Have you ever heard the term Eating Crow?
According to Wikipedia:
Eating crow is a colloquial idiom, used in some English-speaking countries, that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position. The crow is a carrion-eater that is presumably repulsive to eat in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow.
Well... This time I had to do it.
It all began when the Echo Dot in my office suddenly stopped working. I looked up how to fix it, and it said I needed to reboot it or something or other. I forgot the exact terminology. I unplugged it and replugged it.
I need Alexa to time me when I'm doing my vertigo exercises. I need her to remind me to give mom her medications. I need Alexa to remind me to do a million things.
And the Echo Dot in my office just had a crazy blue light going round and round and round driving me crazy.
I looked up how I could restart the Echo by pressing on the button. I pressed on that circle with the line going across it a gazillion times but nothing. Still got that blue light going round and round and round.
So I told Art I was going to get another Echo because this one was broken. I just KNEW it was broken!
Then I saw this Echo Pop on Amazon. I don't really know the difference between the Dot and the Pop except the price. I'd never heard of the POP. And this was on SALE! Woo hoo! 55% off!!! Yay!!!
"Let me look at it first," he said. So I handed it to him and went back to my office to send some holiday emails out.
I was startled a few minutes later to hear Alexa's voice saying something about setting it up. I thought it was the Echo Pop next to me... but noooo.
Art had reset the Echo Dot magically. He looked up the serial number on the back of the Echo Dot and found out it was the 3rd generation. He then checked YouTube and reset the Dot. Turned out you're supposed to press the •, not the circle with the line across it. Arrrghhh!
Sigh...
So now the Echo Dot is working again and I had the extra Echo Pop I bought.
Ah well... I put it in mom's room.
I can have Alexa remind mom when it's time for her to join her friends at the Day Care Center. I can have Alexa remind her that Art and I are at tai chi or whatever. Mom's memory is fading so having reminders are important. Granted she might disregard a machine telling her something in English.
When Art returned the repaired reset rebooted or whatever Echo Dot to me, yes... I had to eat crow.
And did he enjoy the moment? He reassured me that he wasn't feeling good at all about my discomfort 😏.
So why was he laughing?
My daughter has a dog named Echo. She just had a litter of 8 puppies and they are so cute. This is Margie from Margie's Musings
ReplyDeleteThose gadgets are all beyond my capability of understanding. But I'm glad you are doubly blessed to have TWO working gadgets.
ReplyDeleteSometimes though, crow can taste ok. The Alexa here in my den in the type with a screen.
ReplyDeleteThose machines are so smart that it wouldn't surprise me if there was a way to change the language from English to Japanese.
ReplyDeleteMy wife often is upset at similar things that aren't working. And, like Art, I can research and discover an easy fix. However, we were at the shoe store with our 4 year old granddaughter to get her a new pair of shoes. She found a pair she liked that lit up when stomped. They fit good and she loved them. The problem was that only one of the shoes would light. No amount of stomping would light the other one up. We searched for another pair, figuring that a battery or something was wrong with the shoe. The next pair was the same way. We asked a clerk if the shoes were faulty or had a dead battery or something. He reached down to the side of the shoe and pressed in on a hidden on/off button and the lights began to work! Who knew!
ReplyDeleteI've become a bit more (too much?) dependent on Alexa too. Her little symbols mean nothing to me but like you, I have a more techie person to troubleshoot. :)
ReplyDeleteYou tried your best Kay!
ReplyDeleteAll these gadgets can be maddening! Love you! Have Art and Dennis to help you. I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend. Aloha from town
ReplyDeleteIf he had looked at the thing when you told him it was broken, the story would have been a lot shorter.
ReplyDeleteYeah, our family is into crow eating, on occasion. I think it must be an Irish import; my mother's family used it a lot and they were Irish ancestry.
Yes, it is a bit maddening when you can't get something to work and someone else (here usually DH or grandson) just walk up and do something that works. We had a strange incident here recently (different subject)... DH and I were sitting in the den watching TV Christmas day and suddenly a whole string of the Christmas tree lights went out! We looked at each other and said, Oh well. Then just a few minutes later, another string went out! This time we thought, "what is happening?" The kids were coming over later... and I told the tree, "Don't you dare lose all your lights before they get here?" And it didn't... it has to hold out until the day after New Year's.
ReplyDeleteWell, it worked out for the better, right? Why don't you ask Smarty Pants to have Alexa speak in Japanese?
ReplyDeleteOh, my.
ReplyDeleteYou are so much fun! This is good stuff to learn. You just never know!
ReplyDeleteWe have a dot but not a pop. But we also have an Echo Show
ReplyDeleteThis was fun, especially as I have no idea what you're speakinig of.
ReplyDeleteGood story. I think all of us eat quite a bit of crow. I certainly have to eat crow. But fortunately there are degrees of eating crow. We can wiggle a bit. we can make excuses!!!
ReplyDeleteWatch your Mom's reaction when Alexa blurts out a reminder. One patient's wife lived in another town. She used Alexa to remind we nurses when to do stuff, which was really perturbing because we followed the Plan of Care. To suddenly hear someone talking is very scary and startling. Then she started using one with a camera (nurses in home health work with cameras around all the time.) But she would suddenly blurt "hi" on the camera near the patient's bed. He was confused from a brain injury, and it startled both of us. She'd try to have a conversation with him, and I'd have to remind him that her voice was coming from the wall camera. I don't have one. I like my quiet without some ghost squawking instructions at me. Just don't let your device scare Mom or make her heart skip a beat. Yep, I bet you can tell it to speak in Japanese. Might need it to speak in English too, though. Then again, your Mom might enjoy having a Japanese "conversation" with Alexa-san. Good luck, Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure how to get Alexa to speak in Japanese, I'm afraid. Mom has just been ignoring Alexa because she hears her talking in the kitchen a lot and figures it's just reminders for us. I wish I could get her to say something in Japanese. I think mom would actually enjoy it.
DeleteJust ask it: "Alexa, please speak in Japanese instead of English." Linda in Kansas
DeleteKay of Musings: I just tried to change the language in mom’s room but it says Japanese is not supported in my country.
DeleteKay of Musings: OMG! I just went to check out the Echo Pop in Mom’s room today and she spoke in Japanese! I asked her something in English and she gave a weird answer. But when I spoke in Japanese, she answered correctly. Good gosh! This is amazing. Thank you so much for this wonderful idea.
DeleteI remember now, that sometimes the night nurse would unplug the darn Dot so they didn't get yelled at in the middle of their shift! The nurses were great; it was just a control thing with the absent spouse. Her husband, who couldn't speak, didn't like it either. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteGosh... That's hard. Mom's doctor has warned me of caregiver burn-out. I'm lucky I have Art and my brother who are always there when I need them. We rely on each other for advice and solutions.
DeleteI do had to do that a time or two with our echo products. We are up to four of them in various rooms.
ReplyDeleteLol. Who knew that eating crow could be so entertaining?
ReplyDeleteGreat story and very well told. Funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever watch the original running of Mad About You?
Jamie and Paul (married couple), did this thing.
One would say, "I was wrong."
The other replied, "But most importantly."
First one answered, "You were right."
Funny stuff. Married things like this.
Lin Floyd says and life continues on with its challenges. Ours are visiting great grands that want to explore and destroy,,,lol. Cute but happy when they return home.
ReplyDeleteWishing a Happy New Year to you and Art and your Mom. (Don't hold the laugh against Art...we are all laughing.)
ReplyDeleteOh I feel for you but I had to smile. I've been in that position with other things, the eating crow and I are good companions. Wishing you and Art and your Mom, and all your family a Very Happy and Healthy New Year!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness! Sometimes I'm pleased we haven't any extra gadgets ...
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Happy New Year.
All the best Jan
That made me laugh. I always think something is broken and then Don does his problem solving/fixing. He has saved my so much money since I met him!
ReplyDelete