Evening, squiders.
I had grand plans to get my videos for my class edited over the past two days. Part of the issue is still ongoing drama and mental burnout, but some of it is technology related.
When I was younger, most notably when I was in college, I carried my laptop everywhere with me, and I would break it out whenever I could to get some writing done. On the bus, in my fraternity’s offices between classes, at the local tea shop, sometimes even if I got to class early. A lot of authors–especially ones in busy times of life–swear by doing a little whenever you can, stealing ten minutes here, fifteen minutes here.
I don’t operate that way as much nowadays, but I would like to do it more. Twenty minutes between the end of work and when I need to pick up the first child from school, fifteen minutes while dinner is in the oven, ten minutes while I wait for my youngest to get dressed in the morning.
It’s a nice idea, but I run into complications, and it seems to be timed both to when I’m trying to steal a few minutes, or when I, in theory, have several hours in which to work.
And all these complications are technology based.
My laptop of twenty years ago at college was great. Open it, turn it on, off you go. But it feels like modern technology has somehow made things worse.
Here is a rundown of some of issues I have run into over the last few months when I’ve sat down to work:
- Laptop has forgotten how to turn on and needs a complete refresh (which sometimes takes hours, and then you have to reinstall everything)
- Laptop has forgotten the pin I use to log into it (today)
- Laptop cannot figure out how to connect to a wifi network it has connected to hundreds of times
- Laptop has decided that the menus will not load in Windows itself
- Laptop has decided to drop network for no apparent reason (as evidenced by other devices continuing to have no problem)
- Laptop was last connected to the dock and has forgotten how to operate independently
- Laptop was last not connected to the dock and has forgotten how to connect to the keyboard/mouse and/or monitor
- Laptop has decided it does not like this particular power supply
Of course, in the old days everything was on the laptop itself and now everything is in the Cloud, which is good in some ways but frustrating as heck if we’re playing “What Internet?”
If I have fifteen minutes to work and I have to spend ten of them fighting with some dumb “our technology has gotten too smart for its own good” problem, then I cannot actually steal ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there.
(Also if the laptop has forgotten how to turn on and needs a reset, then we’re looking at hours of work before the laptop is useable again, so forget it.)
I mean, yes, storing things on the Cloud is nice! I haven’t lost anything to not being backed up in years! But I do wish I could just reliably turn the computer on and get going immediately without any shenanigans. And maybe it is specifically this laptop, and this is all a sign that perhaps I should save up to get a new one. (Please tell me if you are having these same problems.)
All this to say that I had time, and I did not get as far as I wanted.
How are you doing, squiders? Do you have a laptop you like and that works reliably?
