Monday, August 11, 2014

A computer day

My new computer absorbed my day. Pretty much I got along okay with it--better than I expected. But there were problems: email is not bringing up my address list, though the university tech resources people did call, take control of my computer, and install Outlook for which I am everlastingly grateful. Still can't figure out how to save a file in Dropbox--which will be a big problem in a week when I start to do the neighborhood newsletter.
I have joined the computer wars--is Windows 8 as bad as they say? Not really, and I'm trying to get used to it. Jamie installed Windows 7 too, so that's a help. But I figure I should get used to 8. I'm sure there are shortcuts I haven't discovered, but my big accomplishment for the day was to write a guest blog post for a fellow author. But it seems every time I do something I have to close out that program and go back and start over, whereas with Windows 7 I could keep several things open. The touch screen is great--but I don't use it much because I work on a monitor. The screen saver on the monitor is a picture of six of my seven grandchildren--so large that it's fuzzy--and I feel them staring at me. Oops, just discovered a new problem--I can't upload a picture. The upload button takes me to Outlooks which is not where my pictures are stored. I can get to some pictures--arranged in I don't know what order--but not to the pictures files in my computer, where pictures are sorted and arranged in labeled files. You'll have to take my word for it--it's disconcerting to see six faces staring at me, some smiling, some looking concerned, as I sit at my desk. But, hey, this is day one. I figure I'll work all those bugs out--sooner rather than later, I hope.
The new phones are great. They call out who's calling. At lunch, when I had guests, the phone boomed, "Burton. Christian." I wondered why my son-in-law was calling but it turned out to be my daughter. She came over and was delighted with the huge monitor because she could look at pictures of Jacob from the camp.
Just now I hit something and I have this post on half the screen and half the picture on the other part. Not sure what to do without losing what I've written. But I figure a learning process is inevitable. Meantime I may ask for help on the Sisters in Crime Guppies list.
I'm ready to give it up for the day and read A Little Night Murder, the newest Blackbird Sisters Mystery from Nancy Martin.

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