I have been having some issues of the electronic kind lately. The following is a rant/vent, and NOT dog related, so feel free to skip it.
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I started teaching a clicker training class last week and as part of the class, I intend to upload the training steps for each of the behaviors I'm teaching them in video clips to YouTube. This will allow the students to see what we covered in class (and the steps the dog's weren't ready for) without the stress and distractions of the class environment.
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Problem #1 arose when the video editing software I had been using stopped working. Admittedly, it was a trial version that I had gotten a LOT of use from by repeatedly removing and reinstalling it :-) But that finally stopped working and I needed a new program to edit the videos for the class. So I went and bought a new program for $100.
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Problem #2: Get it home and find that it won't work on my old computer. My ranting and raving at my computer prompted Mike to tell me "just go buy a new computer!" I was hesitant because I knew we couldn't REALLY afford it. But he said to put it on the credit card and he could pay it off. So on Tuesday I drive 45 minutes to Microcenter and come home with a new computer- $575. Mike's computer was in worse shape than mine, so now he has my old computer. I had to set that all up as well, but now he's happy because it runs MUCH faster than the one he had (on which he had gotten the "blue screen of death", but somehow got past it and got it to limp along again.)
I take half a day to get the new computer up and running and find that the video program works great on my new computer! So I edit the videos and get them uploaded. Today, I get around to hooking up my printer and find...
Problem #3. There is NO port on the back of the computer to hook it up! No printer cable port at all! I try calling Microcenter, but they are so busy no one answers the phone. So I call Staples to see if there's an adapter cord. Sure there is! For $40! So I drive drive 10 minutes to Staples and get the card using a $25 gift certificate I forgot I had that helps bring it down to a more reasonable price. Get it home and find...
Problem #4- It's not for the IEEE type cable my printer uses and won't work. So I pack it all up and take the cable off my printer and drive BACK to staples. I get my money back for that cord and the sales clerk looks and doesn't find any adapter that will work. So I decide to drive all the way back to Microcenter.
Get to Microcenter, explain that my printer works just fine (no, I don't want to buy a new one!) I just need to be able to get this cable (brought in the store as a prop) to talk to my new computer!! Well, apparently there's no adapter for a cord that old (that's when I learned it used really old technology, even though my printer is only 5 years old) BUT I can spend $20 and get the plug in that can be installed inside the computer. Of course, then I need to go home, get the computer, bring that back and pay $35 to have them install the dang thing. I asked how hard is it to put it in? The clerk showed me how to do it using the floor model of the computer I just bought. I knew I could do it, so I spent the $20.
Get it home, it goes in without any problem. It says the drivers loaded properly - yea! Says my printer is recognized - yea! I think ok, we're good to go. Try to print something and get a line of gibberish printed on multiple pages. After a LOT of fiddling and restarting of both items in various orders I still wasn't getting it to work. I went on-line to look for an update or something I thought might be needed. That's where I found...
Problem #5- The printer manufacturer's website said the printer was no longer supported and it didn't work with Vista. Great. I just spent $20 for NOTHING! I'm rather pissed off again and once again yelling at the computer. Mike, who didn't have a printer with his old computer said- give me your printer and go get a new "cheap" printer.
So I move my printer to his desk (at least I know the printer and my old computer will work together!) and back to Staples I go. I find one for $79, the catch? It doesn't come with the $20 cord that is needed. After being assured that the cord will plug into the computer and that the printer works with Vista, $100+ later, I have a printer... sort of. The one I wanted was out of stock. So they are having it shipped here and say it will be here on Monday.
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So, about $800 later, this has been the most expensive class I have ever volunteered to teach!!!!
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Oh, and I just found out there is NO photo editing software on my new computer. The program I had been using on my previous computer came with it, so I can't transfer it. So don't be surprized if there are no photos on the blog for awhile. Unless I edit them on Mike's new machine (my old one) and put them on a disk to load them on my new computer.
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Aren't computers wonderful?! NOT!!!
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