Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

later in life romance novels

USPS Smart Locker vs Baby Boomer Author

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I know what you’re thinking. Why do I still have all these? Because I need to get them shredded. I’ve done that for my desktop hard drives and electronic recycled the towers, no problem, but these guys? eClutter. I have to keep Bugs Bunny, right?

Pretty sure my ovaries got scanned at the Post Office last week. (This is not a conspiracy theory.) I was there to pick up mail at my Post Office Box and a package. Didn’t get my usual locker key or yellow note to come to the counter. Instead, a slip of paper with a QR code on it. (We will not discuss my cranky relationship with QR codes right now. I digress.)

Turns out a shiny USPS Smart Locker had been placed in the bay around the corner. I approached the tall pretty blue behemoth against the wall and was trying to figure out how to use the device. Without my reading glasses on, I guessed I needed to punch in maybe six numbers or letters I couldn’t read. Or scan the QR code.

I had the slip hanging in front of my hip bone while I decided if the two little red lights staring at me might be the right place to scan the paper. About three feet away. Next thing I know, the red lights brightened, the box made a noise, and a small upper left door sprang open.

I had not moved.

It appears the machine took action while I dithered.

USPS Smart Lockers

This seems to explain the general state of tech affairs these days. I had some questions about what just happened, but I grabbed my box of Avon goodies and returned to Subie. Sometimes, you just don’t want to know.

As a Baby Boomer, I had to punch tiny holes in lots of stupid paper cards to make one computer program work to earn my business degree in the early 1980s. Then I was required to learn actual code to launch my first author web site in 1997. Let me explain. I am not a techie. Never aspired to that job. Now I use more than twenty-two software programs to publish my books. And counting.

I believe I should get bonus cookie rewards or frequent flier miles for all of these tech shenanigans I’ve had to navigate. That’s not even mentioning five-and-a-half inch really floppy disks, three-inch not floppy disks, my Palm Pilot, two Blackberry phones, and the first Nook.

Don’t get me started on the ramifications of social media if you don’t know what a dial-up modem sounded like with actual AOL mail.

Which is why my heart was so happy recently watching Craft Day on the Home Shopping Network. The host talked about the great uses of an actual camera and the limitations of cell phone cameras. Yes! Preaching to the choir here.

As a former journalist/photojournalist who had to learn to develop film and print photos for the newspaper, before digital, it was a joy to witness fellow camera geeks in 2024. Even if I am still traumatized from losing an entire roll of breaking news photos to contaminated chemicals for a magazine layout, back in the day. Shudder.

I switched to digital cameras in 2006 and haven’t gone back. But I’ve always had a point and shoot or my 35mm digital camera, and my mini-camcorder, as companions. Use the right tool for the job. But I do have two-thousand some photos to get off my phone. Managed to get about five-hundred moved, so, my Android can think again.

Everything requires maintenance. And more memory. Including me.

Now vinyl records are the cool new thing and folks are fascinated with typewriters. And 1970s fashions are all the rage.

I may accidently be in style again.

But since my ovaries haven’t been active for years, due to blessed menopause, I’d like to thank the USPS for giving them a scan.

I believe they appreciated the attention.

Sometimes, technology is useful.

P.S. I know someone will ask about AI, aka Artificial Intelligence. That is a topic for another time… I have thoughts… But first, chocolate.

*****

Still figuring out how to use my rebooted blog. Perhaps life with KAC will be my theme. That opens up SO MUCH possible material. Thanks for reading!

If you liked this blog post, you can choose a free prequel from two of my military romance series, plus get my almost bi-monthly newsletter as a bonus, by going here and providing your email. I know your time and email inbox are precious treasures, so you can unsubscribe at any time. It’s true, my quirky sense of humor is not for everybody. I’m good with that. You decide.

“USPS Smart Locker vs Baby Boomer Author” copyright © 2024 by Kimberly A. Cook. Image at the top of the blog copyright © 2024 Kimberly A. Cook

 

 

A Fresh Start For Kindness

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Happy New Year, my fellow earthlings. Think I was kind of waiting to see if we actually made it. So far, so good. Bumpy, but we’re coping.

My goals this year are kindness, play, writing, and decluttering.

While I have been doing the last two, I need serious retraining for play, plus I’m working on kindness by trying to do a good deed each day. If I make you smile, this post counts for today’s good deed.

One article I read a long time ago said if you changed three things in your morning routine, it would turn your world upside down. Can’t even imagine what a multiple-year worldwide tri-demic does, but we’re beginning to find out. Think we are upside down, turned inside out, and floating in space.

While the entire planet is in various stages of flux and upheaval, we can recognize we are all in recovery. And that will take as long as it takes and is individual for each person and animal. Basically, this event screwed everybody, mammals, insects, all organisms.

Kindness to ourselves and others is a powerful way to move forward.

On Dec. 8, 2013, I was standing in the customer service line at Kohl’s to pay my almost overdue credit card bill. My dad had died early that morning, and my family were on our way home from saying goodbye to him at the foster home.

Sleep-deprived, grieving, in shock, and pretty exhausted, I felt like an empty vessel. Standing in line was taking way too much energy. After I paid my bill, the clerk gave me a business card. On it said #SHOWKINDNESS. I held onto that little card as if it was a surprise daisy in winter. I still have it.

You never know how you will touch someone’s life in a positive way. And sweet sea biscuits, we need as much kindness and love as we can produce right now.

Take positive baby steps. Whatever you can handle.

Elizabeth Lyon, a favorite writing instructor, talked about one percent improvement a week at a long-ago writing conference. She said we have to “chop wood and carry water” every day to be better writers.       

That goes for kindness and love too.

In that vein, I’m adding some of my new favorite videos to enjoy. I need more play and nature in my life, and given our winter weather, these videos help a lot.

The Movie Squirrels are from Norway and their humans are working to save the forest for the animals. Let’s do this!

(It’s eight hours, so pace yourselves. I watch it on my TV. You have to see The Nut Bar!)

https://youtu.be/cIvEGjm0qGM

And let’s finish up with some positive news from the Oregon Zoo!

https://youtu.be/gwBkeiHfFds

Gear up people.

Let’s get kindness trending!