It’s been a tough technology week – both high and low tech. The high tech frustrations are expected; they’ve become a part of life. That’s what technology does – it sucks you in and makes you dependent; then it fails. We’re probably not as evolved as we think. Somewhere, God is chuckling.
I noticed about three weeks ago that the calendar in my Android phone wasn’t syncing with the Google calendar on my computer by which I pretty much live and die regarding scheduling projects and deadlines. A few Google searches for solutions whenever I had time didn’t deliver many results.
Then last Monday, I noticed my emails weren’t coming through. Okay, that’s overstated. The emails to my business inbox weren’t getting through. That is to say, the most important ones. Everything else was working fine. A call to the company that hosts my site led to this solution: delete and reinstall the account on the phone. Done. Twice. No effect. A trip to the cell phone store led to a complete wipe and factory reset. No effect. That led to contacting the insurance company for a replacement.
The new phone arrived and is activate. So now the email is working, but the calendar is still an issue. I can’t do two things: I can’t seem to load a second Google account on my phone (the one that carries the Google calendar on my computer), and I can’t seem to find anyone with an answer to what seems to me to be a simple question.
When it comes to tech crap, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people who know it all but really don’t have any straightforward answers when needed.
On the low tech side, my fan died. My office is in a refinished attic, so a fan in August is right up there with critical. Turned out it was 19 years old. I got my money’s worth. I bought a replacement. The old fan blew from across the room with such force that I needed a desk full of paperweights. (Items you never really thought were needed.) When set to high, the new fan barely flutters a page… and it’s parked right next to me on my desktop. Chalk up another one for “they just don’t make things like they used to.”
I’m happy to report that the phone calendar is half-way there, but I still have to figure out how to get back all my apps, and with Labor Day around the corner, cooler temps should surely come with it. I suggest I could turn the fan into a paperweight, but now I really don’t need one.
