Bipolar Bits and Bytes

I have discovered a new love - the Google Reader.

Now I can just go to one place and see all my time wasting activities laid out, waiting for me. Of course, this makes my time wasting more efficient, which, I guess, is kind of ... redundant. Oh, well, it's a fun new toy that I've found and I'm enjoying it.

Yes, that's right. I declare my discovery of a service that the rest of the world caught on to quite a while ago. That's just my way. I keep seeing the little orangey "RSS" at the bottom of all these blogs and webpages, and wondering exactly how this voodoo works, and keeping clear of it because it is Foreign and New. And my geekiness only extends so far. Beyond a certain point, that's where my brother picks it up and runs with it.

I like to think that I am fairly technically savvy. At work, I am a 'go to' gal for all kinds of things, including spreadsheets and internet stuff, and I usually represent myself pretty respectably. At least to the point that I continue to be a 'go to' gal.

But when it comes to anything that could possibly harm my computer, or my files, then it is Fear. Any windows update, any configuration changes, any unexpected error messages, the 'go to' girl turns into a blubbering mess. Computer problems stress me out more than just about anything. They keep me awake at night. A day that ends without a working computer results in a sleepless night. Whenever I move, and I don't have the internet for several days at a time, I'm a mess, unable to figure out anything from the address of the nearest bank to my bank account numbers.

My main problem (aside from Internet disconnectedness) is when I encounter anything that is New. Now, the RSS feed thing is New, but doesn't really have the potential to do any harm should I screw it up royally. Any time that I encounter anything of that ilk, I run, crying, to my brother. And he tells his geeky friends about the time his computer illiterate sister managed to accidentally unplug her hard drive from the... um.. other thingy ... and then the computer (obviously) wouldn't work and ha ha ha - isn't she a hoot?

How can I feel so intelligent and so stupid all at the same time? It's a gift.