Short-short story, complete in one post.
It's after 22:30, the temperature is about 38F and on its way to 33 or 34F overnight. Sky is clear, but going to partly cloudy overnight and mostly cloudy tomorrow - another cold, dark, dreary day in December. That's OK. I'm warm, my supper is in the fridge if I want to reheat something or in the pantry or freezer if I choose to start something new. Supper just before 23:00? Yes, as it was a very long night and I slept to almost 18:00 after I finally got to bed.
Any evidence of the things that kept me awake? Nah, it was all electronic - texts, phone calls, email on my phone. Just another "Hey, Jack. Can you help me with..." request that ran on forever. I'd told Grover Thompson that I would NOT support Apple hardware of any type so he bought Chromebooks for his kids and was trying to figure out how they could do their term papers on their Chromebooks when his internet connection was down. My first suggestion was to check whether any neighbors had internet access other than their cell phones and see if he could send the kids there for a few hours in exchange for some of the fresh honey from his hives. Considering what local honey is going for at the local grocery stores, a couple of jars should pay for a couple of weeks' internet access.
Even with the offer of fresh honey, none of his neighbors had internet service as AT&T and Xfinity were both out. That's an interesting failure when there are no power outages in the area. My time? Spent walking Grover through loading a version of Linux on those Chromebooks as the alternate operating system and then loading a word processor that works well under Linux on a computer with minimal resources. It only took him an hour to find the red box with the "Linux for Chromebook" label on it - in his garage, of all places! Then time to configure the Chromebook for loading Linux, install the SD card with Linux, install Linux on the Chromebook, install the word processor from the thumb drive in that same red box - and then walk Grover through doing that again for the other kids. No, he didn't get any faster with experience. By the third time, Erin, the ten-year-old, was frustrated enough to say "Daddy, get out of the way so I can do it!" and the last two installations combined took less time than the second one. I think I like that kid.
The kids had no problems using the word processor and the youngest one had finished and been put to bed when Grover asked "How do I check their work?"
I almost answered "The same as you would at work when using Word" but knew he'd be looking for the Microsoft Word icon - no, Grover's not truly computer literate - just not *totally* ignorant. I walked him through finding the right icon and loading that kid's work and he said "Bye".
I thought I was done with that but 30 minutes later he was on the phone with "OhMyGod! I deleted it! How do I get it back?"
A little checking found that he had fat-fingered things and hit "Alt" plus "i" and then "Enter" twice - the Word sequence for inserting a new page - not sure how you do that by accident. I had him scroll back up and the original document was still there.
But Grover wasn't done. Over the next eight hours, he did the exact same thing when "checking" the other three kids' work. I think I should install something like UltraViewer on those devices so I can control them remotely when - maybe that's if - there's internet again, as eight hours later the internet was *still* out for both of us. Good that I had power to keep my cell phone charged. I think Grover took Erin's tablet off charge so he could use that charger for his phone. I hope he remembered to put that tablet back on charge as the kids will need it for the Zoom sessions with their teachers because tomorrow (guess that's now today) is a "remote school" day for last names from N through Z - if they have internet. Silly way to cut the in-school population by half for more Covid protection but someone there 'got the idea from California' which is the last place an intelligent person would expect to find anything *useful* for education versus indoctrination.
My supper? The bowl of homemade chowder is in the microwave for 3:30 at half power and it has 1:17 remaining. I've rationed myself a half glass of the currently very expensive caffeine-free Coke to go with my bowl of chowder and a cornbread muffin which will get its 12 seconds in the microwave. An almost instant hot meal because I could type while I waited for the "Beep! Beep! Beep!" that tells me it's finished. Will I hear from Grover when the kids are again in need of standalone software because the internet isn't there? Maybe; maybe not. I did text him that the nearest county library branch has their public internet on 24/7 and that it can be accessed from the parking lot when the library is closed so the kids do have potential internet access if theirs is out again.
---
My pay for those hours? Erin came over the next day with a plate of chocolate chip cookies she had mixed from scratch and baked. That, plus a hug and "Thank you, Mister Jack" are all the "pay" I need - and none of it is taxable.
---
End.
It's after 22:30, the temperature is about 38F and on its way to 33 or 34F overnight. Sky is clear, but going to partly cloudy overnight and mostly cloudy tomorrow - another cold, dark, dreary day in December. That's OK. I'm warm, my supper is in the fridge if I want to reheat something or in the pantry or freezer if I choose to start something new. Supper just before 23:00? Yes, as it was a very long night and I slept to almost 18:00 after I finally got to bed.
Any evidence of the things that kept me awake? Nah, it was all electronic - texts, phone calls, email on my phone. Just another "Hey, Jack. Can you help me with..." request that ran on forever. I'd told Grover Thompson that I would NOT support Apple hardware of any type so he bought Chromebooks for his kids and was trying to figure out how they could do their term papers on their Chromebooks when his internet connection was down. My first suggestion was to check whether any neighbors had internet access other than their cell phones and see if he could send the kids there for a few hours in exchange for some of the fresh honey from his hives. Considering what local honey is going for at the local grocery stores, a couple of jars should pay for a couple of weeks' internet access.
Even with the offer of fresh honey, none of his neighbors had internet service as AT&T and Xfinity were both out. That's an interesting failure when there are no power outages in the area. My time? Spent walking Grover through loading a version of Linux on those Chromebooks as the alternate operating system and then loading a word processor that works well under Linux on a computer with minimal resources. It only took him an hour to find the red box with the "Linux for Chromebook" label on it - in his garage, of all places! Then time to configure the Chromebook for loading Linux, install the SD card with Linux, install Linux on the Chromebook, install the word processor from the thumb drive in that same red box - and then walk Grover through doing that again for the other kids. No, he didn't get any faster with experience. By the third time, Erin, the ten-year-old, was frustrated enough to say "Daddy, get out of the way so I can do it!" and the last two installations combined took less time than the second one. I think I like that kid.
The kids had no problems using the word processor and the youngest one had finished and been put to bed when Grover asked "How do I check their work?"
I almost answered "The same as you would at work when using Word" but knew he'd be looking for the Microsoft Word icon - no, Grover's not truly computer literate - just not *totally* ignorant. I walked him through finding the right icon and loading that kid's work and he said "Bye".
I thought I was done with that but 30 minutes later he was on the phone with "OhMyGod! I deleted it! How do I get it back?"
A little checking found that he had fat-fingered things and hit "Alt" plus "i" and then "Enter" twice - the Word sequence for inserting a new page - not sure how you do that by accident. I had him scroll back up and the original document was still there.
But Grover wasn't done. Over the next eight hours, he did the exact same thing when "checking" the other three kids' work. I think I should install something like UltraViewer on those devices so I can control them remotely when - maybe that's if - there's internet again, as eight hours later the internet was *still* out for both of us. Good that I had power to keep my cell phone charged. I think Grover took Erin's tablet off charge so he could use that charger for his phone. I hope he remembered to put that tablet back on charge as the kids will need it for the Zoom sessions with their teachers because tomorrow (guess that's now today) is a "remote school" day for last names from N through Z - if they have internet. Silly way to cut the in-school population by half for more Covid protection but someone there 'got the idea from California' which is the last place an intelligent person would expect to find anything *useful* for education versus indoctrination.
My supper? The bowl of homemade chowder is in the microwave for 3:30 at half power and it has 1:17 remaining. I've rationed myself a half glass of the currently very expensive caffeine-free Coke to go with my bowl of chowder and a cornbread muffin which will get its 12 seconds in the microwave. An almost instant hot meal because I could type while I waited for the "Beep! Beep! Beep!" that tells me it's finished. Will I hear from Grover when the kids are again in need of standalone software because the internet isn't there? Maybe; maybe not. I did text him that the nearest county library branch has their public internet on 24/7 and that it can be accessed from the parking lot when the library is closed so the kids do have potential internet access if theirs is out again.
---
My pay for those hours? Erin came over the next day with a plate of chocolate chip cookies she had mixed from scratch and baked. That, plus a hug and "Thank you, Mister Jack" are all the "pay" I need - and none of it is taxable.
---
End.
