Of Computers and Heat by Konnie Enos

There has also been so much going on this week that I haven’t even thought about opening Word to do any sort of writing until today.

I believe that I mentioned my old computer had died and I ended up having to share a computer with my son and husband. At first, this wasn’t a big deal because they rarely use it, and I was only using it when necessary. Basically, just doing finances and dealing with our blog posts.

However, I eventually got back in the groove of working on my writing. Specifically editing. I started by reading though and working on the edits to my fantasy. This did take a week or so with starts and stops but this isn’t that long of a novel.

Then I started editing my sci-fi. This is five books long. I’ve been working on them long enough that the first one didn’t need much editing. The second one needed a little more but was nearly perfect too. When I got to the third one, I had to make some needed changes as well. Changes which I had to continue working on as I worked on the fourth and fifth one so that the story flowed well through all the books.  

Now the fourth book needed some work on getting to the right finish for it. I’d already written it, but it wasn’t in the fourth book. Mostly because I’d ended it in the wrong place and put it in the fifth book instead. I fixed that.

Now, although I had most of the story for the fifth book, it was missing needed elements and scenes. Not to mention I’d deleted about two chapters from it to finish the fourth book. So now I was doing both writing and editing. Not to mention still going back to book four and sometimes book three to correct the flow of the story. And I did okay on getting all that work done but I only made it to the exciting last day of the story before I hit some roadblocks. I have the ending of the whole series but not the ending for the storyline in the fifth book, so it still needs work because I don’t know the best way to end that storyline yet.

Anyway, after hitting that snag, I realized I’d been neglecting important things like keeping up with balancing our checkbook register. So, I was still on the computer a lot.

This is where the men in our household started to get frustrated with my using the computer all the time. My son wanted to play his VR games and my husband just found more reasons to use a computer rather than his phone.

My son was relatively easy to deal with since he’s a night owl and usually wanted it when I was going to bed anyway. My husband, however, was getting on my nerves. He’d say he needed the computer as soon as possible so I’d stop working on whatever I was doing, often trying to fix the last book in my sci-fi series, and he wouldn’t even touch the computer for hours. Several times he didn’t get on it at all that day.

I decided it was time to figure out replacing my computer, so I didn’t have to share with him. The issue was, I didn’t have four hundred dollars for one. My son helped me find one that was small, light, refurbished and under two hundred dollars. I’m still getting used to the size of the keyboard. It also lacks a ten-key pad so I will probably have to get one to plug in since I use the ten-key for so much. (Our finances being a big one.)

Anyway, while I was waiting for my computer to arrive, my daughter contacted me, wanting me to come see her. Money being what it is, and our far too recent issues with large unexpected, but necessary expenses, we didn’t have anywhere near enough money to cover round trip airfare for me to go to the other side of the continent and back. It took a few days for us to figure out a flight for me. In the meantime, my new computer arrived so I could take my own with me instead of taking the shared one.

Now I’m at my daughter’s place trying to type on a keyboard that is clearly smaller than what I’m used to and some of the keys aren’t in the same position as I’m familiar with. Delete and backspace being the two most obvious ones that I must hunt for when needed.

The temperatures here are also higher than I anticipated. I should have packed my shorts and worn my sandals. Such is life.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Computers and Other Issues by Konnie Enos

 

Well, this is fun. Not.

My computer died.

I suppose it could be worse. I’ve been using OneDrive exclusively for over a year now and have all my files saved there. Meaning I didn’t lose anything. I’ve also been using my tablet for most things so I can get on all my social media and check all my email accounts. It’s the important things that I still need my computer for that’s at issue.

Last I checked it had about 30 minutes of power left and no way to recharge. So, I’m left with trying to figure out what I’m going to do now for a computer. My first option was my tablet.

First, I checked Word. I could open new, blank documents and probably type on them, but I was unable to control the font and type size. Not that the program didn’t have that capability but because my tablet is old and doesn’t function as well as it should.

Second, see if I can work with our blogging program which wasn’t on the tablet. It turns out, I could get it. I even managed to open it and find what to click to create a new blog. Then I found out that I could not control the font or type on it. (I can from the computer.)

Though my other issue was getting the document I typed in Word into that program. I usually just copy paste. Yeah, copy/paste is not working on my tablet.

Oh joy, fun, fun.

Then Royce had to remind me that the software I use to track our finances is on my computer.

Fun. Now I had to see if I had yet another password to ensure I could access my information from a new computer. Do you want to know how well that worked?

I have a password to access it, but it’s little use to me if I don’t have the program on a different computer. So far, my efforts to find the solution only take me to pages that require me to sign up for the program. I don’t want to sign up again. I just paid my yearly fees. So now, I also have no means to even access my records. I suppose I could try to contact someone, but for the time being, I’m completely without my financial records because, I absolutely need the program to access the information.

So more fun. Oh Joy.

Thankfully, based on the information I do have, my information is saved, I just don’t have all of it.

And then there is this issue of Grammarly. I have it on my computer. It’s not on this one. This means I don’t have my most trusted source to make sure all my words are spelled correctly, and the sentence structure is sound. I mean, I do okay on my own, but the extra help is nice.

After all this effort to find temporary solutions, there is the issue of a more permanent solution to my computer dying. Clearly, I’ll need a new computer, because using this one cannot be permanent. For one thing, there are already three other people using it. This works for the three of them because none of them spend a good share of their day on a computer. Their smartphones and/or tablets work for what they need.

I have spent most, if not all my day on my computer. I do have a tablet, but as noted, it does not do everything I need a computer for. I also cannot share my computer. If for no other reason than doing finances can take most of the day and when the muse strikes, having to relinquish my computer to another user who needs it would mean losing my thread and my muse.

With all the issues it has been giving me over this last year, maybe getting a new one would be a better option. Unfortunately, I can’t afford even a new cord.

Royce also says a newer tablet (mine’s old and slow) might be able to run Word better. If nothing else, it should respond easier than what my tablet is doing right now. Though I’d still have to solve the financial program issue. I may have to resort to going back to my longhand records, which currently aren’t as up to date as they should be, though they aren’t off by much. Meaning I could take the time to manually update them.

Sigh.

There is also the issue with our car. It’s is still in the shop with no clear idea when we’ll get it back. It has all the parts it needs; however, they have been unable to reprogram needed parts to function in our car. So, another computer issue.

More heavy sighs.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.