Computer Problems

As you all know, I am a middle-aged lady who lives on her own. My computers are very important to me because they enable me to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away from me. And if I didn't have ready access to a computer I wouldn't be able to write posts on this blog so frequently. These days most OU courses require you to have access to a computer and to the Internet and as I am a bit of an OU junkie I would be lost without my computers.

I have a desktop PC with a large monitor which I use for mainly for viewing multiple documents at the same time when I am trying to write essays for my TMAs. This makes it so much easier to include references in my work and to type up the bibliography and reference list that the essays require as I actually include them in the essay. I also have my laser printer connected to this computer; it just makes sense to do that.

However, I also like the freedom that having a laptop allows me. I can sit anywhere in the house with my laptop, even in bed if I want to, and I can access the Internet and get my emails at any time of the day or night. This is particularly helpful when I am having one of those nights when I just can't sleep because it enables me to play games like spider solitaire until my eyes get heavy again and I go back to sleep again. Or when I am feeling pretty low I can watch a DVD wherever I want.

I wrote about my new toy just over a week ago. I loved my new laptop which I had bought to cheer me up and as a Christmas present to myself after having spent all that time in hospital. I set it up on the Saturday afternoon. I watched a DVD on it Saturday evening. I used it to look at parts of the material for my OU course on Sunday while other parts I read from hard copy. On Monday evening when I was having problem sleeping I put on a DVD and laid back in bed to watch it. On Tuesday evening when I sat down to check my emails and the blog to see if there were any comments for moderation the laptop wouldn't work.

I checked it and the connection to the mains; everything seemed to be okay. Just to be sure I tried plugging it in to another socket. Still nothing. I thought that the fuse must have blown so I made a mental note to get some fuses when I was shopping the next day. My memory is not always reliable when it comes to remembering things that I have to buy, so it wasn't until Friday that I actually remembered to buy the fuses and then to change the fuse in the plug.

My new computer still didn't work.

This morning I headed off to the store where I bought it. I spoke to the nice technician and explained to him what had happened. When he plugged it in he couldn't get it to work either. So he got out a gadget and tested the power cables and charger, and hey presto, there was the problem. That heavy little black box which converts the current just wasn't working so I wasn't going to get anywhere with it.

Nice technician then checked the store computer, found the details of my purchase, checked that they had another computer in stock and went and fetched it. So I am now able to sit here wrapped up against the cold, ignoring the rain pouring down outside, and write a post for the blog on my new, new laptop.

And the nice thing about the experience was that at no point did the technician even hint that I didn't know what I was talking about and that it was because I was a woman that I couldn't get it to work.