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Have you ever been so frustrated with a computer that you nearly take a hammer to it?

Anyone who has spent at least one month using a computer on a regular basis can attest to the helpless feeling when a document fails to appear or when the keyboard fails to respond to your commands.

Computers do not make work go faster.

I'm one of the dinosaurs of computer operation. I began my self-torture in 1983 on a 386-platform computer. The darned thing was as big as my king-sized bed, took 5"-by-8" floppy discs to back up files and would regularly quit working for no apparent reason.

I am a computer operator with experience in software and hardware. I never had a degree. I took two classes in computer operations — one in 1983 and one in 1992. There is only one class I tried and didn't like — computer programming. I began a class in DOS programming in 1980 and lasted two weeks. All those zeros and ones drove me bonkers.

The rest of my knowledge was completely on-the-job, coupled with trial-and-error experiences. By 1994, I was a corporate trainer for users at a large hospital.

Why did I stay in the industry? Because of the demand for anyone who could turn the foreign thing on and fearlessly try to learn the tricks of computer applications on their own. I liked to find out why a program or component worked, how I could use it, what it could do, when I would use it and how far could I take it.

I guess that's why I'm a writer, too. I ask too many questions, such as who, what, where, when, how and the big one — why. I like to tell stories and revel in the pure joy of reading and learning, and I have a passion for words. Computer operations are about the details. Writing is, too.

Right now my frustration is aimed at a computer component that just won't work, even though everything says it should. Most people would either give up or turn the darned contraption off. Others, like me, will keep trying to figure out what step was missed.

But I can't give up, because tax time is here. If I don't figure out why this component refuses to function, I'll have to pay someone else to do my taxes.

Doing your taxes is stressful all by itself. To add computer problems to the job would make anyone wield a sledgehammer with determination.

But I can't give in to the computer. Admitting defeat by an inanimate object that only does what you tell it is too humiliating — especially if fixing computer problems was your career.