Computers

My kids went to a magnet school where they were taught to embrace learning by being unafraid to try things and to think outside of the box. That approach to learning was in stark contrast to what I experienced growing up. I went to a private parochial school, where I was taught that there was one correct way to approach anything, one colored inside the lines, and one began reading a book on page 1 and then read each page sequentially to the end.

Consequently, when we bought our first computer I was terrified to even turn it on by myself. My son assured me that it was okay to play around with all the buttons, nothing bad would happen, and everything was reversable. He was proven correct one day when he changed the language of the computer to Dutch and we had to wait until my husband returned home to change the setting back to English. My kids have been my best teachers and I have taken their tutelage to heart. This blog is proof of that assertion. I created it all by myself, by just clicking on choices provided. I proceeded with the thought that anything I did could be undone. I was fearless, so yesterday I implemented Adsence on this blog. I was assured that Google would read the contents of the blog and place ads appropriate to the content. In my mind's eye I was seeing ads for books on knitting or gardening. The first ads to appear were about buying fig trees and rosemary plants. That was alright. I was less thrilled with the blurb for herbs to alleviate the symptoms of menopause. What frosted my cookies, however, was one big stinking ad in red print that began, "Hello, my name is Marcus...." So, I quickly tried to undo what I had done. I found out that I had to remove the HTML code that I had inserted on my page. Easier said than done. I kept getting messages that indicated that my code was not formed correctly. Yes, they had suggested that before I changed my code I copy the code template in case I needed to reverse my changes, but I didn't do that. That would not be fearless, and, truth be told, I had grown an inflated sense of my own abilities. So I was reduced to searching out a HTML "code for dummies" page and tried to figure out how one constructs correct and proper code. After multiple attempts I got lucky. Things are back to normal. I have a feeling I will be leaving well enough alone, at least for the time being. I feel like I dodged a bullet. I would have hated to bail on the blog because it took on a life of its own as a crazy dating site.