Forgot My Computer at School

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…….can’t access my report cards, upload my photos

Yesterday I stayed at school until 8:00 pm. The school council hosted a Hallowe’en party

for the kids Friday evening and the book fair was open for the parents to browse and shop while their children enjoyed the activities that were organized for them. The principal stayed and helped me at the cash desk while I restocked the shelves, helped parents with their purchases and took a few pictures. When it was time to go home I quickly grabbed my things, locked up and drove home.

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that I had left my laptop at school. It was too late to go back. All I have to work on is the iPad and again I’m having some difficulty writing my post. I’m unable to upload my photos from the camera and as you can see I’m having some spacing issues. The other problem that I have is that our report cards are due on Monday and I can’t access them with the iPad. Hopefully I can input my marks first thing Monday morning before the report cards are printed in the afternoon.

I feel lost without my laptop. How sad is that! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I should be back up to speed on Monday.

I’m Back!

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. it’s Monday and I spent 3 glorious days at the cottage

I did something this weekend that I’ve never done before. I brought my laptop to the cottage. I charged it fully before I left and thought I might try writing stories while I was up there. To my surprise I was able to write 5 articles and uploaded photos and still had some ‘juice’ left at the end of the weekend.

I’m going to start posting the stories over the next 4 days as I get ready for our trip to Ireland. I also heard that my 86 year old dad had a bad fall on the weekend and I will probably take an afternoon to drive out to Oshawa to see for myself that he’s okay. When I talked to him today he said he was sore, bruised and scraped and may have a concussion. Did he go to the hospital after falling 10 feet, heard first off a cliff? No, of course not. He did, however, go to the doctor today and was told he was very lucky. No kidding! He did tell me that he learned a lesson. The next time the dog wants to go down the cliff, he’s going to let the dog go and he’ll take the stairs.

The iPad or my Laptop?

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…… which do I take with me on my trip?

Some of you may have noticed that there were a few days where I didn’t post anything. One reason for this was that I misplaced my power cord for the laptop. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to practise on the iPad. Unfortunately I experienced a few glitches.

One of the difficulties that I had occurred when I tried to tried to put photos into my post. I had a lot of photos to choose from but for some reason many of the photos had changed when they went through the ‘cloud’. Multitudes of them only showed an enlarged area of concrete or the corner of a building. I really didn’t know what I was looking at.

The other problem that occurred was that the photos that appeared to be okay just wouldn’t let me place them where I wanted them or they changed sizes on me. Sometimes the text feature would freeze and I couldn’t type anything. Are these problems related to WordPress. Heaven forbid!

I’m not sure that I want to use the iPad as my main photographic device but I don’t know how to get my photos from my camera onto the iPad without putting them into my laptop first. I really don’t want to take both my laptop and the iPad. I think I may be able to use the camera’s cable to upload photos but I haven’t tried that yet.

Does anyone have experience with an iPad? Have you ever had any of these problems? I would really appreciate some input from my followers. I’ll keep playing with it. It would certainly weigh less than my laptop and be much easier to carry on the plane. If all else fails I can try making an appointment at the Genius Bar at Apple.

So that’s why I hadn’t written in a few days. I tried but to no avail. The last few days have been hectic and when I’d get home in the evenings, I was exhausted. I actually started this post last night but fell asleep near the beginning of it. I can finally say “SCHOOL’S OUT“.

One Day Left in April

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..and I’m still shy 2 new followers to reach my goal of 300

April has been an interesting month. I reached 10 000 views and in fact this month I set a record for the most views in one month since I started blogging one year ago. I also had my best day for views yesterday.

Recently I mentioned that I’ve met some wonderful people since I started blogging. We comment back and forth so often that I feel we’ve really made a connection. Thank you for all your kind words and your support.

This weekend I experienced a first for me. Someone I’ve never met before came across my blog while she was helping her daughter with a homework project. They were researching watercolour painters and they saw my post Painting at 91. The mom realized that she knew the family in the photo. In fact she’d been looking for my friend L for years. They met during high school when L was studying in France. They lost touch with each other about 18 years ago. Now they’re about to reconnect, despite living an ocean apart. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

Love hearing from you? What was the most interesting experience you’ve had since you first started blogging?

Cheers!

Another New Computer and Long Overdue Photos

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. took the new one back and exchanged it for the newest version

Last night I couldn’t believe that Apple introduced a new version of the MacBook Pro, one week after buying my laptop. It was more powerful and cheaper. I checked my receipt and learned that I could return my purchase up to June 18th. I expected a fight but got quite the opposite.

Returning my purchase was painless. It couldn’t have been easier. So here I sit with a ‘newer’ laptop. K figures it will last just that much longer than the last version. My love for Apple has been renewed.

I’ve finally been able to access my photos. They include pictures of our special lunch with K after his last chemo treatment.

Me, A and J.

Hamming it up for the camera.

That’s better!

Late for My Appointment, Lost My Glasses

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. not sure I feel any smarter

I was so looking forward to going to the Genius Bar and learning the nuances of my new laptop. The problem was I started to mark projects after school and I totally lost track of the time. When I looked at the clock it was already 5:45 and my appointment was at 5:00.

I decided to go to the store anyway, apologize for missing my appointment and book another time. However, as I was packing up to leave I couldn’t find my glasses. I remember taking them off to read and mark the projects but I could not find them. I ran between my 2 classrooms looking for them but no luck. Luckily I had my prescription sunglasses in my purse so I was able to drive.

I got to the mall shortly after 6:00 and waited to be served. Normally when you walk into the Apple store you are accosted by an employee within seconds. Today the store was busier than ever and after waiting about 10 minutes I finally found someone to help me. I apologized for missing my appointment and moaned about some of the problems I was having with my new computer. The receptionist quickly booked another appointment for 7:00 that same evening.

I went back into the mall and grabbed a package of sushi and an iced coffee (no sugar) and found a table to sit and eat my ‘dinner’. I find sushi works well in a pinch when you need to eat something on the run and sitting down at a table is key for me. I actually feel like I’m having a proper meal. I know it’s all psychological but it helps because I am focused on what I’m eating.

My new laptop in all its glory at the Genius Bar.

Back at the Genius Bar a very nice woman helped me with some of the ins and outs of my laptop. It’s amazing how much has changed in less than four years. In one hour I was able to transfer all my photos from my old computer and copy all my songs, videos, and films from iTunes. We also set up iCloud on my phone and I learned how to stream my photos from my phone to the computer. She also showed me how to transfer my contact list from the computer right to my phone. I couldn’t believe how fast it was. I had actually started to add each contact individually. It was going to take me forever.

When my hour was up I still had to transfer my music from iTunes into my new iTunes and I was under the impression that it was as simple as dragging the folder into the new folder. Well apparently not! Another technician came over to help me and my ‘copied’ music was downloading again but this time it took over an hour. The store literally closed down, the cleaners had arrived and the staff was leaving before I could leave.

When I got outside it was actually dark and because I had lost my glasses earlier I had to drive home with my sunglasses on. A very strange feeling indeed. Needless to say I arrived home safe and sound.