It’s Me, The Ignoramus

So 10 months ago, I had my roof re-shingled and in doing so, they had to remove my DIRECTV dish. According to my roofers, DIRECTV put it in the wrong spot. Odd how the dish has worked nicely for the last 20 years in the wrong spot.

Anyway, apparently it became damaged when they removed it, so I contacted DIRECTV for a new one. After 20 years on their protection plan, I rarely needed them. I can think of many other things I’d rather have spent that $2400 on. But now that I’m off the plan, what do you bet next month the whole system crashes? Oh well…

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Getting Sidetracked

I can honestly say I’m not excellent at doing any particular thing. I’m a decent baker, though as the saying goes, it’s nothing to write home about. I’m okay at trapping feral cats but for the last 6 months, I’ve yet to rescue the last remaining cat from a colony of 37+ we’ve moved to safety. So I can’t claim bragging rights in that category either. I write, but sadly, I’m no Anne Lamott, one of my favorite writers.

On the other hand, the list of what I definitely can’t do is painfully long. Ask me anything in the technology realm and you’ll be staring at my blank expression. For starters, computers confound me; same with Wi-Fi cameras or understanding what a modem and router actually do. My poor co-worker Leanne is all too aware of this since she’s tried explaining these things to me ad nauseam and she, too, gets the blank stare. I plead ignorance.

My tolerant co-worker
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What Do I know?

Okay, so here’s the thing.

I don’t consider myself to be an idiot (AKA a nincompoop, ignoramus, halfwit) even though at times I do idiotic things. Now don’t get me wrong; I could easily fill this blog with some questionable choices I’ve made and maybe I will when I’m drawing a blank one day, hours before my Sunday posting is due. But as you know, my brain goes on strike with anything involving technology. Even at the mention of, say, a router, and my eyes lose focus. Happens every time.confused 2

So you may understand when I tell you I was recently the recipient of an attempted scam, while innocently checking my computer emails. Yes, I, who always wonder how people can fall for emails saying they have 10 million dollars waiting for them in a bank in Nigeria, got hoodwinked.

I hear the elderly fall for this type of scam, called phishing, fairly often. So I guess I’m old. But to my credit, my brain came out of its fog and screamed at me, What the hell are you doing, Janet?! Have you lost your mind? And I’m sure this is exactly what my friend Hilary will say after reading this. She’s a tech nerd, after all.stealing pesonal data

Continue reading

What Do I know?

Okay, so here’s the thing.

I don’t consider myself to be an idiot (AKA a nincompoop, ignoramus, halfwit) even though at times I do idiotic things. I could easily fill this blog with some questionable choices I’ve made and maybe I will when I’m drawing a blank one day, hours before my Sunday posting is due. But as you know, my brain goes on strike with anything involving technology. Even at the mention of, say, a router, and my eyes lose focus. Happens every time.confused 2

So you may understand when I tell you I was recently the recipient of an attempted scam, while innocently checking my computer emails. Yes, I, who always wonder how people can fall for emails saying they have 10 million dollars waiting for them in a bank in Nigeria, got hoodwinked.

I hear the elderly fall for this type of scam, called phishing, fairly often. So I guess I’m old. But to my credit, my brain came out of its fog and screamed at me, What the hell are you doing, Janet?! Have you lost your mind? And I’m sure this is exactly what my friend Hilary will say after reading this. She’s a tech nerd, after all.stealing pesonal data

Continue reading

Technology: Or How To Feel Like an Idiot

I’m what you’d call technologically challenged. If my computer, cell phone or TV goes on the blink, I stare at it with tilted head, open mouth and squinted eyes. I do this out of utter exasperation because in that moment, I have absolutely no clue what to do. None whatsoever. Continue reading