Computer Woes

            When it comes to computers, I'll be the first to admit that I'm no genius.  For anyone who cares to listen, I have a pretty standard "excuse" for my lack of computer skills.   I was born in the early Sixties (exact year withheld) and by the time I reached high school, I proudly boasted a typing speed in excess of 40 words per minute.  Yes, typing was the closest technological advance I mastered as far as anything close to a computer was concerned in those days.

            I was editor of the high school newspaper, and during my senior year our school purchased two newfangled contraptions called Wang word processors.  They sat on two desks alongside the blackboard of our classroom, and every once in awhile I would go over and sneak a peak at them when no one else was looking.  The fact that this machine allowed you to type a paper without using correction tape was proof to me that the world was making huge advancement in technological development.  Nevertheless, the whole thing petrified me, and I can safely assume that none of my classmates will ever recount a memory of me sitting in front of the Wang and producing anything on it.

            After that, I managed to get through college with my trusty Smith Carona typewriter.  I thought it was fairly advanced since it too did away with hand fed correction tape.  Just hit backspace and correction tape would magically appear thus erasing any error.

            In law school, a classmate of mine who'd been a Computer Science major at Harvard showed up at school with a Macintosh personal computer.  He even let me borrow it once to type a brief for class.  Not wishing to appear ignorant, I didn't ask a lot of questions before carting it over to my apartment.  In retrospect, I should have just swallowed my pride and asked a few simple directions since it took me a good hour just to figure out how to turn the darn thing on.

            I'm pleased to report that in the ensuing decades, I've come a long way in using a computer.  I'm far from perfect though.  I still fear a Trojan Horse virus or some Internet thief bent on stealing my identity to the point that if any pop up, even one with Bill Gates' picture, Social Security number, and thumb print appears on my screen, imploring me to acknowledge it, I either hit the "X" as fast as I can or call my husband who might be in the middle of an important meeting with a major client abroad and ask him which button I should push.  I know that's pathetic, but sadly, it's true.

            Why do I bring this up?  Simple.  Since starting my business from home I've learned how crucial a computer really is to my company's success.

            I've been trying to get by using the computer I share with my husband and children.  I've downloaded business software and other necessary information which now competes for space among the icons on my desktop with I Tunes and the kids' Roller Coaster Tycoon game.  Not only is this not very professional looking, but it has its own share of technological problems.

            Since we've all started sharing this single computer, we've had to increase the memory on our hard drive multiple times.  My son can no longer log on to the Webkinz site for reasons not clear to any of us and the "high speed Internet" I've been paying for runs at about the same speed as my oldest child getting ready for school in the morning.

            I'm at a loss now as to what to do.  I could purchase a computer just for me.  It would be a business expense, so I could justify doing it, but it's still a cost I don't really want to incur right now. I could also behave like the dictator of some third world country and issue an edict that the existing computer is now exclusively mine and forbid anyone else in the family from using it, but I'm pretty sure I know where that would get me (and it wouldn't be far).

            The bottom line is that this is yet another unexpected issue I've had to encounter since starting a business from home.  It ranks right up there with having to sort through the paper in the printer tray to find out what is business and what is a coloring sheet my six-year-old printed from the Internet. I would gladly welcome any suggestions or stories as to how other work from home moms deal with this issue.

            In the meantime, I'd better log off for now.  My sixth grader needs to do his homework.