No Computer Genius

I’m no computer genius, that is a given.  I can get my way around Quicken for home finances, bank online, download photos and books, send emails but I can’t write code, photoshop anything or figure out how to properly resize things sometimes.  My skills are limited.  I tried to start up an online store a few years ago and even though all the experts said how easy it was to do, that anyone with limited computer knowledge could be up and selling within the hour after picking a name and a store platform, I could not.  OMG.  These people should be arrested for giving false hope, fined at the very least, or perhaps just sharply rapped, and I mean really sharply, on the knuckles for making people like me think it was possible to do that. The reviewers definition of computer skill levels was obviously in another galaxy from my definition.

This is how I felt when I started...a strong, smart woman dominating her computer....

 I did my homework, read the reviews of the various online store platforms and chose one. I had my store name and concept and was ready to go.   Did I already say OMG!?? Between headers and footers, banners and widgets I was painfully in over my head.  I actually broke my store.  I ran into so many problems that the help desk couldn’t help me. Seriously. They had to refer my problem to some other wizard and get back to me in a few days. It was painfully disheartening.  I’m a smart person, good at following directions and was confident that with some trial and error I would get this thing done. I could not get this thing done.  Yes, I could have paid someone $1000 to set the whole thing up but that would have probably wiped out a year’s profit from what was going to be my little business.  

While waiting for my store site to recover from its latest injury inflicted by me ( I sort of imagined my store lying in a hospital bed in traction with its head wrapped in bandages saying, Please no… no more…)  I decided to move the large photo printer I had bought to make the cards with that were to be part of my inventory.  It just needed to be moved from one side of my office to the other. Simple.  I picked it up, took two steps and tripped on something I had left on the floor (no kids left at home to blame for that) and took a flying leap towards the open door of my office.  I landed with a massive thump on my side and the printer went sailing out of my hands and crashed down onto the hardwood floor of the foyer about three feet in front of me.  The only bright spot? No one was there to witness the scene. Now I envisioned my printer lying in a hospital bed next to my store, pins and screws holding it together, suffering.  I felt bad.
                                                                      
 This is how I felt afterwards......

It took a few minutes to get over the pain and shock of what had just happened.  And a lot of really foul swearing. I picked myself up, already a nasty bruise starting to colour up, gathered my printer into my arms and carefully placed it onto the desk area where I had wanted it to be.  I couldn’t look it in the eye, had to turn my face away in shame.  I sat down at my desk and deleted my online store.  A faint puff of air crossed my face that I took to be the sigh of relief from the help desk at the hosting site for my store.   Sometimes you just have to know when to call it.