Here we go again, another new writing program. Maybe this is the one that I have been looking for. I hope so. I seem to spend a lot of time just trying to keep up with new-fangled programs.

As I write this piece, I have to say I have just completed putting my computer back together again. Last night the old machine crashed on me again.

When you buy something new like a car or TV or a computer it becomes old by the time you set it up. It has been my experience that the old way of doing things changes and you are forced to learn a new system. Examples of this are programs from Windows which started for me with windows 95 then there was Windows 98 followed by Windows XP. Just this month Windows announced that they were no longer going to offer support programs for Windows XP. You can still get support but it will have to be from another source. Even the writing program that I have used for years has changed. This article is being done on something called Open Office Writer.

Prier to the middle 90s, I did not know anything about computers. There were computers at work. They were easy to learn and just took care of one problem, like running on and off lights and locking doors and turning on and off the equipment used in the office. Another computer turned the security systems on or off and would report any doors or windows being opened after office hours.

My boss introduced me to a home computer when I first moved to Charles Town. The computer he gave was an old Mac, which at the time seemed like an easy machine to work. The modem was in the tower and was easy to operate. Getting online was easy and fast. Now there are wireless modems and with the newer models you have a phone-line split as well as trying to get the computer to accept the modems which are an add on and no longer part of the installation program.

I have written before about how I started life with just a pencil and a piece of paper. I must say that every now and then, I miss the old system. At least if I had a problem with words I could look them up in a dictionary. Now there is the spell check. If I miss the word son by spelling it sun the checker does not catch the difference. I look like a first grader saying how much I love the sun instead of another person who was my son.

I am thinking about getting the latest system like Windows 7 now as I go to buy the new system they have come out with Windows 8. I have decided to keep what I have. I have resigned my self to the fact that this old machine will crash and I will have to go to a second hand store to see if I can find a machine that is close to the one I have now.

Life goes on my friends and so does the frustrations of working with a computer. But in the scheme of things computer problems can be trivial compared to other problems that we face in life.