My Spell Checker

If you own a computer, your senior moment could occur at any time. For me, it occurs quite regularly. I have come to expect something unusual, unaccounted for, when I compute on my computer.

This morning I went to my Word Processor, clicked on SeniorMoments, and a blank page, in color (blue), appeared. When I tried to get rid of it, it smiled and said, "Sorry, ol’ man. I’m frozen in time." Well, it was what the business calls frozen. It wouldn’t budge. So, I had to retreat to the old computer trick (invented by Microsoft to be sure) of ctrl-alt-del and sent it to its happy hunting ground. I tried again, deleted it, and then closed the program and started all over. Three times and out!

This time it worked perfectly. Why the glitch I’ll never know but my computer has given me many anxious senior moments.

The computer is a wonder, really, in many ways. I wouldn’t go back to a typewriter, even an electric model, for any reason (except maybe to type an address on an envelope). One of the ingenious inventions is the Spell Checker. This is a magnificent invention. It has saved the day for many students (even grad students who never learned how to spell). But it is not human, and therefore cannot discern variables such as to, too and two and a few other spellings.

This arrived in the mail from a resident in a retirement center, an old friend by the name of Norm Hilleman who contributed it to their bi-monthly magazine. Thanks, Norm. Here it is:

Ah yes, the infallible computer? A marvelous invention to be sure but fallible, you know.