News Flash ... Bob has a tablet!

Finally ... a light at the end of the tunnel

For almost 25 years I've been trying to get Everlovin' interested in computers. When we lived in Naples, Florida, there was a wonderful computer club, PCBUG. The members were extraordinarily congenial, helpful, and in our age group, but he would never accompany me to a meeting. I set up side-by-side workstations in the house, and created a wireless network so that the laptop could be used without having to leave his favorite recliner. I shared forwarded email funnies and news stories of interest by handing him the laptop, and created an email account for him. None of this stimulated his interest one bit. He was always content to have his email forwarded to mine so that I could then read it to him, or print a hard copy.

Over the last several months I sensed a break-through. Every time he saw a tablet commercial on TV, whether it be a Kindle, an IPad, an HP TouchPad, or whatever, he always commented on it or asked some question about it. I took this to mean that he was somewhat interested. Now understand this: Everlovin' will go to any length necessary to avoid a situation where he could be perceived as uncool. I knew that he didn't know enough to know where to start shopping or what to look for, so I bought him a tablet, specifically, an Asus Transformer.

The device arrived yesterday, while I was at work. My love called to say that he had opened it and that it was indeed a pretty thing but I couldn't convince him to start the initial 8-hour charge so that we could play with it that evening. Later, it was revealed that he thought it was missing a cable as there seemed no way to connect it to a wall outlet. As this was an open-box special from ebay, that could have been the case, but thankfully, the prongs were folded inside the charger. The tablet charged all night and this morning, while I stood over his shoulder, our new tablet enthusiast tapped the onscreen keys to set up local weather, etc. The Asus made it easy as it immediately found our wireless network. I typed in the long access password to the network that has to be done only once as on-screen typing is a challenge in itself. I also configured the gmail account, after which for the first time ever, my love accessed and read his own email.

Those of you who know my husband know that he is a compulsive neatnik. New experience notwithstanding, his first concern was fingerprints on the touch screen. I cautioned him to keep his beloved Windex away from the Asus. We finished the lesson by taking a quick look at some of the pre-installed apps then put the Asus back to sleep to avoid [Bob's] becoming overwhelmed. He may play with it while I am at work this afternoon. Bottom line is ... I THINK HE LIKES IT!

A case for the unit is due to arrive in the next day or two. Obviously, we're going to need a screen protector and maybe a capacitive stylus. Probably we'll get a micro SDHC card which I will load up with books, a couple of movies, and any games that he takes a fancy to.

Stay tuned while my everlovin' moves into the computer age!