The Return: Believe It or Not, It’s Just Me

And I’m back! I’ve been offline for about five weeks because my personal computer died. Took about two weeks for a diagnostic. I’ve had the old clunker for nearly a decade, and when we finally got the lab results there was nothing else to do except to call a priest from the Church of High Tech and give it a proper burial. 

I eventually bought a spiffy new MacBook Pro with 13-inch screen that is smaller than my old Mac’s 15-inch but more affordable. But it took at least ten days for my dealer to upload the files from my old Mac to my new machine. So I’ve been unable to do basic things like blog, update my website, pay bills, write and arrange music on Finale, lurk, and other fancy stuff. My smartphone and iPads allowed me to keep up with email, Instagram and (groan) Facebook. I also have a computer at work, but that’s only for official business. 

I’ve been with Mac since the 1990s. All my blogs, my articles, the research for my books, and my books’ manuscripts were done on Mac, not to mention Finale music files and iTunes. I do my podcasts on GarageBand. And I like the connectivity with my iPhone and iPads. So I’m pretty much locked into Apple as a surfing serf. They got me for life! 

I’m excited to have a brand-new MacBook Pro to play with but the transitional stuff is annoying: re-entering passwords into all my accounts; updating software (often with hefty fees); and getting used to the feel of the keyboard and trackpad. I’m a fast typist but my touch is too heavy for this keyboard and, especially, for Apple’s new-fangled trackpad. I’m having trouble adjusting to the lighter touch needed for the trackpad, and it has too many options! Double-clicking is especially bothersome. Why does Apple insist on making these “improvements” that nobody asked for? At least, I didn’t ask for them.

Most insidiously, there is no instruction book! I am learning by doing, which is not conducive for someone who is essentially helpless when it comes to new technology. I feel like the main character in the 1985 television series, The Greatest American Hero. He received a superhero costume from some visiting aliens but no instructional manual. So our hapless hero was always landing awkwardly after flying, and crashing through walls because he didn’t know how to step on the brakes when he was going at super-speed. That’s me and new tech! Believe it or not, I’m NOT walking on air!

But I’ll get it eventually. Just writing this blog has been a useful exercise in getting to know my new machine. Now to see if I can remember how to upload this into my blogsite, and then link it on my website. 

More to come!