#280 Technical Support FrustraShawn

So Last night was part two in the (near guaranteed) ongoing over Technical Support for my Mom on her Tablet.

If you’ll recall, back in August we got my Mom an Nexus 7 tablet.  Well the learning curve continues. 

Tonight was a 90 minute phone call to have her set up her email… Not sure EXACTLY way, because she’ll do her email on her desktop computer anyway… she just want so have it… just in case…. 

Surprisingly I was able to get her up and running faster than getting her connected to her home WIFI (back in Sept)

And she promises me she’ll keep a notebook , where she’ll write down any questions she has, and will save them for weekends.

Oh joy!

#238 Parental Technology EducaShawn

Last summer, my Mom fell in love with our Nexus Tablets. Of course all she did was play Majong, but he was in geeky Techno Love.

So this spring Marcel and I talked about getting her one for Christmas this year. But given the learning curve, and to be honest, just the set-up we realized it was not a good gift since we'd not be able to walk her through it in person.

Well, this vacation she was again asking to use the tablet to play games. And she wanted me to go out shopping with her to get one.  Well okay... I guess I can do that. We finally found some at Target. And she was going to buy one but her bank card wasn't working, so I said let me get it and bam... a minute later I kissed her on the cheek and said "Merry Christmas"

Then as we left Target she said, "Okay, now I want to get an iPhone." I just did NOT have it in me to walk her though this.

The next hour was spent setting up her gmail account and prepping her table. And repeating the basics.  On. Off. Volume. Email. Face Book,  Download Games.  

And now I've guaranteed myself to endless calls of It doesn't work. What's Wrong. Fix it... all over the phone...  

And god forbid when I get my NEW iPhone in the fall and send my 4G to her... 

I have pretty much guaranteed myself a quicker path to the grave... the years this is going to take off my life...

Pray for me.

#146 Portable AcquisiShawn

I ordered a portable scanner a couple weeks ago. It arrived today. 

I have hundreds of photos I want to scan, and so does Marcel.  And then there's my parents.  I'm sure there are likely a good 100,000+ photos in their house. A great many I've no interest in, but then again there are probably a few thousand of immediate family I'd love to have copies of. And I know Marcel's Mom has pics we'd like to have as well...

The beauty of this scanner is it's not a flatbed scanner. It's a wand. You can scan photos, documents, magazine pages, certificated etc...  It scans in JPG or PDF formats.. Colour or B&W. You can upload with the mini SD disk, with a cable or via Wifi.  It also comes with a small flatbed with a transparent overlay to keep documents and or photos flat, if so needed. And the best part is it all fits in a small carrying case about the size of a rolling pin. Compared to the last flatbed I had that was a good 24 x 18 inches. And about as silent as dishwasher from 1982.

I did a test scan tonight. And it did a not too bad copy. 

Best of all when we visit the family cottages, or our parents, we don't even need a laptop as the SD disk is 8G. 

I can't wait for the weekend so I can get caught up on the stack of pictures I have, waiting in a folder in the closet.

#141 Tecnology FrustraShawns part 2

Well the Technician arrived for today's afternoon appointment. After 30 minutes he gave up and gave us a new HD PVR Converter box.  The only problem, as I knew was going to happen... we lost all our taped shows, a good 30+ hours worth...  Including the Season Finales of 3 shows...

Bach to square one... and watching, *gasp* live TV, with *double gasp* commercials.

First world Problem I suppose... 

Now, fingers crossed, that's it for the technological blubs for a while.

#140 Technology FrustraShaws

Some days you win, and some some days you don't.

Today was a draw.

We had an Electrician in this morning to deal with two issues:

- the bathroom light and the electrical socket. 

and

-the kitchen ceiling light.

Well, a little over two hours and $430 some odd dollars later, and we had functioning lights and safety plug....

Que the fiber optic cable box and PVR ... All of the sudden, it isn't working. After an hour with "tech support", we had to schedule a technician appointment. 

So tomorrow is round two of Us vs Technology. 

I only hope we won't have lost the 30+ hours of taped shows... (Fingers crossed)

# 013 Commercial DeleShawn

Do you PVR?

We've formed an unnatural connection to ours. We'll watch the News live and then generally eTalk and the repeat of the Big Bang, by 8 PM we're watching nothing but PVRed shows.  Which is just as well because generally we've got so many things taping that we have no choice but to watch something taped. 

It all started with particular shows being on late and never managing to stay up to watch. Once we discovered the joys of skipping the commercials, we.. were.. hooked. 

But it's not just skipping the commercials, it's the fact that you can watch more shows in an evening. Most hour long shows are really only 40 - 42 minutes. So we end up watching 3-4 "hours" worth of shows in an evening... COMMERCIAL FREE!!!

The only issue that has developed is that now we compete for who is the more skilled at fast-forwarding through the commercials, without going too far and skipping over the actual show. And we get a little worked up about it. 

Sure you say, "How hard can it be?", but from channel to channel, standard network to speciality station, just how many commercials are aired during the break, and what is the length of those ads varies. Causing the most experienced fast-forwarder to become an amateur remote controller in the click of a button, and the other an armchair coach to become a bitter jaded critic. Such was our dilemma last night watching the series première of Helix. The first half of the episode was commercial-free, and then once the ads started they were coming every 5 minutes, with varying number and length.  

Modern day convenience to world problems at the click of a button.

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