Middle age plus

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Change! Every time I turn around things are changing. Most changes are beyond my control. I can't control the changes in my body (well, I could perhaps reduce a little, work out some, or use more cosmetics). Nor do I have any ability to avoid losing neighbors by moves, illness or death. The weather is beyond my control, but I do like changes in that area. When it has been rainy I love to see the sun again, or the opposite when it has been too dry.

However there are many changes in my life that I can control, and often after the fact, wish that I had. Each time we upgrade my computer I yearn for the old ways. They were comfortable. I knew when I hit a certain key that the expected result would occur. With the newer model I do the same thing and the computer freezes up‚ on me. So if my resident computer guru that I married almost 58 years ago isn't handy, I call the support system of my server. They will talk me through my problem.

The problem is, we don't talk the same language. He/she tells me to hit the such and such key or put the mouse on a certain icon. Fine. I can't find the such and such key and I know that icon isn't on my desktop. In fact it took me a long time to realize that my desktop was no longer the piece of wood that I keep my pens and papers on and occasionally still write on. No, my desktop is now on the monitor of my computer. Why can't they call it another name so I won't get it confused with a friend I've had ever since I first started scribbling with Crayola crayons? (That makes me wonder. Were the crayons of my youth Crayola crayons or when did they start producing crayons? Maybe I can research that to use for another article or column.) But back to my desktop. When I turn on my computer these days I get all sorts of mysterious messages on my desktop. It tells me they can't find a certain file. Well, I wasn't looking for that file. In fact my files are neatly stored in a four-drawer file cabinet across the room. And none of them say anything about this Wini or whatever the missing file is named. Wini does seem to show up quite a few times and I have never understood what or who Wini is.

Some of you who haven't started on the computer trail won't know what I am talking about, and are probably glad that you don't. But most of us have experienced the changes in cameras. It's wonderful what we can do these days. We can even send pictures over the telephone. I am sure I won't try that skill. I have enough problems using my cell phone. I don't want a change to something more complicated.

My first camera was a very simple Kodak. I still have the black and white picture I took with it, and they are as clear today as they were when I took the pictures. The heads are still off of many of the subjects, and there is a wide band of scenery on one side of the posed group of friends that I pictured on a picnic. But I did know how to use the camera. I looked in the little viewfinder, clicked the shutter and wound the film.

The newspaper loans me a digital camera to illustrate my stories. I like this camera. It takes good pictures and the ones with the heads off can be removed with a click of a button. If I can find which button does that. I usually take at least one picture of myself because I had the lens turned wrong, but I can correct that and go on to what I am supposed to be taking. The flash knows if it is supposed to go on or not. That is a change I can live with. A camera that thinks for me! Now if only my computer would do the same.