I am a writer, editor, and book publisher. Increasingly, however, I seem to be spending my time on other things.

For instance, I recently accepted an upgrade to my computer’s operating system and then spent an entire afternoon trying to get my scanner to work. I ran the troubleshooter, I re-established my printer as the default printer, restarted the printer, restarted the computer, and refreshed everything. Nothing. I repeated all of the steps. Nothing. I repeated all of the steps the next day, and it finally worked.

I have spent more time trying to figure out why our cell phone will no longer upload photos to my computer.

A couple of months ago, we bought a new car. It is an electronic marvel, and we are still trying to understand how it all works. One of the things we discovered is that our old iPod is too obsolete to mesh with the sound system on the new car. I have spent countless hours trying to figure out how to download the 300 plus songs from our old iPod onto my computer and then transfer them to a thumb drive which I can connect to the car’s sound system. So far, I have had only partial success.

Several weeks ago, our dryer developed a problem. The dryer works fine, but after a drying cycle is competed, the drum keeps spinning unless we open the door. After some time researching online, I was finally able to reach a representative of the manufacturer by phone. From the model number, the agent was able to tell me that the dryer is eleven years old and the ten-year warranty has just expired. The agent directed me back to the website to find a list of manufacturer-approved repairmen. I checked them all out and found that the closest one was seventy miles away. After further internet searching, I found a non-approved repairman who was local. He examined the machine and determined that an electronic switch had malfunctioned, that a major electronic component needed to be replaced, and that the component is no longer available. So, we are back to leaving the door open.

A few weeks later, the washing machine, companion to the dryer, stopped working. We called the same repairman, who installed a new pump. He said that the machine was still in good shape otherwise and that it was best to repair it because new machines have far more complicated electronics and therefore break down more often.

Also this month, I called my phone company and reached the automated answering service. After navigating through numerous options, none of which concerned my issue, and being on hold for a while, I finally reached a real person, who started with the usual pleasantries: “How are you today, sir?” “Thank you for being a customer of our company.” “What number should I use to call you back if we get disconnected?” This is the phone company, and apparently even they don’t believe their service is reliable. Then he had to verify that I was me. (Who else would be phoning about a problem with my phone?) He asked me for my date of birth, the last four digits of my driver’s license, my address, and my PIN (Personal Identification Number). I didn’t have a PIN, so he established one for me. Then he explained how I could change my PIN or recover it if I lost it by using the app. I don’t have the app. Now twenty minutes into the phone call, he asked me why I had called. I said I wanted to know why my cell phone bill had suddenly tripled. After he put me on hold while he investigated, he said he would have to transfer me to another department. After more waiting on hold and more pleasantries, a new agent asked me to verify that I was me. I gave the PIN. It did not work, so she explained how I could get a New PIN using the app. I said I didn’t have the app and did not want to change my PIN. Then she sighed and asked me for my date of birth, the last four digits of my driver’s license, and my address. Satisfied that I was me, she asked me why I had called. I said I wanted to know why my cell phone bill had suddenly tripled. After I was put on hold again, she came back on the line and explained that the 24-month introductory rate that had induced me to sign with his company had now expired, I now had to pay the regular rate, and there was nothing I could do about it. This highly efficient telecommunications was able to answer my simple question in only forty-five minutes.

I have two other issues with my phone company’s service, but they will have to wait until I have more time.

A couple of days after the washing machine broke down, the dishwasher kept shutting off. Apparently, the highly sophisticated electronics in this marvellous machine have gone wonky after only five months. I phoned the store where we bought the machine. Since the machine is past the store’s 90-day warranty, the store referred me to the manufacturer. I reached a manufacturer’s representative by phone, who wanted to know the serial number of the dishwasher and a lot of personal information about me. He finally agreed to send a repair person within a week or so. He said he would send a confirmation by text. I said I don’t do texting because my cell phone is too expensive. So, he said he would send confirmation by email. When I received it, the email said, in part, “We know your time is valuable, so please help us help you! Take a moment and upload to our website a photo of the bill of sale and a picture of the product tag containing the model and serial number.” To send a copy of the bill of sale meant that I would have to use my scanner to import a copy into my computer. Fortunately, I had spent a whole afternoon getting my scanner working again, and I could do this. To send a copy of the product tag meant that I would have to use my cell phone to take a picture of it and upload it to my computer. As I have already stated, my cell phone will no longer upload photos to my computer. However, I was able to spend more time trying to troubleshoot this problem. After a while, I received a message saying that I would have to upload an app to my computer using my cell phone or take a picture of a QR code. I don’t do apps or QR codes, and even if I could, I couldn’t upload the app or QR code to my computer because my cell phone no longer communicates with my computer. I finally dug out my old digital camera, took a photo of the product tag, uploaded it to my computer, and sent all the required documentation to the company that is promising to fix my dishwasher.

I am a writer, editor, and book publisher. But I think I am beginning to understand why I haven’t written or edited much of anything lately—except for this blog.

Isn’t it wonderful how modern technology saves us so much time!