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Hey, Alexa!

We do not have an Alexa, mostly because we don’t want one. We do have something on the remote of the TV. It doesn’t work well for us. The first time I tried to use it, nothing worked. Finally the TV got frustrated and a message came up telling me to hold the button down. (Maybe it wasn’t the TV’s first rodeo).

My Loving Spouse’s does not speak ‘American’. As he says, he speaks “The Queen’s English”, which is all well and good unless your TV speaks ‘American’. He tried to tell the TV that he wanted to watch ‘Tough as Nails’. The TV said, “Toss a Snail?”. The Bad British word didn’t work either.

My family had the original Alexa. It was called ‘Hey, Ellen’. ‘Hey, Ellen’ was a more obedient upgrade from their previous model which was called ‘Hey, John’.

‘Hey, Ellen’ what time is it? I would run to the kitchen and report back.

“The big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 5”.

‘Hey, Ellen’ also worked as the TV remote. “Hey, Ellen, change the channel to the 7”

A lot of my kids at school seem to be suffering from ‘Hey, Alexa’ syndrome waiting for someone to spoon feed them the answers. Part of my job in the library is to teach them how to use the library. The older kids get the information they need to figure it out. The little ones get to use the upgraded system called, “Hey, Miss Ellen”, because I just want them to love books and technology cannot replace that.

We just got speakers for the house, so I could enjoy more music than the phone in my back pocket provides. We asked one of our young techy friends to tell us what to get. We’re now trying hard to not ask him how to make them work.

I am on a steep learning curve. The dog will be happy to know that on night 2 he won’t have to listen to piano music all night. I’ve figured out how to switch the kitchen one off, when I’m trying to listen to the sewing room one. There’s a fair chance I will do a bit of yelling at them, but as we didn’t get the Alexa ones it won’t really help.

Now if they made a Hay, Alexa…

… I might be interested.

{ 12 comments… add one }
  • Diana Jensen-Anderson March 13, 2022, 9:15 am

    Hello Ellen
    We are working on the invites for the 150th Easter at the Jensen Ranch.
    Could you please send me the e-mail addresses for the Fishers and any for the Scotts that you might have. Thank You Alkie

    • Ellen March 13, 2022, 6:15 pm

      sure thing Alk,

  • Pam Garries March 10, 2022, 5:54 pm

    I love this post, but most of all I love the family photo!

    • Ellen March 10, 2022, 7:03 pm

      Thanks sweet cousin, I love that old photo too, so much…

  • Miriam Ellis March 10, 2022, 3:48 pm

    I’m right there with ya, Ellen, on the TV remote. It’s a “universal” remote, which means it can pick up shows from Pluto but not anything I want to watch.

    • Ellen March 10, 2022, 5:17 pm

      Oh, Mims, you made me laugh out loud! Ain’t it the truth!!

  • Patricia Petersen March 10, 2022, 3:42 pm

    I loved this posting, Ellen! I can certainly relate–I am forever calling one of my kids for Tech support. For Xmas a gave Emma a tee that says, “No, I will not fix your computer.”

    Miss you all–we are all well here. I’ll give you a call soon so we can catch up on all the news.
    Hugs to Pat!

    • Ellen March 10, 2022, 5:20 pm

      How blessed Emma is, none of our kids will help us, they just roll their eyes. We’re collecting new young people with tech backgrounds who don’t know us as well and have a Servants heart…they’re the best. We just feed them and give them beer. Win/win.
      I look forward to talking to you soon.

  • Rob Scott March 10, 2022, 2:39 pm

    Hi Ellen (& Pat),
    Wow, your soooo out of date.
    We’ve had one, “Hey Google” for 2 years about.
    We (I) still may yell a “Bad British word” at it once in a while, still.
    Our daughter Katie’s family has had Alexa since they came out (and it seems there is one in every room!). With a 2 story house and 3 little boys (10.5, 7.5 & 4.5) they still do a fair amount of “shouting” at Alexa too.
    xoxoxo,
    One of your Seattle cousins,
    Rob

    • Ellen March 10, 2022, 2:54 pm

      We loooooooooooove being out of date!

  • leslie thomas March 10, 2022, 1:17 pm

    Just brilliant. This made my day. I laughed out loud. Several times. Thank you for that!

    • Ellen March 10, 2022, 2:55 pm

      Thank you so much! I knew my big brother would laugh when he read it, but it is so nice to hear it made you laugh too!

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