SOL17: Technology 101

            This morning I was in the “computer room,” organizing my paper files, when my printer clicked on two or three times. I couldn’t tell what was happening, but I had heard similar sounds before, so I didn't pay much attention.

          About an hour later I noticed that the router that extends the wifi in my apartment was flashing yellow. Uh-oh, that’s not good. I go back to the computer room where I see that the cable modem that connects to the Internet is off, the printer is off, and the computer is off.

            At first I thought the problem was with the modem. I looked all over it, but could not find a button to press off and on. So I called Time Warner/Spectrum and after listening to the recording through several steps, I finally hear that I can press 0 to get a human being.

            The tech human being explains that my particular modem model has no power button, but has me try a few things. It seems clear that the problem is likely to be with the surge protector. So I go out and buy a new one.

            But when I unplug the old surge protector, plug in the new one, and plug in all the cords (computer, modem, router, printer, and an analog clock), nothing works. Hmmm.

            So now I take the old surge protector, plug it into another outlet, plug in the clock, and it works! So back to the computer room, unplug the new surge protector, replace the old surge protector, replace all the power cords, and voila! The lights on the modem start flashing, and in a few minutes everything is back to normal.

            I should have unplugged and replugged the old surge protector in the first place, what my husband used to call “plug and unplug.” That’s the tech lesson for the day.

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I’m participating in the 12th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 1 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!

SOL6: Why I (Sometimes) Hate Technology

            I’m going to Connecticut on Saturday to meet a fellow group of New York Mets fans for our annual preseason get-together to hope for better things than last year and play trivia. Because my usual subway stop will be closed this weekend, I thought it would be easier to buy my train ticket online in advance.

            I have the MTA eTix app on my phone, so I clicked on it, and after clicking on my starting station and destination station, a pop-up window told me the app is out-of-date and I should click on Install Now.

           Clicking on that button, however, just gets me the generic App Store, and when I search for MTA eTix, I get a No Results message. Hmmm.

            Maybe I could get it on my laptop? The laptop finds the MTA eTix app in the App Store, but doesn’t let me download it because it’s only for the iPhone. Hmmm.

            But if I go to the App Store app on my phone and search MTA eTix, I find it easily. Now why couldn’t the original app’s link to the App Store take me to that latest version of the MTA eTix app? And why couldn’t the App Store that link went to find the MTA eTix app?

            Technology: it drives you crazy when it isn’t giving you the greatest pleasure.

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I’m participating in the 12th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 1 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!