Old Age

Old age gets blamed for a lot of stuff: senility, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, senior moments, Alzheimer's, fixed income, balding, skin blemishes (yeah, we do forget about our bouts with acne).

Not long ago, my computer was invaded. I called for help and a repairman came to the rescue. He discovered my problem and said he had to tidy things up a bit. Well, he did just that. It was so tidy I couldn't find anything. All my favorite haunts were gone.

I didn't recognize her. Her face had an uplift (and she was only three years old). All those vital Icon blemishes were gone. After a few hours of agonizing, experimenting, juggling and searching for my lost friends (like address book, saved emails, favorites, tips on what to do when my memory goes on vacation). When I finally reassembled my desktop, the computer wouldn't speak to my router, and then my printer said, 'Ol' boy. Where ya been?' It wouldn't print either.

I finally found some old email addresses. I wanted to print them and stuff them in a file so later when I needed them I could begin another search. Filing is not my first love. I did this and then that. Some guru once said when all else fails, shut down your computer and reboot. I did. Meanwhile, the printer talked to me. It said it was cleaning. Then it said it was unregistered and out of Cyan ink. I had no idea how big its vocabulary was. After an hour or so, I faintly heard my name. I answered and to my relief it was time for coffee. Exactly what I needed. My dear wife knew.

After coffee and a goodie I went back down to see if my computer and printer had made up. Nope. They were still sullen, uncooperative, and I think I detected a little hint of "that stupid ol' geezer is back." Remember, printers can talk, just like computers. I rechecked everything and it was set up perfectly.

About ten minutes later, after doing everything I could think of, I checked once more. Guess what? The computer and printer were plugged into the electrical circuit but I had forgotten to connect the printer to the computer. No wonder they wouldn't speak to each other. I plugged it in, hit the button and the printer said, 'It's about time, Buster.'

You know what? All that time I blamed it on old age. Yeah, another misguided senior moment.