My Kids Think They Are So Smart!!!

From what I understand, it seems that comments on this blog are difficult to make. Some have come through, some have not.   Apparently some disappear before being published.  My IT support, daughter Kate, is working on this. She has a better chance of figuring this out than I do.  She was brought up with today's technology and this world unfolded for her following a natural learning curve.  However, there are many of us who had to make a dive into information technology and come up swimming.  For me, computers made a huge leap at the same time that I was knee deep in sticky kids.  I was quite "behind the times", yet I made great strides to cover this up.  I asked my kids to show me, countless times, how to attach a resume to  an email. This same resume of course reported that I was "computer literate".

I had the good fortune to work among the young up and comings at a clinical research facility, early in this millennium  These "kids" viewed me as they viewed their mothers, who were also questionably "computer literate".  This pretty much meant we were capable of sending an email to more than 1 recipient.  Now these "20 somethings" took me under their developing wings. They didn't make their own lunches, but they were pretty sharp when it came to computers.  Now I know "there are no stupid questions" but you have to admit, some that are "way more stupider" than others. The beauty was that these young ones had no reference point from which to judge.  So I bared my soul and asked questions without shame.  After all, I was part of their "mothers" generation, so what could I be expected to know beyond knowing how to make amazing tuna sandwiches.  I did this well.  I did not do file management well.

Laptop Thingie

The most memorable day I had was the day I signed out a a laptop, but there was no mouse available.  I was completely paralyzed.  I looked everywhere for a mouse.  I didn't even know that there was an alternative.  I didn't even know enough to ask.  This young bright thing  read my mind and without any audible snickering, introduced me to the "Laptop Thingie" I am now using.   I learned so much more when I stopped pretending to know anything.  I learned a lot more than I ever expected.  I learned enough to get by.  I had some confidence after this job and with any luck, the ones who taught me have long forgotten "that older lady who made the tuna sandwiches".

 I have so much I could still learn, but I might not. I know the basics.   I have made mistakes. I have learned like the rest of you, that reply and reply all should not be so close together. I mean, really, who didn't see that one coming.  I grasp the difference between "cc" and "bcc".  This is not something which our children appreciate.  When I explained the origin of the acronym "cc" and "bcc" my children were amazed.  Ok they were not amazed.  But they did listen with some degree of interest as I explained where the term carbon copy originated. I didn't even get into over head projectors, transparencies and the permanent vs non permanent marker debacle.  A mother has to have some dignity.

Speaking of dignity, my daughter Bridget felt  I should take a course advertised on a billboard "Computers for Absolute Beginners". She is so smug and naive.  She could not even appreciate the fact that this course had to be advertised on a billboard rather than on line. There was no

No Seriously, I know my home row.

 www.absolutebeginnercomputercourse.com. Her suggestion just showed that she had no appreciation for what "absolute beginner" meant.  I knew google.  I knew hotmail.  I took grade 10 typing. I knew that had it been online registration for  the "absolute beginner" course, I could have figured out how to sign up.  This on line form of registration weeds out those posing as beginners.

Well, I am a bit off track. The point of this post is to determine in some way, in lieu of comments, whether there is anyone beyond my mother who reads this blog.  In fact I am not really sure she even reads it.  I am finding that those nearest and dearest to my heart probably have had enough of my input over the years and can finally choose to tune me out.  I understand this.  Even I get tired of myself sometimes.

If you are reading this, please be impressed by the strides I have made in computer literacy.  This blog alone is a triumph paralleled only with giving birth. Use me as a bar against which to measure your own tech savvy-ness.  Kate and I will figure out how to record comments, even if it is just to know you are out there.  You can always "like" me on Facebook.  I just figured this out.   It's so cute.

 If you know how to rectify this comment glitch, please send me a comment.