Help from afar

I called Dell Support today to help me take off the password I had put on my laptop when just opening it for the first time. There’s no real warning to a tech-semi-moron like me that you really don’t need one of these passwords; I need the sign in all caps that yells: DON’T CREATE PASSWORDS! THEY’RE NOT NECESSARY! YOU’LL REGRET IT! AND THEY’RE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE!

So I went to Dell Support. I’d gone there last week and even though the tech somewhere in India/Bangladesh/Pakistan who answered the call after a 10-minute wait took my phone number, “in case we get disconnected,” he never called me back after I did get disconnected. So I called again today. Today’s tech had to transfer the ownership of my new laptop from Staples, where I’d bought it, to me. That took a bit, even though last week’s tech supposedly had done that too. Anyway, we finally started on my problem. I think I began the call at about 3:15 EST. I realized that my tech—I never did understand his name but it was probably Jeff … unh huh—didn’t have a clue about how MY laptop worked. After many unbelievably long waits while he “got some assistance,” we FINALLY removed the damned password. This was the one that I was required to type in every g-damned time I touched the computer. But we did get it removed. I think it was about 5:05 EST. At least that was free.

So now I’m watching “Men of a Certain Age,” a show that’s aimed at my age group … only about men rather than women. Will men watch this? I doubt it. Ray Romano, Andre Brauer, and Scott Bakula. Great guys all of a certain age. Of course, that’s now OMG younger than I am. But the things they obsess over are familiar. If not a problem I’ve had, it’s one a friend has had. Getting playlists from people 20 yrs younger, trying to communicate online with a stranger, pretending you’re as hot as you were 20-30 years ago. All familiar.

So I got my computer fixed. And I went for a walk. And I’m planning to swim tomorrow morning. I’m feeling like I’m back on track. While I like the job at Borders, it disrupts my life more than I want it to. Next year? I don’t know.

Eat healthy. EXERCISE!!! But be nice to yourself. If you don’t do either of the above, there is no lightning bolt from heaven that’s GPS’d to your location. So be nice to yourself.

(And it’s now clear to me that my next job with this laptop is to figure out how to download a clip art illustration into this blog. Stay tuned.)