Friday, July 30, 2021

....thinking you know better than Microsoft


I teach online - well, where else can you teach? My laptop is okay for that - an HP I3, although from time to time the cursor seems to freeze for a few seconds. I decided to connect up a full-sized keyboard and it turned out to be a good decision once I had worked out how to place everything. Then the next stage, connecting a large screen Acer monitor proved to be not so trouble-free. I had used this high-resolution monitor with an Acer PC with NVIDIA graphics and it was great for all kinds of software - even the only game I have played, Super Mario. 

I switched on the laptop, connected up the monitor and thought I was now ready to Zoom. I did my stuff with Windows settings but the screen quality was just not there. The auto settings on the monitor didn't improve the situation. I played around with the screen graphics software and thought I had mastered it - but no, too light, too dark, good for text - bad for graphics and the other way around. I put it back in the cupboard. It was not usable as I use a lot of PDF pages with graphics and text when I teach and it strained my eyes. 

That was two months ago. It kept get worrying me, so I decided on one last try. I connected up the monitor to the PC and power supply, switched on the laptop and the large screen came to life with an incredibly clear image. Text - amazing, graphics - I could see fine detail in the images that I had not seen before. Was it a fluke? I switched off and on and I signed in - still everything is amazingly clear. Why? Then I work it out. Windows had set up the monitor for me. I wasted hours with the HP and Windows graphics software settings trying to do it. However, it is no use crying over spilt milk. Quite clearly, there is nothing worse than thinking you know better than Microsoft.

Friday, July 23, 2021

... getting hot feet


As regular readers will know, I have a thing about idioms. I might say, casually, to an acquaintance, "I had planned to row across the Atlantic this summer, but now I have cold feet." However, recently, as happens these days, I was looking at a health website. Surprisingly, to me at least, there was an article about people getting hot feet at night and informing us about 15 ways that sufferers can get relief from this affliction.

One proposed solution was to wear socks in bed. I had previously thought that wearing socks at night was a solution to having cold feet. However, wearing socks can now cool down your feet. Not any socks, of course, but cold therapy socks. Apparently, they are ideal for keeping your feet cool while you sleep. They are socks in which you insert gel packs that you have kept in your freezer. When you are ready to use them, you put the cold packs into the sock inserts. There is one insert at the bottom of the foot and the other on top. So, slip in your gel pack, put on your socks and a night of cold feet awaits you. 

There were a number of online reviews, many that praised the socks. One said that she was unable to sleep at night due to hot feet and described them as a lifesaver. She went on to say that all her life - she was 68 years old - she had suffered from sleep deprivation due to hot feet, and finally, she had found a cure.

Losing confidence about doing something special or different is a problem that most people experience. Due to Covid 19, I have cold feet about leaving the front door.  However, the more I read, the more I am beginning to think that there is nothing worse than having hot feet.