It all started when the screen on my computer went black.

Now, you must understand—I don’t have a clue what to do. I came into this tech world in the seventh decade of my life! However, the black screen was something new even for my tech daughter, who understands all the ins and outs of the computer. A neighbor was able to get the computer up and running— Good move!

We thought my security program must have crashed it, this has happened to me before. It’s like someone or something out there knows I don’t know and attacks me quite often. So, my friend took the security off and installed a different one. All was good! I was excited and started researching on my book again. Bad move!

That’s when the malware started, internet froze up, and my computer took on a life of its own and started opening tabs I didn’t and I couldn’t stop it! Pounding on the red X didn’t work. Hitting Alt and Esc did nothing. There were 15 tabs open all doing their own thing. Eventually I got the monster closed. That’s when I decided I would never get on internet again!

But, hey, I’m a modern woman, its 2016 and I can fix this, so I call my long-suffering daughter for the hundred and some-odd time, and say, “Guess what, computer problems again. I’m getting messages that tell me to call a number, lots and lots of messages.”

“Don’t call that,” she says sternly, “Close down the computer; do not get back on internet.”

Okay, I say, however, she is on her way to Houston for a week and I’m stuck. I’m in the mood and have the time to work on my book, but there are subjects I need to research. Now what? Deciding to ignore the research, I hauled out the heavy dictionary and opened documents and started writing. That worked fine until … I forgot and clicked on the browser. Bad, bad move!

The computer came to life again and opened many, many tabs, all telling me to call this number. I know better now and I eventually get the fiend closed down. Now this is where I learned a very important lesson. I learned if the site says https, malware can’t get to you! Ladies and gentlemen, I’m happy to announce my website at bettykerssgroezinger.com is a safe site! I was able to open my own web page and post a new blog! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Well, the week passed, my daughter came home, and worked on my computer! Here’s what we found out. The tech at Office Depot said that Windows 10 has not yet conquered a blackout problem, but it usually happens to people who have upgraded. Well, wouldn’t you just know—it found me! I didn’t upgrade, I got a new computer with Windows 10 already installed! UGH! We now know it wasn’t the original security that caused the problem, plus we know the new security we installed isn’t powerful enough to prevent malware from attacking.

So here we go again—we took the new security off, re-installed the original one, and it got rid of the malware horrors along with a Trojan virus that had invaded my territory. I’m now back in business—until the next time the screen goes black!

Excited my life was back to normal and I could do my law work, I stumbled into the kitchen at 7:00 yesterday morning, popped a Colombian coffee pod into my Keurig coffee maker, pressed start, and it filled my cup half way with funny-colored water. The readout tells me the coffee machine needs “maintenance.” Now, this machine is just a month old, and I don’t think too well without my first cup of coffee. My old machine has been sent to the land where old coffee makers go so I boil water and make a cup of instant decaf, that’s all I could find with my eyes half open.

Pulling out the instruction book on the coffee machine, I read what I needed to do, stumbled back to the kitchen, and tried to pull the pod holder out of the machine so I could wash it, along with a little green thing that I had to fill with water to clean the sharp needle that just stuck a hole in my finger! Ouch!

The thing won’t come out. I take my decaf and the instruction book along with the magnifying glass to my chair at 8:00 and read the tiny print this time. Back I go to try to remove that rubber holder, but it’s stuck and will not come out. I sit back down and look up Keurig cleaning on my cell phone and read what it says. It tells me it’s very simple, now that was extremely maddening so I turned the phone off. It is 9:00 and I have only had decaf, which doesn’t do the job. I have drunk coffee in the mornings since I as ten years old! I need my coffee!

Back to the darn machine again and I tug and pull and nothing gives. I text my granddaughters and ask what to do. I’m told “to use a little muscle!” I tug harder. It doesn’t give. I look at all the pictures again and it shows a small rubber-looking holder that is supposed to pull out. Well, it doesn’t. And who needs coffee anyway.

I sit down again and drink the last of that nasty decaf! Okay, my granddaughter said to use a little muscle. I go back and tug—really, really hard. I felt a slight movement and then I realized that the small pod holder doesn’t come out, the whole apparatus comes out. The instructions did not show that. Out it comes and that rubber holder with it. And, yes, it all comes apart easily now! I clean it and put it back together, pour 30 ounces of water through it like the book said, refill the water container, and put another Colombian pod in it, and press start. Eureka, I have a full cup of glorious coffee. It’s now 11:00 in the morning and I am happy! I can think again.

What have I learned? First of all, I simply do not function before my first cup of coffee, real coffee, not decaf; that I am seriously behind in my law work; and it is definitely a fact I am not tech-oriented. Possibly, just possibly, if the Keurig thing had happened later in the day I would have had a clearer mind and could have figured out that the instruction book and internet pictures didn’t tell the whole story! I read the instruction book again after real coffee and it did not show the whole apparatus had to be removed.

So like Paul Harvey used to say—Stay tuned for the rest of the story—

and here it is …. Remove the entire black rectangle thing!

 Life is rather like that, isn’t it? It’s a continual learning curve! Sometimes we don’t get all the facts. And some of us don’t know what to do when we get the facts, i.e. computers and me! What I do know for sure is that I am so grateful for friends, daughters, and granddaughters who do understand this world I am now trying to function in and are willing to help me!

Thank you one and all!

You each brighten and enlighten my life!