Living with PN, do you find yourself retreating from life?

Thank you Barb! @bjk3, I had the stitches removed Monday and it seems to be healing fairly nice so far. Still have the bruise around the eye but it slowly getting lighter 🙃 No excuses for me for this fall. It was early in the morning and I think I just got a little careless. Usually I walk pretty slow in the house and pay attention to what's around me. I think the cat has me trained so I'm always watching so that I don't step on her.

Computers can be a pain. Most folks don't pay attention to the system updates and they can get behind and then you can start having problems. You need to find a senior computer nerd and have them take a look at it.

Yes, John, I fear you are right. I had no idea that when I clicked on the little box that appeared in the corner (which had the gear icon, telling me it was legit for my MacBook), that it was going to replace my entire OS. I wonder if I read it as "Update available" when it actually said "Upgrade available". Groan! ~ Barb

Good morning, John. I'm glad to hear you're on the mend. I smiled when I read what you said about your cat being a helper to walking safely rather than, as most people say, a hazard. My cat is a helper, too. He's very cautious as I go about, probably because (as you say) he doesn't want to get stepped on; I amuse myself to think my cat is looking up at me as I wobble about, thinking, "Uh-oh, Ray's got balance 'issues.' I'd better not dash between his feet." // Take great care, John! –Ray

Hi, Barb. Dook locks, special keys, garage door openers – oh, my! 🙂 I'm reminded of my childhood in the Bronx. My mom and dad were super-security conscious. Back then (in the Cenozoic?) we didn't have any such sophisticated lock-up devices. My mom and dad had a series of bolt locks on our door. Every night I'd hear the clack, clunk, ka-chink, click as they went through locking the locks, one by one. I was spoiled by moving out here, to a quiet mountain town. At first, it was a surprise to see how neighbors went about: leaving their bicycles and/or x-country skis propped up outside of shops, unlocked, just standing there; and to learn that at home hardly anyone locked their front doors. Even though I now live in a metropolitan area, I still often go off on errands, forgetting to lock my front door. It's a leftover forgetfulness of living in a sleepy mountain town. 🙂 –Ray

Oh, Barb, my heart goes out to you! We've enough "stuff" in our lives without our digital devices adding more "stuff." Yesterday, a friend came by to help update a few of my financial spreadsheets in preparation for tax season. After she left, I went to shut down my MacBook, the Excel sheets my friend had been updating, as well as a few MS Word docs of my own. I discovered "something had changed." Everything was now being saved to something called "OneDrive." I tried to find things, but … Where the h*ll is OneDrive? Moreover, WHAT the h*ll is OneDrive? (I've no doubt everyone under the age of 16 is quite familiar with OneDrive. 🙂 ) That's why I say, Barb, my heart goes out to you! –Ray

@ray666 And likewise, my friend! Actually I had to have a tech from my local computer store come out last week to correct a couple of hardware issues that resulted from that upgrade: my laptop and printer were not communicating, and my external backup reported that it was not able to download encrypted information. Soooo, those are working perfectly again without having to be replaced, but I am slogging through the way the new software works. Used to be able to back out of things I had clicked on but now it's not that straightforward. You don't know the irony of this whole mess: my husband owned two computer stores in two states. He did it all, but it was what he knew: Microsoft. As an engineer who also taught CAD (Computer Aided Drafting), Windows was and still is, the gold standard for engineers.
Thank you for commiserating, Ray. May you and your Mac become buddies once again! Barb

@ray666 I remember those days, even growing up in a suburb of Chicago. I think we even went on vacation not locking the door as we left. And a few years ago I drove across the state to visit a friend who had moved and we went out for a day of shopping and lunch. By this time, locking our houses here had become the only sane thing to do, but in her little town, it had not become that, yet. As we left, I reminded her to lock the door and she looked surprised. I asked if she wasn't afraid someone might come in and steal something and she replied that no, but someone might come in and leave something. Sure enough, when we returned, hours later, there was a box of fresh, garden-grown strawberries on the kitchen counter. How times have changed!

Howdy, Barb. You've got quite the story there! All that involvement and familiarity with computers and you still have those "Grrrr!" moments. 🙂 My Mac and me? We're friends, no danger of us becoming un-friends. We've been together for so many years (how many? I've no idea) that our relationship is one of total understanding. I use a browser blocker so I'll not be pestered by the internet unless I want to be pestered, and then only for 15 or 20 minutes at a shot. My Mac, for me, is little more than an electronic typewriter. My Mac knows that and is perfectly happy to play that role. 🙂 On we go! I hope you're having a wonderful, computer hassle-free afternoon, Barb. Cheers! –Ray

@johnbishop Sorry to hear about your fall, John. I took a tumble back in October while pumping gas at a station. Bummed up my right ankle and leg, and had to wear a boot for 3 weeks, but thankfully nothing broken. Glad to hear you had no serious injuries from the fall. But it's always disconcerting to fall and wind up with bruises. Sounds like you look like you might have been in a bar fight! Hope the eye will soon be completely healed. Take care and keep warm!! Mike

@ray666 We have two small dogs, each less than 15 pounds. Anytime I go to the kitchen, they are right behind me, and the older dog, now 13yo, tends to get underfoot easily. They are well-fed.... too much so.... yet anytime there is activity in the kitchen they are there hoping that something may drop on the floor... or that if they beg longingly enough we might be a soft touch and offer a treat, which often happens. 😉 Take care! Mike