sari,
You read my mind! I was going to apologize to the group for my remarks tonight when I get on the Forum. I have worked with women for my entire career, 33 years, in finance and accounting, and eventually as the President of a manufacturing Company. When I was in the position to do so, I paid and treated all of the women who worked for me equally. Many of the best thinkers and problem solvers who worked with me were women. They do not generally have the big ego and over aggressiveness that many men in business have, and when given the opportunity (which in my days were vary rare) they met or exceeded my expectations (which were very high). If you read some of the attachments to the post that I sent sexymommie, you will see several comments that I made to the HP Representative regarding women. The second in command, that was my right hand person was a woman when I was President. Let's face it, women are, in many ways, smarter than men and are not as childish as men can be. I was just trying to be funny, but it was not appropriate. I like to laugh and have fun, it is part of my therapy.
In my entire career of working, I went out of my way not to get involved personally with any of the female employees, nor did I ever harass them in any way (I think that many of them thought I must be "gay" - can I say that?). I have been married for 29 years and have never cheated on my wife, she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I know, "me thinks thou doest protest to much"!
I am new to this forum, I retired in Jan. 05, because of severe depression, bi-polar and anxiety (that was the original diagnosis), and have been basically drugged up on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics (excuse spelling), until July of this year. My medication was changed to Effexor and Depakote this past July, which woke me up and got me going again. I went to see a different Psychiatrist, told him the symptoms I had been having for almost four years, and he told me I needed neurological/psychological testing, and a CT scan of my head. That is what I did four weeks ago, and it turns out that I have extreme excessive compulsive disorder, worry, and some brain damage. The good news is that I am not crazy, although you may disagree with that. My cognitive short term memory is in the 1 percentile and my visual short term memory is in the 17 percentile. I am now taking medicine for attention deficit disorder and am going to Vocational Rehabilitation to learn how to focus again, stop worrying and keep my mind from racing, other than that, I am just fine.
One of the first things that I started to do, when i came out of my funk, was to get back into my love for computers and software. I bought an HP Pavilion notebook PC for my son, for college, and I have been working with in since then. I have gotten up to speed very quickly on VISTA 64-bit and Windows XP and am building two computers for myself. And, by the way, that post of "Troy's' on building computers was fantastic - concise, well organized, great pictures) - he is also a perfectionist.
It turns out that the problems that I have been having with HP for the last 2-3 months were really opportunities for me, as I have learned much from the experience. I do not feel sorry for myself and do not want anyone else to feel sorry for me either. I am learning how to deal with my disabilities and it has helped me to become a better person. I am currently helping two of the patients that I met in the hospital, one is recovering from alcohol and drug abuse, and the other person, a young African American man is dealing with mental issues, and is missing one leg as a result of an automobile accident. They both asked me to help them, before I was released from the hospital in July. I do not know why they chose me, but it was a good thing for me, my rehabilitation and for them.
This forum gives me an opportunity to share some of my past and present knowledge and experience with others, and helps me to focus on one thing at a time. It is an excellent forum with people who are knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I wish that I had discovered it sooner. It makes me feel good to be able to help other people, and that is what I would like to do.
When I first got on this forum, I did not know what to do or how to post replies. Even though I read through the frequently asked questions, I did not pickup on many of the nuances. It is likely because I was trying too do to many things at once. I apologize for any comments that I have made or how I may come across in my postings. I have been accused in the past of being arrogant and impersonal, by some of my Superiors, in my e-mails to them. That is probably because I am a perfectionist, excessive/compulsive, and to me everything was business and getting the job done, which taken together, are not good traits. I am better today, because of my disabilities and just want you and the others on the forum to have some patience with me. I am a quick learner and will obey the rules.
I am going to fill out my Personal information so that you will know more about me (although you may not want too), and a picture so you can see who I am. I have learned more on this forum in the last few weeks than I have in the last three months. The solutions that you give for computer problems are extremely helpful, as well as the Websites and software recommendations (I have been downloading software like crazy). I have been searching for several months to find all of the information that I have found on this forum in the last two weeks.
My goal is to get back into building computers and problem solving, which is what I used to spend a lot of time doing. I intend to take every class in computers that they offer at Vocational Rehab. and hopefully it will be helpful to some of you on this forum.
sari, how did you know that the person I posted too had been gone for several years? I came across her post purely by accident, as I have been reading as many of the posts as I can each night. My post was originally meant for a woman that was pleading for help with her VISTA 64-bit Operating System. I do not remember her user name. She was also experiencing many of the problems that I have been having with this Operating System. I spent two hours putting together the post with the attachments, and lost it all, so I had to start all over again, but could not find her original post, I came across sexymommie and thought that it would be helpful to her as well. That is the way things go for me some days, but it is a good way to learn (repetition). I am a self-taught person, and I will not ask for any help until I absolutely have too. Over the years, and in the process of doing this, I have learned many things that I would not have otherwise known. It helped me to retain things, and keeps the mind alert, as well as speeding up the thought process.
And my Doctor told me I was Excessive/Compulsive????
Sorry for the lecture and excess commentary. Will try to keep my posts to a minimum, politically correct, and on topic. I thank you for bringing this issue to my attention sari.
Best Regards.
rmel