 Have you ever had to reboot your refrigerator to get it to cool your
food? Does your dryer take forever to get to the permanent press
cycle after you've told it to go there? How long would you keep your
toaster if it simply beeped at you after you've directed it to crisp
your bagel?If my car randomly decided to shut itself off in the
middle of the interstate, I would have replaced it. Unfortunately, I
just bought this computer a year ago!
My husband is unreasonable when I complain to him about my
computer. "I don't suppose it occurred to you to reboot it?" he
always asks. Has it occurred to him that I don't need to reboot
anything else I own? He doesn't seem to understand that I don't wish
to close everything I'm working on to give my computer an energy
boost. It takes a half-hour to close everything, shut down normally,
if possible, and then reboot it. Then you have to get all the
programs back up again to start working. If I had that kind of time
to waste every day, I'd use my treadmill more often. Maybe.
If an office worker was caught organizing her drawers for a
half-hour every day, she'd be transferred to shipping and receiving.
If a construction worker sat on an I-beam thinking about working
for a half-hour every day, he would not have a job for very long. So
why is it OK that my computer needs to be rebooted every day?
My husband says I should check my settings. Who would provide a
setting for "Go into infinite loop once a day and shut down for
absolutely no reason at random increments?" Not only that, but who
in their right minds would use this setting as the default?
[to top of second column] |
 Now people, I have patience. I have demonstrated that patience
through years of guiding children through thumb-sucking, toilet
training, name-calling, whining and explaining once again why video
games are limited. I have persevered through hundreds of flash cards
and the infamously tedious task of making bunny ears to tie their
little shoes. All five of my children lived through this because of
my patience.
However, this computer may just make history by being the first
object I've ever thrown off a tall building without looking to see
where it landed.
In the meantime, at least all my other appliances can be counted
on to work all the time, every day, for years at a time.
Otherwise, I would go stark, raving mad. I might start to
reconsider all my life choices from the time I was able to consider,
and my life might be that of a hermit: a very untechnological
hermit.
Is it time for a Mac?
[By LAURA SNYDER]
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist,
author and speaker. You can reach her at
lsnyder@lauraonlife.com
or visit www.lauraonlife.com
for more info.
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