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I did it! I bought my new laptop. Now comes the setting up part, which I have no idea how to do. I’m trusting the laptop to walk me through it.

I couldn’t have done this without the help of my blogging buddy Lois and her husband. Thank you to both of you! They helped me find something that would meet my needs as well as fit my price range–in fact, Best Buy had just what I needed on sale!

This post is being written on my old laptop as I still need to set up the new one. But hopefully the next one will be on my new laptop!!

Thank you to all of you who encouraged me in this process.

Image Credits: Laptop © bongkarn–stock.adobe.com ; Friends © KodokStd–stock.adobe.com

The time has officially come for me to buy a new computer. My current laptop is eight years old and was a low-end model when I bought it. I couldn’t afford much then. I did my research and ended up with one that has served me well. but no longer has the capacity to meet all my needs.

I’ve put off buying a new laptop for some time. The one I have now has stopped working in the recent past, only to revive itself and function at its low level, which has suited me fine. However, I’ve gotten several messages from various apps I use that they no longer are being supported. When I try to upgrade, I can’t–I don’t have the memory.

I’ve also gotten the message that Windows 10–which is what I’m using–won’t be supported beyond October 2025. So, I’m giving in. The final straw was when a fellow writer in my writer’s group was shocked to learn I lost my novel because I didn’t save it on my computer, I saved it on a flash drive. I lost that flash drive and there went my novel. I was able to retrieve some of it from others in the group who’d kept my submissions, but not all of it.

Now I save it on One Drive. The theory being I can access it anywhere I log into Microsoft Word with my same login. I just hope that login is what I think it is. If it isn’t, well, I have everything I’ve written since losing the original manuscript in hard copy. I just hope there isn’t a fire. I’d have to give up on my novel and move on at that point.

So I’m off to buy my laptop–wish me well.

Image Credits: Laptop (header) © Rymden–stock.adobe.com

Or maybe she just remembers when she was small enough to fit inside them. And for the record, that’s a very old pair of shoes, but my cats just love sleeping near and on top of them, so I leave them by the front door, one of their favorite hanging-out spots.

They grow up so fast…

Image Credits: Cesar Cat © Belinda O; Paws in Heart © Bigstock Photos; Dancing Kittens © Koko Art Studio–stock.adobe.com

My mom and I talk daily, usually right around noon. The conversations are generally brief, and my mom frequently comments on how dull we both are. The thing is, I don’t think I’m that dull. I just know she has little genuine interest in what I’m doing in my life.

This fact first came to light when I was nine and came home in a rush after school one day. I plopped my books down on the kitchen table and began to regale my mom with a story from the day, something I was really excited about. It quickly became apparent she had no interest in what I was saying. I asked her if everything was okay, and she told me, quite plainly, she simply wasn’t interested in the things that interested me. I was devastated.

I shut down almost completely around her after that. A few times over the next couple of years I tried again, but got the same stony attitude. By the time I was in junior high, let alone high school, I shared little with her. Every great once in awhile she’d seem to show some concern about my life, but those times were rare and generally made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to them and didn’t trust her.

Recently I decided to try again. I started to tell her about some of the things happening in my life, only to hear dead silence from her end of the phone. When I finished talking, she said, “Well, I’m done,” and we said our good-byes. I spent the rest of my lunch hour trying to regain my composure so I could go back and be effective at work.

I don’t want it to end this way. I don’t want her to die and to live with the regret of not having effectively communicated with her. At this point I know I have responsibility for making it work–not all the responsibility, but my share–but I don’t know how to break through.

Now we’ve run into a problem where her memory isn’t that good. Every Sunday when I call I mention that I just got back from church, and she inevitably asks, “You go to church?” as if I haven’t been going for most of my life. I tell her yes, and try to share some social thing that’s going on, because I think that might draw her in to further conversation. It doesn’t.

I hope that I persist in trying to draw her in, but I get discouraged. I’m not sure I can change this dynamic, and for that matter, I’m not sure she wants to change anything. But all I can do is try.

Image Credits: Lonely Toy © CuratedAIMasterpiece–stock.adobe.com; Church © Valenty–stock.adobe.com

At work, I occasionally get caught up in the news and gossip page on my browser, which seems to specialize in mocking baby boomers. One of the most frequent articles to pop up is, “Things That Will Die When Baby Boomers Do.” It’s revised periodically. I admit, some of the things they list will die out with this older generation, such as writing checks. Or paying cash. My dad, who actually is older than the baby boomer generation, still prefers to write checks. Some of us boomers are used to paying through portals, but I get why not everyone trusts that method.

Of course in some cases you don’t have a choice. I have to pay my rent, for example, through a portal. I don’t like it. You have to agree to their terms or you can’t use that method of payment, yet that’s the only method available. It’s not that their terms are unreasonable. I just don’t like being forced to agree to something that is made to look voluntary but really isn’t.

I mentioned this to one of my young colleagues and she didn’t understand my irritation. “Do you disagree with the terms?” she asked. When I replied no, she thought I was making too much of it. Yet there are so many places where we’re forced to agree to a long list of things to use a particular service. How many of us take the time to really read these things? I skim them, but inevitably agree to whatever is put out there.

However, the reality is, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Back in the day, before electronic agreements were so commonplace, we signed lease agreements, loan papers and the like without taking the time to look at them closely. The first time I took out a car loan, I had no idea that was an option. I read all the fine print, much to the irritation of the loan officer, who pretended to compliment me on my thoroughness.

So some things aren’t really different generation to generation. Reading fine print isn’t listed as something that will die out with boomers, so I guess people know we’ve always been guilty of it and probably always will be. By “we” I mean the population at large, not one generation in particular. We can get taken advantage of so easily.

Image Credits: Header–Signing Document © furyon–stock.adobe.com; Payment Options © jenny on the moon–stock.adobe.com; Car Purchase © Prosymbols–stock.adobe.com