COMPUTERS.....ENJOYABLE, EDUCATIONAL, & INVALUABLE

SOME WIZARDLY ADVICE AT THE OLD FROG POND

Our neighbor lady's children just got to-gether & bought her a laptop computer a few days ago. Kelly & I were able to help her this afternoon with understanding the workings of her email program & a bit of surfing, etc. Right now she's having a rip roaring game of Solitaire on it.

I think that is so great when older folks take an interest in computers & have the willingness & determination to tackle something new. A few years ago another neighbor lady's husband died & she was faced with sitting alone in her house. We convinced her to get a computer & then set about teaching her how to use it. She has done amazingly well & now emails her friends in Germany on a regular basis, sends out jokes, surfs the internet, & prints off letters & documents. She sends us her "daily report" on how she's doing & follows our blog while we're traveling.Another friend of ours absolutely hated computers but finally decided to give it a whirl 3 years ago. Problem was he started out on a used computer that was infested with many problems. While we were in New Mexico two winters ago we received an email from his daughter saying he had finally had enough & had taken the computer outside, threw it in the firepit, dumped gasoline on it & burnt it up!! Well, normally you would figure that was the end of the story but a year ago his interest began to get the better of him again. We & others convinced him to have another go at it & finally after much deliberation he picked himself up another computer running Windows XP. He was off again & did much better this time because the computer wasn't full of bugs. I was able to help him out & it wasn't long before we had the Picasa Photo Program going full tilt. His interest has been renewed because he likes Kayaking so can now take his digital camera along, shoot away to his heart's content, & then return home & download all his own Kayak upside down soggy water pictures. Now, that's a long way from the firepit ceremony he performed just a year before that!! I like success stories & I enjoy helping older folks learn new computer skills. It just opens up their world so much & I love to feel the excitement they experience as their new world begins to unfold for them right in front of their eyes:)) A FOGGY SPRING MORNING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

When we bought our first computer back in 98 we didn't even know how to shut it off. The computer store guys had brought the computer to our old rented house & set it up one afternoon. When I got home from work that night there it was sitting on a table contentedly whirring away. We didn't know what buttons to press, or what the keys all meant & we didn't even know how to turn the darned thing off. That's where we started years ago, right from scratch. And there was no one there to help us. It was all trial & error. I bought one of those Windows 95 For Dummies books & spent a lot of time reading & pressing buttons. I spent even more time turning the air blue for miles around too. That poor computer would have probably died a very early & violent death if it hadn't been for Kelly's patience & perseverance. I kept threatening to throw the whole contraption out the window onto the driveway but time & again she came to it's rescue & eventually between the two of us we were able to slowly piece to-gether enough savvy to finally make some headway. It sure didn't come overnight but we stuck with it through thick & thin. I even signed up for a computer course in St. Mary's Ontario but then promptly forgot I had done so & missed all the classes except for the last two. It was a real uphill battle those first number of years but looking back now I'm sure glad we didn't throw in the sponge because our computer has become one of the most enjoyable & educational things in our lives & as RVing people, it is totally invaluable.............:)) FROSTY MORNING WALKS LATELY

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