my external hard drive, backing up ALL of my files, and deleting a ton of photos and videos and other things while I listened to General Conference on the radio (that's what happens when you don't have cable t.v. and your computer won't cooperate -- hooray for reliable old-school media!). I tried downloading the video again, and at least when it failed the second time it happened fairly quickly.

Sunday was spent much the same way: deleting already backed-up videos and photos I thought I could live without. Then I tried to upload the video for the third time -- this time I succeeded!! Hallelujah!

Finally, everything seemed to be fine. I watched the first act of my show, caught up on some other t.v.... life as usual.

And then Monday happened. I booted up my computer, but anytime I tried to do anything my old pal ColorWheel would show up for awhile. Any video I watched on Hulu would take forever to load, show 15 seconds, and then fail.

So, I did what any rational, slightly clueless person would do.

I restarted the machine.

BIG MISTAKE!!!!!

It took 2 days to reboot. TWO DAYS! And it didn't shut down to save energy because technically it wasn't even on.

Monday night I started yelling at Mac. A lot.

Last night it finally booted up -- I was so relieved!! I deleted a ton of stuff from iTunes and then emptied my Trash can.  Then I tried to watch an episode of Smash. It didn't even get through the "what you've missed" section before a pop-up appeared to tell me I'm out of "application space" and had to shut down a few programs (that pop-up is the other bane of my existence). I closed down iTunes but left Safari up so I could try to keep watching the video.

ColorWheel has been eating up my screen ever since.

I feel so helpless! It's been a week, and I am waaaaaay past lost patience. I can't do ANYTHING! No internet, no weather.com, no t.v., no online journaling... granted, I'm making great progress reading my latest library book, but this is so frustrating.

Any advice? I bought it in September of 2009. Is it just old? It has been getting slower and slower the last few months. At this point, I'd fear it has a virus, but it's a Mac computer, and aren't viruses on those pretty rare?

Another Facebook fast

Last year I took about 10 days off from Facebook, for various reasons.

I've decided it's time to do it again.

Two months ago, it would have been because I was jealous of all the moms and kids and weddings and cool vacations.

Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

But, happily, I got over my "why not me?" pity-fest.

No, now I need a break because, since the changes Facebook made to the layout last week, I've been spending more time on there than ever. This in spite of the fact I find those changes seriously annoying. I have my friends all organized in little groups like "Extended Family", "Close Friends", and "Entertaining!".... but you can't add pages that you've "Liked" to those groups, so I still have to look at the main feed to see the latest news on Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Doesn't matter what else I'm doing on the computer, I check FB about every 10 minutes. And I don't like it. But I haven't been able to get myself to stop.

No doubt about it: I am addicted to Facebook.

I've been wanting to take a break for awhile, but there's always a reason not to: my play, my birthday, someone else's birthday, vacation photos, birth announcements, cast announcements, etc. So easy to make excuses not to stop. Finally decided to just DO it!

So, Sunday I posted a status update stating that I'd been taking a break for an indeterminate amount of time, e-mailed a few people I generally only communicate with on FB so they'd have my e-mail address, wrote down the dates and times of events that I plan to attend, and smiled at the replies from people who said they'd miss me.

Monday, I "deactivated" my account. I did this so I wouldn't receive any updates and no one could invite me to anything while I'm absent. I didn't really want to delete it and all of the associations I've made in the last couple of years. This is a happy medium.

It's only been two days and, pathetically, I already miss it. A lot. You know me, I miss the stories and pretending I know what's going on. But I'll stay strong. After all, I'll make an effort with the people I really want to keep in touch with (honestly, thank goodness for my friends' blogs--maybe I'll start commenting more), and much of what people post on FB isn't time-sensitive, or even important, anyway. I know most of what I post isn't very interesting

Oh dear, now I'm going to have to read the news to get my updates on world/local events. *Sigh* I can do it!

Hoping to stay off the FB for a couple of weeks, if not the entire month of October (wouldn't that be amazing?!) We'll see how it goes!

Web site improvements

I had a job for several years at a company that used an in-house website for all of its services. Part of my (and everyone else at the company) job was to submit suggestions to improve the web site whenever I thought of them. It was awesome, because I used the web site every day and I got to see how my suggestions helped make the software easier to use. This was also great, because often I had to explain to other people how to use the software, and was always glad to make the process easier. I really loved having that validation that my suggestions were good, and they they were used to help make the lives of everyone else who worked there easier too.

Now, any time I use a web site, I'm always thinking of ways it could be better and wishing I had some way to affect the change.

One of my web site pet peeves? When a login page loads and I have to use my mouse or hit the tab key 12 times before the cursor displays in the login name field. Is it so hard to have the cursor automatically populate in that field, since it's the one people are most likely going to want anyway? Such a little thing, but it's a hassle every time.

Anyway, web site recommendations has been on my mind a lot lately, because I wish that Google Reader had the option for me to request that all of the blog posts on a site display on my reader just once a day. For example, I love Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats and It Made My Day - Funny Win Stories, but there seems to be a new entry every half hour or so from one or the other or both. I leave a window open most of the day at work because I love reading about what my friends are doing. However, it's annoying to get my hopes up that one of my friends might have posted and instead it's some stranger chirping about how happy they are that their tailgater got pulled over for speeding. There are some great stories that really do make me smile, and I'm considering contributing, but as a reader I'd rather get them all bundled together. Can't I set it to display once a day, and then all of the blogs posted within that 24 hour period all display at once? I don't even care if I can't set the time. Just a check box in the Manage Subscriptions page that says "bundle posts to appear once a day" next to each blog subscription would be great.

I'm a reader. If I'm going to break my concentration on whatever I was doing before I saw there was a new post, I'd rather have one 10 minute interruption than twenty 30 second interruptions. The instant-gratification monster inside me has a hard time waiting while the posts accumulate over two hours or so.

I should point out that when I pull up gmail.com, the cursor defaults in the user name field. Thank you, Google! You get so much right... maybe that's why this oversight bugs me so much.

What do you think? Should I submit my idea to Google? Do you ever think of things when using the computer that would make it easier to surf around or complete a task?

And there was much rejoicing!

I don't know if you've noticed, because I've never been consistent, but there have been a definite lack of photos on my blog lately. I've been having issues with my scanner since... geez last winter(?) that I've been too lazy to put much effort into (printing and copying parts worked fine, but not the scan function), and a few months ago my computer stopped recognizing my camera. I've been getting aroung the camera issue by downloading photos on my parents' computer and using a photo-sharing site, but that took an undesirable chunk out of my family time and was annoyingly cumbersome. I've been grudgingly doing without the scanner.

To make a long story short (too late), last week my adored besty Kate took a look at my computer. After she confirmed that the computer and camera both work fine independently, she offered some suggestions. I bought a memory card reader to work around the photo problem, which solved the camera problem brilliantly. I was even able to use the reader for another memory card and retrieve some videos I had missed! And night-before-last I uninstalled and reinstalled the scanner software -- twice. I have done it before, but Kate recommended I replace all of the related software, too. Last night when I turned on my computer there was an upgrade available and after I installed it MY SCANNER WORKED!!!! I scanned a photo that's been ready and waiting for nearly a year! The software works a bit differently than it did previously, but as long as it keeps working I am happy to adapt to the change.

(Meanwhile, yesterday I discovered that my DVR has some new functions, and some of the old functionality has been tweaked in a way I am not thrilled about. Sigh... I was so used to the old way! The new way is so glitchy!! Stupid skipping to some pre-determined spot in the show when I rewind instead of playing where I actually stop...grrr.)

Does this mean I will be posting more photos? No idea. Maybe. I kind of like the idea of a photo-a-day blog, or at least a photo to go with each blog, even if it doesn't relate. I'm not really a photography-enthusiast but I like keeping records -- visual, auditory, and written. I am just excited that it's an option again! I love it when my technology tools work with me! It's so frustrating when they don't!!

Hunt and Peck

I just burned my left hand with some hot water I was using to make hot chocolate, so I'm typing this post exclusively using what my mom calls the hunt-and-peck (H&P) method.

It is very slow, but effective. I used this method for many years before taking my typing class in high school. I learned to type on an actual type writer and that was also a very slow process.

When I can type properly I usually go pretty fast. I keep thinking I should check my WPM (words per minute) but haven't gotten around to it. The last time I took a test was a good 7 years ago, and that time I started on the wrong keys initially, so it wasn't really accurate. I don't even remember what the score was.

The score using H&P would be horribly low.

And now my right hand and arm are sore, so I will continue icing my left and call it a night. Hopefully this won't keep me from being able to work tomorrow... I really, really need to get my work done!

(The hot chocolate was delicious, by the way.)

See you tomorrow!

Update from the next morning: The worst burn isn't too painful anymore, and I can type with two hands again! Hooray!

A Tale of Two Computers, part 2

above from left: the old PC, the new Mac, and the subsequently returned Netbook

Continued from A Tale of Two Computers, part 1

I bought a new computer! It's a Mac and it's so shiny and runs so fast! I'm still getting used to the differences, and I haven't yet bought the iWord/iWork software that's supposed to be just like MicroSoft word, but I think I'm going to keep this one (wow. How's that for a run-on sentence?) And I configured the internet on it all by myself (next stop, setting up a Wireless network so I can log on from anywhere in the house).

Technically, my newest computer is #3, but I'm fond of the old title. Unless I have to work from home, I have officially retired the old PC. I am grateful I was able to backup everything on it before the USB ports went kaput. Our IT person at work needs to do a bit of research to figure out how to set up the SVN before I can work from home on the new machine.

When I bought the old PC, it was the most money I'd ever spent on one item at one time. I felt so grown-up and nervous and excited. It felt the same way when I bought the Mac. It was more money than I originally wanted to spend, but I don't regret the purchase. I am happy with my choice.

New toys are fun!

Coming Up:

I have one old computer that gets internet that doesn't accept new photos, and another that I can download photos on that doesn't connect to the internet. This means that I cannot add the photos I took this weekend to my blog posts until I find a functioning computer. The plan is to throw them online tomorrow during lunch, so I can write my blog posts around them.

Included will be posts about:

Halloween
My cousin Bowen's baby blessing
and Sleeping Beauty (which opens on Friday!)


I will be buying a new computer shortly... I will be really excited when I don't have these weird problems anymore!

Stay tuned!

A Tale of Two Computers, part 1

Once upon a time, a woman named Miss Megan bought a laptop computer. It was her first big purchase and she was oh so proud of it! She put her photos and stories on that little laptop, wrote e-mails, shopped online, and started a blog. She was part of the digital age and it felt good.

Six years later, the laptop had served her very well, but it was no longer doing all she needed it to. It ran more and more slowly with each passing month. Suddenly, it stopped recognizing any external devices such as the printer, the external hard drive, and the small USB storage device she had been using since she bought the computer. She spent some time on the phone and online tech support, but finally had to face the facts: it was time to buy a new computer.

So, she asked for a lot of advice from technology-minded friends, did quite a bit of online research, and visited several stores. Megan considered getting a desktop computer, but since she liked playing on the computer while sitting on the couch rather than at her desk, a netbook or laptop seemed the better way to go. She finally decided on a netbook, liking the idea of being able to carry it with her in her purse.

She and her mother went to Costco and bought one on a Wednesday in September (her mother had to come because Megan didn't have a Costco card), and by that night Megan had linked it with her external hard drive so that she could access the photos and other files she'd managed to retrieve from the previous computer before it failed to recognize said hard drive anymore.

The netbook worked much, MUCH faster than the old laptop and the battery worked for a lovely six hours rather than one. The new netbook had a video camera on it, and Megan and her family got a big kick out of talking with her brother Peter in Philadelphia on Skype. And, as she had suspected, Megan absolutely loved carrying the netbook around in her purse as though it were another book she was reading.

However, Megan soon realized that the small screen came with a price: she had to do a lot of scrolling, many pop-ups didn't fit in the screen, and the resolution was too small to accommodate her printer/scanner. She asked for more advice and considered buying another monitor she could connect with the netbook at home for those fancier functions.

Most unfortunately another monitor wouldn't solve the biggest problem: Internet connections were iffy on this netbook. Megan hadn't set up WiFi in her condo, most of the other nearby connections were password-protected and they all had low connectivity in her neck of the woods anyway, so the wireless option was rather useless. Worse, for some reason the netbook didn't play well with Megan's Internet connection when she physically plugged in the cord. Gah! A computer without Internet is a fairly frustrating thing, especially when Megan had just determined to write in her blog every day and often needed to work from home.

So, Megan decided she would have to return the netbook to Costco. Thank goodness they had a 90 day return policy on electronics! She resumed working on her old laptop again for awhile longer while she did more research on the kind of laptop she wanted, because even if she couldn't connect her iPod or upload photos from the camera her parents gave her for her birthday, at least the Internet on the old laptop still worked... though it took a good 45 minutes to boot up the computer and get the Internet running.

Then, on the evening of Saturday, October 17, Megan discovered that the Internet connection on her old laptop had failed. It failed again on Sunday and yet again on Monday. It seemed the poor machine was on its last legs and gasping for breath. Not having a functioning computer was not an option. It was time to go back to Costco for a new laptop. She would have to make it a priority sometime that week in between work, rehearsals, and social engagements.

To be continued after Miss Megan buys a new laptop...

Updated: Continued in A Tale of Two Computers, part 2

Electronics Angst

Remember how my computer stopped recognizing my scanner, and I spent all of the Independence Day weekend trying to get it to work, which it still doesn't? Yeah, well, last night I logged onto my computer, and suddenly I have no IP address, which means I don't have access to the internet. Oh, and my camera died yesterday, so I can no longer take, view, or download photos. This means that all of the adorable photos I have of me holding my gorgeous nieces are inaccessible, though hopefully not for forever. I'd been planning to ask for a camera for my birthday, but that's 2 months away. I don't know if my disposable one will cover me for that long.

Meanwhile, there is a huge crack in my car's windshield (not electronic, but I'm pretty annoyed).

I'd wanted to spend the money I've saved on fun stuff, not putting out fires. Looks like life had other plans.