Technical Trouble

It’s been a very busy week, loads to do and loads done.  I’ve caught up with a lot of typing, a story that I wrote on holiday in August 2012.  Well the start of a story anyway, I’ve still some research to do before I can finish it.

            This week I’ve read a whole book, which doesn’t sound like much, but for the last few months I’ve not been about to settle on anything, I’ve about four books on the go, a Stephen Leather, an Ian Rankin, a Zoe Sharp, and a couple of others that just haven’t caught my imagination enough for me to get into reading them.  I’ve worked on a couple of shorts.  I’ve also been loosing time to geocaching and swimming, both in an effort to be more active and lose weight.  And in an effort to secure a work life, I’ve been applying for jobs.

            It was the applying for a job that gave me a little bit of a panic attack this morning, and the technical trouble. 

            Just before Christmas I brought OfficeSuite Pro for my Android phone.  This means that I can write
and edit while out and about without having to take my laptop.  Now my laptop’s great, but it’s a 17 inch screen with a full numeric keyboard. Great laptop, works well, does everything I need it to do, couldn’t be happier with it.  Until I actually have to pick it up and be mobile with it.  It quickly becomes heavy and awkward.

            When I brought the OfficeSuite, I stumbled over a great little gadget.  I have a Samsung Galaxy and the gadget I brought is a 4 in 1 Connection Kit, so I can connect my phone to a standard UBS or various SD cards.

            This means I can keep all my files on a memory stick and update them anywhere.  Great.  The bits arrived, they were all compatible and they all work together.  Fantastic.  Proud of this, I went home, told my husband who kindly pointed out that I could use Google Drive, then I wouldn’t need the gadgetry.

            There was a little grumbling about telling me sooner and my not mentioning it before.

            I gave the Google drive a go and it’s been great.  I do stuff at home on the laptop then I put it on the drive and can pick it up on my phone to edit at work in my lunch hour.

            Thing is, this use has been limited to open, amend, save, close and pick up somewhere else.

            So last night I completed the job application and saved it to Google Drive so I could pick it up in work and email it to the to the HR department.  It’s an internal vacancy obviously.

            But here’s the thing.  The company I work for is very security conscious and had restricted access to certain sites.  Yeah, you guessed it.  Google mail and therefore Drive, is one of them, except certain unrestricted PCs, but mine isn’t one.

            The application had to be in by noon, so I thought, no problem.  I’ll go to my phone and email from there.  But the weird thing is, I couldn’t find a way, either from OfficeSuite or my email to send a document.  So there I was, deadline looming and no access to the file.

            That’s when I remembered the 4-in-1 was still in bag.  So a bit of rummaging on my pantechnicon of a handbag, and found the converter and a memory stick and was, thankfully, able to transfer to the PC and from there email to HR.

            The second panic attach came when I thought, oh no, it’s the 16^th!  I was sure the competition I want to enter ends on the 15^th.  Oh bottoms (well okay that wasn’t quite the thought, but I can’t put what I really thought) I’ve missed it.

            But I had to be sure.

            Again because of the restrictions on what sites can be entered, I didn’t try to go through the works internet, and instead connected via my phone.  The competition does end on the 15^th, thankfully the 15^th February, so I have a couple more weeks to get things done.  Phew!