Just A Routine

I believe in telling the truth so I’ll do that now.

It has not been the “best of weeks.” Yes, and I won’t deny it, the election left me well, shall I say, “Unhappy.”

And now we won’t mention that again. However, any other negative emotion I felt was definitely due to a minor ankle injury. Nothing life threatening or complicated, but definitely causing a lack of mobility.

Between the two unrelated events, I was not “In the best of moods.” I did all the things that normally raise my spirits, exercise, meditation and yes, of course, music.

Then I decided to take advantage of the time available and turned on my wonderful new Ipad Pro 2.

At that precise moment I realized I was in trouble. My new device is approximately six months old. It is also programmed to automatically add all new and exciting IOS updates. I have been advised this is a very good thing.

Well, because I am telling the truth, the advice in my case was definitely NOT a good thing.

Soon after 10S 14.0 arrived, users (not I) determined there were “issues.”. To circumvent the issues, IOS 14.1 was quickly automatically installed and that’s where my story begins.

Yesterday afternoon, I turned on my IPad to make a few minor changes on page 86 of Thorns of Gold, the new ms.

Suddenly, an intruder, an unwanted virtual keyboard, totally blocked my corrections. Quickly, I returned the ms to documents and phoned my new best friend, Apple Support.

Of course, there are many friends in the Apple family and the charming gentleman who answered my call resides in another country, and speaks another language. We managed to overcome that obstacle until he explained my device had not been “Invaded by a gremlin,” but needed to upgrade to IOS 14.2. He offered to guide me through the process, and onward we moved.

Until somehow we hit a verbal snag. I admit I may have become emotional, but I inadvertently answered one of the device’s questions incorrectly. Okay, I admit maybe I did it twice

Now the new gentlman in my life became impatient warning, “One more mistake and your IPad will be purged. Nothing can ever be restored. Think and don’t make another mistake.”

Well, warnings like that reduce me to tears and fear, and my mind went blank searching for the right answers. Purging meant loss of ms. for the ten books currently on Amazon as well as my beloved friends and family’s addresses and phone numbers along with a myriad of equally vital information.

I panicked, and I knew only one person could help. My grandson, Will. I put in an immediate call for his assistance. Within minutes he responded with the precise information I needed, and I was able to download IOS 14.2.

I was so completely happy with IOS 13 and all its extended family. I question the superior intellects at Apple who chose to move forward and refuse to leave me in the yesterdays of the tech world. I was completely content without a virtual keyboard or new wallpaper or a screen that refreshes far faster than my aged fingers.

I wonder if I am the only one who would be receptive to the availability of old upgrades? It was a comfortable world we shared, and I never lost a comma. Today I lost an entire paragraph and I presume it is now floating on ICloud, but not mine.

However, I suppose it would be appropriate to give credit to the innovator of IOS 14.0, etc. for moving me temporarily away from the angst of the ongoing 2020 election.