There are times when I forget just how much computers are a part of our lives. Not a day goes by that I do not use a computer. Be it for the DOB, South Park or Ring Fever – my fingers are on a keyboard each and every day. When I first started to use computers, I would be intimidated by them and hope that I could use them effectively – now, I have gotten so used to them that I can not imagine a day without one. The funny thing is that being a daily computer user, I forget that there are some people out there who still have no idea how to use one – until I was reminded of that yesterday when I took a Word class.

As part of my job here at the DOB, I am offered a number of one-day courses in the basic Microsoft programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), yesterday was my Word class.

The class began at 9:30am and I was hoping that as the class progressed, I would learn some things about Word that I didn’t know – like how to use the mail merge and draw features – instead, the instructor began the course by spending a half hour teaching us how to minimize and maximize a window – she even offered us a pen and paper if we wanted to take notes. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone in this world is computer literate – but if we are taking a course in Word, logic would dictate that we know how to use a computer in the first place or we would be requesting a course not in Word – but in computers in general.

The rest of the course proceeded the same way. From 10:00am to lunch, we were taught how to increase the size of text, bold it, change the color of the text – we even delved into the cutting and pasting of text – amazing that we were able to cram all that into only two hours.

After lunch, the course got much more difficult. We learned how to center text, change the margins, and add the date and time to a document – once the instructor talked about the helpfulness of the tab key – I realized that I needed to thank the person who booked me into the “intermediate” course I requested – because if this was “intermediate” – I would hate to see beginner.

But I actually did learn a few things during my Word course – I learned how to finally win at Minesweeper, I learned how to get two million on 3D Pinball – and most importantly – I learned that when you are offered a computer course – make sure you plan to learn nothing more then how to get a day off from work.

Now where is that “save” button…