Smile-breaks
That'll teach me!
So I was bored. You kind'a got that idea from my last "exciting day" thing. Never should'a said it. I got my comeuppance the very next day. Not that it was an exciting day. Nope! But I wasn't bored.
After breakfast and a little reading, I logged onto my laptop to check my e-mails and do some online banking. I usually do this on my phone, but not today. Today was meant to be a mean one. I turned on the thing—laptop, that is—and got welcomed by one of those upgrade messages. Microsoft swooped down during the night to mess up my computer—again. How much, I wouldn't know until later.
Obediently I waited and waited and waited for the download to finish and then I waited for the "Install" to finish and then I waited for my computer to shut down and shut on. Okay. Now I can get to my e-mail. Finally. Except. . .
You don't want to know the details; neither did I, for that matter ‘cause I just wanted to get things back to normal and get into my Gmail e-mail. The upshot was—after an hour and a half, that is—dear old Microsoft had changed my web browser to the one it wanted—the Microsoft one, of course—and Gmail didn't recognize me in my new clothes. Clothes being browser.
So I did the logical thing, right? Went to "Settings" and changed back to my old browser. Opened Gmail where a yellow strip across the top informed me this browser was not supported.
How much support does a browser need? Humans need support. I need support. With the best part of my not-so-boring-any-more day gone, I went to "Settings" again and switched back to Microsoft's browser. Yay! Got my urgent e-mail business done. Urgent might be an overstatement, but you know what I mean.
By now my eyes were complaining so I figured I'd quit the computer and I settled in for a late lunch. Then I read for a while and filled in a few words on a crossword puzzle before I went back to the laptop to do my online banking.
Or I would've, if online banking had let me in. Didn't recognize me. Of course. Username and password and the same laptop I always use weren't enough. Had to be the different browser. I slogged through the "We want to make sure you are who you are, so we need a little more information" and answered every nosy question. Not enough. I got sent back to the beginning and I spent the next fifteen minutes going round and round in a loop. Not like the amusement park loops that at least try to make you think you're having fun.
Only one thing left: call the credit union. After giving the rep myriads of personal information and waiting for text message secret codes that never arrived, we gave up, both of us—a whole half hour later. Dinner time had passed; bedtime was fast approaching. I'd have to call my trusty IT guy in the morning.
That night I woke up at midnight, tossing all the private info I'd given online around in my brain. It didn't help that I'd just read a book where the old lady heroine got swindled after giving out her bank information to a stranger on the phone.
With a sigh, I turned on the light by my bed, picked up my phone and signed into online banking. At least I could still do that. Microsoft hadn't been anywhere near my phone. Ever.
Whew! Funds all there. I decided to change my password and username, just in case. When the same screens I'd given my info to earlier popped up, I hollered ‘Yay! I wasn't scammed!" I signed off, turned out the light and went back to sleep.
If I ever complain about having nothing to do all day and being bored, well, um, if you're a true friend, you'll remind me that Microsoft is up there lurking, just waiting for an excuse to send me another upgrade.
