My Recent Computer Woes — The Flying Frame
I’ve written before of computer woes, a sad and unavoidable fact of modern life. They come. They go. These machines make our lives easier in so many ways (online bill pay and shopping, email, and my all-time fav, eBay.) And they make our lives so much more difficult when they fail. Then one must remember how to accomplish archaic tasks like writing checks and using stamps.
I’ve written before of computer woes, a sad and unavoidable fact of modern life. They come. They go. These machines make our lives easier in so many ways (online bill pay and shopping, email, and my all-time fav, eBay.) And they make our lives so much more difficult when they fail. Then one must remember how to accomplish archaic tasks like writing checks and using stamps.
Several months ago, an expensively-framed old diploma of my uncle’s (but obviously not well-equipped with proper, strong picture wire), decided to fly off the wall and attack my laptop. The force of impact was tremendous. The sound brought me dashing from an adjoining room to find the frame on the floor. I was so delighted the glass of the frame hadn’t broken that I didn’t realize for a few days (until the machine began acting squirrely) that the diploma had actually hit the laptop on its way down. There was a tiny dent in my almost-new computer. I needed reading glasses and good lighting to see it after my daughter Becca discovered it a few days later. “Maybe THIS has something to do with your computer problems”, she said, (rather sarcastically, I thought). Naturally, the laptop had been open at the time of the attack. Slow but not stupid, it was only then I finally connected the flying frame with the computer malfunctions.
After long and tedious calls to the manufacturer, after suffering what seemed like hours of automated voice prompts, it was determined that the problem couldn’t be solved by tech support agents with unintelligible accents (something I knew before I made the call, as sure as I knew the tech support folks would be talking to me from the other side of the globe). Another long and tedious call confirmed that flying diplomas are unfortunately excluded from warranty claims.
My daughter returned with the machine after her weekend visit — for her tech support guy at work to take a look. He was clueless. Two weeks later (after severe cyber withdrawal had set in), she returned with the laptop, and we called her brother. I don’t know why I hadn’t called him from the start. My son (the computer genius) solved the problem in less than five minutes. (Or so we thought). He did this through a series of impatient commands issued to my daughter as she typed away, following his instructions. It had never occurred to me that this might be only a software problem after that kind of impact. — Sort of a miracle that such damage could be so easily repaired (or so we hoped). The trick is to find someone smart enough to help. Lucky me. (At least temporarily).
Over the last few months, I definitely noticed that there were glitches in the computer’s operation. But it worked well enough for my meager needs. (I didn’t realize there were more serious problems under the surface, files that had disappeared, etc.). When my son arrived a few days ago for rare and long-anticipated visit, he started checking out the laptop for me. (Some way to spend a vacation with Mom, right?) His reaction was, “I can’t believe this thing is working at all.” These were words I did NOT want hear.
After hours and hours and many attempts to repair corrupted files, Josh determined the hard drive should be replaced. Through the wonders of the Internet, and using HIS computer, we ordered a new part that should arrive in ONE day. Overnight delivery is another of the miracles of this age. And my computer/Internet savvy offspring usually knows how to get it free or very cheap. My poor son has now spent hours trying to save old pictures and columns for transfer to the new hard drive when it arrives. If there is damage to other parts, we will find out soon enough.
It’s amazing how dependent we can become on our electronic equipment. I’m not proud of this. And I don’t even own an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, eReader (Kindle), or Netbook. This new age of megapixels and megabytes and has pretty much passed me by (mostly by choice). The exceptions are my computer, printer, and cell phone (no texting, no data planning, no touch screen). I’m pretty certain the technology I already own (and have mastered in my limited fashion) is most likely all I can handle.
