I find it somewhat surprising how dependent we´ve become with computers.
Today at work I had a miserable day, because the small, slow 150mhz computer I coax along, and have for a long time, started just shutting down. Or closing a program in the middle of things, or not letting me connect with the internet. It´s kinda like an old buddy is leaving...
No, it´s not a virus or ad garbage, I checked. But the whole thing is grinding to a clunky halt, right there in the middle of my reports and worship half planned for this Sunday, not to mention a sermon... I was having a right fit in my office....
This is week two of these problems, and I suspect they might be hardware related. The old beast has taken all I could give er. Now what??
Now what indeed.
I end up running home to work on this or that. To find a story I´ve been looking for, to type my annual report, to print something off, etc.
Then I get here, and Lauralea´s been working on XSF JOY stuff for 4 days, fighting, typing, printing, (Which is another story, but we´ll see her again soon, I hope.) And she has the nerve to try to run one WordPerfect Document with all the data in it, pictures and words. This means she has a document roughly the size of Godzilla. Then everything slows down and crashes and she ask´s "Why did it do that?"
Why, indeed.
Then, I fight for computer time with the kids and their msn and net research stuff. More of their school work is net connected. I haven´t seen them crack an encyclopedia in a long time, and this seems to go with the direction of education these days.
I realized that we are becoming dependent on these things like the previous generations were dependant on cars. I used to be out in the yard with my dad in the middle of winter, working on and coaxing the car to keep on running another day. Now, my son and I huddle around an open CPU, trying this or that with the hardware, then the software, to keep it moving another day.
Interesting how times change, yet remain the same.
At least you can huddle around the CPU inside where it is warm! That is maybe some progress.
ReplyDeleteBut expecting our pastor to work without a decent computer is a bit like asking me to do my work with one of those old belt driven drill jobs - not a pleasent thought. Not very efficient and not much work would get done. I suspect it is the same for you.
:-) Do you get extra points for always being pleasant in the face of frustration and adversity?
Actually, after a morning of fighting with the computer, Lowell W. showed up at my office around noon, with a Big Mac Meal.
ReplyDeleteThat kinda turned my night into day!!
Sometimes meeting people over the net leaves you feeling impotent.
ReplyDeleteI sounds like you just need to do an OS rebuild - back up your data, wipe the HD and start again.
This is also frustrating because I've got a perfectly good tower sat in the back of my car with at least double the power of your system that would cost 10 times what it's worth to ship you.
Something you might want to consider is a 'pre-owned system. There's a number of companies here that specialise in reconditioned kit at incredibly competitive prices.
The thing about computers that I am growing more and more to appreciate, is this internet community of friends. I generally check Randall's blog at least once a day, (keeps ME in touch too!) and reading your comment, Toni, just gave me a thrill. We live an ocean apart, we've never met face to face, yet you're able to share a caring heart in a way that makes me glad again that in God's kingdom we are connected, no matter how far apart we are in a physical sense. Makes me all choked up to feel that love and care. I don't always know what Randall's thinking about the comments he finds here, but I am usually encouraged by them. I'm glad you guys out there have found this blogsite, and It's exciting to be able to build friendships and relationships this way in the midst of a crazy and busy world. (and by the way, I DID know why the computer was crashing, as I was working with my Godzilla- sized document...and I'm almost done the program- children's teaching time during the sermon- for another 3 months!)
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