Singing the praises of distraction-free writing

I have a few devices that are basically portable word processors. I LOVE them. Love. They really help my just sit down and write, sans any kind of distraction.

So for my latest Medium article, I thought I would spend a little time singing their praises.

I actually started this article about 16 days ago, but that's right about when my laptop started to flake out. I spent so much time trying to straighten out all the laptop issues, and then working on migrating my files to the new machine, that I had no time or energy left to finish the article. Finally, this afternoon, as soon as I logged out from work for the day, I decided that the article was getting completed TO-DAY, period. It was actually pretty close to being done, but even then it took me three and a half hours to put the finishing touches on it (because perfectionist).

Anyway, I love me some gadgets.

Enjoy!

Distraction-Free Writing is the Way to Go

Still setting up

My music didn’t make it over to the new machine. I spent last night and today copying it first to Dropbox, and now to a thumb drive.

The old machine takes a long time to do all this. I found out the hard way that if I try to do ANYthing else while the copying is in progress, the computer will freeze and I will have to reboot. 

So I let Dropbox update itself overnight. Then I embarked on the thumb drive copies (currently ongoing at this time).

THEN I can transfer all that good stuff to my new PC. 

Thank God my old PC still works. I’d have lost a lot of things if it went kaput before I could get all these items off the hard drive. 

New Kid on the Block

Setting up the new laptop. 

I had intended to give the old machine one last once-over to make sure everything was on Dropbox, but it repeatedly locked up on me. I think it’s mad. 

So I gave up on the final once-over and moved on to setting the new laptop up. 

I’m going to have my head in Computer Land for the day. Catch you all on the flip side. 

It's heeeere

Good news! My laptop arrived this afternoon, at least a day earlier than I had expected it to. I will take tonight and tomorrow to make sure anything I need to migrate over to the new machine is safely stored in my Dropbox, so I can jump in and Retrieve All The Things and install them on the new machine over the weekend.

Tomorrow is our 21st anniversary. We usually go to Popi's on our anniversary, but of course that isn't an option until the lockdown restrictions are lifted. Therefore, we will get takeout from Popi's instead. The food will be just as good whether we eat it in their building or ours, lol.

Due to computer problems, I spent a couple of days where I was just too mentally exhausted to practice with the braille book.

But then, I got back on board with the braille last night, and I noticed something. Something must have been percolating in my subconscious during those two days off, because there was a noticeable leap forward in my ability to feel the letters. I think our brain must keep processing lessons whether we are actively working on them or not. So if we keep at them, and don't let too much time lapse, it seems as though we not only might not lose ground, we might gain a bit of ground if we play our cards right. Interesting stuff.

I think I can, I think I can

Keeping my ailing laptop running during the workday reminds me of the story about The Little Engine That Could. The engine had to scale a steep hill, and all the way up, he kept repeating to himself, "I think I can, I think I can!" Then, when he crested the hill, he was able to say, "I knew I could, I knew I could" all the way down the other side.

Well, aside from one glitch during my lunch break, when the computer wouldn't wake back up after going to sleep, I actually did manage to keep the laptop going throughout the workday without issue.

That is huge, because the 17" screen REALLY makes a difference. Some of the software that I have to use for work looks like heck on a smaller screen, and it's not just my eyes that are the problem in this case. The different columns of data are all getting smooshed together (that's a technical term 😆), and it's a pain to read.

I am crossing my fingers for the new device to arrive soon enough that I can spend the weekend setting it up.

Last night, after I set Mark's computer up to work from home, I realized that there were 25 faxes that had come in after my workday ended. So I started putting the patients' medical record numbers on them, on my own time, just so I wouldn't have to go insane first thing in the morning doing that cumbersome task. It was two hours well spent, believe me, because when I logged on this AM, the fire hose of faxes was going full blast and I had truckloads of new items coming in. If I hadn't taken the time last night to do what I did, I would have been running around with my hair on fire today. Instead, I got ALL of last night's faxes processed, plus the avalanche that came in this morning, and the normal level of work that arrived during the afternoon. So there was nothing left undone by the time the day ended.

Now, will the fax fire hose reactivate itself after I logged out for the day? It certainly did yesterday. So who knows what my inbox will look like when I log on in the morning, lol. Watch this space.

Oh, and I got some sad news this afternoon. A former organist from my parish passed away of COVID-19 today. He was 76. This blasted, no-good virus! That's two nice folks that I personally know who passed away because of it, plus there is one person from the local Deaf community who passed away about 3 weeks ago.. We really need our researchers to develop meds that target this rotten thing, because I think that will be at least as important as the work they are doing to create a vaccine. It's fortunate that most folks who contract COVID do not have severe symptoms, but unfortunately, the ones who DO develop severe symptoms wind up in a LOT of difficulty. For their sake, as well as for the sakes of everyone who loves these patients, we need to create medications that will beat back the virus so the patients are in less danger of a health catastrophe.

Laptop woes

My laptop is fritzing out again. I think it’s on its last legs for sure this time.

I just ordered a new one. Le sigh. Thank God that’s an option, but boo hiss on surprise expenses. 

If I can’t revive my machine, I’ll have to work on Mark’s laptop until my new one arrives.

It’s harder than it ought to be to find a 17” screen with touchscreen AND (hardest of all) an optical drive. I’m old school that way. HP came through on all counts. 👍🏻

Reading, With a Twist

Everyone who knows me, knows I like reading.

I have decided to give myself a challenge. I downloaded a .txt version of Bulfinch’s Mythology, to read on a used electronic device I picked up at a price I couldn’t refuse. 

So, what’s the challenge?

This is the device.

Yes, that’s braille.

I’m watching my mom’s eyes change for the worse, drastically since in the past month, and thinking that preemptive strikes might be a good idea if these issues prove to be hereditary.

Plus, I need to keep my brain active during this lockdown. That’s a really major need on my part. 

Therefore, I have hit on a method for addressing both of those issues simultaneously. I have decided to read a book on this device, tactilely.

It’s slow going, as I expected. But it’s an intense brain workout, so it’s not tedious at all. Since I already know how to read braille visually, I can cheat and peek at the display if I hit on a letter I’m just not getting. But I am using that as an option of last resort. I keep thinking of one deaf-blind friend who dived in and just practiced nonstop, and learned braille that way after her vision failed. She’s living proof that it can be done. If she could do it, so can I.

I contacted the Hadley school, which offers free braille correspondence courses for both blind and sighted students, as well. Did I mention that I really need a brain workout these days? 

Besides, those of us who volunteer as SSPs for deafblind consumers rarely learn braille. We probably should spend a bit of time learning that, alongside the effort we make to learn to sign. I learned Grade 1 (uncontracted) braille a lot of years ago, like 1989. But there are numerous braille contractions that I don’t know, and I’ve always wanted to study those, too. Now’s the time.

I’m reading the book in uncontracted format. Who knows how long it’ll take? But it’ll be time we’ll spent.

Fresh Start

Holy moley, what a few days it's been!

I believe that I have finally gotten my PC straightened out. I had to reset it twice on Thursday, when it would not let me boot or log in. I would get to the animated circlng dots, either during the bootup process or after entering my PIN, and there it would stay for eternity.

End result: I let the reset process take place (which lasted eons) and worked from my little netbook on Thursday. Finally, on Friday, the computer was at a point where I could work all day on it.

I have since been doing additional cleanup, as well as reinstallation of software. I think I am FINALLY at the point where, once this last little bit of installation is done, I will be recovered from the past four days of agita.

No wonder the freaking Geek Squad is so expensive. Jiminy Cricket, this was a travail!

But the good news is, my computer IS working. I didn't have to take it anywhere to be serviced, and I can continue using it to work from home during social distancing, so hip, hip, hooray!

iDevices

It's a good thing that I got that iPod Touch a few weeks ago. It's my first iDevice ever, and I've immersed myself in learning to work it.

This practice has stood me in good stead for the past two days. Last night, Mark, JFM, John R, and I went to the Verizon store to see about getting John an iPad. The wireless internet connection that the store had set up for its iPads was malfunctioning. Because I know how to select a wireless connection on the iPod touch, I was able to navigate to the settings of the demo iPads to pick another working connection. As it was called "vzw ipad connection", or at least "vzw ipad..." something, I figured it belonged to the Verizon store and it would be OK to connect to it. And sure enough, both iPads connected without difficulty even though the hotspot was password protected, which means that someone, somewhere had already entered the password into the demo devices.

John was pleased enough with the iPad demonstration to buy one, so fast-forward to tonight after the iPad and its accompanying MiFi access point both had the time to charge fully. They asked me to set them up, which was when I discovered to my great displeasure that you HAVE to connect the iPad to a computer running iTunes in order to activate it. What. The. BLEEP. What if a person who buys an iPad doesn't OWN a freaking computer? Fortunately, we did have a computer available in order to do this, though I had to actually download and install iTunes on the computer in order to activate the iPad.

I don't begrudge Apple their insistence that their iDevices need iTunes to work, when they are connected to a computer. But I very much begrudge them their insistence that the iPad couldn't be activated unless it was hooked up to a computer running iTunes. The iPad should have been able to be activated all by itself, as a standalone device. PERIOD.

Yes, BTW, I know that the iPad 2 was just announced a couple days ago, and will become available on March 11. But John was willing to forego the newer model because he only plans to use his device for email, surfing the internet, and reading ebooks. Verizon said they'd make up the price differential, if the old model's price gets dropped by Apple when the new devices hit the market, so at least he'll be paying the fair market value for the original model when all is said and done.

I do have to say, iPads are really nice devices. I've got equipment that would fill the role of the iPad, at the moment, so I'm not as concerned about getting one (or any tablet) just now. But it was nice to get some hands-on experience on one so I can know what I want to do farther down the road, when my current gear is no longer able to do what I need it to do.