Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

About a month ago I noticed my MacBook Pro was not able to stay on very long without warning me that it was low on battery power. I usually keep it plugged in at home most of the time anyway, but a new kitten and dangling cords usually meant I would be unplugged without realizing it until that pop up warning message would let me know about being low on power and suggest I seek alternative power.

WARNING-Seek Alternative Power Source

Last week, though, the warning stopped coming, and the mbp would just suddenly die midway through whatever I was doing. I noticed upon reboot that the battery indicator stopped showing me a percentage of charge at all, and instead had a little x across the battery. I figured okay, the battery is dead and now unchargeable. So I planned a trip to the Mac store. The only one I knew about close was in Charlotte, just a short drive north on I-77 (exit 5) and over to South Park Mall.

I need a reservation? U are kidding, right?

Upon arriving Saturday around noon with laptop in tow, I was saddened to be asked for my reservation time, then told I could make a reservation and they would look at it in roughly four hours. The store was packed. I was shocked, but thankfully my husband said in a rather discontented voice–”Just to check her battery?” The sales rep running triage for the help area said she could check that, and the manager came over too. They opened my laptop, determined the battery was indeed dead, plugged me in, and then chastised me for the many desktop icons, telling me those little things drain power too, and make my laptop sluggish. The manager brought over a new battery right out of the package, popped it in, and made my battery icon show itself charging. The bottom underside also lit up with green dots. Guess what else? After the admonishment of proper mac use of icons, they sent me on my way, and did not even charge me for the replacement battery. (Of course I do have an extended warranty, so if it had been checked, they would have done this anyway.) That they didn’t shows they have great business sense, and are in tune with clients’ needs.

Full-fledged mac convert–finally!

So, I have cleaned off the desktop–guess that was my last holdout to the pc world. And the battery is now fully charged. I don’t have to worry about little Willow (the kitten) unplugging me in her quest to conquer all loose and dangling cords either. I’m once again a happy Mac user.

Attribution:

Lisa’s blog post written as a response to my tag from a meme made me remember this. One time a teacher I worked with chastised me and told me I was an “enabler.” When I looked at her quizzically, she said, “You enable me to be computer illiterate.” I had come to her room to help her with some kind of problem she was having, and instead of showing her how to fix it herself, I just fixed it.

Am I?

She assured me she was teasing me, but as I left, I realized she was probably right. At that time I was in an elementary setting in the library, and I had a tight schedule of classes, but was on a quest to help teachers effectively use technology. Many made great strides, but I always tried to find a way to help when a need came. My thinking was that if they needed help using their technology, than I should rush to assist when needed else they might abandon it, and go back to the old way of teaching. I really thought I was doing a good thing, until that day.

Goal: Change that title–Enabler

Since then, I have changed jobs, and now work in a library in a middle school setting. I always try to help teachers now help themselves. I point them to tutorials, or make screenshot tutorials for them to help themselves. Just this week I had a teacher thank me profusely for the directions for a mailmerge so she could make letters telling kids how much more was owed for a field trip. She said it was so nice to be able to do this without any struggles, and she’d keep the directions for ever. I just smiled and told her in no time she’d abe able to do this w/out needing the trusty directions.

Another teacher couldn’t get his printer to work. I remarkably walked him through checking the print que, clearing out jobs, and finally getting his printer back into working order—all from the phone.

So far, so good

So I can say that I am keeping my promise, and instead of enabling teachers to be technology illiterate, empowering them to make the tools work for them–independently. W00T!!

So, is anyone else guilty of being an enabler?

Attribution:
Image: ‘Help‘
www.flickr.com/photos/82625518@N00/5228173

This is really a meme–yes another one.  No rules really, but author Joyce Valenza began by asking for blogging advice, and then ended it with the question listed above.   So I will answer the question with a few thoughts:

1. And this is the BIG 1:  My off switch turns on when I must choose between family and the virtual friends and locations.  I would MUCH RATHER spend an evening with them–eating out, going to the movies, watching fireworks, hang, even driving with my husband back to the office late in an evening if he forgot something is so much more fun than blogging, my reader, twitter, Second Life, or any other online presence I might have.  It doesn’t have to be fun or special either–it can be simple, like the drive back to the office, watching a silly tv show together, or dealing with sickness or pain. When it revolves around them, they come first. Period.
2. I will turn the off switch on when I think people are rude, unnecessarily mean, or insensitive. You know the old saying (biblical based) turn the other cheek?  Well I turn the cheek to remove myself. I will avoid things, people, and places that cause me pain or discomfort. It’s only natural. And that can be something mean online or off-line (i.e. that nasty driver who flipped me off b/c I unknowingly cut him off–just steer clear of him.)  I really try not to dwell on these things, just remove myself from them.  It can be difficult though when friends or family dwell on them.  Advice–try to take the high road and don’t dwell on the negative.   I find myself every now and then trying to heed my own advice.

Okay since this is a meme, let’s tag a few people.  She did not say to, so you can disregard if you like.

• Diane Cordell
• Lisa Parisi
• Carolyn Foote
• Sue Waters
  

Okay now back to the task at hand–dinner with my family at home, sweet home.

Attribution:

Image: ‘Prius Power Button‘
www.flickr.com/photos/73621375@N00/1132365