Woe Is Me!

There are few things that are more frustrating to me than my computers. Having problems with them changes me into someone I wouldn’t want to be around. I found something yesterday that affected me in the same way.

Some time ago the children gave me a Verizon gift certificate for a new phone because I complained about my cute pink Razr so much. I hated that phone! I decided to hang on to the gift card until our two year contract was up so Mr. Fixit and I could both get new phones if we renewed our contract and they gave us a deal on new phones. I held that card for a year and a half.

Yesterday we shopped for new phones. All I wanted was a phone with a larger keypad and Bluetooth technology. Are all phones Bluetooth now? I don’t know. We don’t need texting, to get on line, to play games, or watch tv on our phones. We just want phones to make phone calls.

After finding ones that we wanted, I came home and took the instruction book out of the box. In the scan below, the top manual is the one for the Razr. It has 100 English language pages. It answers almost any question relative to the use of the phone. It’s all beaten up because I carry it with me at all times. The one little manual is for the new phone. It is half the width of the old one and has 79 English language pages. It had very little information in it to help me set up the phone properly for my use. I haven’t been able to set up the voice mail; I have to take it back to the store and ask for their assistance.



The Bluetooth wireless headset is junk. It has no indicators that I can find to show if it is on or off or if the battery needs to be charged. I couldn’t get it to work at all. The only instruction with this item told how to synchronize it with the phone. The young woman at the phone store did that for us.

I know that I am not technologically gifted, but we have had wireless phones for a long time. Our first one was a big “bag” phone. We usually change phones every two years or so when their expensive rechargeable batteries become useless. I have never been unable to set up my voice mail or to use my headsets. I went on line for assistance and looking for a more detailed manual and couldn’t find one to help me. I am so p.o.ed!!!

And now there is a double whammy. I can’t figure out how to share files on the old computer with my new computer. The printer is shared; apparently the flatbed scanner cannot be shared. I can’t even figure out how to share folders. I tried for two and a half hours to figure it out. I’m using the old computer to post this because I can’t find the scan of the manuals on the new computer.

To add insult to injury—while I was proof-reading, my cat who has taken complete leave of her senses in the last few weeks lay down on the mouse and half of my post disappeared. I had to rewrite it.

All in all, with broken arms, new phones, lack of knowledge, and a CRAZY cat, it hasn’t been such a good weekend. There are only a few hours of the weekend left; I wonder what will happen next.