Old Dogs: New Tricks - Lawrence

Things have gone a little awry in my writing life the last few weeks. My computer has been slowing down and showing signs of aging of late, and I was told that a new one would be coming my way in anticipation of my 70^th birthday. This made me very happy but, knowing that new is not always without problems, I made haste to finish publishing my Family History Photo Book while I still had the computer with which I was familiar.

I now have my new computer (though I am still only 69); it is a lap-top and is red in colour. It is beautiful. However, as I suspected, it is presenting me with a few problems. First and foremost, my H.P. photo programme doesn’t work with the new Vista operating system and I am finding it difficult to get used to the Digital Image system that I now have.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, is, I’m sure, a familiar saying to most of us. However, I know that this is not true. Haven’t I just learned how to format my Family History Photo Book, upload it to www.lulu.com and publish it to rave reviews from my family?

The difficulty I am having with the new photo system, I suspect, is not so much my inability to learn something new as my being unwilling to take the time and effort to do so. I liked the old H.P. programme; I was familiar with it and didn’t have to think too much about how to use it; I am like a child who has been given a beautiful new red balloon but blubbers over the loss of the blue one that burst.

When N.J. asked, in a recent e-mail, that TWG authors try to insert a photo of themselves alongside their blogs, it was one more reason for me to gripe at the shortcomings of my current Digital Image system. When this blog appears on August 17^th, 2007, with or without a photo of the author, the reader will know whether I have mastered, at least to some extent, my new Digital Image programme.

God gives us gifts and, in order to receive them, we have to put down the ones we currently hold in our hands. We want the new but we don’t want to part with the old and familiar. I love my new computer but I do miss my H.P. photo programme—okay, enough already! I thank God, for my new computer and for the challenge it brings me to stretch my mind and learn something new.

Website: www.judithlawrence.ca