My quest for frictionless use of Dragon, my voice recognition software, was going rather slow. After it turned out that it was unclear why my laptop wasn't functioning as well with Dragon as my desktop had, the helpdesk caved in and offered me a desktop. The first issue with that was that they forgot to give me a power cable. The next thing with that was it, of course, did not have Dragon on it. So I would have to install it without using my voice. I was very nervous about that! And just around that time, my graphic tablet packed in. Great. I really really don't want to use a mouse more than absolutely strictly necessary. So I waited for the new tablet. And then one day I gave it a go, only to find out that I couldn't log into this computer. So I had to go back to the helpdesk with it.
A very friendly man sorted the computer out. He said that as I had never logged on to this computer before, it could not connect with, well, anything really, in my home office. If I would just login right there at the helpdesk, while it was connected to the University network, then the computer would recognise me and be able to also let me log in when I have it plugged into my own private network. And so that is what I did. The computer was a bit slow, and at some point the man asked if I minded if he left for a few minutes. I didn't. But that did mean I was the only person in the helpdesk! I found that a bit absurd. Imagine the damage I could do! His computer was open. But I am not that way inclined and I just patiently waited. And while he was away, nobody appeared at the counter for support.
Soon I was ready to carry the computer back to my car. And then I went home and tried to install Dragon on it. This didn't go so well; I seemed to need administrator rights. And I don't have these, and they also don't give them to people have their computer at home. I phoned the helpdesk again. And I was answered by someone entirely different. He quickly diagnosed that the computer wasn't set up to be used in a home office. He said that I would be okay if I went into the office with it. But I don't want to use it in the office! But he is partially right; if I get it to work there, at least I know it works. But I don't want to only have to commute to the office every day just because the helpdesk doesn't want to reconfigure my desktop for home use. So for now I am back on the laptop. This saga is long and getting tedious! And I still have pain in my arms. I was feeling more optimistic while things got better all the time, be it slowly. Now I have been first going in the other direction, and then stationary for a while. Not very satisfying! But I might just put my foot down and demand that they configure it for my home office. It's all very well that that is a bit of a job, but if they make me commute when I don't have to, then that is a lot of time waste for me. My time counts too. So stay tuned!
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