Really Close Up on Terry

Usually, I’m a pedestrian in the Lloyd District.  The other day I sat down on a bench to watch people.  I discovered something important.

It begins with one fact:  the battery on my laptop is shot.  I’ve never used the feature.  I just plug the computer in to the nearest power socket.

Originally, I bought the laptop as a backup for my desktop computer.  I used it on vacations and trips to conventions regarding the web or search engine optimization.   I used to go to lots of conventions – Webmasters in Las Vegas, SES in San Jose, SMX in Seattle, for examples.  I stayed in a hotel.  The hotels always had an ethernet hookup for internet service.  I would use the computer to make emergency changes to my web site, check email, write, surf the web, rewrite my notes, and so on.

Then, I had a stroke.  The entire right side of the keyboard was a blank.  Painfully slowly, I re-taught myself how to type.    I had to re-learn the keys and used to bug my wife, saying “H-J-K-L-semicolon, N-M-comma-period-slash,” moving my fingers in time with my words.  I had to learn where the keys were and what finger to use.  I can’t type as quickly as I used to and my right hand gets more uncoordinated the closer you get toward to my pinky.

Now I use the laptop more than I use my desktop.  When the desktop died this last winter, I probably shouldn’t have replaced it.

By the way, my lap-top is actually a floor-top.  I lay down on the floor on my stomach, lean against a pillow, the television is on for background noise, and I write away.  “Oo-rah.”  Someday, I’ll be a rich and famous novelist (ha-ha!).

The bottom line?  I don’t really want to replace the battery in the lap-top because this computer is old.  Ancient.  Microsoft has built and implemented two operating systems since I bought this laptop.  I don’t even know when I bought it.

Also, I suck at writing things longhand.  It drains the energy right out of me, I’m slow, my hand feels like it is about to cramp, and my handwriting is sloppy!  I used to have nice handwriting.

Now that I have re-learned to use a keyboard, I much prefer it.

So what did I discover?

On the walkway between Safeway and the Newport Seafood Grill (between Broadway and Weidler at Twelfth Street) there are lamp-posts.  About thigh level, each lamp-post has an electrical outlet with a cap over it.  I saw a guy there with his laptop plugged in.

You can plug in your laptop.

Oo-rah!