Saturday, November 22, 2014

Technologically challenged--c'est moi!

I finally decided for a variety of reasons to purchase a Paperwhite e-reader.  My husband is puzzled by this since I have masses of physical books, hard and soft-cover, waiting to be read.  Be that as it may, I did the deed and went ebook.  So, you need wi-fi to download the books from wherever you select, whether your local library or Amazon.  I contacted my internet provider and signed up for a wi-fi kit and service.  They sent the necessary equipment for me to do the deed myself.  Except I couldn't figure it out.  So I called my internet provider and, of course, reached Indiiiiia.  I know they speak English English, but they don't speak Southern English, and especially not slowly enough.  I confess that I finally hung up on the first man I contacted by telephone.  So I decided to go the "live chat" way.  It wasn't much better.  I think he was a native American speaker, but he didn't have any better ability to explain what I was to do to connect the wi-fi.  And he was condescending and ultimately tried to sell me something I didn't want.  The real crime was that he kept pressing the issue after I told him I wasn't committing to anything that included a monthly payment, no matter how wonderful.  Sooooo, I resorted to having my local computer doctor send a young man to my house to connect my wi-fi.  Other than a brief moment when he asked for the component that had fit a certain compartment in the kit the internet provider had sent (actually picking it up and said, what did you do with what fitted here?), we got along marvelously.  I actually passed the test searching for the lost item when I pointed to where it was plugged in, with the other end of its cord just hanging there.  So he finished the job in about 30 minutes.

Then I went to the website of my local library and logged in, assuring them that I had an Amazon account and a library card.  Next I selected a book in ebook form.  It said it was available and I clicked on it.  Nothing seemed to happen.  I futched around hitting this key and that key for about 5 minutes.  Then went away to ponder.  I came back about 20 minutes later, thought about it, and then opened my Paperwhite and clicked on contents and there it was, just waiting for me to read it.  Sigh!  I'm in the 21st century, at least temporarily and obviously only by accident!!

3 comments:

  1. That's okay, Mary Agnes--I still like to turn paper pages.

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  2. I feel your pain. The IT department at work says they have had to drag me kicking and screaming into the 19th century.

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  3. It will ALL be worth it in the end ;)

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