Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "computer"

Don't ask me where these things come from, but I started wondering this morning why we keep the soy sauce behind the dish soap and the teriyaki sauce in a different area, next to the cinnamon. No logic there, merely an unconscious decision at some point in the past that became habit and now is required. I can imagine either my husband or I bellowing to the other, "Where have you put the soy sauce?" if it were to end up somewhere else.

That's how my files are, too. Everything is stored in some spot that was intuitive once upon a time but now can be puzzling to the point of craziness. Why did I file some librarians' addresses under "Contacts" and others under "Speaking"? How did minutes for the local alumni association end up in the folder entitled "Her Highness"? And why did I keep thirty copies of the same letter, the only difference being the inside addresses for last year's trip to Florida?

It should be remedied. It's frustrating to hunt for things and try to guess what I called them, where I thought they belonged, whether I even kept them at all. I need a system...a BETTER system. I need to take the time to get organized, delete junk, correlate information, and streamline everything.

But then, I'll probably never move the soy sauce, either.

I'm nobody's fool. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

So why does nothing about the computer compute?

Oh, I can word process with the best of them. I know my style guides and my formating and all the little tricks that make writing easier. I bless Modern Times, because I cannot imagine writing a novel with a typewriter and those little rectangles of white stuff that sort of covered a person's mistakes.

But ask me about an RSS feed or a URL and I feel my palms start to sweat. Creating a website would give me palpitations, and "helpful" tutorials leave me screaming at the monitor as if I can shame it into behaving.

It isn't age, at least it isn't totally that. I have lots of friends my age and older who have conquered such foes. They send out mass newsletters, manage two or three websites with all sorts of gadgets and widgets, and even create podcasts and videos for YouTube.

My brain just isn't wired for that. But I'm really, really jealous.

Okay, I know it's not the right BeeGee words. But my computer is at the place where sick computers go, and it surely feels like a tragedy. I have my trusty laptop, but it seems like I'm working with one hand tied behind my back. Wrong chair, wrong alignment, even the wrong room, which in combination makes it just feel...well, wrong.
I will get used to it. Or I will get my "real" computer back. I just hope the Muse hasn't floated out of all those cords while they sprawl all over my desk, not connected to anything.

I spent an hour and a half this morning updating my computer, first the anti-virus stuff and then I found one of those analysis things where they fix all your registry errors and defragment and whatever. It says it will "increase performance, speed up response time, and improve efficiency."

I wonder if I could get one of those for my brain...