Stylin' into the 21st century

I took an online survey for my local newspaper, the Long Beach
Press-Telegram last month, at the end of which I could enter their
contest to win an iPad. So I typed my email address and phone number in
the box and clicked on Submit. And totally forgot about it. I have seldom
won anything. Well, in October 2006, when a friend and I stopped at the
Morongo Casino Resort on the way to a book signing in Yucca Valley, she
taught me how to gamble and I won $1.41. I still have the voucher.




Thursday, August 1. Phone call from Hillary at the
Press-Telegram telling me I won an iPad. I’ve been vaguely considering
buying one so when I’m watching an old movie on DVD or something on TV,
I can look up the actors on IMDb. Vaguely considering is as far as I ever
got. Thank you, Hillary.

Monday, August 5. The iPad arrives. I sign for it. Open the box.
Well, it’s pretty, but how do I turn it on? No user guide. Oh, here’s a
picture with arrows pointing to buttons. But I still can’t find the on-off
switch, so I call my friend Angelo. He doesn’t have time to give me a full
tutorial, but at least he tells me how to turn it on, and now I’m watching
“welcome” in a thousand languages scroll across the screen. What’s next?

Phoned my daughter-in-law. She phones me back and says I need to call
my Internet Service Provider (Charter) and find out if my  modem already
has Wifi so I don’t have to go out and buy a router.




Phone call to Charter. I speak to a nice man named Calvin, who is sitting
in a call center in another galaxy. No, my modem doesn’t have the Wifi
gizmo, but they can send a tech guy to upgrade me from 2.0 to 3.0. I tell
Calvin I’ll call back.




Meanwhile, I’m feeling out of sorts and achy all over. I wonder if I have
a fever, but I can’t find my thermometer. I also have a lot of work to
do—books by three authors, plus a couple more waiting in the wings. It
hurts to lean forward to squint at the screen. This iPad is just not at
the top of my list of priorities.




Tuesday, August 6. Phoned my friend Aaron, who lives three blocks
away, and asked for help I still haven’t gotten past turning the iPad on.
I have figured out that the little percentage box at the top of the screen
indicates battery power. Oh, goody—here’s a cord and connector. I know
how to recharge it…if I can find where to plug the iPad end of the cord
in. Aaron comes and sets stuff up for me. Wow—you can take photos with
this thing. Aaron takes one of us, but I have no idea how to transfer it
to my computer. I also had no idea I had to go to iTunes to get to the
screen that shows the apps ’n’ things.




After a visit to my chiropractor, I feel lots better. My whole body was
out of balance, no doubt from sitting in this chair practically all day,
every day. I also had a mild repetitive motion injury because one of my
authors sent his 324-page manuscript to a publisher to be typeset and their
so-called editor sent it back with Track Changes comments to add something
like 200 commas. Plus other changes. And who got to do all the new work
on the manuscript? Moi. Removed nearly all of those superfluous commas
and made other changes. Now the manuscript is in the hands of a trustworthy
proofreader, my friend Sue.




Wednesday, August 7. Got some real work done today. Edited Chapter
50 of John’s fifth book and Part 2 of Barry’s family history. Also email
conversations with Trish in Australia (we’re near the end of her book)
and Flora, who, like me, grew up in St. Louis. And Tony, who is now proofreading
his edited novel. (We’ve been talking about his infatuation with colons
and semicolons.) Phoned the Apple store to find out if they have the iPad
cover with the keyboard attached. Phoned Charter again and set up an appointment
for a tech guy to come and update my modem for Wifi.




Thursday, August 8. Laundry. A stop at the UPS Store to scan and
fax proof that I’m a senior citizen so I can subscribe to three plays at
South Coast Repertory at the senior rate. Apple Store. Yikes! Scary place,
at first, but the folks in their blue T-shirts are very kind. Bought my
ultrathin keyboard cover, then Tim showed me how it works. The tech guy
from Charter is coming on Sunday to hook me up (so to speak) to Wifi. Phoned
Jonathan, my favorite tech guy, to come and teach me how to get online.
All will soon be well.




Watched a wonderful DVD about Chaucer and
The Canterbury Tales last night. If the iPad were already up and
connected—and if I knew how to get online—I could have looked up Pythoner
Terry Jones and learned how and when he became a medievalist.




Stopped at the fabric store and bought buttons for a new top and a jacket.
Oh, goody—here’s something I can do by hand with a needle and thread. No
pesky electronics in sewing buttons. Good grief. I sound like my grandmother!
Emma Clare is
Secret Lives is partly modeled on Gramma. She was a teenager when
the Wright Brothers took their first flight, she saw Neil Armstrong walk
on the moon, and after Grampa died in about 1970, she bought her first
pantsuit. That’s a fair bit of change in her life. And all I have to cope
with right now is a handheld electronic communication device. Jonathan
says I can’t break the iPad if I practice on it. (Wanna bet?) Dame Julian
of Norwich said, “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner
of things shall be well.” Words to live by.




Sunday, August 11. Kevin the Tech Guy came with the wireless router
and got me connected. He showed me how to get online on the iPad. I actually
sent an email!




Tuesday, August 13. My friend Liz says she’s imagining me “stylin’
with the iPad.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it’s a cool image.
Thanks, Liz, for giving me a title for this blog. About the device, she
wrote, “you’ll probably love it after you’ve played with it for a while,
and then wonder how you ever lived without it.” She also says posting this
blog as the sun enters Virgo is right on target. Last night I watched a
movie on DVD and looked up most of the cast. Yesss! Made my first purchase
from Amazon on the iPad tonight: another
Magic Flute on DVD, two books of medieval English history.

Friday, August 16. Jonathan, my long-time tech guy, came and copied
my email address book onto the iPad. I sent another email. He also showed
me (1) how to turn on the volume when I want to listen to a song on YouTube,
(2) how to download apps, though I can’t think of any app I want, and (3)
how to set up my list of sites I want to go to while I’m watching DVDs
(IMDb, IBDb, Amazon, a couple others). I guess I’m organized and present
in the 21st century now. “All manner of things shall be well.”