101 Macbook Dalmatians vie for USB ports in viral storm
It feels like we’re stuck in a time warp and in a country that is immune to common sense. In fact:
“We can’t learn from the experience of others and insist on repeating the same mistakes — over and over and over. We are immune to advice: perhaps aliens have infected our DNA.” I commented.
“Aliens?”
“An orange alien in the White House is at ground zero.”
As we are stuck, day after day, doing the same things, the slightest change ..
“By Mount Baker, right?”
“Yep, but on the other side. It was an hour and a half drive. “
“Great idea, beautiful views and..”
“We didn’t have a kayak, we didn’t reserve a campsite and after a short stay we drove home.”
“Well..”
“You need to be ‘into’ camping in this part of the world, Dad.”
“Did the girls sleep during the drive?” I asked, hopefully.
Well, we did find a place to pick blueberries at a friend’s house Auriane loves blueberries.”
Here in Santa Barbara, Tom and Melika rented a nearby beach house for a weekend excursion. Tiger, Arrow and Azelle love the beach. The house was reasonably isolated and it’s quite safe to be outside. We joined them for a day.
Melika found wetsuits for each of the children.
“Wetsuits?” I thought. “Impossible to put on a child; even I had trouble putting on mine in Australia.”
“… and it is easy to wear these wetsuits,” Melika noted, preempting my complaint.
The family enjoyed time on a kayak and a surfboard. The children delighted in building sand castles and jumping over the waves. And they were introduced to the art of do-it-yourself…
“Hootenanny?”
While all of this was happening, my MacBook Pro was slowly collapsing.
It all began when. having noticed a crick in my neck from too many Zoom calls, I installed a large external monitor. As soon as I plugged it in, the battery on my laptop stopped charging and the computer slowed down. When I disconnected the monitor, the battery resumed charging (slowly), but the computer was still very slow. Naturally Nazy was supportive.
“Well that didn’t work, did it?” She observed. “Perhaps you need a new computer — this one is about six years old.”
“I’m working on alternatives, my dear.” I replied. “A new computer is expensive and Apple is going to switch to a new chip soon. I don’t want to get a new computer right now,” I thought.
I figured that the best way to eliminate the neck crick was to get a web cam that could mount on the top of the laptop screen. Then, because I’ve begun doing lots of Zoom calls, I also got a light to improve my virtual ‘look’. But..
“… now I’ve run out of slots to connect all of this,” I thought. Nazy immediately grasped the crux of the matter:
“You bought all of this stuff to save money? And, isn’t your battery still …”
“Dead? Yes, it is dead. I’m trying to find a local repair person.”
Eventually, I got my laptop battery replaced. Performance improved. Now I’ve ordered a USB hub cable so that I can use all the new stuff. And..
“.. I’ll probably need new reading glasses,” I thought. because the monitor is farther away.”
I decided that the best thing to do was go for a walk along the beach with Nazy. The beach is outside and safe — but we still wear our masks. It’s interesting how many locations in the USA were either slow to realize the gravity of the COVID situation, or eager to prematurely declare victory. [Some, of course, were able to make both mistakes. The ‘president’ still hasn’t realized the gravity of the situation: he thinks that covid is simply a PR problem.
As an aside, it appears that major league baseball players are among the people who have not, eh, shall we say, ‘internalized’ the viral circumstances. Somehow I doubt the college football players will be any better. We need a vaccine and a population willing to do simple things to protect others.
“We can’t learn from the experience of others and insist on repeating the same mistakes — over and over and over. We are immune to advice: perhaps aliens have infected our DNA.” I commented.
“Aliens?”
“An orange alien in the White House is at ground zero.”
As we are stuck, day after day, doing the same things, the slightest change ..
“We go to the grocery store today! Wow!” I enthused.
… is welcome. It’s a similar situation in Bellingham, Washington, where…
“Because we were tired of playing in the backyard, Dad. I found a day trip to Baker Lake.”
“By Mount Baker, right?”
“Yep, but on the other side. It was an hour and a half drive. “
“Great idea, beautiful views and..”
“We didn’t have a kayak, we didn’t reserve a campsite and after a short stay we drove home.”
“Well..”
“You need to be ‘into’ camping in this part of the world, Dad.”
“Did the girls sleep during the drive?” I asked, hopefully.
Well, we did find a place to pick blueberries at a friend’s house Auriane loves blueberries.”
Here in Santa Barbara, Tom and Melika rented a nearby beach house for a weekend excursion. Tiger, Arrow and Azelle love the beach. The house was reasonably isolated and it’s quite safe to be outside. We joined them for a day.
Melika found wetsuits for each of the children.
“Wetsuits?” I thought. “Impossible to put on a child; even I had trouble putting on mine in Australia.”
“… and it is easy to wear these wetsuits,” Melika noted, preempting my complaint.
The family enjoyed time on a kayak and a surfboard. The children delighted in building sand castles and jumping over the waves. And they were introduced to the art of do-it-yourself…
The Adams Family Wetsuits
“… S’mores, Dan.” Tiger enthused. “This is the perfect stick for the marshmallow. The stick is curved so it doesn’t catch fire, but you can still ..”
“I get the idea, Tiger.” I replied. “Do you have..”
“Momma brought graham crackers with chocolate on the bottom. After dinner, I’ll show you how to make them.”
“I’ll probably need your help, Tiger,” I replied. “The last time I did this was at a Hootenanny during high school,”
“Hootenanny?”
While all of this was happening, my MacBook Pro was slowly collapsing.
It all began when. having noticed a crick in my neck from too many Zoom calls, I installed a large external monitor. As soon as I plugged it in, the battery on my laptop stopped charging and the computer slowed down. When I disconnected the monitor, the battery resumed charging (slowly), but the computer was still very slow. Naturally Nazy was supportive.
“Well that didn’t work, did it?” She observed. “Perhaps you need a new computer — this one is about six years old.”
“I’m working on alternatives, my dear.” I replied. “A new computer is expensive and Apple is going to switch to a new chip soon. I don’t want to get a new computer right now,” I thought.
I figured that the best way to eliminate the neck crick was to get a web cam that could mount on the top of the laptop screen. Then, because I’ve begun doing lots of Zoom calls, I also got a light to improve my virtual ‘look’. But..
“… now I’ve run out of slots to connect all of this,” I thought. Nazy immediately grasped the crux of the matter:
“You bought all of this stuff to save money? And, isn’t your battery still …”
“Dead? Yes, it is dead. I’m trying to find a local repair person.”
Eventually, I got my laptop battery replaced. Performance improved. Now I’ve ordered a USB hub cable so that I can use all the new stuff. And..
“.. I’ll probably need new reading glasses,” I thought. because the monitor is farther away.”
I decided that the best thing to do was go for a walk along the beach with Nazy. The beach is outside and safe — but we still wear our masks. It’s interesting how many locations in the USA were either slow to realize the gravity of the COVID situation, or eager to prematurely declare victory. [Some, of course, were able to make both mistakes. The ‘president’ still hasn’t realized the gravity of the situation: he thinks that covid is simply a PR problem.
As an aside, it appears that major league baseball players are among the people who have not, eh, shall we say, ‘internalized’ the viral circumstances. Somehow I doubt the college football players will be any better. We need a vaccine and a population willing to do simple things to protect others.
For last week's letter, please click here
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