Computer woes

My computer’s handwriting input panel is evidently in the throes of its fixin’ to die rag. When I resort to its virtual keyboard, it stalls, delays transfer of the letter I peck with my stylus to its screen destination, and, more and more frequently, refuses to acknowledge my stylus’s tap on the space bar. My husband has researched remedies and implemented various fixes. But improvement is transitory; my computer inevitably reverts to its frustrating behaviors. I fear my Samsung Slate is becoming a dear, as in an old, mind-corrupted dear. And the dear is only four years old.

Because of my own advancing dearness, I am grateful for the advent of stylus input, either by handwriting or virtual keyboard, because a chronic RSI makes it too excruciating to type. I simply cannot type with my fingers on a keyboard.

I tried for some time to use DragonSpeaking, a voice-activated means of actual type input. But evidently I lacked the sort of voice that commands accurate activation of these things. Thankfully, the handwriting input technology came out right about the time I realized I had no options but to concede to the reality that Dragon was never going to work for me. It was a doomed alliance, a case of different destinies.

To use the handwriting input panel, I print each letter in a space, and Slate either reads it, makes up something else entirely, or quits and forces me to resort to pecking on the virtual keyboard with my stylus. Right now, neither of my input options is working well or consistently, and frustration doesn’t help. It means writing less, “Liking” blog posts instead of commenting, calling friends on the phone instead of using guaranteed mutually convenient email, and caving to moronic truncations of words.

Another thing that is not helpful is being told that my computer is near or at the end of its useful life—an opinion one should keep to oneself, even if one is a very good friend of many years and an accomplished self-styled geek.

All right. I aspire to dismiss my frustration and somehow continue writing with more usual frequency. In the meantime, I will try to produce more and better photos.