Wrestling with a new beast.

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I did get the shower in.  I did get ready.  I then tried to call my friend, but his phone was still off.  I went on into town and picked up a partial of my list at the first store.  Tobacco, paper plates, garbage bags, and some of the other bits the store held.  Back in the vehicle, I called my friend again.  Yellow?  Blue!  No, but close enough.  Sure he would be glad to have me visit and run around a bit.  He just wanted time to have a smoke.  I told him I would pick up my coffee.  The line was long, the help wasn't fast, so I was a bit later.  Still, he was glad I showed.  One of his other friends had tried to help, to no good ends.  Could I come in, for a bit, and see if I could... do something... anything?

Not a problem, that is part of what I meant to do anyway.  Windows 8, or 8.1, or 8.x?  This was my first jab at this new piece of junk MS was trying to shove down our throats.  I have seen it, but never messed with it.  Nor did I read anything about it.  Junk is junk.  I was a bit nervous about looking too much like a boob.  Not that... well... a boob in the right perspective is a beautiful thing...  But you know what I mean.  I lit up the machine, gave him some advice about charging, and pulling the plug until the laptop says it's hungry.  Then to work.

It was a bit disconcerting, as I knew it would be.  I knew where nothing was, how well it was set up, or such.  A good ten minutes figuring a few things out and then my friend said, what he really wanted, was to set up the printer.  The disc was in the machine, if I could find the access to that.  Okay, that wasn't how I had planned things.  I had hoped to learn well enough to find the links Desert Cat proffered regarding Win 8 fixes.  Still, I would try.  Within moments I found how to access the dvd, and get the driver setup going.  I couldn't remember if this was wi-fi enabled, so asked for the manual, and... nope.  I asked if a cord had been packed with the machine.  Only this... just an rj-11, or  such... the phone cable, for faxes.  Nothing else?  Nope.  Still, I did look through the box, just in case.  The manual was useless and I wasn't into reading fine print to come up with nothing anyway.  So I looked the printer over.  Ah... a place for the cord, but no cord.  Drivers installed, the system was just waiting for a way to talk to the printer.  Off to Best Buy.

Cords were easily found.  The system seemed to indicate that the cord was purely usb.  I didn't trust the system.  So, I opened a package and checked on the same printer as his that was in the store.  Nope, not what the system indicated.  My next try, what I would have guessed, was the right thing.  As I was opening THAT package, help arrived, quickly and nearly breathlessly.  Nothing like a huffing doll of a redhead to... ignore.  Hey, it's how the game is played.  Still, I did listen to her, a bit, even gave her a noncommitted head-to-toe and back visual review, as I finished unpacking and checking the second cord.  Now I know how to get help quickly.  The last four times I have been in the place I couldn't get help for asking for it.  Simple, start opening packages.  Wee!  We paid for that and headed out.  Lunch, my friend asked.  Lunch indeed. We both... had our usual.  I was able to eat it all this time.  Plus my usual five glasses of tea.  Nothing tastes better, or worse.  It's just that I had room in my stomach, and used it.  It's been a while since I have eaten, or been able to eat, strongly.

Back to his place.  I fitted the cord, then finished setting up the printer.  It said everything was good, so I went ahead and registered it.  Oh, the printer we purchased, just a month ago, for $69 was up to $99.  Just in time.  I could not find a picture to print.  And when I tried to print from a search engine, I was only given the option to save the photo, and something else just as useless.  I did save a photo, but couldn't find where it had been saved.  I looked in the titled photo area... nothing.  Ah well, perhaps his sister, or his other friend, can help him check the printer.  Or I will, next time I visit.

I then set about to hook him up with YouTube.  I knew it would be very foreign, but knew how to draw him too it.  What, I asked, is a song or movie you would like to see, from way back.  Some war movie, about the flying fortresses, or some such.  Boom.  While YouTube suggested the full movie was in there, I could not find it.  But... I wasn't going to stay to watch it.  A song, I suggested.  *blank*  How about a dame you used to like?  He asked if I had heard of Brenda Lee.  Of course.  I may have used her here, sometime long ago, or at least considered it.  Not sure.  He gave me a specific song to seek.  I found it quickly, then played it.  The speakers on the laptop aren't so good.  I suggested we look for proper headsets when I visit next.   He had some, earbud types.  We tried those.  While those are much better as to sound quality, they were still rather weak.  Still, better is better.  I think he enjoyed.

Then I tested his rock bona fides, and searched for and played Tales of Great Ulysses by Cream.  He... may or may not have heard that song, or group.  I just couldn't tell.  Well, okay...  White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane.  Bingo.  Watching Grace Slick, in her tender years, brought back... well... I think my friend actually went back in time.  I think I touched a nerve, but a good one.  He became a much younger man, right before my eyes.  Booyeah.  But... that was exactly what I was looking to develop.  It's that... thing... that magic... that will draw someone past their fears and inhibitions about a tech, or a woman, or... whatever.  I had fed him some other things, like perhaps there might be a documentary about his aircraft carrier.  He is a Vietnam vet from the Navy.  There might be things showing where those planes that left his deck went, what they did, and such.  No promises, just a maybe.  I also showed him the penguin baby showing joy at being tickled, and a confrontation between a younger bear and a pack of wolves, to give him some other examples of what was out there.  Then, once I set the system up, I showed him how to find YouTube, canceled that out, and had him do it several more times.  There aren't a lot of steps, but for someone who has spent a life and a half without having touched a keyboard, with the novelty and... natural fears, it is daunting.

I told him I would be back Monday, if not for him to call me.  He suggested his sister will be there Monday, and then asked if Tuesday would be better.  Sure enough.  I will just go over some other things with him.  I know how to check his email.  Perhaps we can figure out the printer, and I can show him a few things about it.  And I did get those Win 8 to 7 fixes on, temporarily.  I would like to tinker with that and see how it works a bit more fundamentally.  Sometimes, on some things, I could revert to windows frames, sometimes the option didn't appear.  I'll try to figure that out and get it straight, then teach that.  I was getting far too tired.  Especially with the meal.  I had to head out.  Oh, but groceries!

I had done so well.  Some dry goods, coffee, tobacco, but milk, cream, a few veggies, some fruit (saw blood oranges, yum (go figure)), some soda just to not be only drinking coffee, water, and milk...  But could I do that?  How to convince myself?  Mc...  What?  Don...  Hmm?  McDonalds, you dolt.  Go to the store, and McDonalds is on the way back out.  Oh?  Oh!  You are a bastard!  Yeah?  But I'm YOUR bastard, innit?  Yeah... *sigh*  So, I made it to the store, and McDonalds.  I was still full from lunch, but that didn't matter.  Yum!  I even picked up the mail on the way in.  My 7.62x39 mag reloader was in, and fit in the box somehow.  Those ladies are great.

Oh, and I have been up all day.  About to die, but...  Not... really die.  Just pretty dead on my feet.  I just have to come down a little, then I'll hit it, hard.  And... set the alarm.  I'll give myself ten hours, since I have been up a day and an half.  More if I really need it.  But, back up, early, if I can.  I have already fed the girls twice, for their normal day.  But, since I am up, and feeling generous, they got another dose of the yum stuff.

What a day.  I am spent.  Well worth it.  I just hope I can get him ready to handle the brave new tech world he is just about to engage in.  I think my Desert Cat's fixes will make it easier for his other friend to help, maybe, and his sister.  Win 8 well and truly sucks.  Never mind, deal with the hand you are dealt, which I did.  And... better than I thought I could.  Tight small keyboard, Win 8, no mouse when I was initially messing with it in the recliner...  Don't complain, just do.  Complain... later, or to someone who has a micro fiddle, or...  you.  :)

Oh, right, there is one more trick that helps people become natural computer users...  The simple free games.  As you are trying to get good at those silly things, your typing and mouse skills improve dramatically, automatically, without you having to think about them.  Games were initially created just for fun, but some well thinking software engineer realized their worth to skill enhancement, which is why they are included with many OS's for free, I do believe.  Yeah... maybe I can help him out, and turn him into a cyborg.  There has to be an interest, if some of that will have to, initially, be... artificial.  You... didn't think war was the only thing ol' Doom could teach, did you? 

Good night.