It’s hard to teach an old dog some new computer tricks…
We are getting some new computers here at the Faribault County Register. Brand-spanking new. That is a good thing, or so they tell me. And truth be told it is a good thing. Our current ones are starting to show signs of old age. And, they were not new, but refurbished, when we got them.
Some of them are getting cranky. I totally understand the feeling, as I, too, am old and getting pretty cranky.
The issue is, however, that we are also getting some brand new computer programs to go with these new computers.
Again, I am told it is a good thing. And again, I suppose that it is. The current programs are a bit old and not updated and can be a bit cranky, also.
But, dang it, that means we have to learn how to not just operate the new computers, but also how to operate the new programs.
For the younger folks that seems to be no task what-so-ever. For us old codgers, it is going to be slow going for a while, I am afraid.
A friend of mine, slightly older than I am, recently told me learning new things is hard to do. He claims he once had seven billion brain cells when he was younger, but he is now down to just seven brain cells left.
That is why he can’t remember anyone’s name, or where he left his phone, glasses or wife.
Anyway, I digress.
So we are soon going to say goodbye to our design program called QuarkExpress (yes, that is its real name) and say hello to InDesign.
Both do basically the same thing, just in different ways. But there will be a learning curve, and the older you are, the wider the curve.
The irony of all this is that once upon a time, 20 years ago or more, I bought and used the precursor to InDesign, called PageMaker. I taught myself how to use it and then taught others how to use it. I kept getting newer versions of PageMaker, like PageMaker 1, 2, 7, 11, etc., and had to learn each new version.
I was using PageMaker when I came to Blue Earth and had to learn QuarkExpress. So, you would think it would be easy for me to learn InDesign, since I once knew its predecessor PageMaker, but, you know, I am not the 40-something guy with seven billion brain cells who could learn things quick and easy back in those days.
I try to explain that to my children and grandchildren when I still am learning things about my newest smart phone, smart watch and smart TV, and they just shake their heads at me.
I hate it when my phone, watch and TV are all smarter than I am.
I also try and tell the young’uns that I have had to learn a whole lot of stuff over the years.
Back when I was a kid, we didn’t have an electronic anything. Not even a TV. And when we got one it was black and white and did not even have a remote to learn to operate. And the phone had a rotary dial.
The smart aleck kids usually then ask if there were cars or airplanes back then, or did we ride on dinosaurs.
Ha Ha. Very funny.
So, folks my age eventually had to learn to operate fax machines, computers, printers, use email, CDs, Disk players, VCRs, DVRs, DVDs, Walkmans, iPads, iPhones, iPods, Apple TV and a whole bunch of apps, video games and yes, of course, computer programs.
Maybe our brains are full. Maybe we need a delete button on our brain.
OK, so the actual truth is that I am actually pretty excited to get these new computers and design program. I have been laying out newspaper pages for 50 years or so, and the advances in technology have been pretty awesome.
I remember back to those cut and paste days, pre-computer age, and I would spend the whole day standing in front of a bank of pages of actual full size paper pages, cutting copy (stories and headlines) with scissors, and literally waxing the back of the cut out paper and pasting it on to the layout page.
It is a little bit funny to us old-timers that the method of moving copy from one spot to another on a computer screen is still called cut and paste, even though it is done with a some strokes of computer keys and not with a scissors.
Using computers in the newspaper/design/printing business has been awesome. We can do so many more creative things with computers than with cut and paste with scissors and wax back in the 1970s.
And, I have to admit that all of these other smart phones, smart TVs, smart tablets and other smart technology is pretty slick as well. If it is used in moderation. Unfortunately, too many folks are addicted to all these gizmos.
But, that is something for this old guy to get cranky about in another column.
Time to put this edition of the Register to bed.
And, then me, too.