Electronics & inadequacies

This was the weekend of machine turning against man - well woman in this case.

My main computer kept crashing on me, turns out it was hungry for more RAM. We bought some, WOW what a difference a little extra memory makes, starting with it staying on, and ending with that really quick boot up at the beginning of start up.

Photoshop is still draggy though, even with 1.5MB of RAM it's still giving me fits.

And then the inevitable happened, the cell phone died. Now you'd think that after 4 years of use and abuse it'd keep on ticking, or am I confusing this with a Timex watch???

I went to use the phone and it refused to turn on. And when it finally did it merely blinked at me, on, off, on, off - and it's still doing it too. I've been informed that the battery is fried, and probably fried a few things along with.

Sooooo, cuz I have Sprint I had quite the credit wracked up for a new phone. It has all the bells and whistles you can imagine, all of which cost extra money to use btw.

I was lamenting its complexity on a particular list when a member chimed in that her not too much younger daughter than I had mastered said identicle phone in 20 minutes.

And I thought to myself: Self are we inadequete because after 20 minutes we still are unable to place a call - but can take a really nice picture with the phone???

A twinge of inadequecy at first and then a full out screaming NO! Hell No!

First: I'd really like to know what said daughter does for a living, probably something in electronics I bet.

Secondly:

Can she repack the wheel bearings on her vehicle, let alone fine the dip stick to check the oil???

Can she butcher a hog, render the fat into lard, make her own soap?

Can she sheer a sheep, skirt the fleece, wash the fleece, spin it into yarn, dye it with materials from her own backyard (if she even has one) and then weave it into fabric??? I bet not.

If the world goes to hell in a hand basket tomorrow can she start a fire using primitive means, build a survival shelter, find edible food and potable water? I bet not. But I bet she has FEMA and CNN on speed dial.

I momentarily thought to myself that I am royally incompetant because I cannot master a little piece of electronics, btw I can place a call on it today, but then it dawned on me that all of my available brain cells are tied up in the basics of life. So does this mean I need new RAM??? I've used my brain for so many other things (life skills), there's no room left for learning a new gizmo. I'll squeeze the new phone in over time probably around the time it needs replacing.

I'm sure the mother was just wanting to tell everyone how proud she was of her daughter, or she could have been letting me know what an electronic yutz I am - after all I'm only 7 years older than her daughter. Her comment definately made me thing though.

I look at todays youngsters, ran into one at the mall last night that showed me how to program my phone, I wonder and I worry about them. Can they take care of themselves in the event of a "what if"? I think not actually, the prevailing attitude is "it" can't happen here, it can't happen to me, yet there is too much historical evidence to the contrary. The Golden Age is coming to a crashing end, nature is a cruel mistress - no matter how much we think we can control her by applying labels (global warming) and the like we cannot. We may afflict damage, but the damage Nature inflicts is far greater and total than anything we could ever concieve.

Well I have a DVD to finish editing, a book to write and a class to prepare for. And if there's anytime left over I would like to get some apple sauce put up for the winter. Some apple butter would also be great to have on hand, I'm out at the moment.