The Computer and the Filing Cabinet

My computer managed to do much more efficiently and quickly what I have been thinking about for a few years, but never managed to do. It destroyed all my files -- without emotion, without wanting to designate which files should be saved because they might be used in the future, were interesting, or had nostalgia attached to them.

So, my old-fashioned filing cabinets remain filled with nicely labeled manila folders and a variety of facts and "stuff," some quite old and outdated, that I may or may not ever want or need again. And, I am faced with a decision I wasn't ready to make about "confronting technology" once again. Seven hours of talking to tech support in India left me very tired and frustrated. The last tech support person recommended trying to save my computer files if possible, and then buying a remote control "recovery" program and then re-installing programs. When I said I needed time to think about it, he said he'd call me the following day. He did -- at 5:30 a.m.! Apparently computer sense doesn't give one common sense. Since the computer is just about an extension of his fingers, how hard would it have been for him to find out what the time was in California?

In most ways, I'm a straightforward person. But computers have taught me to duck, weave, and find a way around the straight on approach when I can't determine what "the right way" is. Some things seem not to matter. For example, my computer says "going to sleep" just before it turns on, but it turns on anyway. Other things it says, it means.

Although I have seen old people in my retirement community hum ahead with computer technology in amazing ways, the combination of more and higher technology presents an on-going challenge in my life. I am happy driving a 1993 car that doesn't give me too many surprises. I have a Jitterbug phone for people who don't know what to do with those many special features. And I never have to worry about it ringing in places it shouldn't because I only turn it on when I need to use it. For no reason any Jitterbug personnel can understand, it always takes dialing twice, rather than once, to make a call.

So, I cope with technology by forgiving it when it doesn't work as it is supposed to, finding an alternate way to do what the straightforward way doesn't accomplish, paying for someone else to make it work, or just deciding it's too much trouble.

Hmm! Old computer recovered? New computer? Desktop? Laptop? Well, I never really thought I could publish a book with iUniverse by doing everything on-line. But I did. I never really thought I'd be able to have a blog. But I did (http://blogs.bootsnall.com/zima) and now I'm stretching out into new territory with this blog. And yet, an electric typewriter, an electronic typewriter (anyone remember those?), a word processor, and two Web TV receivers still clutter my storage. Perhaps it's time to move on.