Do you know about the Leo Laporte Tech Show?
I’m a huge fan. He’s taught me a lot about how technical things work, keeps me up to date on new developments, and I really enjoy his sense of humor. We have the same opinions about a lot of things too, and it feels good to have my opinions validated by someone so knowledgeable.
I just roared when he said recently:
“I think a lot of what I do here in the show is I’m like Dr. Laura. It’s more emotional support– like I don’t know if I can fix your problem but at least I can let you know you’re not alone and and we all have to suffer with this. ‘Now go take on the day’ — that kind of thing. You know it’s just kind of relaxing and it’s, you know, ‘misery loves company.’ So if you listen to the show then you know we all suffer to some degree from technology. You don’t want to put up with these annoyances but we do. There’s the big annoyances which you fix but then there’s the little annoyances, like that chair that squeaks — they’re just little ones and there’s a lot of them with technology.
His advice is, to the degree that you can maybe set aside an hour a week to make a note of the little annoyances and set aside a little bit of time, not a lot, every week to kind of trim them, because it’s like death by a thousand paper cuts. No individual annoyance by itself is gonna drive you nuts but in aggregate — when you combine them all, in sum total, is a pain and the stress could shorten your life. (chuckle)
I loved hearing that because it explains exactly what I do! My tutoring is a lot about emotional support and letting clients know that we all suffer from the “squeaky chairs” of technology. I encourage people to make a list of all those little frustrations and then have me show them the solutions so they won’t suffer “death by a million paper cuts.” It’s so important for people to get over these little hurdles so they can have more fun, and it’s so rewarding to be able to help.
If Leo’s show is “TMI” (too much information) for you, I totally understand. Sometimes it’s too much for me too. No worries, I pass along the information that I think you need and I trust that you will let me know when you have questions you want answered.
Leo’s shows are available on his YouTube channel, are available as podcasts and are posted on http://techguylabs.com/ with show notes and time stamps.
Don’t suffer “death by a million paper cuts.” Make that list and call me if you need help.
Enjoy!
Mardi
P.S. Who do you know who could use my help with a list of little frustrations? Just send me their name and number. I’ll follow up and take good care of them.
Dropbox is a great app for cloud storage and sharing. When you put files in there, you can access them from anygadget or computer. I use the phone app to play audio files of lectures and seminars. It’s super easy to learn and you get 2GB of storage for free. By referring your friends to Dropbox, you can earn up to 16GB of additional space. 
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Below is the thank you email I received after making my donation. It will show you the scope of their amazing work in the world. I hope it will inspire you to use the service, if you haven’t already, and motivate you to donate.
The Desert Computer Tutor 