I had been intending to do this particular piece on my laptop, thus ending its long retirement from meaningful operation, but that just did not happen, for a number of reasons.
See, I have had this device for quite some time, not forever, but long enough, but it had mostly served as my access to the Monday edition of the Akron Beacon-Journal and/or the Ravenna Record-Courier–they do not publish a paper edition on Mondays, only online versions, which I do not particularly care for ( I do not know for sure but I think that this schedule has something to do with the fact that quite a few national holidays–Labor Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, etc., have now been moved to Mondays, so as to give us all a three-day weekend. Doesn’t work for Fourth of July or Christmas, of course, but you get the idea.). But the whole purpose of a laptop, it seems to me, is to be able to put it on your lap (duh), take it out and away to some tropic isle, for instance, and be able to type up whatever it is that you are committing to the cloud. Well, you would think, but that’s not what has happened, since I really did not get much instruction on how to operate the device from the moment I took it out of the box. So I didn’t…operate it, that is.
Anyway, my company two weeks ago from the Bay State, at least one of ‘em promised to give me a hand or a hunt-n-peck at learning to get more out of the machine, so I gladly accepted the offer. This involved more figuring out than actual function. See, she discovered that the three devices that I own are all different operating systems, so the first challenge (no, not exactly the first, that was trying to remember/discover the passwords to each of the devices/systems) was to get all of these–phone, chromebook, laptop– to talk to each other. Not sure yet how that turned out, but I am taking baby steps toward doing something which will make that work. I was going to do this piece, as I said, on the laptop, seated in my luxurious recliner, nursing a restorative beverage, send it off to HQ at The Villager, and not have to sit at the desktop (chromebook) at all. The idea of having to write anything longer than ten words on the phone never occurred to me at all. Anyway, it did not happen, partly because I was in no mood to type it all up on the laptop, find out that it would not send directly to The Villager from there, and have to write the whole thing over. I chickened out.
My instructor showed me how to begin putting things into files–which I had not been able to do –and I was filing along like a techie, renegade variety, but I have currently lost the capability to locate the files in the first place; maybe it’ll come back to me. She says to me, the more that you actually use this/ do this/practice, the easier it will be. Indeed! But what holds me back, often is the FEAR FACTOR. What if I push the wrong key/button and EVERYTHING is wiped out? I could do that, without a backward glance, I know it.
And besides that, the desktop device has a mind of its own…changes on screen format, refuses to do sound (for football replays, that’s a real bummer, also youtube musical stuff), does goofy things with the printer. The laptop is a little more subdued but things do come and go as they please sometimes. I have never played games on either of them but I bet I’d lose anyway. I am trying to get used to carrying my phone regularly, not leaving it to charge forever on the counter; I am getting better but the whole idea that I should take it everywhere hasn’t gone permanent yet. The kids at the Library program put Facebook on there and I think that may have been a mistake. I get disjointed messages as part of conversations where I do not know who is talking to whom. If you have not heard from me lately, it’s probably because I don’t know who you are on there. The twenty-first century will have to wait for me to catch up.
In the meantime…did you all get to see the full Sturgeon Moon on August 1? Sixteen percent brighter Super Moon, it was. Another is coming up on August 30; this makes it a Blue Moon (as “once in a blue moon.”, which is not really blue at all, just the second full moon in one month, and a Super Moon at that (Super moons are just closer to the Earth and appear larger) this time. Will not happen again for three years. Look for it in May of 2026.
Dog days end on the 11th; cat nights start on the 17th. Hummingbirds start south around the 25th. St. Augustine of Hippo & St. John the Baptist are the headline saints this month; St. Dominic, St.Clare, St. Lawrence, St. Bartholomew are in the cast after the Transfiguration and the Assumption. Sun spot will be in here somewhere.
And there’s SCHOOL ! Cue the marching bands, football teams, soccer, cross country, golf…and classes. Garfield Quiz Bowl is recruiting. Here we go again.
