I couldn't believe it when I checked my blogs recently. It's been over a year since I've posted. A year? How could that happen? I knew that I had cut down on my computer use this last few months, but a year? Well, yes. What happened? I'm glad you asked!
I've been a computer geek for just about as long as computers have been around. I first learned how to program computers thirty years ago when computers were very big, taking up about the same amount of space as several refrigerators with far less computing power than the laptop I'm now using. Shortly after graduating from computer science college I went to work for my dad. I computerized the billing and patient records for his medical practice. The computer that he purchased for the job was the latest thing available. It was a compact unit that sat on a table, had an attached keyboard and an 8 1/2-inch floppy drive in the side. It was a beautiful sight. I used to be so proud that I could enter information so quickly that I'd routinely lock the machine up. But that was okay. I'll had have to do was reboot and keep on going. Well, that's what I thought anyway.
What I didn't know then - nor did anyone else - was that I was doing some serious damage to my body. Over the years I continued to work with computers and continued to do damage to my body. In 1992 I had surgery on both of my wrists for carpal tunnel syndrome. Unfortunately even after having those surgeries I continued to experience problems with my arms and upper back. Today we call this Repetitive Strain Injury and have ergonomically designed equipment to help us avoid or minimize these typees of injuries.
Unfortunately for those of us who have these injuries there doesn't seem to be a "cure" other than avoidance. Yeah, like I'm going to avoid computers. Well, for the past several months (or more) I really have been avoiding the computer as much as humanly possible. And, wonder of wonders, I've noticed that my condition (I hate that term) really does get better when I'm not on the computer 24/7. This was very encouraging for me, although having to curb my digital scrapbooking, writing, and gaming has been tricky. And now there's the whole website issue.
Last week I wanted to make a few updates to my websites. Normally this would not be a problem, but now, well, it seems that my new computer is turning on me. For some odd reason the program that I've been using to publish my sites for the past seven years has decided it doesn't want to function normally on my new computer. What does this mean? That I can't pubish to my sites. And what does that mean? Well, that I'll have to rebuild them from the ground up - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is time consuming and very computer intensive. Am I looking forward to doing that? On the one hand, I really am. A fresh design would be great and I've really been wanting to do a major overhaul. On the other hand, well, it'll be an excellent exercise in patience and self-control I suppose. Maybe it'll be a good project for summer. Maybe.
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1 comment:
Long Time since I have visited also. Still reading but had to comment on the RSI. I also have that and have slowed way down on my computer time ,but have recently took up my cross stitching again and hopefully that wont bother it. Have you put out a new book yet?
Lynn
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