> >
> > I married a computer geek. He does something called "firmware" for optical storage devices. He programs a lot in C with various numbers of pluses after it. Other codes too, I think. He must be pretty good at it because, with all the trouble here in Silicon Valley, he has not been out of work for even 24 hours.
> >
> > However, he can't help me at all. He doesn't even try anymore and I don't even ask. I go so slow, to him, that he can't help reaching over and doing stuff, faster than I can follow. He can't tell me what he just did because he thinks of it in such shorthand that it makes no sense.
> >
> > Even simple things that I should be able to do, I can't because we don't have a computer in our house, we have an electronics lab with all kinds of stuff plugged in.
> >
> > Transferring pictures from a digital camera to a CD was more than I could do, because there was something plugged into every port in the tower and a bunch of other cables lying there not currently plugged in at all. I didn't know what would happen if I unplugged something wrong.
> >
> > And there I am, under the desk with a flashlight and a back that has been broken 4 times in 4 places and had fusion surgery in one of those places.
> >
> > I think he does this for power, it's not a generation gap becuase we are from the same generation (41) it is a power gap.
> >
> > This is a guy who forgot how to boil macaroni after Easy Mac, who, when served chicken, choked and said "There's a BONE in this chicken!"
> > I replied, "Yes, chickens need bones to keep them from flopping over when they peck."
> >
> > Oh, Yeah....and he can't drive a stick.
>
> Since you seem to have retained your sense of humor, I'll offer a solution. Anybody with that much geekstuff is bound to have some computers tucked away somewhere unused. To him, it is obselete, but if you can swipe some of it and hook it up together you can probably. . . . . Hey! Wait a minute! You just posted on RinkWorks. I'll bet you have already done that.
> Howard
>

Howard, that is a good solution. The main one here is enough for MOST of what I want. Inconveniences, yes................. but I get by. He DOES have a lot of Geekstuff, Precious GeekStuff. Most of the precious stuff was retired because if viral infestation. Mostly wild type viruses. Make your nose run while you stare at the hourglass*. And he'd want to mess with it 'cause its geeky.

He has an old TRS80 that uses audio cassettes for memory. He has one that reads punched paper tape. He has a 286. I used to call it "The toooooo aiyeteeee siiixxxx" because it was so slow. It ran a black & white version of Leisure Suit Larry and Wordperfect 4.0.

What I really (sort of) want is a teeny tiny laptop. A Very Slow one. Play-Pong-and-win-every time slow. So slow he would not even be temtped.............. Maybe Christmas.

The bottom line is---you have to pick your battles! I'm an at-home-Mom of one, one who is spending three weeks this summer at daycamp so I can play with my horse all day. Life is good. No real whining here.

For that, he can have boneless chickens. We'll wheel them around in Stephen Hawking wheelchairs unitl it's time for the axe.

Cara

* there's a reason why the sand never flows through the hourglass!