Getting an Education in Modern Technology

My MacBook is a little more than four years old, now, and I discovered on the Apple Store today that it might not even come in under the wire for updating to Mountain Lion later this month. Not that it matters—I never got it updated to Snow Leopard, so I’ll probably need help just getting less far behind.  Since I live about an hour’s drive from an Apple Store, I really should get a back-up computer just in case mine dies at a very bad time.

So I opted to get an iPad instead.

Yeah, I know. It’s kind of like going to the grocery store for a gallon of milk and coming home with a pint of ice cream. But it does give me an alternative to my BlackBerry, especially since the BB is also on its last legs.

The BB does a good job on two of my four (yes, four) e-mail accounts and on one of my two Facebook accounts, and can do it anywhere I can get a phone signal. But it doesn’t go to the internet well, and there’s always that other Facebook and two e-mail accounts. Oh, and it also does well on phone calls and texts.  : - )

The iPad does a great job on all the e-mail accounts, all the Facebook accounts, and internet, but it needs an internet connection. It works great at Panera, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and about any hotel. I could get phone calls if I signed on to Skype. But I haven’t found a way to get text messages yet—so it might not be possible.

And that brings us to this week’s blog prompt—education.

I really get a kick out of learning new technology, but it seems to take me longer than it used to. I refuse to believe that’s because I’m older. I think it’s because no body prints user manuals any more. They try to tell you it’s “intuitive,” and some of it is, even if you’ve never owned an iPod. But how is it intuitive to draw four or five fingers together on a screen to close it? And after years of moving your cursor down a screen to go down, it’s hard to remember to move your finger UP the screen to go down.

So now you know why I’m so late with this blog. (Ok, I’m nearly always late.) I’ve spent the entire week getting an education in the care and feeding of an iPad. (Yeah, feeding—that’s another matter. But I’ve spent less than $10 so far on aps. And one of them shows me the phases of the moon every day of the month. How cool is that?) I still have a lot to learn, but I’m well on the way.  Hey, maybe my next blog will be written on my iPad!

Three Strikes for Simultaneous Success

When it comes to success in education, my family seems to like to experience it in multiples. I graduated from community college the same year my older daughter graduated from junior high, for example. But that was the last time my kids and I coincided. I was, after all, 46 before I finally got my bachelor's degree.

But my younger daughter and her family seems to be trying to set some kind of educational success intersection record. The year my younger daughter received her bachelor's of nursing, her daughter graduated from high school and her son from grade school. I took them to Disney World for a couple of days to celebrate. 

This year my daughter received her master's of nursing, her daughter graduated from community college, and her son from middle school. We're going to Disney World for a week this time. I hope this will be our last trip to Disney World for oh so many reasons. Thankfully, my daughter has chosen not to pursue her doctor's degree right now, and my granddaughter will be finishing her bachelor's degree, while my grandson has four years of high school ahead of him, so this should be the end of their coinciding graduations--I thought.

Then a couple of days ago, I realized that because my granddaughter is taking a year off to prepare a portfolio before entering a three-year program, she will graduate from college the same year her brother graduates from high school. In the meantime, their mother will be teaching next year while she decides if she wants to earn a doctor's degree, which could take three years. 

Nooooooooooo...........

copyright Angela Parson Myers 2011