Firing up Ol' Betsy!

I'm sharing another little snippet from one of my "Jake" stories while my mother recovers from surgery and I'm away from all things internet helping my parents.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Life with Jake......Firing up Ol' Betsy!

Jake, my dad, refuses to purchase DSL internet service. He tried it once and didn’t like it.  He said it didn’t work properly. I told him it was an operator error.  I explained that the service did work properly but the computer he was using couldn’t handle the new technology (their computer is about 10 years old with a 50 MB hard drive - yes, you read that correctly - 50 MEGABYTE hard drive).  So, they live in the Stone Age and use dial-up internet service.

Jake says that DSL is a waste of money and that the providers of such services are thieves.  I explain to Jake he should upgrade to DSL if for no other reason than to make my life comfortable when I’m visiting.  Do you know what it is like not having internet access for days on end??!!!  The withdrawals are painful – very, very painful.  This amount of deprivation is not healthy for me.  Jake tells me that if I need to use the internet he will be happy to fire up Ol’ Betsy.  Ol’ Betsy is the pet name he has assigned to his archaic computer and dial-up internet service.  I tell him I would prefer to drive 100 miles and smoke a Camel rather than deal with that mess.

One morning, as we are standing in the kitchen chatting, he said he wanted me to look up the telephone number for Dial-A-Nurse (sheesh) on my phone.  I wanted to suggest that he fire up Ol’ Betsy and look the number up himself, but I was respectful and complied.  In less than 60 seconds, I was writing the number down for him.  I took this opportunity to once again tell him that if he had a modern computer and DSL, he would have been able to acquire the number that quickly himself.  He said that it would have only taken him half a day and that he could do other things while waiting on Ol’ Betsy to get going, therefore it would be a waste of money to get DSL.  I shook my head, sighed deeply and walked out of the kitchen.  After all, who can compete with Ol’ Betsy!
__________________________________________________________________________
Just so you know, he discontinued even the DIAL-UP service. Ol' Betsy lives no more!

I suppose that I should point out that my dad was a state auditor.  When we were younger and had our first checking account, he would make us reconcile the account every single month down to the penny.  If we were off by one single penny, we couldn't leave the table until we went back over the entire account and found the penny!  He still does this -- my parents get paper statements.  I do not get paper statements and if the account reconciles to within $1, I'm good with it.  Not really, old habits die hard.  I have to find the penny!  :-)

So here is your laugh for the day!  Circa 1972 - Christmas.  As you can tell, "teasing hair" and wiglets (partial wigs or whatever they were called) were quite popular -- on my mother, not me!!  I must have grown a few inches AFTER my mother bought these costumes.  Do you see where those sleeves are on my arms?  Psst...I'm the one in the purple crushed velvet pants.  The legs were just as short.  I made up for it by wearing my fake patent leather black boots!  I was stylin' and profilin'...LOL


Now quit laughing and go read/comment on my "Rocking to the Beat" post!



4 comments

  1. Love the stories about your dad. They remind me a bit of my late father-in-law. He didn't like to spend money either, and he refused to learn how to use a computer. He grudgingly paid for dial-up internet for a few years for his wife when she got her first (hand-me-down) PC back in the late '90s. But when they retired in the early 2000s and moved up north to a lake house, he made her cut the internet cord because they would have had to pay long-distance charges every time she dialed into the internet there...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa, thank you! He is something else, but we love him and enjoy being around him. LOL...that sounds so much like my dad! Have a great evening!

      Delete
  2. Gotta love the crushed velvet ;) My mom made me wear green velvet knickers, with the cuff tight under the knee with a ruffled blouse and matching green velvet bolero. Remember that look? I'm still mad at her LOL

    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL...I don't know who invented that material, but they should have to wear it the rest of their life...LOL. I hated that stuff! Yep, I would still be mad also!! Childhood years were rough in the clothing department...LOL Hugs!!

      Delete

Please leave a comment! I do love hearing from you and enjoy visiting your blogs. I will respond via email or by replying to your comment here on my blog! Have a wonderful day!