86. A New Computer

86. A New Computer

 I have heard it said many times that besides a death of someone close to you the most traumatic event in one’s life is to move house and I can understand why this is said. A dear friend of mine has just move house after living 43 years in the same place. I have moved so many times in my live that I can’t imagine how it would feel like to have lived in one place for that long. My longest in anyone place was 12 years. Particularly when one is downsizing and so of necessity one has to dispose of so many of ones possessions. Deciding what can come and what must go is hard. But I am not so sure that getting a new computer does not also rank pretty high on the list of trauma situations.

Just like when you start thinking of a new home the thought of a new computer is quite exciting. Then of course reality sets in and you start to think more practical thoughts. First of all there is the financial aspect. Do you really need that new machine enough to warrant the expense? But if you don’t buy it and the old one that is defiantly getting very long in the tooth packs in what on earth will you do? How will you stay in touch with family and friends without emails and Skype? How will you keep control of you money without internet banking? How will you find out anything without Mr. Google to turn to? There is the news to read, the weather to check on, the train times to look up and how will you ever find your way to anywhere without Google  Maps to give you directions. And what about on line Scrabble and Words with Friends? All so very important.

After a period of indecision – Do we, don’t we, do we, don’t we – you finally decide that it must be done. Then comes the trauma of deciding which one to buy. There are so many available on the market and they all seem so alluring. Do we go Personal Computer or Lap Top or maybe we should think about a tablet or an ipad? How many giga bites to we need? What about the Wi-Fi and our heads are in a whirl with all the possibilities. Eventually when you have made up your mind and paid your money the great day arrives and your shiny new toy arrives in your home.

Unpacking it is great fun, lots of Styrofoam and bubble wrap and it sits on your desk just longing to be connected and used. Recently I went from a PC to a lap top. I have not had a lot to do with lap tops before but liked the idea of the mobility of the thing. Imagine being able to take my computer out into the garden and sit in the sun working with it or to be able to move it into the warm lounge room during the winter and not have to sit huddled in a blanket in the office when Skyping overseas friends. Then setting it up is so much easier than your old PC had been, only one cable to connect and you are away. But then the trouble starts. The key board just feel so different from your old one and that little mouse pad is going to take a lot of getting used to. So long in fact that I admit it has defeated me and just plug in a conventional mouse as I have seen so many other people do, much easier. But then I think I must have bought a dud. All sorts of things happen, things that I had not done, different windows pop up un-asked, things I am working on vanish in a flash never to be found again. It takes me a little while but I do eventually realise that it’s all because of the mouse pad. I had assumed that once I had plugged in the conventional mouse the mouse pad would no longer function but I was wrong. With a bit of puzzle I manage to discover how to turn off the mouse pad and I am away again.

My son Jace, the computer programmer had installed a programme called TeamView on my old computer and so he is always able to log-in to my computer from his own computer which is such a boon. We don’t have to wait until the weekend or until he has some time off to come and sort out my computer problems. Once I had got the new machine up and running he connected to Teamviewer and  helped me to transfer all my data from the old machine to my new one. So nice to see all your old friends popping up on the new shinny machine.

I can never quite understand why it is that things can look different of different computers. You can have the same operating system on them both, have the same programs installed and somehow there will be some differences. Maybe only small differences but differences just the same and I have come to accept that that is the way of it and there is not a lot I can do about it. But it is a bit unnerving when you have come to recognise things and feel you know your way around the computer to see these minor changes. Or maybe it is just me that feels a little frustrated by them.

Well my new computer is now, with the help of my son, fully functional and just in time too as yesterday the old one died completely. It was hard to see an old friend go and I am still going to take it to my clever son to see if he can work a miracle with it before I condemn it to ever lasting destruction.

85. The Mystery of the Missing Sock.

85 The Mystery of the missing sock

Don’t you hate it when you lose one sock?  It would be better if the two of them went walkabout then I would not have that constant reminder that there is something missing. You put them into the washing machine together and you remember pegging them on to the line together. If you are anything like me you like to see them pegged side by side on the line. After all they are partners and should stick together.  Then when it comes to folding all the laundry to put it away in the draws or cupboards one of those pesky foot covers has done a bunk and left it’s other half alone and lonely.

After double checking the laundry – maybe it never got to the clothes line – maybe it slipped down beside the washing machine drum or got left in the laundry basket – one starts looking in places you know from experience that they can get into. I remember once I found a small multi coloured sock of mine caught edge of a fitted sheet. Whether  it got caught there accidentally or whether it was hiding away from it partner after they had quarreled I am not in a position to judge but I only discovered it when I went to use that particular sheet quite some time latter. I have also, when I have had to dry my washing in the tumble dryer found them stuck to other clothes due to the static that the dryer seems to generate, and sometimes they like to shelter in the leg of a pair of trousers. Then I start looking  in all the  silly places, under the lounge chairs and behind the fridge.  

The deserted  partner is placed  on the dresser in the bedroom or somewhere else that “ I can find it when the other one turns up” and there it lays until someone  decides it is getting in the way and  moves it into a draw or something. Then I discover it one day and am so glad to think I have found it and go looking for its  partner again only to realize that this is not the runaway but the poor abandoned stay-at-home and so I consider throwing it away.  Of course being me I can’t do that, I have to find the scoundrel. Of  course I don’t spend every waking moment searching as my mother taught me that it was a waste of time to search for any things. She used to say “after a quick look, give up. If it is still around it will turn up and if it is lost, it is lost and no amount of searching will discover it”. Wise words from my Mom!

  No, I am not so poor that the lost of one sock, which of course is to all intend and purposes the same as losing the whole pair is a huge loss in my life but I really have a thing about it. Maybe it stems from the time when living in Africa with rather unreliable servants doing the laundry we thought that one missing sock meant that the laundry maid knew where the partner was and was just waiting for us to throw away our single sock so she could match them both together and give them a new home. Well no servants now so I know that the disappearance is entirely my own fault and hate to let it go.

A couple of weeks ago I lost one of my husband’s work socks, just thick black and hardwearing socks. I was so sure that I had pegged four of them on to the line but when it came to putting them away there were only three. I went through all the usual searches, my husband who thought it was a huge joke and as he has three pairs exactly the same he kept taking another matching one and depositing it in strategic places around the house so that I would find it and shout with glee “I’ve found the other sock” only to discover that this was not the missing one at all and we still only had five individual socks and not the six that were supposed to be there.

Well the week went by and after a day or two of ‘searching’ I just went into “eyes open’ mode. Not actively searching for the offender but keeping my eyes open for it. The next Monday there was of course more washing to be done and as I started to peg the first load out on the line I put my hand into the peg bag and felt something soft and fluffy. Yes, you guessed it. Now I have another place to add to my list of places that runaway socks hang out just to annoy me.

Is anyone else as crazy as me? Or am I alone in my madness?

84) Please Explain

I have been thinking of my blog for some time now. It is ages since I last wrote anything and I would like to start again but recently there doesn’t seem to have been anything worth writing about. I still don’t have anything earth shattering to share with you but this morning I heard such a silly remark on the radio I felt I had to share it with someone and thought that this might be the appropriate place.

At the moment our government is trying to get the budget into the black and have been announcing all sorts of ideas on how this can be done. As we have all been told  “you can’t please all of the people all of the time” so there is always a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of all their ideas. One of the ways they have decided on was a tightening up of the Welfare system. There are lots of ideas on how this can be done and some of them actually came into force on Monday which was the first day of the New Year. Some I agree with, some I don’t, some I really don’t understand and one is very very strange indeed.

The Government in its wisdom has decided to cut back on the Public Dental Service. Not everyone is entitled to free dental care but all children under the age of 17 are treated free of charge. Until now there has been a cap of $1000 over two years on the costs of their treatment but as from 1^st Jan 2017 that cap will be lowered to S700 over two years. Fair enough, I think! After all if one looks after ones teeth $700 over two years should in most cases cover ones costs. At least it can relieve the burden of keeping their children’s teeth healthy on struggling parents

The Government has announced that this measure will save them 284 million dollars and have justified the move by explaining that most children did not use there full allowance in any case so there should be no hardship involved. Fair enough! But the thing that has got me puzzled is -  if at the moment the extra $300 a year is not being allocated how on earth is the move going to safe them almost three million dollars a year.

Please explain if you can.