Time flies

When we got our first computer, a Gateway model, I was advised to go with AOL because it was user-friendly; so I did.  I'd read about the horrors of chat rooms, but my curiosity got the better of me and I clicked myself into one.  Nothing people were typing onto the screen made much sense, and there were lots of spam links being shared.  It seemed there were fifty conversations going on at once.  

Every chat room I sampled was the same, until I saw a link to a website, "Christianity Today".  On that site were links to AOL chat rooms.  One was specifically for Christian women (turned out to be a meeting place for lesbians) and one was for Christian seniors.  There were several others, but with that senior chat room, I hit pay dirt and met some of the finest people I'll ever know, many of whom I still keep in touch with.  Some of them have died over the years.

I had no experience or training with computers, but in the chat room were people who could talk me through minor tech problems with the new-fangled, magical box that allowed me to visit with people all over the world in real time.  The two who instantly come to mind are Havok (spelled hav0k) and Westbilt.  Westbilt was a Baptist preacher with a great sense of humor, and he knew computers.  He taught many of us to defrag, get rid of cookies, and so forth.  Hav0k was self-taught, but knew far more than most of us about the workings of computers; he did play little jokes on us once in awhile, like the time he told us to hit three different keys in succession (or maybe it was all at once) and our computers all turned off.

Anyhow.  By the time I graduated the schools of Westbilt and Hav0k, I felt pretty confident about my computer knowledge, because I had learned the basics.  It was great fun learning keyboard shortcuts, and I absorbed new computer skills almost daily.

I marvel now at how much fun it was, because these days I hate trying to learn new things.  I just want everything to go smoothly without my intervention; then I'm happy.

Cliff saw a picture I shared on Facebook of me and the child we babysit and told me he wanted that shot as wallpaper on his laptop.  A simple enough request, something I've done countless times.  I emailed the picture to him, grabbed his computer, and right-clicked to get the job done.  

However, only the top half of my head showed in the huge, screen-wide shot; when I messed with the resolution, everything turned sideways.

How would I manage to shrink the picture so all of it showed, and then turn the picture the right way?  I tried one thing and another, becoming more frustrated each time.  Somewhere along the line I noticed it wasn't just the picture that was on its side... oh no!  Everything on the screen was now on its side:  the browser, the icons... everything!  And I was clueless. 

After considerable Googling and messing around, I got things turned the right way, but still, only part of the picture shows, as you can see above.  I'm not messing with it again, for fear of blowing up Cliff's computer.  

Peace.