I have posted before about the pluses and minuses of retirement. Today the plus is that it's a Wednesday morning and I'm sitting in my living room with my grandson nestled up against me. But a minus has cropped up too.
For more than 15 years -- the entire length of time I have owned my own laptop -- a technical wizard with pertinent advice has been just around the corner. Because I logged hundreds of hours on job-related tasks on each of my personal laptops, the department's computer support wizard was always ready to help solve my problems. I know how to do basic troubleshooting, but when the problems proved intractable, advice was readily available.
Today my laptop is displaying repeated alerts that I ejected an external hard drive improperly. Problem is, I did not eject the drive; it remains securely moored in the port, even though it won't show up on my desktop. In other words, my computer is wacky. Basic troubleshooting and tips from a Google search have failed to solve the problem. A month ago I would have taken my laptop in to see the wizard, and a few minutes later I would have emerged with a fully functional laptop.
Today, I'm retired. I no longer have access to the wizard. My drive won't mount and I'm out of ideas.
So the balance is that I hug the grandson while spending hours on support sites……
For more than 15 years -- the entire length of time I have owned my own laptop -- a technical wizard with pertinent advice has been just around the corner. Because I logged hundreds of hours on job-related tasks on each of my personal laptops, the department's computer support wizard was always ready to help solve my problems. I know how to do basic troubleshooting, but when the problems proved intractable, advice was readily available.
Today my laptop is displaying repeated alerts that I ejected an external hard drive improperly. Problem is, I did not eject the drive; it remains securely moored in the port, even though it won't show up on my desktop. In other words, my computer is wacky. Basic troubleshooting and tips from a Google search have failed to solve the problem. A month ago I would have taken my laptop in to see the wizard, and a few minutes later I would have emerged with a fully functional laptop.
Today, I'm retired. I no longer have access to the wizard. My drive won't mount and I'm out of ideas.
So the balance is that I hug the grandson while spending hours on support sites……
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