The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Thursday, July 03, 2025

Eager


 

It feels a bit "foolish" I admit, but I am feeling VERY excited about returning to the Retiree's Cigar Group this afternoon!  I hope it is as enjoyable and fun as it had been, and I hope that while the fellows there are likely to tease and chastise me a bit for being away for such an extended period, that it quickly returns to being equally as pleasant as it had been. The camaraderie is valuable in ways that I do not know how to describe well.  It is so different than other experiences.  

Running was pleasant and a bit cooler, so that was good.  

My wife and I are considering getting a new computer for our home (my den.... I probably should say "our den" but if we were to measure the percentage of time spent in that room, I am the one who uses the room probably 95% of the time, and it is admittedly a bit stereotypically "professorially guy" furnished (and with many racks of my pipes and jars and cans of my pipe tobaccos).  My wife, does, however, use the computer and printer in there frequently.  Well..... she USED to do so.  Our computer in my den is 16 years old, is rather decrepit and has to coaxed into doing most things with a helluva lot of patience.  And, we gave up on the printer, as we no longer wanted to pay for the damnably expensive ink CARTRIDGES for a 16 year old printer.  

My wife's one request for our new computer is that she wants dual monitors.  She has had dual monitors at work for at least 15 years, I believe.  And, she says it is difficult for her to do things now without two screens.  I, personally, have had scant exposure to dual screens, so for me, I am not sure how I will like them.  I am sure they will be nice, but I worry a bit about there not being an actual CENTRAL image, but that you have to keep looking left and right.  But, hopefully it will be an easy adjustment to adapt to.  

In the system we are considering, the two monitors we would get are ones that I purposefully selected because the screens can also ROTATE from landscape to portrait orientation.  To me, even though I have never used a rotated screen, it seems if one screen could be in portrait orientation, it might be nice to see, view, and read the full page of various print documents (such as .pdfs) as they are typically in that orientation.  The image I found online of a system with double monitors (above) highlights my worry about a lack of a central focus/image.    

A sad note.  Our Music Director at the parish we moved to has decided to retire.  She was amazing in her role and she will be greatly missed.  Music Ministers are often difficult to find, but their role and value in the Mass is very important.  

PipeTobacco

2 Comments:

Blogger Pat M. said...

Professor, I've used dual monitors for many years. Let me offer you a tip in that regard. You do NOT need to arrange the monitors so that the two edges are right there in the center. I keep one monitor centered in front of me, and my second monitor immediately to its right, angled ever-so-slightly toward me. At the moment, I have two landscape-orientation monitors, but in the past I have occasionally had one rotating monitor on the right, kept mostly in portrait orientation.

I, too, at one time thought that portrait orientation would be a big deal, but in practice I've found that having two monitors with 5K resolution is even more important than having the ability to rotate one or both. I hope that both of the monitors you've selected have 5K resolution (not 4K or less). That costs a bit more, but the usability difference (for me, at least) is huge.

Thursday, 03 July, 2025  
Blogger Anvilcloud said...

Am I gathering that you do not have separate computers? I can’t imagine. I have a desktop; she has a laptop. We both have tablets, and I am using mine at the moment.

Thursday, 03 July, 2025  

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