New Human Interface Device

"My computer froze". Words to make any 21st Century human tremble. 

In the middle of a bookkeeping session, I found that I could move the cursor but not activate any commands. I really didn't want to lose the work I'd already done, bringing my business accounts almost to the stage of knowing how much money might be left after all of the deposits and pre-allocated expenses (debits) were accounted for. I've been struggling to keep up this last week, as The Artistic One is off galivanting around France and I'm doing his job as well as mine. I snapped a photo of what was on the screen before shutting down and restarting the computer. I wiggled the electric connections to make sure all were properly attached and then I tried rebooting one more time. No dice.

I manually did the math, taking the bottom number on my photographed register and the debits left to enter from the bank balance statement I'd printed out earlier. At least it was a number without a negative sign in front of it. I mentally pre-allocated it all to pay the phone bill, forklift maintenance company and a couple of our French suppliers. All important cogs in the wheels of a business. Then I called my Computer Fix-it Guru who promised to come in the next morning.

John is OCD and ADD, much appreciated qualities in this Tech-World we live in. He pretty quickly discovered that my Mouse had squeaked its last and we borrowed the mouse from TAO's computer to prove the point and then he was off!

John needs to know and wishes to share the intricacies of the deep down functioning of hardware, software, defragmentation, anti-virus, memory, storage and much more. He bounces around like Tigger at a picnic, sampling, exploring, testing and opining. There are no short answers or explanations. John gives his all and enjoys every minute of it.

I survived two hours, my brain first sizzling, then wilting a little more with each tangent, on which we embarked. We finally reached a moment when he had finished one project and was considering the pros and cons of starting another. I was able to shut him down, write him a check and get his enthusiastic and energetic persona out the door, reclaiming my office formyself. Thank you but Phew!

I went to the big box office supply store to invest in a new mouse. It took a while to notice that the whole display of umpteen choices of different sizes, shapes, (ergonomic or otherwise) and colors was presenting the wireless variety.

My work computer is a PC. It is stationary. I have no need of a wireless mouse. I won't be taking it out for walks or scenic car drives. Once it enters my space, I want it tethered to the machine and never to hear it whine about failing batteries. I am willing to lift it up occasionally to dust underneath. That will be the extent of its travels.

The bottom shelf had some old school meeses. There were a couple of colors to choose from; black, grey, off-white or red. A far cry from the rainbow, metallic and psychedelic selections above. I went with grey. Black shows the white stone dust too quickly and off-white always just looks grubby.

I have never purchased or installed a mouse before. They turn out to be under ten dollars and very easy to plug in. I cleverly followed the cable from the old mouse until I found where to anchor the new one. The switch took place without incident and my computer welcomed it with a "ping" and announced " New Human-Interface Device Discovered".