It’s not news that technology and I are not best friends. I’ve mentioned that I have a hand-shaking sort of acquaintance with technology. It’s sort of like the relationship I have with my gastroenterologist. I can’t live without him, but I don’t like to try and figure out what he’s doing to me down there.
I can’t live without technology. None of us can. I appreciate the way the folks at Wind Crest handle technology with their residents. They don’t treat us like we are all a bunch of nincompoops who don’t know how to turn on anything but our televisions. But they also provide alternatives for everything, from making reservations to paying our monthly bills.
I know absolutely nothing about how technology works. I don’t know the name of things. If I were to call Apple with a problem, I would have to say things like my thingamajig is doing whatchamacallit. I need to look the information specialists in the eye and have them talk to me like a 3-year-old. That’s what we did when we were trying to get Bill back on his cell phone a few months ago. We made numerous trips to the Apple Store and made them talk to me like I was a toddler. They couldn’t have been nicer.
I mention all of this, because a few weeks ago, I signed onto the site that hosts my blog — WordPress. I have had a blog now since August 2013. I paid a former coworker — and computer guru — to set up my website. He designed it. He launched it. He made himself and me the administrators. And then, as anticipated, he walked away. Not too much later, I learned he had cancer. I haven’t heard from him and I have a bad feeling. God bless him.
Anyhoo, he did a dandy job of teaching me how to use WordPress. For me, there was nothing instinctual about it. I memorized the steps, just like I do with all technology. That’s why when I find out that Apple has an update coming, while most people are rejoicing because something troublesome is going to be fixed, I go into panic mode that I’m no longer going to be able to figure out how to FaceTime.
About three weeks ago, I turned on my computer, logged into WordPress, and looked at an entirely unfamiliar screen. All of the tools with which I was so familiar were gone. G-O-N-E. Gone. I clicked everything I could click, to no avail. I could write the blog. I could post the blog. But all of the tools that easily allowed me to include photos or schedule a posting, or use bold or italics were missing.
I have no doubt that I got plenty of warning from WordPress that times, they were a’changin’. I might have even read the email. It didn’t however, register. I have spent the past three weeks trying to figure out where all my tools have gone. In the meantime, with the help of Google (without whom I wouldn’t survive), I have managed to post a blog most days, and some even have italics or bold print.
I have one final obstacle. I need to find out how to word count. There used to be a button on top that I would click and it would tell me how many words I have used. That button is nowhere to be found. I’m not giving up, however.
Nana's Whimsies 
Kris – Indeed technology can be a challenge. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I worked in the IT world for 30 years and can figure most things out. Here’s a tip: To quickly get a word count, select all the text (left click at the start of the text holding the mouse button down then drag the cursor all the way to the end. The text will be highlighted.). Then do a “copy” to get it into memory. Then launch MS Word (or whatever word processing app you have) and in a new document click in the page and paste the text in. If you use Word it will show you the word count in the lower left corner. Hopefully whatever app you use will do the same. Good luck!