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I did something unprecedented, I volunteered to buy new technology today. Usually you have to drag me kicking and screaming to change any tech that’s working. What prompted this unheard of change on my part? That we’ve had two different people from two different publishing responsibilities remind us of things that need doing that Jon and I both thought we’d already done. It just slipped through the increasingly complex schedule. We discussed putting up a huge white board, but I realized I was being a big baby. I had to bite the electronic bullet and join the tech revolution if it would help me keep track of everything and save my wall space.
Jon has informed me dinner is ready, “Thunderbirds are go,” was what he said, but I understood. I love our home. Where else can that be the cry that tells you dinner is ready.
I actually didn’t get back to the blog until today. Sorry about that. I have used the phone once, and had the interesting experience of not being able to dial out, because it had the key lock on, and I could not remember how to turn it off. I knew there would be a learning curve and a lot of, “Jon, help,” calls on my part, but it has a calender. It’s just that the calender I want comes with way more buttons than I ever wanted to see on my phone. Even Jon can’t figure out how to get the head set it comes with to work with it. It works with his phone, but not mine, how weird is that?
They’re about to change the laws her in Missouri that while in a car you must use a headset or a bluetooth system that allows you to talk while driving, hands free. A good rule, but I’m fighting to stay ahead of the change over. Jon is going to have to get me a new headset or we go in and see if the store can get the one we have to work. You never know on new tech not everything goes into the manuals. I learned that little fact when I was an editor for Xerox, and helped put out the manuals that went with their tech. To make deadlines they’d leave out little details that they could catch on the next edition of the manual. It was more important to make deadlines than to get it right, or even working really. This is a trend that has continued in computers, I’ve noticed. Sadly. I resent being people’s test audience for computer stuff. Remember the old days when they actually paid people to test beta rather than used their customers? Ah, the stone age of computers. The tech maybe getting better but the customer service seems to be suffering.
I’m sure I’ll learn to use my phone, eventually. I’m sure I’ll be able to access the nifty calender features which is why I bought the blasted thing, but today I am officially discouraged. I mean, what the hell was I thinking? I got the phone out in the store, and the clerk said, “Wow, way more tech than I could ever deal with,” not a good sign.