Technical Difficulties

So what have we been doing lately to keep busy? Well, I signed up for an online Italian course, and planned 2 covid birthday “parties.” And my husband Peter got a new IPAD. All 3 of these activities led us back into the scary, dangerous world of technology.

First Peter opened the box of his new IPAD. That was the easy part. Then the fun began. The questions were never-ending and most of them were asking for passwords: internet password, email password, Apple password. Who knew we had so many different passwords? And how could we remember them? A few phone calls to our “techie” son, Daniel, and things started to move forward. Peter had great fun answering the security questions: “Where did your parents meet?” Well, he wasn’t there at the time, so how was he supposed to know? Eventually, he moved on to the next step, which was much harder…

Meanwhile I was working on a technical problem of my own. The Italian course textbook came with a DVD. So where to play it? A search of my laptop revealed the sad truth – no slot for a DVD. I finally found a DVD player under the TV but it was not hooked up. It was a leftover task from our move to the city 2 years ago. I looked at the DVD player – where, and how, to plug it in? And, of the 7 different cords available, which one to use?

Then a third problem surfaced. We were supposed to meet my son James at a takeout restaurant for his birthday lunch. But we needed to order the food ahead of time. Meanwhile Peter was busy using our landline and the internet to set up his new IPAD. So how was I to order the food? I got out my cell phone and called the restaurant. The voice message was clear: ” Please register online to set up an account and place your order.”

Frustration was beginning to set in. How could 2 university-educated adults be so thwarted in this world of technology?

Finally someone in the restaurant answered the phone and I was able to order the birthday lunches. Then I dragged Peter away from his IPAD set-up and we drove to the restaurant. We parked in the parking lot beside James and his wife Glenda. We called the restaurant again, told them our parking spot number, and the food was delivered pretty fast. As we ate James’ birthday lunch in our separate cars, we rolled down one window each and talked at a distance We saw his new hairstyle and caught up on news.

James seemed to be enjoying his birthday. He didn’t realize he had been set up – until I pulled the DVD player out of the back seat, along with the 7 cords, and asked him for ID. He figured them out and sat back, smiling to himself. Then Peter got out his new IPAD. This time James looked less excited. This was some birthday! I’m pretty sure I heard him sigh out loud, but he helped Peter figure out a possible next step for that too. Then he and Glenda drove off, rather in a hurry I thought.

By this point Peter and I were feeling good about possible fixes to our technology problems, and our birthday party, covid style. In fact, the birthday went so well that we did it again, on another day, in another restaurant parking lot, with my daughter Jennifer. Only this time we didn’t take her any technical difficulties. They were all fixed, at least for the time being…

Sue