[img]396|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img] Technology is not my friend.
It’s an acquaintance, sure, something I run into on a daily basis.
We chat and exchange pleasantries, but this is not something I care to know on a deep level. We don’t speak the same language. I’m not interested in what Technology has to say or what it does, or what new applications it has come up with that will blow away what it came up with six months ago!
Please, Tech. Just do what I need you to do, and go hang out with Hi Def or Blue Tooth if you want to talk Wi-Fi.
I’m always the last person to get a gadget or sign up with the latest thing on the web. The thing is, once I step into that world, I’m hooked. I can’t imagine life without my cell phone. I love email; it’s like Christmas every morning when I check my inbox.
And I am addicted to Facebook.
Facebook is great because you can reconnect with people from your past and play, “Whatever happened to…?”
I got so into it with Sabine, my best friend from high school, it was only a matter of time until I dusted off my high school photo albums and scanned photos so that 151 of my Facebook friends could see what Sabine and I looked like in1984.
A Thorny Journey
This is where my latest technology debacle began.
I have a combination printer/copier/scanner, so I knew it would be easy. All I’d have to do is put the photo on the scanner and press scan, right? Wrong.
It took me a long time to figure out how to do it. I opened up this window, I dragged something over there, I clicked on something here, and finally, it worked. I was so proud for figuring out something technological by myself. I was a technophobe no more! Now everyone could check out my photos. Here’s Sabine and me in front of the freshman lockers. Here we are at the zoo. Getting ready for the Winter Formal!
Ahh, the memories.
I was lost in the days of yore until the next time I went to look at my photo library in my computer.
Hmm…the thumbnails were there, but when I clicked on a thumbnail, all I got was a gray square and a ( ! ) in the middle of it. That didn’t look good, especially to a part-time photographer with 8,000 photos she needed access to. I closed the photo library, and noticed that there was a folder on my desktop that I didn’t think had been there before. It was marked “originals.” Ohh, that’s where the photos were! I knew they hadn’t been lost completely. All I had to do was drag the Originals folder back into my photo icon, and I’d have them back. I dragged it over, and sure enough, 8,000 photos began importing into my photo library. I was getting really good at this techno stuff.
Multiplication Time
When I went back to check a couple of hours later, I found that I had imported the photos, all right. And now I had 16,000 instead of 8,000. Fan-tas-tic.I took a very deep breath, and called tech support. A very patient man named Rodney helped me by guiding me through the steps of retrieval, one by one. It took a few hours for the computer to do its thing, but after that, I was back down to 8,000 pictures. When I clicked on a couple of thumbnails, they worked. I heaved a huge sigh of relief and called it a day.
Turns out I celebrated a bit too early.
The next day, I checked more of the photos, and I was back to my original problem. I called tech support again and got someone else. By this time I had my own case file with a number; I felt like a repeat offender. Jeff helped me this time, or at least he tried to. After trying a few different things, I told him I was reaching my limit and I was going to bring my giant desktop to the computer store for servicing. He quickly made me an appointment, and I went in the following day.
Enter Nick. Nick was sincerely interested in my problem and wanted to fix it. Where on earth had my photos gone? He was like a hound dog following a scent. He tried many different things, and got down to my level by using a library metaphor. “The librarian is trying to find the books, but when she goes to the shelf, they’re not there.” I told Nick I just wanted him to work his magic and tell me when he was done. This librarian was taking a coffee break.
Now It’s Time for a Toast
Nine hours later, and I am not exaggerating, Nick had somehow found all of my lost photos. By this point, a few store employees recognized my face; a couple of them addressed me by name. I felt like I knew these people a little bit. And they certainly knew me, as 8,000 photos of my life passed before their eyes.
Nick installed the latest photo software for me and helped me purchase a new external hard drive. Here’s to you, Nick, and to the computer people and non-computer people who create balance in this modern world of ours.
I’m scared to look at my photos. You can bet I won’t be scanning anytime soon. You’ll just have to imagine how I looked after I shaved my head and pierced my eyebrow in college.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at campbellalexandra@hotmail.com
