New Gadgets

Recently we upgraded to new iPhones.  Not the latest model, but still a newer model than we had.  We also purchased a wireless printer for the first time.  Imagine typing in the comfort of the living room and sending something to the printer without getting up!  Sounds good to me!

         I am notoriously bad at adapting to new technology so all things considered I am handling this fairly well.  The phone has been a breeze as the young people in the phone store were good at explaining things in language I understand, even if they were talking so fast it was difficult to keep up at times.  I was able to transfer almost everything from the old to the new by myself with just a couple of questions for my twenty-something daughter and my husband once we were home.  It’s kind of fun perusing the different ringtones and alert sounds then assigning them to different contacts and applications.  I was even able to print a picture from the phone as I nested in my couch corner.  It was with bold confidence that I set up my laptop on the dining room table and attempted to send a document to the magical wireless printer after so successfully sending something from my phone.  Alas! My technological wizardry ended abruptly!  Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the document to print.  I called my daughter into the room to see what I might be doing wrong but nothing we tried worked.  It was after eight p.m. and we were both tired so I decided to just forget it for the time being, shut things down and figure it out the next day.  Finally, mid-day, I had a chance to power up both printer and computer.  I was determined to print that document!  As I was waiting for the laptop to boot up after turning the printer on, it began to print the document from the night before, spitting papers out at rapid pace.  As I bent to pick the first page up off the floor more papers fluttered around me and slid under the table and chairs.  Subsequently I sent another document to be printed and first thought it wasn’t going to work when suddenly with a few whirs and clicks papers began shooting out in rapid succession.  This time I was able to catch them as they flew out before they hit the floor.

         I’m proud of myself for having such a smooth transition to my new electronic equipment.  Now I just have to figure out the older gadgets and computer programs I need to use.  That ought to be a piece of cake.  Gosh!  I love technology!

Getting Along With My Smart-alecky Phone

          Well, I’ve had my smart-aleck phone for 7 months now, and I think we’ve come to terms with each other.  Sort of.  I’d describe it most like a teenager.  The trick is to get it to do what you want it to do without it knowing it was your idea.  Those of you who have or work with teenagers understand what I mean.  One wrong move and you’re sitting there wondering where you went wrong.  Don’t try to retrace your steps because you’ll never figure it out.  One time my friend sent me an e-mail with an attachment.  My phone simply refused to show it to me.  It said that it was opened, but I couldn’t see it.  I had to turn on my computer to see the image that she sent me.  Darn phone! Sometimes I stab at the screen and it takes 6 times before I open the app I want.  Sometimes I barely touch it when I’m picking it up and an app I never use pops up on the screen.  I’ve never put any music on it (I know, that’s one of the features that many people enjoy the most) since I prefer the radio and don’t like ear buds, yet every now and then when I pick it up a message appears that says “there is no music on this device”.  No kidding.  I do enjoy the camera feature, but it took me quite a while to figure it out, or make peace with it.  Sometimes I’d be taking a video instead of a still picture.  For the longest time I couldn’t figure out how to zoom, and couldn’t get the right setting for the flash thus giving me many very dark pictures juxtaposed with many ghostly looking images of my loved ones.  I almost have that figured out.  Although it seems like just when I think I’ve figured it out I realize that I don’t.  At least I’ve learned how to text, make calls, and retrieve voicemails.  God help me if I ever decide to put music on it!  Some things I just shouldn’t attempt.

The “ON” Button, Please

               Recently I borrowed my 23 year old daughter’s car.  It’s a pretty zippy little car into which she had installed a new radio when she first got it.  I remember my first car and its radio.  Turn the knob to “on”, adjust the volume with the same knob, and then turn it off with it.  So easy!  I could not figure out the radio in this car.  There was no “on” button.  There was a screen saver that told the time for a nano second every 30 hours or something, because I never once saw the time.  Thus I arrived at an appointment in a flustered state thinking I was late.  I was on time.  I tried at every stop light to figure out how to make some music come out of the speakers.  All I could find was an “off” button which I stabbed repeatedly thinking that perhaps the maker thought turning it off might be more important than knowing how to turn it on.  There were buttons with arrows, and letters, I think one said “source”.  Driving down the highway stabbing at buttons trying to get some music going in the little car; now that’s the way to get to an appointment!  This of course is just another incidence of my troubles with modern electronics.  I’m still learning the ins and outs of my smart aleck phone, and now this radio.  Thank goodness it’s not in my vehicle, which was in the garage for repairs the day I borrowed my daughter’s car.  Once my vehicle was ready for pick up my daughter drove me to the garage.  I told her of my trouble trying to turn on her radio.  With a mildly amused smirk she pointed to the proper button.  It was the one marked “source”.  If I sat in that car for a year I wouldn’t have ever guessed that was the one to turn on the radio.