Candes Saint-Martin, my favourite spot in La Touraine.

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Three attempts - part 1

Now that you know about the three Bertha’s, it’s time for me to explain the ‘three attempts’. Mind you, what led to the three attempts is in fact longer to describe than the attempts themselves. So there will be a part 2 to this post.

During my recent short ‘staycation’ – thank you Jean and Gaynor for teaching me a new word – I decided to treat myself to something new. I didn't need any more summer clothes, though. I had bought plenty of those in the early days of spring (with a February internet order being delivered only yesterday!).

As I needed a powerful USB stick to store music from my old vinyl record player, I decided to visit a nearby multi-media store. I also wanted to know what was new in multi-media land. I therefore had a thorough look around. There was long line-up of laptops and tablets in all possible colours and sizes. They looked nice and so did the smartphones and the cameras ... And then, of course, there were all these trendy accessories, which were hard to resist, although half of the time I don’t even know what they are or what they do.

I found the required USB stick (16 GB), with a clever lock that protects your data and makes it completely useless to someone who happens to ‘find’ it. I also bought an identity card reader, which you need if you want to fill out your tax form on web. So far, so good!

However, on my way to the check-out counter I happened to pass through the aisle featuring desktop printers. My old HP all-in-one inkjet goes all the way back to 2004. Although it’s still doing what it has to do, print/scan/copy, it is getting on in years. The clips gripping the paper are slightly worn and the printer will only take 110 mg paper. When you use a lighter weight paper, the clips either take several pages at the time or none at all. Moreover, the printer doesn’t have the Wi-Fi connection option. I wonder, did Wi-Fi exist ten years ago?

Working from home is one of the reasons why I wanted a Wi-Fi printer. For security reasons, my office laptop is programmed to reject external devices that haven’t been supplied by my employer. However, I find online proof-reading of long texts very hard and therefore prefer the old-fashioned paper proofs.



When working from home, this means that I have to save my documents on a USB stick or send them by email to my personal laptop. Then I need to move the laptop to the desk where the printer is located and connect the laptop to the printer using a USB cable. As there is not enough room on the desk for all three devices (two laptops and a printer), my personal laptop, once connected to the printer, ends up on the chair … with me sitting on the floor next to it while printing! Not very comfortable and highly impractical. I could of course, buy a bigger desk … but there is not enough room in the apartment. And then again, is it really worth it as I hope to be allowed to retire in 2017 ... no guarantee though!

(more to come)

4 comments:

Ken Broadhurst said...

Computers and all their paraphernalia have made our lives so much simpler. N'est-ce pas ?

ladybird said...

Ken, I guess/hope you were joking when you wrote your comment :^). Wait till you read the rest of the story! In the meantime, try to stay dry. Glad the roof job has solved the damp problem in your kitchen.

Carolyn said...

Ken must be joking! Maybe not, since he seems able to solve any problem that crops up with his computers.

I do love all my electronic devices but they are a mystery to me.

Martine, retirement in 2017? Won't that be great!

ladybird said...

Carolyn, Yes retirement in 2017 is an option, not a certainty though. That's the best case scenario. Want to know what the worst one is? 2022!!!