Rosemary’s New Computer

Alex, Rosemary’s son, arrives at Rosemary’s house at 7 am to set up a computer so Rosemary can use the internet to keep in touch with Georgia and her daughter Nicole.  Alex tells his mother that this is actually his computer from home and now that she needs a computer, it provided the perfect opportunity to upgrade his home computer to something newer.  Rosemary asks her son how old the computer is and Alex tells his mother that it is a year old.  She attempts to protest that Alex is giving her a new computer and he cuts her off stating that computers need to be upgraded often.  Alex works with computers for a living, so Rosemary thinks that he should know.

Alex sets up the flat screen monitor, the tower computer and keyboard on a flip-out desk; then proceeds to plug everything in.  He brought a power bar for his mother as she only has two plugs in her living room.  He then sets up another box that provides wifi or wireless internet for his mother.  There is a knock at the door and it is the cable man to wire Rosemary’s house for cable internet.  Rosemary is not sure that she understands this process, but finds that it seems quite complicated.

Once Alex has finished setting up the computer, he has his mother sit down with him to teach her how to check her email.  Rosemary uses the mouse as instructed to awkwardly double click on the picture of the envelope on the screen, she is delighted to see that she already has email.  Alex helps his mother open the email message so she can read it and it is from Alex and his daughters welcoming Rosemary to email.  Alex and his daughters wrote the email last night so that Rosemary would have some instant gratification when her computer was set up.  After what seems like hours, Alex has shown his mother the basic function of the computer.  Rosemary feels that she understands the basics of email, but feels a little lost with the rest of the information.  Alex states that he can go over it all again once she gets used to things.

That even Rosemary decides that she will do some searching on the internet to look for the news as her son had shown her.  Later she decides to check her email again.  When she uses the mouse to click on the picture of the envelope that signifies her email program, she manages to inadvertently move the picture of the envelope around the screen a few times before opening it.  Rosemary finally manages to open her email and finds it empty.