Thursday, September 21, 2006

Me and my PC

I was in a chat room the other night when a window came up telling me that an error occured, almost immediately I lost the chat room, lost Yahoo and my email was in a mess. The next morning I finally got it all straighted out and it started me thinking of when I first got the computer and internet. This was only a little over a year ago. Friends and family had been pushing me for sometime to get on the internet. My answer was always, "No way, I want nothing to do with it." So, last June I went to the city to visit my daughter and while watching her on her computer I expressed an interest in it. She was quick to say that she knew of a second hand computer shop where I could get myself one really cheap. Well, I mulled it over in my head for a time and finally said, "Ok, lets go." Well, as I knew absolutely nothing about these things, she picked one out for me and I did get it all quite cheap. Excitement was setting in, wow, I had a computer. We went back to my daughters house and she phoned the company who services my area, talked to them about what I needed and they said they would have a guy out to hook me up in three weeks. So, I bring my new purchase back home with me and wait patiently for the cable guy. The day finally arrives when he is suppose to come. Ah ha, here he is. Oh, I'm so excited. So, he's here working away and I say "I guess you know all about computers." thinking I might get a tip or two. "Nah," he says, "Don't have one, don't want one." "Oh!" says I. He finishes and proceeds to tell me that I have to phone head office, get ahold of a technician, who will help me set up an account. Ok, this shouldn't be too hard and I had learned how to turn the computer on. Here I am sitting in front of the machine, with the telephone to one ear and trying to follow this guys instructions. He finally got so fed up he told me I had better get someone who knew how to use a mouse. I nearly wept. I had to call a friend to come over then call the technician back and my friend went through the process for me. All I can say is that it's a good thing I have a cheap long distance rate as I was calling my daughter everyday for more instructions on how to do things. And bless her, she was so patient. There were times when I'd get so frustrated I was almost vomiting......yes, vomiting. Now, I'm a person who learns quickly, but not knowing anything about the computer world I found it difficult to understand the language. Well, fall arrived and I had joined a wildlife forum and was invited to join a chat room by one of the members. I was thrilled. All I had to do was download Yahoo. Another phone call to daughter. She walked me through it, no problem. The first time I went in chat they were flying through cyber-space, going from one room to another. I was nearly out of my mind trying to keep up. I had so many windows up I hardly knew where I was, but I managed. The next day, my partner, who only knows how to get to a couple of news sites was at the computer and yelled out, "There's something here from someone named Boo." I nearly broke his leg shoving him off the chair to get my first Yahoo message. Yep, it was funny. Another time in chat they were saying they could see this one and that one, then someone said they could see me. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I thought somehow or other they could really see me and I was frantically trying to fix my hair. Then, of course I realized what they meant. Well, time has gone by and I am now quite relaxed with it all. I've learned a lot of things over this past year, more than I ever thought I would. Mind you, I still have a lot to learn. I've gotten well past the point where I would tearfully say that I didn't want it anymore and figured I'd get rid of the whole set-up. Now you would have to bang me over the head to get it out of my hands, lol.

4 comments:

flicker said...

It's interesting to hear how others first started with computing. I have only been at it for just over 4 years too, and it was something that I never even thought about doing before that. A old friend and ex work colleague found some information about the firm we used to work for, and sent me it, and it whetted my appetite. I had no idea you could do that sort of stuff on a computer! I first bought an internet set top box, which is a device you plug into the telly just to browse, but I ran up a phone bill of £30 in the first week! So I bought a second hand pc, brought it home and then didn't even know how to switch it on, let alone get an isp or anything else. I found the name of a local pc teacher and had about 6 hours tuition to get me started, and it was worth every penny. Then I went on a year-long course of two hours per week, which was free in my local village hall every Tuesday. Best thing I ever did in my life. :)

nicola said...

Oh that was a lovely story, had me in stitches....oh btw your hair looks nice today ;)


I can remember my first computer it was zx180 used tp spend hours programming, to get to the last bit and it would all crash. Or hours again writing all the programme in to find out it went BEEP!!! Oh the fun

Boo said...

What a lovely story OC. The first computer I bought was for my children as a Christmas present. They were then about 7 and 9 respectively. That would make it about 1982! I bought it in the October and spent most evenings after they had gone to bed, teaching myself how to programme it. I was often still at it until 3.00 in the morning! However, after they received it that the las time I saw it! The younger of the two now writes programming software, so it was obviously a very good investment!

Anonymous said...

Your story made me smile too OC. That Boo has a lot to answer for.


:-)

Take Care

Mike