Technology Woes

    My computer may be entering the throes of dementia
    This morning, the screen was frozen on my iGoogle page.  After I pressed Ctrl/Alt/Delete, the computer kept circling—very slowly—through the task manager commands.  I’d call that perserveration:  repeating the same cycle endlessly.  There didn’t seem to be any way to get out of the sequence. 

    Of course, I was perserverating, too, trying the same things over and over.  Finally, I remembered the power key and manually turned the machine off.  It took a long time to power up again, but at least now it’s cooperating.

    There were some tense minutes, though, as I tried to take care of business.  Mom complained of a sore toe this morning.  It looks like she needs to see the podiatrist again.  My technological problems rapidly grew as I attempted to promptly address the issue by making an appointment for her.  Our landline phone system is on the fritz, so I needed to use my cell phone, which only gets decent reception when I am outdoors.  But first, I needed the podiatrist’s name and number.  I didn’t find her in the yellow pages or in the file I keep of Mom’s medical stuff.  Eventually, I remembered that the information might be in my old paper planner.  So I found that number, took pen and paper and phone outdoors, and made an appointment.

    Naturally, during all this communication breakdown, I had a number of writing ideas spontaneously occur to me, so I scribbled on a few Post-it Notes to jog my memory later.  I am a hopeless case when it comes to writing without my computer.  So now I have this tangled web of Post-it Notes:  writing ideas, passwords, airline confirmation numbers, appointment reminders.  My computer has become the Post-it Note command center.  Some of the information needs to go in my Google calendar, some in my phone, and some in another composition or two.

    But first I need to make lunch, take a nap, start the bread machine, and go grocery shopping.