Doing Good the IT Way
I started and ended the last post with a little therapeutic whinge about my stupid computer, and then out of the blue got a call from my friend Jen. Jen and I were fellow homeschooling parents about a hundred years ago (that's about right, isn't it Jen?), but Jen moved from Tasmania up and down the entire east coast of Australia, while I stayed right here. Occasionally we catch up by phone and chat about what we are doing, and it's great that we can just pick up and chat from where we left off the year before.. anyhow, Tuesday I got a call from Jen to say they are going to post me a spare laptop!!
Chris, Jen's lovely husband, works in IT, and in many work situations has found himself 'rescuing' old, unwanted laptops that are about to be binned. He brings them home and does highly technical things to them (was 'reformatting' one of those technical words he was bandying around??), assisted by his clever son, then rehomes them with folks they know who can use them. And they thought of me! And they are sending me one! Sqeeeeeeeeeeee!
I love every part of this story, the way Chris is saving 'outmoded' electrical gadgetry from landfill, using his skills to make them useful again, teaching his son to do the same, and spreading kindness and good cheer around his community (and now mine). He is like a lovely IT angel.
Even better, when Chris heard what was wrong with my laptop, he was able to give me a bandaid solution over the phone, which means I can use it again for now, and told me that I could get the battery reconditioned, a process I had never even heard of, so possibly this one may be usable again for another little while... always great in a houseful of girls doing homework that always seems to require access to the internet.
So here is to kind friends who are doing good things by using their skills to reclaim some of the Great Waste that is the curse of our society. It makes me think... how can I do the same with my own skills in my own community?
Comments
I discovered I could re-calibrate my laptop battery. It took a few goes, but my laptop's stopped with the annoying messages telling me I needed a new battery and a new computer and a pony and and and definitely a pony.
Tracy, I do hope Chris is reading this and does realise he is a modern day hero:)
Same electrician tradie husband is not only IT guru but today turned into plumber and fitted my new stove top.
Plus, apps often don't have the full functionality of an actual website (again with the old lady eyes) and scrolling around is annoy.
Fran, I don't even own a phone that can connect to the internet. So far my phones have been ones that no-one at The Man's office has wanted anymore because they are so old and unfashionable (but I am old and unfashionable, so it's all good!). I don't like the idea of being 'connected' all the time. The fact that people expect me to answer their texts is appalling enough. If I could publish my blog on a typewriter, I'd use one of them. Yes, I will pop back into my cave now..
But yes, I do think we could probably all manage to do everything really necessary with the hardware already built, discarded, and sitting in the attics of the world. I mean really, people went to the moon with less computing power than the average person could muster in their living room..
Miss Maudy, I know not of which you speak. But watching my 10 and 14yo daughters staring slack-faced at their (hand-me-down) tiny screens makes me very annoyed indeed. The few times I have attempted to use them, I gave up in disgust, and then sulked because I am so technologically incompetent I can't even use a touch screen. Then I shrugged and went back to my book, because I really don't think I am missing anything..