by Natalie W as told to Becky T
(originally published in Currents October 2003)

“Well, did you download that anti-virus patch like I told you?” “Did you get the virtual greeting card from Cybearhug.com?” “I just finished downloading the movie Chicago, and it took me almost all night.” “Have you gone into Kazaa Lite yet?” My head is always buzzing after talking to Natalie W, age 74. I’m eight years ahead of her on computer ownership, and my brain cells are a decade younger; but she is way ahead of me in the Internet department. She is talented in technical ways, besides many others, and programming a video machine is her idea of fun. This is Natalie’s story.

Over the years, I studied the market and thought about what kind of computer I wanted. Four years ago, I began seriously thinking about what a computer entailed. A month before I bought my computer, I attended a beginner’s course for seniors at the Volkshochschule in Norderstedt. That was a big waste of time and money. I didn’t learn anything new, although one woman freaked out and quit. Even a year before, I cut out a small ad which said: “Computer support. Call Torsten Frese.” I had a hunch this would come in handy.

My son who lives in the U.S. recommended Dell and pointed out Dell’s sale prices. On October 31, 2002, I called the Dell number in Germany. I discussed the current prices with a friendly lady and ordered a hard drive, keyboard, screen, scanner-printer-fax machine, and loud speakers. It was easy to get the program, Windows XP, in English because Dell manufactures in Ireland. She asked me if I wanted a CD burner and I said, “Why would I want to burn CDs?” I was thinking, “Who is crazy here?” I asked about the color and she said, “Black.” “Black,” I said, “Never.” But only black ones were on sale, and I don’t regret having a black computer.

A few weeks later lots of boxes arrived, and I sat on the floor looking at the directions and putting in the cables. Two of these darn things didn’t fit. I took the cables to Media Markt and, by myself, found ones with Germany compatible plugs.

I went home, plugged them in and it worked. That doesn’t mean all was smooth sailing from there on. Every day for a week I was afraid to touch the on switch and had to rethink the starting instructions. I feared something would explode. At first it locked up, and Herr Frese came to the rescue to show me the rudiments of the computer. Later, I had a problem and worked 11 hours, trying to fix it myself. Herr Frese came the next day and after five hours of testing said: “It’s a virus. It’s not your fault.” You can’t imagine how relieved I was that the virus, not I, was the culprit.

I started out with 40 kilobytes, thinking that would be plenty, but it wasn’t. Herr Frese helped me purchase 80 kilobytes more at Media Markt, bringing me up to 120. I wanted to install it myself, but Herr Frese said, “Sit down. I’ll do it.” That was a disappointment because I love to do this kind of stuff.

For support there is also a Dell service number. Once I made the mistake of calling Deutsche Telekom. The people there knew nothing; I followed Telekom’s advice, and Herr Frese had to save me once again.

I send and receive emails, print out recipes, read online publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, etc., all free of charge. I download news, program supplements, films and music. I probably spend at least an hour a day on the computer. If I miss two days and suddenly there are 100 emails to read, my back starts to hurt from sitting so long. I take virtual visits to famous art museums such as MOMA and the Prado.

Look! There’s an e-card from my son. It says, “Olive trees last 100 years, I hope you do, too.” Isn’t that nice?