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19 February 2018

The Call Of The Luddites Beckons, Or Technology Sucks

Sometimes, technology sucks. A couple of nights ago, a loud beeping noise interrupted my sleep. Here’s what ran through my head:

“Am I about to die from carbon monoxide poisoning?”

“Has the Dalek invasion started?”

“Is a garbage truck backing up into my boat?”

Turns out it was none of these things. My computer was just suffering a catastrophic failure. Which, I guess is *marginally* better than an invasion by the Daleks.

I think the fan is broken, causing it to overheat. I’ve ordered a new one, but it won’t be here until later this week. Hopefully, that solves the problem.

Then my cell phone became infected with some sort of bug. I thought I had that sorted, but it happened again. I’ve tried something else. Fingers crossed it works, otherwise I’ll have to reset the thing back to factory settings.

All of this had made me realize two things:

1 - I’m way too dependent on my computer. 

I was on fire working on >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< (the second book in my Mollie McGhie sailing mystery series), but without a computer, I’ve come to a standstill.

2 - The Luddites may be onto something. 

Technology isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe I should just write the old-fashioned way, using pen and paper?

By the way, I’m typing this on an old iPad my mom gave me. It’s a real pain, so if I’m slow to respond to comments or visit your blog, that’s why.

Have you ever had technology problems? Ever been tempted to become a Luddite?




18 comments:

  1. Ugh! Hang in there!

    I try to do a lot of story work on paper first before moving onto using the computer. I also print things out, too, so I have some tangible evidence I actually accomplished something. Of course, my way leaves me buried in stacks of paper.... Sigh.

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    1. I'm so glad I got a printer. It made such a difference in the editing phase to be able to have printouts. But it was a lot of paper :-)

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  2. A fan going bad can destroy a computer.

    I prefer to draft on paper anyway. It's other things I so desperately need the computer for. (Which is why I have three of them in my office.)

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    1. Wow - three computers! But given your business, I can see why you need them all. It's great to have back-ups too.

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  3. I love it when things work, but hate it when they don't. There are so many out there that work very hard to infect your laptop and phones. They need to get a life.

    Have a fabulous day. ♥

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  4. I'll take a Dalek invasion any day over a computer melt-down. At least with the Dalek's I have a fighting chance.

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    1. So true! I think it would have been easier to fend of the Daleks then deal with my computer.

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  5. I guess it reminds us why we need back ups! Hope you get everything sorted soon.

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    1. I finally got it sorted yesterday. So thankful to have it back up and running.

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  6. Computer meltdowns are the stuff of nightmares. If my hubby weren't so computer-savvy, I'd have a meltdowm myself when one happened.

    I always do my initial writing in a spiral-bound notebook before typing it on the computer. For some reason, editing and rewriting on the computer are no problem, but I need the tactile experience of pen and paper to get the initial juices going.

    I'm not a luddite, but I still do a LOT of things the old-fashioned way.

    Good luck getting that computer up and running again.

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    1. Old-fashioned ways have a lot to be said for them.

      I can't write long hand anymore. My hand cramps up quickly.

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  7. LOL about the Dalek invasion. I'll take the garbage truck any day. Good luck with the computer. I hate/love mine. If I tried to write using pen & paper, I couldn't read what I'd written. My brain moves faster than a pen.

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  8. My hard drive is about to give up the ghost, I know it. Twice I've had to revert to older versions of Windows because of an inaccessible boot device. Time is running out for this laptop and it is less than three years old.

    Sometimes, I wish I could just discard all this tech, but man I've terrible handwriting. Also, I wouldn't get to commiserate with fine people like you.

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    Replies
    1. It seems like laptops go bad after just a couple of years nowadays. They really should last a lot longer. So frustrating.

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    2. I have a Dell Latitude d630, it was manufactured somewhere around 2007-ish. Installed Linux on it when I bought it as a refurb around 6 years ago or so, maxed the memory and keep waiting for the hard drive to die. If your old laptop seems to be "giving up the ghost", and you can forsake windows, give Debian (my fave), Ubuntu or maybe Tails a try with a USB stick (8 gb ones are cheap) with persistent memory to see what works for you. My favorite desktop environment is XFCE, I use LibreOffice for writing (that will let you save something as a Word XML doc as well as open Word docs), Firefox, etc. Everything is online.

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    3. Thanks for the tips! I use Open Office instead of MS Office. Works great on converting files to share with people who use MS Office. I also use Firefox as well.

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