January .....technology

 This is my idea of the "Smart Home" 

But we live in the age of technology and it feels like I am still beating my clothes on a rock. 

My trusty old computer; Sparky, was gasping.  Noooooo!!  Sparky was dying a slow and lingering death, it just got slower and slower.  It was such a pain I stopped using it, except for emergencies like printing recipes or Facetime-ing the kids or looking at old pictures or printing out decals for pottery. 

I was so tempted to just walk away as I am very content keeping myself busy without a computer. 

The New Year came and went and I decided I really did need a computer so I dug in and did my homework and decided on a Mac mini M4 instead of an entire unit.  The classic; MBFYB or more bang for your buck, or so I thought. 

I am trying to re-invent my life path at 70 years old and have decided to revisit my YouTube channel I started so many years ago.  As Sparky slowed down I abandoned that ship as loading one video was taking 15-18 hours!  A new system should fly at lightening speed, I hoped!  Besides it's January in Ohio and what better time to tackle this?  Put those waders on and plunge into the deep end! 

On a snowy Saturday I drove down to Microsoft and plunked down a months worth of social security, coming home with little box and a cord.  No mouse, monitor or keyboard.  Spent the major part of the day trying to sync it with the new fiber optic WIFI.... I had a monitor, keyboard and mouse.  Drilled all the appropriate holes in the NEW desktop 😭, ran a new surge protector and dropped our ATT fiber optics down to 300 MBPS from 1000MBPS on the ATT APP, at my kitchen table.

 Big surprise, everything works better and we get coverage in a long dead upstairs bedroom!  Back to syncing the new computer to fiber optics!  I tried everything; watched endless YouTubes, rebooted the computer, unplugged, waited and  fired back up again; no WIFI signal.  In a stroke of complete frustration and putting myself in a time out, to do a bit of birdwatching on the Bird Buddy (the feeder with built in camera, more technology). 

 "💡"  What if I ran the ethernet cord from the modem to the computer?  Dug through a big box of wires and found an abandoned ethernet cord.  It worked!  However I did not want to run wires and drill more holes in the new bookcases!  I opened my ATT app (not customer service!) and rebooted the modem.  That took awhile so I ate a cookie and did some deep breathing. Finally, the modem had the green light. Severed the umbilical cord and prayed to motherboard above!  And it worked!! 6 hours of my life I will never get back.  

So excited that my tenacious self had worked through all this I jumped on and thought it would be fun to Facetime the kids with this new system.  Was it faster, was the picture clearer, sound?  And it occurred to me the monitor did not have a camera!  just kill me........ I ordered a logitech brio camera for $37.  No Facetime this weekend!  

A few days later I had to file my Ohio State Sales Tax online.  I always have a box of Kleenex sitting close by because I can never get through that system.  However they had upgraded to a new two part verification and as I logged on I was fully prepared to terminate my vendors license as I am not doing shows anymore.  To my amazement I walked myself through, did not shed one tear and still have a vendors license.  Press, print out receipt and nothing...... I went back to plugging and unplugging, googling what little I had left of a brain only to find out Hewlett Packard no longer makes a compatible driver for my printer and new Mac Mini.  Long verbal expletives flowed from my mouth!  

Poked around for a new printer but absolutely none are able to print out ceramic decals.  Clean out the upstairs bedroom of all Christmas stuff and put old wool blankets in the new refinished cedar chest.  I swear it's like dominos around here, never a straight path to anything!  Finally set Sparky on a table, in an upstairs bedroom with the old printer, wiped out everything except my file for images.  Thankfully I had a very old plug in keyboard that worked but no mouse and needed to purchase a new mouse; back to logitech!  I am waiting for that delivery.  Meanwhile I am off to purchase a new printer for $119 from Best Buy.  

After all this I still need to install a keyboard drawer under the new desktop.  Maybe I should give up chickens and gardening and become a gamer.  This has been completely uncharted water and happy I did get through some pretty choppy water.  Yes, I could have called somebody to do all this buy now I know how everything is connected or not connected.  Learned a lot (new curse words) and  lost a few precious brain cells.

All that said; I start winter pruning next week and starting seeds this week.  I will attempt to make short videos on each of those topics and post to YouTube.  

BUT!  First I need to clean out the studio. It looks like an abandoned woodworkers shop. Turn it back into a garden center and pottery studio.  No straight paths anywhere around here!