AMAZON

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Aging Is Just; Microsoft Is Not Just

Joseph Campbell, in an interview a few years before his death, was asked what he had learned from his lifetime study of the legends and mythology. His response was that, as he grew older and lost abilities of his body and mind, he was informed by the great myths not to mourn or try to hold on to those abilities. Rather, he accepted the loss as part of the process of life, just as death is part of the process.

As I approach my 61st birthday, I accept that I have no real control on the aging process. I write this knowing that there are people of my own generation who desire to live for ever and actively fight growing old. I also know that they will not win their battle against aging and, eventually, death. That's the reality of life! And it is just.

Today I lost access to Microsoft Office, including Word, which I have used to write this blog from its outset. That loss has nothing to do with aging; it has to do with growing poorer.


I first purchased Office three computers ago, when I bought my first notebook computer to replace the desktop that my #1 son, Nick III, had built for me from a kit. When that first notebook was destroyed by the woman (I have called her "Candy" in this blog) who poured Mr. Clean over it, I purchased Office a second time with my second Notebook, which was destroyed when Alex knocked a bottle of Dr. Pepper on it three months ago. I am now financially unable to purchase Office a third time.

I don't believe this is just! How many times must one purchase the same program--each time one purchases a new computer?

Please excuse any typos and misspellings. I have composed this on Wordpad.

ADDENDUM

I discovered this afternoon that I no longer have email. I can receive it on MS Outlook but cannot send it. I also have Outlook Express but can't get it set up to work. I am beginning to truly dislike Microsoft!

15 comments:

  1. You might like the AbiWord word processor. It's not as fully-featured as Microsoft Word, but it does have one tremendous advantage- it's free.

    You can download it at http://www.abisource.com/download/

    ReplyDelete
  2. THOMAS: Thank you, Thomas. I have downloaded it and it works fine. What I miss about Office is the ability to highlight and copy text. Oh, well, I accept the loss of Office as I must accept so much else in life. I know that life is basically good and am thankful for friends such as you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick, check your old start up disk (if you still have it), my mother bought Microsoft Office and you are allowed to install it onto three seperate computers, perhaps that is the case with the version you have? Worth a shot anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SILVER NEUROTIC: Thanks for the suggestion. I have the old disks from the first installation. However, I do not have the code to install them. I have looked everywhere, bit can't find it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nick, Your post was just fine. You write better without Word than I do with it. Maybe someone has a copy that they will share with you. I hope so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't even notice if you write your posts on word, or office, or not on word,or office, Nick. :o)

    I'm just glad you write and post... and I'm glad that I clicked on over from Pinks. :o)

    (If I tried to use word office or whatever, I'd probably confuddle my poor brain so much, that my head would overheat, and steam would shoot out from my ears! lol)

    ReplyDelete
  7. SSN - I hate monopolies!

    By the way...I'm glad you plan to grow old gracefully...I can only say I'm doing it disgracefully.

    I love typos. spellying mkistrakes make me know that others are just as human as I am.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. SSN - I hate monopolies!

    By the way...I'm glad you plan to grow old gracefully...I can only say I'm doing it disgracefully.

    I love typos. spellying mkistrakes make me know that others are just as human as I am.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are so right! I hate Microsoft, i believe they deliberately put bugs in the programs to force us to purchase the fixes or new programs!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rev. Saint Nick, do you believe that God is telling you something?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sometimes Microsoft seems like what I have heard the Army described as - A multi-million dollar harassment program. ec

    ReplyDelete
  12. Try gmail Nick. It should work for you. Then we can gchat too! Hey, at least your blogger comments are working. Mine aren't :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've had good luck with my account at hotmail.com. It's another freebee, and might be useful as a backup.

    ReplyDelete