Although I have spent my entire career dealing with technology subjects, I probably will never be mistaken for someone with technology savvy.
I can’t record a TV program on the VCR without my husband’s help. When the smoke alarm goes off, I am helpless to stop the noise. Probably the biggest reason we don’t use our home security system is because I am sure I would push the wrong combination and be summoning the police to our house a few times a week for nothing.
On the wireless phone front, I have one. I am the safety-conscious commuter. It sits in my car. I forget to charge it. Then when I want to call my husband to tell him I am on my way home after a late deadline, the phone goes dead in the middle of the call. He expects it.
Although my PCS phone offers a ton of enhanced services, I don’t use them. I set up the voice-mail box when I first got the phone but I can’t remember how to access it and I can’t find the booklet that came with the phone. I have never come close to using my 120 “free” minutes a month, even when I think I have talked up a storm.
The phone is there in case I’m in a car accident, have a flat tire, become a car-jacking victim or am abducted by aliens.
But I have found a new use for my phone!
A few weeks ago, I had back surgery to fix an old injury, so I am sentenced to wander the halls of my house for a while until the doc gives me the OK to drive to work and lean over a desk all day again.
I am waiting for him to remove the BLT (bending, lifting, twisting) restriction so I can go back to my normal life. You would be surprised how much you can’t do without those three simple movements.
Because my brother, my husband and RCR’s tech specialist know a little bit more about computers than I do, they have set it up so I am able to log into work from home for a short while every day and keep my mind sharp (don’t tell my doc!).
Don’t be fooled … all I use is the word processor and e-mail. But herein lies my big chance to use up my 120 minutes!
We only have one phone line and the computer is hogging it. I still need voice access to my husband, the babysitter, people at the office and 911 in case I bend, twist and fall off this chair and can’t get up.
An innovative reseller could set up a kiosk in the medical equipment rental store and make a bundle.