laptop

Technology is Awesome. Except When It Isn’t.

March 7, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

I have been struggling with technology lately. I told you about new laptop frustrations. And my ongoing saga with my “easy to use” website developer. And Windows 10.

Then, there’s my Fitbit.

I was dealing with health issues this past fall, and the doctor wanted me to get a heart rate monitor that I could use while exercising. He wanted me to track my heart rate and make sure I didn’t exceed a certain level, so I bought a Fitbit Charge 2.

About a month ago, the Fitbit just stopped resetting each day. At one point, it thought I’d taken 95,000 steps in a single day. Yeah, about that.

I tried rebooting it. I tried letting the battery run down to nothing. Not only wouldn’t it restart each day, it stopped syncing to my phone or computer, even if I directly connected it. So it wasn’t a Bluetooth issue.

Yes, the heart rate monitor still works. And yes, I can put together an Excel spreadsheet to see what my steps were. For $150 and less than six months of use, I shouldn’t have to do that.

So, I chatted with Fitbit support. They tried everything I’d tried, and several more things. After over an hour, they diagnosed it as a firmware issue, but the Fitbit would NOT accept a firmware update. And we tried. Both through my phone, and through a direct dongle connection to the computer. For an hour.

ITHelpDesk — It was probably more than three.

Finally, the support technician was out of ideas, and he checked to see if the Fitbit was still under warranty. He offered to have Fitbit send me another one, and I agreed.

It’s currently on its way to me. I was pleasantly surprised that they stood by their product.

Still, I’m leery now. I haven’t tried to format my book into an ebook yet. I haven’t tried to load it to Createspace.

I feel like there’s this vortex of bad tech energy surrounding me, and anything I touch is going to go wrong.

Clearly, I have to get over myself. But I’m still nervous.

How about you? Ever fell like technology has turned against you? Or maybe this is the law of threes and my three bad things have happened?

Six Things I’m Still Struggling with on Windows 10

February 22, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

As you know, I have a new Windows 10 machine. There have been few systems in my life I haven’t been able to open up and mostly figure out. For those things that did stymie me, a quick Google search once Google became a thing was usually able to fix them.

I admit, I have less time and less patience these days, and Windows 10 has been a steeper learning curve than I would like.

Six Things I’m Still Struggling with on Windows 10

1. Shutting It Up

This thing cries more than newborn. It’s constantly beeping at me. I have no idea why other than it misses me. I have turned off notifications, but it still feels chatty. I have “solved” this by plugging speakers into the laptop and then turning those speakers off. But really? Who would want to be beeped at for every new e-mail, Facebook post, Twitter notification or whatever other reason it is that it won’t shut up?

2. Making It Less Needy

It needs me. It misses me. The moment I look away from it, the screen dims in sadness. If I walk away for a minute or two to stir something in the kitchen and come back, it’s already locked itself down. Seriously, WTF? Do you know how hard it is to make supper off Allrecipes when I can’t look away for even a moment? Yes, I’ve changed the time for when it “goes to sleep” to 30 minutes. Apparently, this control is hiding somewhere else.

3. Making It Work Without Supervision

Going along with the second point, the darn thing stops working if I walk away from it. So while I’m loading the 120 GB of data from my other computer on to this one, I had to sit in front of Windows 10 for it to allow the loading process to continue. I spent this time surfing Google to try to figure out how to make it work without supervision, but apparently Windows 10 is like the AR clerk we had a few years ago. If you weren’t watching him, he wasn’t working.

Windows10ruined — Okay, overly dramatic, I know. But frustration that turns to anger is seldom reasonable.

4. Finding What Used to Be in the Control Panel

I searched for the control panel. It’s gone. There’s a settings option now, but you have to hunt for some of the stuff that was in the control panel.

5. Easing It’s Jealousy

Windows 10 says it’s compatible with files you made in earlier versions, but it’s quite jealous of them and doesn’t make compatibility easy. There are several programs I’m still struggling to get to work, like iTunes. Because that’s such an uncommon program *eye roll*

It’s not even kind to all Microsoft software. For example, the Microsoft Money file would NOT import into the new machine. I saved it down a couple of different times and tried to import it. It kept erroring out. I finally had to create a new file in the Windows 10 version and hand-key in all of the information I wanted from the old Money file. Because that was a hour well spent.

6. Figuring Out Its Facial Recognition Software

I get that this is where security is going. I understand that. I don’t have to like it, but I understand it. Still, the facial recognition seems to work about 10% of the time. The rest of the time, I have to input my pin code. Thank goodness it at least allows for a pin code.

I’m sure there will be more issues as I continue to work through this new system. Things have changed a lot in the almost eight years since I bought my last computer. I will say, however, that given the troubles I’ve had, my next computer may very well be a Mac.

A “New” Laptop Computer

February 20, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

Once upon a time, my desktop computer was a monster gaming system. It could power through Stormwind without so much as a flutter of lag. But that was more than two children ago, and one of those children is now in kindergarten.

Electronics simply don’t have that long of a life-cycle. So, I knew it was time to upgrade the computer over a year ago when it was running slow while I was browsing for winter coats for my daughters.

I don’t want a new computer. Not really.

I saved up and bought a really nice Alienware laptop. I figured this would last me another seven years or so.

When it arrived, it was huge. Much bigger than I expected. My husband teased me a little, asking me what I did expect when I bought the largest screen they had available. Well of course I bought the largest. I want to be able to see it, don’t I? Especially as I’m spoiled at work with not one but two massive monitors that take up most of my desk.

But along with the large monitor came a lot of weight.

Not the best thing in a laptop, but this computer was never leaving my house, so not a big deal.

The track screen was also inconveniently located and quite large. My hand kept accidentally swiping it, and I’d end up typing hallway across the screen typing where I didn’t want to be typing. I solved that by purchasing a wireless mouse and keyboard for when I write as that’s the only time it bothers me.

The big hang-up was any new laptop had to come with Windows 10 installed on the machine, and I struggled with the operating system. I just wanted to open the new computer, load my files, and go. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t that easy, especially on this new operating system.

So, I did what any writer with a full time day job would do. I stuck the new laptop in a corner, used it only when I had to, and kept using the old machine.

Not ideal, I know. But I was much more interested in writing and editing than I was in messing with a new operating system. And, I figured we’d eventually get it at work, and I’d have to learn it anyway.

Only, we didn’t.

Then, my desktop’s main fan stopped working.

We tinkered with it, but it was dead.

A few days later, it started making strange noises.

Yeah, it was time to put aside my writing, move the desktop computer to an out-of-the-way location, and give the laptop the spot on my desk. Then I had to transfer files. And try to remember all my passwords for all the websites I frequent. And reinstall basic software like iTunes.

So, yeah, that took a whole day, and the laptop and I are still figuring each other out.

Combine all of this with how hectic things are at my day job, and I’ve not been nearly as productive as I would like.

But things should get back to normal here soon, and I should still be on track to get Crown Prince released this year.

How about you? Ever do a computer switch-over that didn’t go well? Or at least didn’t go as planned? What happened? How did you handle it?

He's How Big?

April 5, 2017 by Elizabeth Drake

Our Maine Coon has decided that my laptop is an offensive creature and should never claim my lap. It has been quite difficult for both my writing and my work.

Why do I care what my kitty thinks? Ah, you are also unaware that adopting a Maine Coon is quite similar to bringing a small mountain lion into your home. I was once, too.

cat4 — Yeah, about the right size for a male Maine Coon.

But let me explain how this happened.

Several years ago, we lost a kitty to lung cancer. It was very hard as we’d had him for many years, and it came fast. From the time he started showing signs of being sick until we had to make the very hard choice was less than a week. In that time, he’d lost 1/3 of his body weight and couldn’t breathe without great difficulty.

We were also three weeks away from the birth of our second child.

We had a second cat, and he was incredibly lonely with the loss of his brother. So, I did a lot of research on cats to see what kind would be good with kids. The internet was all but unanimous in saying a Maine Coon was great with kids and perfect for families. The internet is seldom in that much agreement, and when I learned my mother was friends with a Maine Coon breeder, I figured it was fate.

So, I called my mom’s friend, put our name in for a kitty and sent her the deposit.

She did tell us that Maine Coon males were around twenty-five pounds, sometimes more, and were we okay with it.

I thought of my sister’s twenty pound cat and figured, yes, sure.

cat1

Some of you are thinking, five pounds is a large difference. It’s 25% more cat than your comparison point.

Others are laughing at my naiveté. You see, the size difference between a fat 20 pound cat and a full grown Maine Coon who is not even remotely fat at 25 pounds is, well, you can see the picture above.

Yeah. The cat carrier we had for him? He doesn’t fit. We had to get him a dog carrier. He doesn’t fit in any cat bed we’ve bought him, but he has commandeered the toddler sofa. He can’t sprawl out in it, but he fits. Mostly.

He is a beautiful, majestic creature. By and large, their reputation as gentle giants is well deserved. He has been amazingly good with the kids, and it helps that he almost outweighs them. See, they can’t pick him up even if they want to, so there’s no carrying him around the house by his upper half without supporting his lower half.

He loves to be part of the family. There is no hiding under beds for this cat. Nope. He greets guests at the door and demands worshipful pets. He then sits down in the family room so he can be one of the crowd.

Some have told me he reminds them of a dog in a cat body.

But no. He is still an Egyptian god. Just ask him.

cat2

When he is displeased, it is not like displeasing an eight pound cat. Oh no.

He hates my curling iron. The other morning, he reminded me of this by sending it careening across the bathroom. He then looked at me, and I swear he raised a brow, challenging me to do something about it.

Normally, he’s good about being brushed or having his claws clipped. When he’s not, it takes DH to pin him while I clip.

This brings us back to how large and how sweet he is when I was trying to write on my new laptop.

Imagine being curled up on your recliner, snuggled into your favorite blanket. Now, imagine your Maine Coon has also decided it’s his favorite blanket, but only when you’re warming it for him.

Now, imagine the cat you see above coming bounding across the room on thunder paws and launching himself onto your lap.

He landed with enough force to send the recliner into the wall behind it and knocked the breath out of me.

He then proceeded to curl up on my “lap”, spreading himself from just under my chin to down across my knees. He then rolled over to give me his tummy to rub as he purred.

Fortunately for my new computer, I got it onto the side table in time. Barely.

So, while the computer survived, writing was done for the night.

And my Maine Coon claimed his rightful throne. Just ask him.

How about you? Have any pets that are less than fond of your electronic devices? How do they respond? What do you do about it?

Bit the Bullet

February 6, 2017 by Elizabeth Drake

Bit the bullet.

Yes, I bit the bullet and ordered myself a new computer. A laptop nonetheless.

unnamed-1

I haven’t purchased a computer since before my oldest child was born. Even then, I bought it well over a year before she was born.

That means my computer is over six years old and is a dinosaur by modern standards.

Well, almost a dinosaur.

When I bought my old computer, it was a state-of-the-art gaming monster. I hand-picked all of the components, and it owned in multi-player games.

Fast forward to now. My solid state drive is struggling because it’s not big enough. My other hard drive is plenty big, but that doesn’t much matter when you can’t upgrade to Windows 10 because there isn’t enough boot drive room.

I’ve also lost data lately. Once it was over 3k words of a novel I’d been working on.

Then, my cooling fan on my processor started acting up. Keeping a processor from overheating is critical. So, it’s time.

I started saving up for it, putting a little aside each pay period so we could pay cash for it.

But see, it’s still hard. I like to keep things until the absolute end of their useful life. Cars need to last at least ten years. Fifteen is decent, twenty preferable. We keep our appliances until they die (man, I love that goldenrod refrigerator in our basement. Older than me, and I’ve already had to replace the refrigerator, dishwasher and stove at least once since buying them new).

While I’m not a gamer much anymore (hi kids!), I do need a functioning computer. I use it to do our household bills, pictures of the kids, my writing, etc. I also use it when websites start hating on my iPad.

So, I spec’d out a new machine. I did my research on who makes quality stuff as I won’t be building it myself and knowing exactly what components are going into it.

Then I waited.

Stuff went on and off sale.

My husband started to fuss at me to buy the thing already. I needed a new computer. Once the processor fan went, I’d be really be living on borrowed time. Better to have time to transfer everything to a new machine.

Still I waited.

I put my spec’d computer into my cart. Looked at the specs again.

My husband walked by and caught me doing it. “How much do you have saved?”

I told him.

He looked at the cart. “What you have in there is less than $40 more than what you’ve saved.”

“Maybe next pay period.”

“I don’t care about $40. Press the buy button. Get the new one before that one goes. Then we’ll have time to transfer everything without being in panic mode.”

I hesitated.

He gave me ‘the look’. “Do you want to lose all the pictures of the kids you have on there?”

“I’ve backed all of those up.”

“I appreciate that you’re careful with money. But hit the damn buy button already.”

I did.

unnamed-5

Should have my new baby in about two weeks.
How about you? Do you get nervous over larger purchases? Maybe wait too long to make them? Or do you know what you want and seize it?

laptop

Technology is Awesome. Except When It Isn’t.

Six Things I’m Still Struggling with on Windows 10