Me vs. Technology, Round 478
Something told me, some notion in the back of my mind even as I was typing the words “photo a day,” that in fact taking and uploading a new photo everyday was a little ambitious. I certainly have a wealth of already-taken photos stretching back five years, but that’s not entirely what I had in mind. I guess my days aren’t always that visual and lately I have been consumed by work (which is good, kind of, since my first several weeks were a bit on the slow side getting started).
I took the camera out on a walk with my dog the other morning, intending to take pictures of vibrant flowers and still uncut grass, wet evil pollen clinging to the edges of the sidewalk and caking around the bases of trees, and of course, my sweet pup in all her sweet morning sun glory. But, every time I pushed the shoot button down, the camera malfunctioned. I’m talking complete and total destruction. The screen would either display a concerning array of white and black lines or shut off entirely.
Nice. And typical. This is the story of my life with technology, even the most banal of technology like a freaking digi cam or the television. More often than not, my frustrations stem from some change my husband has made to said technology with the intensions of making it better (and to be fair, in the end, it usually is better). In my house, you can’t just turn on the stereo and pop in a CD or push play on the iTunes. You have to push various buttons located on different machines on different floors of the house. Similar story when you want to watch television. First push this button, then the ON button, unless you want to watch a recorded program, in which case you push the other button first.
It reminds of the commands we used to have for doing tricks and unlocking secret floors when playing Nintendo. Back, back, front, right, right, A, B, A, B, B, right, left. And viola, you’ve skipped ahead nine levels and rescued the princess.
But I never know the secret combination. Or my husband has told me and I forgot, or it changed when he tweaked it more, or surely it was working a second ago so why isn’t it working for you?
It’s the story of my life. Most couples fight about money, right? Well, we fight about technology. It always has to turn into something, usually because I feel so frustrated and belittled when I can’t get some simple gadget to work. I think it also has to do with the fact that in many arenas, I think my husband is smarter than me. This is a guy that builds computer applications in his free time. He sees a problem and finds a solution. He writes codes to make cameras, and televisions and stereo systems perform beyond their originally intended functions, and it all just makes me want to scream.
So my point is I don’t have an original photo from the other morning. Or this morning for that matter. But don’t give up me yet, dear reader(s). I assure you, photos will be posted with more frequency. Just as soon as I figure out how to work the camera.
Ah yes, I remember that nintendo combination. It would live you something like 50 lives in the game Contra. Didn’t need a secret combination for Super Mario, though. By the time the second version came out ,I was so good at the first that I was playing with my toes. True story!