New Techno Goodies: Or, I Bought a New Computer

I bought a new computer and it isn't a PC. I decided to do it after I began using my iPhone and found out how incredibly useful and wonderfully user-friendly it is. So I now have a Mac.

And though it is somewhat like learning a new language where you only know, at first, how to ask where the bathrooms are, I've found that if I force myself to learn by using, pretty soon I'm used to learning and things have become more clear.

My three-year-old PC was so slow that when the Cable Guy installed the High Speed Internet Service a few months ago he gave me a look of pity.

I don't humiliate easily, so that's not the reason I bought the new Mac. My PC was getting so out of date that it wasn't enjoyable to use anymore. And one of the important things I've learned about the new tools available to us these days is that if you don't have good tools, you won't get the real benefit of the new systems. There is no use being a Luddite.

I'm reminded of the word Luddite because I've heard several people say recently: "I don't use computers." Or: "I don't know much about computers." And they've said it with a certain amount of pride. I'm not sure why people say things like that.

Today, it is as if you are saying you insist on having an outhouse, or you like washing your clothes by hand, or, more to the point, that you don't see a need to know how to read and write. Sure, it is hard to learn things, especially as we get older. Anything older than, say, five. But, having a computer is like having a research library at the tips of your fingers. What a wonderful thing that is. The only downside that I can see is that, thanks to the Internet, old romances never die. Ick!

Anyway, I say all this about learning, and yet meanwhile I'm still looking for "files" when my new system lists by "events." And want to click on "icons" when my new system has "widgets", or something like that. But I now have my computer connected to my own wireless network, and my printer connected to that same system as well. I've always wanted to work on my laptop inside, outside, by the fireside and everywhere else, and now that is possible. And I can send to the printer wirelessly! I'm not good at this stuff, so how I managed to do this I'm not quite sure: I just followed the prompts and hoped for the best. Computers are designed to be used by the most right-brain-challenged among us, and that definitely includes me.

The only thing I don't like about my new computer is that it has a camera in it pointing at me. As if! And don't they know you aren't supposed to shoot people from under their chins? Get out.

I thought of buying an iPad along with the Mac, but I decided to do that after I get my new system up and running and gain a little fluency in it. After using the iPhone, I get how the iPad works and why one would be handy, especially when a person is traveling. But they were out of stock of iPads when I went to the Apple store and bought my Mac; the mobs in the store were highly annoying (and so was the salesman); and I figured I could order one soon. Perhaps on Line. And as we all know, thanks to Moore's Law, they will only get better.

I just wish Apple stock weren't quite so expensive.

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