Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most
For the last year or so, I've had a really hard time remembering things. I used to be able to watch a TV show and within the first minute recognize that I'd seen it before "Oh yeah, this is the one where Bobby gets all upset and everyone thinks he's run away from home, but then Alice finds him in Tiger's dog house." Okay, so maybe I don't remember that so well either, but it was 25 years ago, what do you expect? Now, I can't even remember a show I saw a month ago. Sometimes I'll sit through the first 20 minutes before I realize I've seen it.
What was I saying? Oh yeah, the memory thing. Before we left for MN last week, I got a bill from Macy's saying I hadn't paid them and I owed them an extra $25 for a late payment fee. I had returned nearly all of the items that I owed them for and paid off the balance, or so I thought. So I figured it was some mix-up and I put it with the other bills to deal with later. Then I promptly forgot about it and all our other bills that are usually due around the 15th.
When we got home tonight and I opened the mail, there were a few other creditors demanding money and extra fees from me. Crap!
After updating the computer and getting everything in order, I realized that I entered the Macy's payment in the computer last month and then didn't actually send them the money. The other bills were one-time things that weren't in the typical bill-paying spot, so they simply didn't get paid. In the past, I would've remembered that an unusual bill had arrived, but not anymore . . .
This whole thing is compounded by the fact that we upgraded our copy of Microsoft Money a few months ago. The software was designed for the person who stops writing checks for a week or so, and then calls the bank to find out his balance. It was not designed for someone like me, who is severely anal-retentive about our finances. I have categories and sub-categories, and sub-categories of sub-categories, and I record everything to the penny. (Does that surprise you? I didn't think so.)
In the interest of making things oh-so easy and user-friendly, the program connects to the bank and downloads my transactions, and it does some other behind-the-scenes stuff so I don't have to "worry" about it. But of course, it does things I don't want it to do and things I don't expect. So now it takes me more time instead of less to pay the bills because I have to go searching for transactions or because I have to figure out where a transaction came from. Arrrggghhhh! It's so frustrating!
Is this how technology phobias begin? Just last week, I was telling Kelly about someone I know who refuses to get a debit card, and she told me about her co-worker who has no interest in direct deposit. We agreed that we don't want to become set in our ways and fearful about technology as we age. But I didn't expect my "aging" to begin at 35!
What was I saying? Oh yeah, the memory thing. Before we left for MN last week, I got a bill from Macy's saying I hadn't paid them and I owed them an extra $25 for a late payment fee. I had returned nearly all of the items that I owed them for and paid off the balance, or so I thought. So I figured it was some mix-up and I put it with the other bills to deal with later. Then I promptly forgot about it and all our other bills that are usually due around the 15th.
When we got home tonight and I opened the mail, there were a few other creditors demanding money and extra fees from me. Crap!
After updating the computer and getting everything in order, I realized that I entered the Macy's payment in the computer last month and then didn't actually send them the money. The other bills were one-time things that weren't in the typical bill-paying spot, so they simply didn't get paid. In the past, I would've remembered that an unusual bill had arrived, but not anymore . . .
This whole thing is compounded by the fact that we upgraded our copy of Microsoft Money a few months ago. The software was designed for the person who stops writing checks for a week or so, and then calls the bank to find out his balance. It was not designed for someone like me, who is severely anal-retentive about our finances. I have categories and sub-categories, and sub-categories of sub-categories, and I record everything to the penny. (Does that surprise you? I didn't think so.)
In the interest of making things oh-so easy and user-friendly, the program connects to the bank and downloads my transactions, and it does some other behind-the-scenes stuff so I don't have to "worry" about it. But of course, it does things I don't want it to do and things I don't expect. So now it takes me more time instead of less to pay the bills because I have to go searching for transactions or because I have to figure out where a transaction came from. Arrrggghhhh! It's so frustrating!
Is this how technology phobias begin? Just last week, I was telling Kelly about someone I know who refuses to get a debit card, and she told me about her co-worker who has no interest in direct deposit. We agreed that we don't want to become set in our ways and fearful about technology as we age. But I didn't expect my "aging" to begin at 35!
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 13, 2005 at 11:05 PM.
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