The Night I Left My Mouse at Home

Who knew it would cause me so much angst to be separated from a small gadget such as a wireless mouse! I mean really. One would think I could have managed just fine. But as soon as I looked in my carrying case and realized my fate, I started to feel queasy. Of all nights to forget it, too. I was giving a presentation on my eportfolio. Not good. I promptly decided to reactivate my touch pad which I had previously deactivated because the cursor had a mind of its own. It would fly all over the screen and annoyingly delete things at random. Well, for some reason the reactivation wouldn't work. So I tried a hard boot again. Now I was really hooped because my computer locked on me and I couldn't get it unlocked without clicking on the unlock icon which I couldn't press without my MOUSE!! Agggh, how frustrating. I had to borrow a friend's mouse to unlock my computer, so that I could log off and shut it down. Sigh. I was foiled by a $25 piece of hardware.
Later on that night, during my presentation, I tried my best to use the touch pad. It was no use. I couldn't get the cursor to go where I wanted and the silence in the room, while I tried my best to figure it all out, was deafening. My sympathetic nervous system was working overtime. If I could only get that darn arrow to go where it was supposed to. I'm sure it was mere seconds, but it seemed like several minutes that I stood in front of my group sweating and apologizing. Finally, a colleague came to my rescue with his wireless mouse...my familiar friend.
The really amusing aspect of the evening was that one of the things we were asked to dwell on and write about was the "Red Flags and Frustrations with Technology." Well, that was a no brainer. I'll have to write a blues song about my experience: "The Night I Left my Mouse at Home." I can almost hear The Band crooning out the lyrics....