Technology and the gods, part II

When last I wrote about my travails on Saturday I was continuing to present information without the benefit of the projector. I could see my computer screen, but the students could not. It sort of takes the power out of the presentation.

I persevered until lunch time. At that time I knew I would have time to figure out if I could get the projector to work. Fortunately, one of the students suggested going on line to get assistance from the manufacturer of the projector, Duh, why hadn't I thought of that. Thank goodness Arch did. Luckily I was able to access the internet. Google is a marvelous tool. It took me less than 30 seconds to find the appropriate web site. I asked my question about resetting the lamp time and got a set of instructions. The instructions worked. I was able to reset the lamp timer. Wow, I'm home free. Let's see how it works. It didn't. Rats. I pressed on and we finished the day without the projector.

I called home, as I usually do prior to leaving the classroom. Upon getting back to Lansing I proceeded to the gas station for obvious reasons. When I got to the intersection near the gas station I was surprised to see Lansing's finest directing traffic. After passing through the intersection I proceeded to the gas station to learn that the electricity was out. No gas now. Perhaps later.

I drove home, hit the garage door opener, drove into the drive and parked on the driveway. You guessed it, the power was out there too. Maryann came out to meet me to confirm that we had no electricity. We had lost it about a half hour prior to my arrival home. Are we going out for dinner? No way. Dinner preparations are underway and we will wait for the power to come back on. There is time for a glass of wine or a beer or two. About 7 PM the power comes back on and we have a marvelous shrimp, mushroom and spaghetti dinner.

While waiting for dinner I was able to contact my contact at the Association where I do my teaching. I am promised a different projector for Sunday's class. It was there and it worked very well.

Well, what can I say. If you are going to make lemonade out of the lemons you get, be sure to have a decent gin to lace it.

Serve well!