Of Mice and Men

First the facts:

A) I wasn't born with a mouse in my hand.

B) My mother scarred me for life when she said, "Mary Patricia, don't touch the rabbit ears."

C) I tend to attempt fixes first and read instructions later.

Recenty I purchased a second computer since the first was unable to handle both Creative Suite and Revit. My old computer has a Logitech mouse with a receiver that plugs into a USB port. It works fine except that occasionally I hit the receiver on something that causes the port to loosen. Now that that computer is no longer under warranty, I have to be extra careful.

For my new computer I decided to purchase a Logitech Bluetooth mouse. Referring to A above, I must admit that for all I know Bluetooth is a tribe of little pixies inside my computer that work their little magic in ways unknown to me. I don't mind sharing my computer with little whisps of spirits as long as they hold up on their end of the bargain and work. However, last week they went on strike.

Since I suffer from a morbid fear of things electronic, thanks to dear old mom and our 1960 television set (see B above), I am at quite a loss when it comes to handling out-of-whack computer issues. In fact, had I not already spent 45 minutes this week with the men at the UA computer store on other computer issues, I might have ventured a phone call. But frankly, I'm tired of introducing myself as "that middle-aged woman who doesn't know a thing about computers but who can work rather proficiently with some of the software" when I call them for help. They know who I am by that introduction. This time I was going to attempt to remedy the problem myself.

Of course, my first thought on the matter is that I was in need of pixie juice, batteries, that is. After trying a dozen batteries or so, I decided that the problem wasn't with my mouse but with out-of-date batteries. Bill purchased a gazillion new AA batteries from Sam's Club last night, but sadly that wasn't the problem.

Recalling C above, it was now time to employ the benefits of not one but two baccalaureate degrees and research the issue on the Internet myself. I learned that my V470 mouse suffers a frequent failure to connect to the computer. Aargh, I had bought a lemon! I lamely tried the fixes that were offered, but nothing worked. It was late, so I decided to unistall and reinstall the next day.

Having made that decision, I was still in the mood to play on my computer. I am teaching myself the finer points of Photoshop and am learning Illustrator for the first time. However, it was late and I wasn't that serious about undertaking either of those tasks. Instead, I clicked on the Start Button and noticed for the first time time a file called Getting Started. Hmmmm, maybe I should have checked into this when I first got my computer! Yes, well, remember C above. When I got to the Personalize Windows section, I noticed there was a section on the mouse. Well, don't you know that there was a tab under the Change Mouse Pointers entitled Bluetooth. And there, hidden away was the Connect button. Well, I clicked that button and then I clicked the Connect button on the mouse itself, and voila', I solved the problem. Myself. And don't you know, it was a different remedy from what the experts were telling me on the Internet.

I feel quite brilliant at the moment. Well done, Tricia! Maybe those two degrees finally paid off!