Blah-ditty-blah

me, the computer tutor. . .

so the production director came up to me earlier in the week and asked, 'erika, you run on a mac don't you?'

me, hesitantly. . . 'yeah'

PD-'i'm going to borrow you for a little while.'

so we walked down to the ranch where the admisistrative offices are, and he explained the deal. there's this woman, -i guess she's a deisgn consultant or something- and she's been put in charge of collecting pictures for the 50th anniversary book for the santa fe opera. she recently bought a top model powerbook and is having some trouble.

immediately i think i'm in over my head, she's probably deep, deep in photoshop, and i won't really be able to help her. when i meet her, i remember her a little from last year. while were were emptying the crosby house (the founder of the opera who had died) she was taking pictures and measuring pieces of furniture to be used in the ny office. i wasn't very fond of her. she came off as rather snooty, and well, when we had to make a special trip back to the opera building in order to furnish her coke with ice. . . that clinched it for me. so, i didn't like her, but i didn't have to deal with her much.

i sat down with her for a little while to see if i can figure out the problems she is having with her mac, thinking for sure that i would shortly be on the phone with my friends who know much more then me, and who i call when i have questions about my own machine. in front of her at her desk was a 17" brand new powerbook. . . excuse my while i grab a bowl to catch my drool. . . and the problem she was having? she had never used a computer before. . . . never. . . . . and i mean. . . . NEVER! i think she's probably in her early sixties. . . but i'm really bad at guessing age.

her partner apparently does all the computer work for whatever firm she works for. . or owns. . . or whatever, i'm not sure. and she's never picked one up. so, she's using photoshop to look at pictures on discs to see if she wants any of them. now, photoshop, a really great mac. . . these would be great tools in the hands of a designer who knew what they were doing, . . . this was not that designer. after a couple of hours, i realized that although preview is the easiest, maybe fastest way to look through pictures. . . this woman really just wants large pictures to scroll past her view, then she wants to be able to save or delete them. . or consider having them touched up.

i do quite a bit of work with editing pictures, mostly for my own purposes, and i have my own ways of working through a stack of files. . . . every time she asks me a question, i'm aware of about 4 to 8 ways of answering it. it depends on your preference, or how you want to use them later, or. . . .

but she's not sure of how they will be used. . . and having no prior experiece with computers, she has no preferences. so i try to come at it form her perspective. something easy where she can see large pictures. . . . and in a graceful manner- clicking through files is unappealing to her. so, she now glances at slideshows in iphoto. . .

i could go into minute details of how the concept of opening windows and programs, as well as the simple manipulation of a mouse is beyond her comprehension.. . . but there is too much.

anyway, since we are short on time, i figure she'll pick up this stuff suzuki method. i've made small instructions windows that detail how to perform certain functions. and last night i backed up everything she has so far. . . so i think she'll make deletions and such from here on. i'm still really nervous that she'll try to open and use photoshop. it's so easy to get lost, and lose a lot of time there.

however, after several hours this week, i still see why she drives other people nuts, but she's been nothing but sweet to me. aside from the fact that she thinks i'm an absolute genius on the computer- totally not true, we've had some interesting chats. for a woman that seems all worldy and an intellectual superior, after swearing in front of me several times (both in english and in french) -usually when she double clicks incorrectly. . . she then checked to see if i was a born again christian or something, afraid that maybe her language would bother me. i assured her that it didn't. then, after sharing some brie, she complained about how gassy she was feeling. she excused herself for a cigarette and when she returned said she was glad to have passed gas while out there since it had been so loud.

i have to say, this isn't a side of her i expected to become aquainted with. honestly, i am enjoying it. i know she is good friends with our general director, so she sometimes chats about him. . and it's just interesting to hear about people from this entirely different perspective. and i'm getting to see all these pictures from productions that i haven't seen before. . . and to hear her talk about them from an artistic eye is educational to me. i only wish she had a little more practical knowledge in working computers, since it would make it slightly less frustrationg.

other than that, it's beena fairly normal week.