It's All About the Tech (and Compassion) in Everyday Ramblings

It was cloudy and cool one day this week and I decided not to walk but I did get out for the mail and to visit about seven feet apart with one of my students who brought by a bag of frozen figs and a container of flour. They had started a kitchen remodel when this all got going and they do not have a functional stove or microwave or…

This is from today on a short walk; it is lovely full on spring out there. I have been out all the other days.

There had been two of my students, a couple, who had not been participating in my online classes and I had another couple that were encouraging me to go back to a two day a week schedule so I encouraged the first couple to join the second online for the Wednesday class this week. Both couples have 12 year old rescue dogs, Mayflower and Tommy and because we were all on video together they got to see each other.

It was fun. For some reason Diego was all over me during this particular class. I apologized at the end and one of the students said it was okay, that he provided comic relief.

My laptop is 10 years old now. I haven’t upgraded the operating system in a number of years. There was a hard drive failure about 5 years ago, the microphone doesn’t work anymore and the battery life is about 45 minutes.

When I was planning my retirement I thought I could get by with a fast powerful iPad Air and bought that last June. I love it and carry it around with me everywhere I go in the house. It is what I have been teaching my classes with.

As my students are starting to pay for these classes I want to be able to teach more traditional ones and so decided to invest in a web cam. They are all backordered but I wanted to get one picked out and in the process discovered that I can’t use a webcam with my iPad.

Most Honorable recently purchased a new Mac Air and is happy with it.

I still use my laptop. I am typing this on it right now. I tried a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad and it is not the same. But I was trying to be practical and frugal. I type my 750 Words posts on it each morning too.

So along comes the stimulus payment.

Two of my students sent me a payment on Tuesday specifically for a web cam.

Have I mentioned lately how great my students are?

Most Honorable has been teaching his classes online for a few weeks and we are in regular conversation about lighting and positioning and chat and…

So I ordered the new Mac Air! I am very excited. For my own personal mental health it makes a huge difference to be able to stay connected to my students. All of whom are basically doing fine during these difficult circumstances.

Once I get the web cam set-up, (I need to order it and receive it), I will offer you all a free online live class… that I will record as well because we have a wide range of time zones here. It will be fun to share what I enjoy so much with you all.

It looks like we are going to be in lockdown here for at least 4 more weeks. My neighbor and I have made the Tuesday early grocery trip a standing date at this point. It anchors our week.

Times are truly scary out there. We all need to feel connected and to have our anchors. I know I need mine and am grateful for the cats, my family, and my neighbors, you all and as mentioned above, my students.

And all those courageous valiant people out there, doing the right thing.

Last updated April 18, 2020