April 25, 2002

• As a footnote to the previous log entry, will all of you who have grandparents AND kids please, please, please just mail them a HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED letter with photographs of their very own and quit forcing them into the gaping corporate jaws of Microsoft/AOL/Prodigy just to get foto's of the little ones? Hell, my company can build the most reliable computer in the world, but once WinVirus 98, Trojan 2000, or Nimda XP gets loaded on it it's a technical battle of 'Starship Trooper' proportions.. and just plain EVIL! So please, I'm begging you...get up off your dufus, make extra prints, and mail them.

  
  

   I might be able to get a computer problem fixed for grandpa, but only because he's sharp as a tack and has the patience of a saint:

  
  

  
  
  1. His hearing might not be so good now, and with today's cordless digital phones, his signal just cuts out altogether and I don't even get static on my end.
     
  2. He can't type worth a flip anymore assuming he could in the first place; years of working on cars, construction, taking dangerous saltwater fish off of YOUR fishhook, you know, REAL work, means his hands are more suited for keeping the boogie man at bay and making sure the swing set is fixed when the grandkids come over, not tiptity-typing on a damn keyboard no matter HOW 'ergonomic' it is. If he's a real veteran, he already hates cell phones, voice mail, and long distance charges...and I don't blame him.
     
  3. How in the flying rat crunchies is Mimi suppose to share JPEG's with her friends over coffee, hmmm. And don't give me any guano about them printing them out either; they won't look right, the colors will be off, and you can't fit them in an album. Give grandma a break will ya!
     
  4. Grand-rents do NOT understand what all the computer lingo is, particularly a EULA (you know, the infamous End User License Agreement?), and that could get them in a heap of trouble. And don't snicker, if publishing companies are riding after old ladies like the Nazgul when they share needlepoint files, imagine what a corporation with real money and influence like Microsoft would do. Not pretty is it? Didn't think so.
     
  5. Think of how many sharks are in the online shallows of the Internet just waiting for someone to send an email with personal information in it, put in a CC number to buy craft supplies from an online store...you get the picture. Now think of what could happen if the victim was on a fixed income. Kinda makes ya shudder don't it? No? Well it should.

  
  

  There are hundreds of other reasons, my point is, let THEM make the decision. Diving into computer userhood is not a dip in the kiddie pool if you have to learn EVERYTHING from the ground up. Once they are up for the challenge, they'll be hell on wheels, but don't make them feel like they HAVE to get online just to blessed keep in touch. You ain't that damn busy, trust me. Again, this is not a rant to make anyone feel bad, I'm just beggin' ya to look at it from the other side and ask yourself how you'd feel if your kids made you learn Morse code or Semaphore flagging to talk to YOUR grandkids, hmmm?

  • 2:55 am
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