Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Sailors, Beware!

I'm sure most everyone has heard the expression about folks who have a vocabulary not always acceptable in "nice" company -that person can cuss like a sailor - and boy, I have to confess that definitely can describe me!

What brought this idea into mind for a post was a question David McMahanon posed on his blog "Do you ever swear at your computer?"

My question is "Who hasn't?" Probably would be easier to count that how many of us often curse the computer, along with maybe rue the day we bought the darned thing or got connected to the internet.

The things my computer does to me often has me muttering little oaths under my breath. It also sometimes has me cursing out loud, long and very loud, I might add too. Usually, the culprit is a combination of the computer and my lousy, dial-up isp - the always wonderful, always cheerful, always obliging (not) Peoplepc.com! I'm probably not being fair to them I suppose as any dial-up is probably going to have many of the same issues that Peoplepc has - I suppose.

I cuss at this computer over the slowness and contrariness it does seem to have a times. At times only? All the time, in reality.

I hate when people post videos or youtube stuff in their blogs because for me to open and view them is going to tie up my computer for EVER! Or so it seems anyway. It does take a long, VERY LONG time for the youtubes to open, for sure. But that is the isp, not really the computer there that creates that issue, isn't it? Although the guy told me when I bought the computer with so much space on it and also a faster processor that it still won't speed things up if I'm trying to do more than one thing at a time.

I keep wanting a computer that operates the same way those I see on tv - like on "Law and Order" do - turn it on, click in a question and in a nano-second the response -and always the correct one too - appears on their screen. Google must operate a lot better there than it does in the ordinary world I suppose, huh?

I love the way my computer will occasionally "lose" things too. So far it has "lost" my modem a few times and over the weekend, it even lost my software for my isp. Just out of the blue, it was gone and I had to re-load the whole thing. Lucky for me I knew where the disc was and the steps to reloading it as well. Ever notice computers always break down or fail either at night or on the weekend too -when there is no one available, of course, to take it to and get it fixed immediately - if not sooner?

Of course, I cussed at the computer a few weeks ago while trying to do a certain paid post which the company would not accept or they said they could not accept because somehow in the transition process of my writing the post in WORD then copying that over to the blog page, something transposed the code for a registered trademark that conflicted with the software of the paid post company and it would not then accept my post. One that I might add is still up and operates perfectly fine and dandy - goes to all the right urls it is supposed to go to when you click through it but because of the requirement of the stupid trademark -which is also there, just the way it is supposed to be - they wouldn't pay me for my work, grief and aggravation involved in trying to make my submission! I was ticked off at the world that day because I had spent roughly 15-16 HOURS of my very valuable time only to learn I couldn't submit it and couldn't get paid for my work.

Was that my computer's fault? Well, in a way, in my mind anyway, it was! After all, it was the computer combined with WORD that did something, somewhere, in the innards, that transposed the code for the trademark, wasn't it? I called this machine all kinds of names while I was trying to submit that post and fighting with the whole process. And, when I found out I couldn't get it through after all, I still called the computer a lot more names for several days afterwards. Ok, I'm still cussing at that one!

I swear at my computer at times too after my granddaughter has been monkeying around with the keyboard and can somehow find little keys to tap that will do strange things to my screen or other such stuff. Yes, I know it is her doing there but geez Louise, if a four-year-old who can't read, can't write/type can make things go wacky in a fingertap, why does it have to take me hours of work then to figure out how to restore things to their normal state? Well, ya know of course, that is the computer's fault then isn't it?

I cuss my computer daily when I read my favorite blogs too for the way it sets things up. Almost always when I think the page is set up and ready for me to click on a blog, it will suddenly do a little "hiccup" type thing and causes my mouse to actually click on the wrong blog! Yes, it does that to me - not me accidentally clicking on the wrong blog myself - I swear that's the truth on that one! And yes, I do swear then too when that happens!

But I cuss at my computer daily really for what it has done to me over the past how many years now since I got my first one, got my first dial-up connection. It has turned me into an addict!

But then again, as that old adage goes, "Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" and if I didn't have this sweet little gem under my fingertips - somewhat at my command or wish -I'd be sitting here cussing the darkness instead of not having any way to communicate around the world in a matter of minutes ya know!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it too, folks!

8 comments:

Linda said...

Even if you have absolutely nothing taking up memory on your computer, if your ISP is lousy then it's going to take forever for things to load. High-speed internet really makes a big, big difference though even with it there are some blogs - like Mimi's - that take my computer a lot longer to load. It's frustrating and I do use some salty language myself from time to time!

Terri said...

I don't cuss at my computer because I don't want to tick it off. It knows how dependent I am on the internet, so I refuse to anger the computer gods.

janet copenhaver said...

Jeni,

Don't open my blog today. I posted to Youtube videos. Opps. I really couldn't resist. Blogger really gave me fits placing them where I wanted them so yes I cussed a bit. Well actually a lot. Bet a few that have me on google reader were cussing too.

I have high speed here in WC, but just a notch or two above dial up. Love the speed I get when I'm in Denver.

Theresa said...

My mom always complains that my blog takes long to open and I only post pictures.

I have wireless, and the blogs with music sometime give my computer a hard time.

I am not a big cursing person except when I am driving alone.

Anonymous said...

I certainly have been doing a bit of cussing lately with moving all my stuff. The most cussing was when I found blogger had lost some of it though. I did manage to save it and import it into Wordpress but not without a blue haze around my desk. I am still trying to do stuff and it is all new to me and I am spending a lot of time dithering so I feel like a rookie again. I wouldn't have moved except I was scared my blog was disappearing into cyberspace. How have you been doing with the paid posting,it has definitely been on the back burner here and they weren't offering anything much anyway if at all. Now I am trying to catch up with everyone. Thanks for taking time from all the Christmas rush to pop over and leave a comment.

Cariboo Ponderer

Anonymous said...

Hehe. Nice story, Jeni, and I can relate to it.

I sometimes cuss my computer, but most of the time, I give them names... sort of.. :)

For instance, in my previous school , they lent me an IBM laptop, I named it "Ivy".. My very first desktop was an HP, so I named it "Espie". Now I have DELL, and I named it "Delia" (Filipino name).

I understand you on your take re: YouTube videos, that's why I seldom post video clips. If I do, the video is relatively small in size so it wouldn't take time to stream/download.

-Saedel

PS. I really haven't officially thanked you here in your blog for tagging me, so Thank You. It gave me an idea to post something which I think can be useful to future taggers. :)

Gene Bach said...

Frigging computers anyway!

Hey, I was just cussing at mine this morning...small world ain't it? Man I can really relate to this post Jenni. LOL!!!!

Anonymous said...

I don't curse as much as tell my computer how much I hate it. Then I apologize profusely and tell it how pretty and slimming it looks. Then I buy it chocolate.

What can I say, I can't live without it:-)

Debo Blue