Thursday, June 7, 2007

Life Lines

We bought a webcam, so when we call our son's family in KY, we can "see" them! "Them" primarily being our granddaughters.

I hooked the cam up, which was no easy task. Because our tower sits inside a cabinet, I had to pull it out, so I could see the back of it. Doing that made the speaker cords and the mouse cord come unplugged. It took me several minutes to determine which cord was the cam's and which was the mouse's and get everything (re)connected.

I don't know what all runs from our tower: the mouse, the screen, a printer, the speakers, the modem. That's only six cords and a couple I can't account for. But as I followed a line from the tower, untangling and separating them, I felt a bit like a surgeon, trying to determine which blood vessel is the one leaking. Nurse -- flashlight (It's shadowy inside that cabinet), nurse -- dust rag -- to mop up the dust bunnies, nurse -- gauze (to wipe my sweaty brow). Okay -- I said a bit.

Finally, I got everything connected and then opened the software instruction book, which said, "If your webcam is connected to the computer, unconnect it before beginning the installation!" I pulled the tower out again, disconnecting the mouse and speakers again.

When all was installed and reconnected, we called our son. And while we could hear and see them quite well, they had no audio from our end.

Back to the operating table.

1 comment:

Daphne said...

Ha! I sympathize. I've never thought of that mess of wires behind the computer like nerves and blood vessels, but it's a great analogy. I think most electronics have a long way to go before they are truly "user-friendly."